INTRODUCTION
There’s nothing better than a great song and throughout the decades and now over a century (100 years) the world has been blessed with so much good content by artists and musicians who take their craft very seriously and are dedicated to the arts.I was born in the 80s as I probably mentioned a few times now so music was still crafted and even though it had some mishaps which I’ll be getting into shortly it still had feel good music that was hard to put down. One thing that was throughout the years and important to the foundations of music is it must have soul and be relatable and hit home as that sort of music used to sell a lot quicker and be transitioning to all walks of lives and colors. Meaning used to play a big part in the foundations of music making and a lot of thought and planing was taken and reach audiences you hope to get. I’m a music maker myself and I’ve been playing the keyboard and writing lyrics since I was around seven and worked on some high profiled stuff so I know what dedication is taken when making music and I always try to make good music that anyone who loves music can listen to and work hard on making it. All good music should be heard that is apparent but with the state of the music industry, the rise of bedroom producers and singers and also how music is being consumed nowadays there has been a huge shift in music quality. Though I’m for those silly, quirky fun songs music seems to be getting more stupider to a point the genre doesn’t even make no sense no more and has lost it’s spark and soul. Music is meant to be a bit of fun and can do wonders to your hair but also music can be stupid and degrading which is what most music nowadays sounds like as mentioned a number of times the same old thing recycled and repackaged. Not so long ago female rapper Megan Thee Stallion was on the Michele Obama podcast and she was talking about having the most rubbish song on Instagram and it still blowing up to mega per-portions surprise surprise some people were on her neck but it something I would agree on and since before the start of the modern world where technology now ruled the earth music has taken a turn for the worst and is now seems like anyone can do it but here’s the thing not everyone can be a star but you may be able to play a instrument or be a low key singer. It’s also worth mentioning before the rise of the internet the only way to make it to your dream job was to work hard and be all in the right spots now you can say something for good or for bad or have that one viral clip or song and you are propelled into stardom. I still think this is a good thing as you can now try and make it without no record deal or manager quote unquote where before you couldn’t get anywhere without your agent or manager who knew the PR people and have all the tools to help you get you where you want to be in the money.
THE DECLINE IN MUSIC
With a quarter of the new century around the 1920s came a new style or genre of music which had a reputation around it and I’m talking about Jazz. Jazz began in the 20th century and at first conservative critics and religious groups and cultural elites marked it as dangerous, vulgar and morally corrupt. Before then music had a more religious background and the genres Country and Jazz both starting in the early 1900s helped change the face of music and how people consumed it. Though due to a number of factors like the serious ones racism, the break and attack on western tradition and the misunderstanding of the syncopated rhythms it was deemed as “noise.” It was very successful with the younger generation who liked to dance to it and later drink at Speakeasy bars illegal drinking dens when alcohol was banned from 1920 to 1933. This was also the first stage of the great rebel against their parents where things was a little looser but not too loose. Smoking weed and cigarettes was associated with Jazz and commonly found in the 1920s onward and even though there was a great push back by religious, major figures and associations nothing could stop the young kids attending bars and dance halls to listen to this new style music. It’s also worth noting Jazz came from New Orleans Louisiana from enslaved black people and has complex polyrhythms, syncopation, and call-and-response vocal traditions. This seems trivia but it was brought to a white audience who danced to it at a grand hall room which was all white and for white people. But that a side Jazz was the first evolutionary change in music that shaped music and music consumption and even till this day it influences many popular genres like Hip Hop, Pop and any modern genre as it all stems back to Jazz. Jazz broke away from the classical methods of the time and saw more unconventional ways of playing and making music which is why it fall flat on the critics. It blended Blues, Ragtime and Brass Band rhythms and with the improvisation of the singer or player the critics were unfamiliar with the sound and also the faster pace of some of the numbers it was deemed as bad and nontraditional. It was the first break away from Classical music and was the first fundamental step in modern music though racial segregation and hangings were still rife especially in the South of America where colors weren’t that well mixed. Prominent figures like Henry Ford promoted biased claims against the genre, while national publications and groups like the General Federation of Women’s Clubs labeled jazz un-American and destructive to Western civilization. The physical, uninhibited styles of dancing that accompanied jazz made older generations anxious. Critics claimed the syncopated beat stimulated physical passions and broke down moral boundaries. Music educators and classical purists dismissed jazz as “noise” or “trash” rather than art. They argued that its chaotic dissonance, bent notes, and reliance on spontaneous improvisation lacked the discipline and structure of European classical music.
