You can find articles discussing the "end of melody" starting back in the early 1950s.
They said it about Elvis and Chuck Berry. Later, the Stones, Black Sabbath, etc.
They said it about Charlie Parker (later, Coltrane, Ornette, etc.)
They said it about Schoënberg (and currently Arvo Paart, John Adams, etc)
They said it about Madonna.
They said it about Hendrix.
They said it about Hip-hop (and Funk music in general before that).
Hell, they even said it about Beethoven on the premier of his 5th Symphony. Da da da dum - "What's this? Just 3 notes in a straight rhythm. How childish".

Straight up pop music - 'pop' being the most popular at any given time - can be the most banal music of that time.
The theory - socio/cultural/artistic theory - is that when something fully permeates a culture, it is abandoned for a period.
The 'millennial whoop' all pervasive melodic device (V down to III and maj penta in general) is just about cooked enough.

Plenty of stuff out there with 'melody' it's just not in the current top 40.

This post has been edited by klasaine: Sep 9 2019, 03:10 PM

This is a very cool video. I also notice that melody is out of fashion in song charts. This is analyzing trends, and what's now mainstream. It's true that there is always every kind of music but it's interesting to analyze why mainstream music and soundtracks are taking this direction nowadays. I think that this guy has a "classical" music perspective so he analyzes music missing one very important element in mainstream music, and even more today that Hip Hop is leading in many parts of the planet (it's becoming very big in my country for example): The Word, the message.

I'll talk about my own experience here, and maybe you can relate it to your countries. Most of the people doesn't have a musical ear, most of them can't even replicate a melody, but what really captures them is what the guy who is singing (or rapping) is what he is saying. The simpler the melody, the easier is to get that message clear. And it happens the same with musical arrangements, the simpler it is, the better to get that message.

Again, I'm talking about music that is popular now which is the one that sounds everywhere here, and as the "market" is small, it seems that there is no place for other options.

This post has been edited by Gabriel Leopardi: Sep 10 2019, 12:53 AM

I agree Gabriel 100%.

I second that agreement and what Gabe said. Well said Gabe!!

Great vid! One thing he didn't go in to very much was the impact of shrinkage of the music industry as a whole on it's overall content. As CD sales declined year over year, and streaming took over, the entire music producing industry just shrank. It's now a fraction of what is was in it's older form. It's been re invented by smaller artists creating music on laptops for the sake of creating music mostly.

So the "Pop" genre has had to adapt as well. Music has had to try to reach as many ears as possible with fewer resources (money) for promotion. As a result, popular music has become a bit more banal that it was even a decade ago. we see fewer "bands" and more solo acts (singers/rappers) in the top 40. Many in the top 10 no longer write their own music. This has always been the case to some degree, but now more than ever. Making a "Pop Diva" (Cardi B, etc.) is more about finding a pretty face, grabbing the auto tune plugin, and having pro song writers create some "hits" for her to sing "ish".

The good news is that "Underground" music has never been more vital and alive. More music than ever is now being created on a daily basis and shared for free. METAL and EXTREME METAL have had a great rebirth that few saw coming. Bands on the periphery, like say, PERIPHERY, are able to make a living despite not being on a record label (in a traditional sense) and having no radio support and no music video support (again in a traditional sense, no vids on cable tv). The interwebs have re defined music. Thank God.