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Comment by paganel | Hacker News Reader

> we have Kanye West

For what it's worth Kanye West is still regarded like a sort of a joke in most of Europe, at least for people like me, who are over 30.

> and we have Jack White

At first I said to myself "who's that?", then I saw that he used to sing for the White Stripes. It's a so-and-so band, at least one of their songs got pretty popular among the football ultras, as did the Pet Shop Boys' "Go West!" back in the 90s.

> we have Radiohead

This is a late '90s - early 2000s band. Some say (at least I say) that they haven't been able to produce anything quite as good as the albums from that time in the last 10+ years. At the very least they are not as influential as they used to be back then.

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For what it's worth Kanye West is still regarded like a sort of a joke in most of Europe, at least for people like me, who are over 30.

I'm not sure old people were known for being massive Bowie or Stones fans in the 60s either.

I wasn't born and always assumed they weren't just pop star of the moment. As a kid later, even without knowing anything, I felt these song were infectious. When I criticize today's mainstream it's that this quality isn't there anymore. I could say the same about movie score too.

>When I criticize today's mainstream it's that this quality isn't there anymore.

No, it's because you don't like it and can't feel superior any longer if you were to enjoy it. It's just incredibly elitist to assume the music you don't like doesn't have any quality.

One of the best "mainstream" albums in recent times was Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A record with such masterful production, songwriting and depth that is absolutely high quality.

In 40 years people will look back on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy much in the same way we look back on Ziggy Stardust now. Likewise it will be remembered for it's fearlessness, creativity and influence.

It's an incredible album indeed. I can also recommend To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. Just watch his live performance on The Colbert Report and tell me there's no quality anymore!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS0geQsfcHk

Or this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z1ZUgIZKDI

> One of the best "mainstream" albums in recent times was Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJae2OpoHeE , his latest YT video is basically an ad. And while I tried listening to some of his other melodies I found out that most of them are about his material accomplishments, and that's about it. Or maybe this is all a post-modernist thingie where this is a veiled critique about today's society, in which case I'll pass.

For comparison, take this IAM piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uQ_X6nQ8xk , which talks about real people with real problems from the real world. They're miles ahead in terms of artistic performance and impact.

I don't think Radiohead's earlier albums were as influential as they were released to an audience who was influenceable. They had influence because young people listened to them, and now the people who listened to them a lot aren't up-and-coming musicians anymore.

Jack White isn't a great singer, but he might just be one of the 5 greatest guitarists alive today. I'd argue he is the best guitarist alive. As I read somewhere, Jack White is in his own personal genre.

Yup. His music isn't even my thing (as it happens, neither are the other two artists I mentioned), but...if you can't recognize it, you aren't paying attention.

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