FREE RANGE IMPROVISATION
After the evolution of Rock music in the 1950s and by the 1960s there was more a relaxed view with music making and things like Improvisation Jazz and Psychedelic Rock was in. This was another great shift in music making and how it was consumed and at that time it was best to see it live rather than vinyl and things like LSD changes your conception of time, hearing and visually so what sounds bad straight could sound awesome on LSD and I best describe it as House, Jungle/Drum & Bass, Techno, Dubstep, UK Garage, UK Funky any rave genres in order to feel the music you might need to be on some Mandy or something that’s MDMA otherwise called Molly. No I’m not suggusting to drop one on a night out but music sounds better high on weed, LSD and MDMA you find a whole new connection with the song and also a hell a lot of energy lol. Critical reception of 1960s psychedelic rock evolved from contemporary skepticism of self-indulgence to modern critical acclaim, recognizing the era as a high-water mark for studio experimentation and countercultural art. Many mainstream 1960s critics viewed early psychedelia as formless, self-indulgent, or a shallow commercial cash-in on drug culture. Mainstream outlets often dismissed extended instrumentals as tedious noodling. Established traditionalists gave mixed reviews when non-psychedelic legacy acts awkwardly incorporated fuzz-boxes or backwards tapes, viewing the shift as unauthentic.Re-evaluation: Regional Stylistic DividesUK Complexities: Critics often praised British psychedelic acts for intricate tape loops, whimsical pastoral themes, and avant-garde orchestration, though detractors occasionally found them overly precious or whimsical.US Garage and Blues Grit: Critics highlight American psychedelic output as more grounded in raw garage rock, folk, and blues, reflecting socio-political turmoil.
DISCO SAID QUACK OFF
By the 70s and with the arrival of Disco music music was still good but came the dramatic turn of music consumption and music making. It was the rise of the novelty song with songs like Ray Stevens The Streak in 1974 and Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots in 1976 both silly songs I see a seven year old child picking up but hey if that’s your market then that’s your market. After the 1920s and 1930s and after the first great Jazz era fresh faced record companies saw their was money in pressing records and by the late 1970s music was still being sold but by then cassette tapes and vinyls were the two ways of consuming your music. Disco which started in the late 1960s to the early 1970s started as a as an underground dance movement in New York City. It grew out of African American, Latino, and LGBTQ+ spaces like “The Loft,” where dancers sought safe, inclusive places to enjoy soul, funk, and R&B music. By 1974 Record charts began recognizing the sound, with Billboard launching its first dedicated disco action chart. It was such songs like Disco Duck by Rick Dees and His Cast Of Idiots that gave Disco a bad name and why some people may of called it naff. Obviously more racial, homophobic and transphobic tension in the air as things were still pretty rough for all the above and for some is still a problem but by the quick look of my cards I think things are getting better for everyone if it wasn’t for Mr Toupee and The Russian Spy Doll but less is said about them as it’s not that subject. This is why I think they really burned all those Disco records at that baseball field in 1979 and why some people including Disc Jockeys wasn’t playing it on the radio. The intense anti-disco backlash peaked around July 12, 1979, during Disco Demolition Night at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. This exact timing happened because commercial over saturation of formulaic tracks collided with a powerful cultural reaction by young, white, male rock fans.The late 1970s saw a rising conservative political climate (led by figures like Anita Bryant) that pushed back against visible gay rights and civil rights progress. Rock radio DJs, like Chicago’s Steve Dahl, weaponized white working-class alienation, framing rock as authentic and rebellious, and disco as “foreign,” elite, and emasculating. Record labels rushed to cash in on the trend, flooding the market with rushed, low-quality, and repetitive disco tracks. By 1979, even mainstream listeners were growing tired of the relentless synthetic beats, making the genre an easy target for a coordinated media and radio backlash.
