Modern music atrocious: Bob Dylan
Asian News International
London, August 23, 2006

Folk-rock legend Bob Dylan feels modern records sound "atrocious," as they lack good lyrics and music.

Condemning modern music as worthless, Dylan says there hasn't been a single good record in the last two decades.

“I don’t know anybody who’s made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years," the Sun quoted the 65 year old rocker, as saying.

“You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like . . . static,” he added.

Dylan's new album Modern Times is out next week.

I don't know if I'd go as far back two decades.
There was some some pretty decent stuff in the '90's
Maybe Bob hadn't taken his Metamucil that morning?

I agree. I like Nirvana a lot. But most stuff "on da radio" and on TV mostly, SUX.

Catch Kevin Federlin's new video? He is channeling vanilla ice.

(Putting on curmudgeon hat)....
I hate to have to agree with Dylan, because he's not one of my faves and never was...but, I agree that the stuff in the last 10 years has steadily gotten worse. I agree that some stuff in the 90s was good, but I think there has been a steady change to hip hop, rap, and whatever the hell Jessica Simpson and her ilk sing (by the way, she was on a radio show live this morning...first time I ever listened to her...she reminds me of cotton candy...pretty to look at but mostly no real substance and full of hot air).

I 'm not a big Nirvana fan....watched SuperNova last night and the dude from Iceland did the Smells like Teen Spirit (am overrated song that even Bowie likes).

I personally get SOOOOO tired of these
kids on SuperNova and the previous
show doing "Heart Shaped Box" and the new "in" song to do...Creep, by Radiohead.

I too feel like teenage angst could be better articulated than by SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT and by CREEP (
"But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here ").

"So it goes" - Vonnegut

I agree that todays music sucks, however I've always had a strong conviction that SO DOES BOB DYLAN! Especially in the Traveling Wilburys

calling the audio quality of modern records “atrocious.”
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“They have sound all over them,” Dylan says.
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There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static. Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded ‘em. CDs are small. There’s no stature to it. I remember when that Napster guy came up across, it was like, ‘Everybody’s gettin’ music for free.’ I was like, ‘Well, why not? It ain’t worth nothing anyway.’
-
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/08/22/bob-dylan-professional-rabblerouser
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Misqoute. He was talking about the recording quality not the music itself.
-
He does mention that he dislikes the music in passing reference but the excerpt is him commenting on newer recording equipment vs. the recording studios he used.

i saw him perform drunk in amsterdam
man, that was great modern music
hasta luego,
P.Dro

peeweezz,

I'm sure most of us HERE realize:

"He was talking about the recording quality not the music itself."

(We are all musicians and TRUE music lovers here...)

But you are SO RIGHT to point out the fact that the exact words and intent are being bent by the media to serve it's own purposes.

I'm pretty sure he has released a few records in the past two decades
Also, has anyone noticed he is morphing into Vincent Price?

hey I dont suck but Im not modern either

"Folk-rock legend Bob Dylan feels modern records sound "atrocious," as they lack good lyrics and music."

I believe they said the same thing about Bob Dylan's music when it first came out.

We should invite Bob to DMusic sometime...maybe he'd change his mind.

I would agree that a lot of mainstream/record company music over the last 2 decades hasn't been all that wonderful...but I've had my faith in decent music restored since joining DMusic. This is where it's at folks

FraDonaghy --HILARIOUS>>>>I LOVED THAT comparison picture

two thumbs up...
~Code

Note to Dylan, aka Robert Allen Zimmerman..
"How many tunes must a songwriter hear, before he hears one that he likes?"

"The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind."

i feel the mainstream music ends up giving alot of people the impression that music is going downhill and that is starting to stink, but the mainstream is barely half of whats out there. there are plenty of groups that down get tossed into the limelight at extreme levels like the mainstream music.

also i am sure people hated bob's music when it came out, and of course im sure people claimed rock was dead, the music was dying etc.