GAME CHANGER IN MUSIC
The 1980s was a great decade for music and not just the content which is everlasting but also in music making too. The revolutionary Roland TR-808 and the Roland TR-909 drum machines came out from 1980 which pioneered a lot of genres from early Hip Hop, House, Dance music, Electronic music and so many more. Both drum machines were made to replace the drummer and a more efficient way to make music and became a popular tool in making music on most popular songs from the 1980s. Some critics and professional drummers saw the new invention as well some called it lazy and some called it a lifesaver as it now meant with the drum machines you didn’t have to pay for professional drumming or be a professional drummer to program a simple drum pattern. The 1980s was the second step to over commercialized music and though worst was to come in the 2000s and later it was one of the golden decades of music and still imitated to this day. It was the use of supersonic electronic sounds over digital reverb and FXs that seemed like it was recorded in a empty warehouse and that made it seem bad. From the start of the late 70s onward instruments were being replaced and as technology advanced so did the music equipment which meant more realistic sounds and textures which was good for players in the late 70s onward as you didn’t have to practice on the instrument you just needed to play the keyboard. Such keyboards like the Roland Juno released in 1982 and the Roland Jupiter released in 1978 came with more softer sounds unlike what came before that and around the same time which was the Mini Moog a more harsher and darker synthesizer. Synthesizers and digital drum machines were in an awkward, transitional phase. Instead of warm tones, early digital gear often sounded thin, plastic, or mechanical and things like the metro-meter was used to make the drum pattern warm and unmachine-like. Mainstream music was bombarded with high gloss highly synthesized sounds by the early 1980s and critics said it lacked emotional depth or raw human grit compared to before that which was Rock and Punk in the 1970s. A cultural and political backlash happened in the 1980s where Electronic music was targeted for it’s perceived lack of authentic musicianship and the lawless counterculture of the late-decade rave movement. Traditional rock purists and critics claimed that synthesizers and drum machines lacked human emotion. Detractors argued that microchips and sequencers played the notes instead of human hands. By the mid to late 1980s pioneering synth artists saw their fame diminished after mainstream audiences grew tired of the initial electronic wave.
BEGINNING OF THE END
Looking back at the 1990s I would say it was hit and miss particularly the later half of the 1990s but this was the start of the deterioration of music as things got more commercialized and washed out. Though granted most of my favorite songs came from the 1990s that’s not to say what was being played at the time didn’t meet my requirements other than American Hip Hop and R&B and half of it was one to be silly to at the school disco tracks like Whitfield’s Saturday Night and Babylon Zoo’s Spaceman though songs I liked at the time as that was the young boy standard of the time. As I said music was still good and still had a high standard especially in the early 1990s by 1996 and with such songs by The Spice Girl’s “Wannabe,” 1997’s Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and B*witches’s “C’est La Vie” 1998 it was around those times British music took a nosedive and though they are cheesy happy numbers I myself have memories with it was still wishy washy music targeted for little girls and songs for a school disco or a god forbid 90s Pop club night. After the stock market crashes in the early 1980s music was still being sold as normal and was a big earner to all people involved or so it seems. By the 1990s and after the explosion of Brit Pop from all the angles like The Spice Girls, Blur, Oasis and The Happy Mondays to name a few the British music industry were looking for their next big meal ticket and pumped out what I call pure garbage though I would say they were all successful so successful garbage in order to put more British people on the map and to line their pockets of course. It’s also worth mentioning The Beatles were the first British (One Direction later on in the 2010s) to have a number one on the Billboard Charts and also had the same hysteria levels as seen with The Beatles 50 years before. I say that as there must of been a great push in making music in the UK and failed so miserable of making the next biggest thing since The Beatles and to keep up with the Jones’s AKA America who were already greatly in the lead with the birth of Jazz, Rock, Motown, Hip Hop, R&B, House and Soul all coming from America. It was around 1996 UK music was getting dry and also worth mentioning lacking colour other than Ultimate Khoas and Beverley Knight who did chart the British charts and successfully. Before I would say around 1996 music was dedicated and crafted with love and passions which okay sounds corny to someone who doesn’t like music and don’t see the state it’s in but music was well planned and rehearsed which meant a lot of time practicing and crafting your art not matter what it costs in money and time consumption. So by 1996 around and the birth of groups like The Spice Girls it was all about having a catchy popular song rather than substances and delivery and even though The Spice Girls had more than that awful song Wannabe and were a collective group.
END OF THE WORLD
It’s safe to say the early 2000’s were the worst modern day decade of drama and you would of thought music would of got better but oh no the 2000’s saw one of the worst to date of over commercialized music. Even America saw their music being watered down for easy consumption and the UK also saw a hell a lot of cheap acts that probably best seen on a night out in Butlins (a holiday park.) By the early 2000’s with streaming services opening like Napster and Limewire and with the rise of the internet happening around the same time music was at our fingertips and with a few clicks of a mouse you could burn the CD onto a computer or IPod and share with the whole wide world. Things were okay till they worked out how popular the sites were getting and how much revenue they were losing out in sales of records and they were calling it the death of the record as did they say that about the cassette tape too. A great campaign pursued shortly after and they made it illegal in most countries to download or stream the music off the music streaming websites like Napster or Limewire but like any good bootlegger they re branded and repackaged the sites reopening them even though it was illegal and they could face fines, prison or both. This was also the start of what I call the great change where people began to question the rights of music and some artists to be heard as before music was for sharing and the birth of streaming sites but till this point music was to be shared and enjoyed and wasn’t about making money or being well known they had a talent and they were to use it for the good of mankind, not to mention the causes they were behind. It was also the re-surge of the It Girl with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in the 2000’s and both famous for doing nothing or daughters of the rich and famous which you might as well call Instagram a Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie style tribute. Something good that did come from the 2000’s which was halfway through the decade in 2005 YouTube started and was the key factor of how it seems you can become famous overnight. To quickly explain with the birth of the webcam and the likes of YouTube starting it was now more easier than ever to quickly whip up a video and not be tied down with all those wires and connections. Before the birth of the webcam and YouTube people would go live at various of spots with connections and the wires usually covering things like conspiracies theories, life hacks and topics of the day with the great change it meant anyone with guts could go live and hopefully bag a audience they’ve been looking for but around 2005 was the start of the great shift in how to become famous and how we consumed our entertainment with the ever so changing market. By 2007 with the likes of Soulja Boy’s Crank That who saw great success off the back of YouTube and marketed his song as a ringtone off the back of The Crazy Frog phone ringtone era in 2003 he for sure paved the way for anyone with a musical idea to take the front stage. People began to see what he was doing and pave their own lane by producing and starring in the songs and music video. This didn’t go without any eyebrows being raised down and some artist and people questioned the authenticity of Soulja Boy and called him out several times calling it not real Hip Hop.
TONE DEAF BAD ACTS
Really it shouldn’t come as a surprise that music has gradually took a turn for the worst and the 2010s was no different. In fact it got way worse to the point I wasn’t listening to the radio and relied on a handful of mixtapes I downloaded off Dapiff.com to keep me satisified. The early 2010s was the start of Soundcloud and later on the Soundcloud rapper in 2016 which spawned a lot of underground artist to go large. Also a year before Mumble Rap was a thing which was usually performed on Lean (Sizzurp) and is a term used to describe the illicit and dangerous recreational misuse of prescription-strength cough medications mixed with soda drinks. The term Mumble Rap was coined by rapper Wiz Khalifa who used it during an interview on Hot 97‘s Ebro in the Morning. Honestly I never experienced so much commercial rubbish in my life from House, to Hip Hop later called Trap you name it most of it was washed out and meaningless. From Justin Bieber’s Baby to PSY’s Gangland Style even Niki Minaj yes some of you’s beloved queen she had Starships which I think is one of the worst Pop songs becuase I can’t call it Hip Hop and one of the worst Pop songs to date though granted it’s a fun number but for those who feel like wearing the tiara. Even though platforms like Myspace (2003 – 2006) and Spotify (2008 – 2010s) propelled the change of how music was bought and consumed it wasn’t until social media platforms like Instagram (2010) and TikTok (2016) came along was there a massive change in dynamics in getting rich, successful and staying sexy. It was in fact Instagram that started this how many followers you have instead of music and lyric content and played a massive part in the downfall of music in the 2010s. Meeting the aesthetic in both looking the part and sounding the part of yesteryear’s rappers who wasn’t just doing it for likes, money and attention like it is nowadays especially in male and female Hip Hop and Trap music. Swedish House Mafia was also popular in the 2010s and was known for their EDM style and not to be confused with Electronic Dance Music though that is the full abbreviation of it EDM is a over commercialized sound with edgy cut throat sounds that I find jarring. That and Dubstep emerging around the same time I found I couldn’t go raving no more at my favorite places to see my favorite people as I couldn’t dance to it though I could smash my teeth on the dance floor so to speak. Both of those genres EDM and Dubstep on top of the over commercialized Hip Hop and R&B I was hearing around the 2010s really showed me how bad and lazy music was getting and how the state of music was getting worse and worse. Though as I stated there were good music out in the 2010s but was being drowned out by over commercial music that I can’t listen to.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO POO