Mtv is the leader of RIAA music

Mtv sucks ass

here and there I find a good new RIAA band, but Ive had better luck poking around Dmusic and other sites.

Recording quality? heh, I just um uh well... aquiered The Rolling Stones Rock n Roll Circus, recorded live and sounding better then Godsmack's over-produced CD (and I like Godsmack....)

"Note to Dylan, aka Robert Allen Zimmerman...
"How many tunes must a songwriter hear, before he hears one that he likes?"

"The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind."

Cool, 'Code!

well i think dylans main issue is how much rock has expanded off into a lot of genres. the mainstream radio friendly garbage is a small % of whats out there. i imagine dylan's too old to fiddle through all the genres, all the bands, instead he focuses on the small amount he hears on the radio and makes his judgement on that.

Yeah, if all the music you knew was what's on the radio, you might think that music sucks too!

Dylan is talking about the 'loudness wars' on newer CD's mastered hotter and hotter so that there is no dynamic range just one speaker popping loudness that is louder than the last release etc, this is what the 'sound all over them' is referring to. Subtle nuances cannot happen if your CD is mastered to an average RMS of -4 db etc. FM radio then takes it and punps it up even more. This is something that has been occurring for at least 10 years, the average rms of a CD has risen from -15db to -6 or louder. Some commercial CD's even have clipping in them these days.

As for Dylan, I don't like his music too much but admire his influence, the beatles, stones, hendrix and the byrds etc were all huge fans and incorporated some of his influences either musically or politically into their work, and who am I to knock a musical icon with tens of millions of album sales...

Yes, there is something foul about today's so-called popular music. In between there are still some good artists though, putting out some great music. Lots of good independents, at least on this site. But I think the major labels are trying to sell us crap.

Bob Dylan is complaining about vocal definition? That's kind of like Stevie Wonder complaining about stage lighting.

Good one, George!

Also:
There are indeed some people who do think both Bob Dylan AND Sonny Bono were not talented vocalists.
(I'm in that camp.)
Got to give Bob credit, though; he worked hard on improving -- following the almost universal criticism how his "Like a Rolling Stone" recording was so clever with its lyrics but his voice left something to be desired.
It was easy to forgive him, though, because he wrote so many super songs for others to sing (both before and after his biggest personal hits).
And yes, I stand to be criticized just concentrating on hit songs. Bob had some outstanding albums; we all know it, and I must acknowledge that fact.
Too bad Bob didn't go indie . . . he could have done it, such a free-spirited guy that he was (er, is).

And, while I'm at it:

evansorchid  
Date: August 23, 2006 @ 10:40 AM
"I don't know if I'd go as far back two decades.
There was some some pretty decent stuff in the '90's
Maybe Bob hadn't taken his Metamucil that morning?"

leflaw  
Date: August 23, 2006 @ 10:43 AM
"I agree. I like Nirvana a lot. But most stuff "on da radio" and on TV mostly, SUX.

Catch Kevin Federlin's new video? He is channeling vanilla ice."

---------

True dat.
Good stuff, guys.

BTW, Dylan isn't the only one who thinks the sound of modern records sucks, legendary producer/musician Daniel Lanois who has produced/co-produced albums by U2, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Brian Eno, Bob Dylan - ironically, Willie Nelson, etc also said that the only good sounding records these days are Hip Hop records because their producers understand something about bass and bottom end, he says all these engineers and producers reference Led Zeppelin as influences and then go and make music that is as far removed from the richness of Led Zep's records as you can get (this is in April 2006 Electronic Musician)

Well I thinks there's tons of good music out there. It's up to the media to put the best up front not just the beautiful people. Put the musicians with the strongest structurally written material out front where it belongs then Bob would hear it. I think Bobs just getting old. He had Ani DeFranco open for him back in 99 and she stole the show. Her cds it's have great original material on them. Bobby bobby bobby always talking trash I still love him though. Bob Price that's beautiful.