If you think it couldn’t any worse prepare yourself to the last main section I introduce you to a new phenomena that is crapping on everyone’s or most people’s TikTok screens in the last year or two I bring you UK Poo Music. For those who haven’t been on TikTok or YouTube I’ll quickly explain “UK Poo” is a viral internet meme and satirical microgenre on TikTok that pokes fun at low-quality, overconfident amateur British rap and drill music.The term was coined in mid-2026 by X (formerly Twitter) user Cashyams and quickly spread across social media platforms like TikTok and Spotify. The sound features off-beat flows, rambling lyrics that do not rhyme, heavy and out-of-tune autotune, and raw iPhone microphone recordings over basic grime or drill beats.The aesthetic is low-budget music videos usually filmed outside local corner shops, suburban streets, or from the front seat of a parked car with a door swung open.The vibe is mundane or overly serious street lyrics delivered with absolute, unearned confidence, making it a source of collective internet amusement rather than a formal musical movement. Coining the term: the phenomenon exploded on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok around July 15, 2026, after a post by user @cashyams featuring a clumsy melodic-trap snippet amassed millions of views.The tracks associated with the trend typically feature aggressively bad autotune, low-quality mobile phone microphone recordings, basic or nonsensical lyrics, and DIY music videos shot outside local corner shops or pubs. The term functions as both a critique and an ironic celebration of amateur overconfidence in the British freestyle and rap scene. Commentators note it continues a long underground tradition of tongue-in-cheek, DIY British internet rap—blurring the lines between genuine outsider art, meme culture, and post-ironic appreciation. Now I saw this on my YouTube feed not so long ago and was the second thing that started this blog post. I firstly want to say I’m actually for it and think it’s great for a laugh but without hating too much not worthy as a live act at a gig like we saw one of them do the come slap me dude or lady yet to be decided. It seems this UK internet craze is just banter and not to be taken too seriously as a serious form of art. I kind of like them sticking their tongue out to the UK Drill rappers who need to give it a day and hang it up and forever talking about bags (money) or grams (drugs) and oh don’t forget about poor Alesha the girlfriend they use up. Now for the bit I don’t like how it once again shifts attention from the good music that we all so hard put out and get silenced by people like that as that is just one example but UK Poo Music isn’t suitable for a rave, in a car, or at home just chilling it’s good for a laugh a two minute swipe on your phone and even though I said I was for it I still wouldn’t play it wherever I was. Here is where a parody song comes to mind and something for lighthearted entertainment. If some numb nut makes complete sense of it and makes it into a masterpiece or outdo the greats then I’m walking away from music I’ll be done. I don’t see this happening as it’s a underground UK movement idea for brainless kids to laugh at but it is funny.
CONCLUSION
Don’t get me wrong I like feel good music and doesn’t always have to be dripping with all that ice (diamonds) or even say something relatable or meaningful to get my attention but throughout the decades music has gotten more worse and worse and has no plan on stopping any time soon unless we stop consuming the bad stuff. I’ve been playing the keyboard and making music since I was seven so I know music is down to tastes, what you were brought up with and also what you were allowed or want to listen to. Also people’s hang ups of what they like or allowed to like and also meeting your own market and needs. I have my own hang ups which I stated already but just to recap the same redundant content and beat choices, coping and pasting music and not sampling or re-imaging the beat, swagger jacking was always a big no no for me and last but not least artists who can’t do their profession well or hop on trend and not like the genre they were singing or making you know the same old stuff which feels pretty redundant saying that in itself. There is a need for what I call trash music and it lays with the younger generation and think it’s important to have some good child memories attached to songs and trust me I have mine all what I mentioned in this blog post but good music should be heard and out weigh the bad music that seems to get more attraction than the good music. The old as long as the beat goes hard then nothing really matters but I mean really you listen to that man I feel old lol. I don’t know what it is maybe it lays with the younger generation and the lack of good music and true idols like Beyonce or Taylor Swift to many or anyone who came before them. The music scene throughout the world has blurred the lines with Hollywood and their music industry which means it’s all about the followers and the money power and respect which comes last rather than making good music and good vibes and spreading good energy throughout the world instead of this vile undertones of sex, drugs and violence which has already broke the breaking point in the America and here in the UK I don’t know about anywhere else. With the right music it can have a huge positive impact on your mental health and also goes the other way too a major downfall to your mental health so what I’m saying is pick your poison carefully and make sure a nice balance of music is being heard not just this one sided one trick pony most of us are tired of hearing and to support the right people and not gatekeep the music we digest.