u/CompetitiveWhole9466

1-4: 2000s/early 2010s memes 5-8: the 2020s equivalent When I was a kid this attitude against modern music was a lot more common. I remember in the early 2010s tons of "CLASSIC ROCK IS THE ONLY REAL MUSIC, TODAY'S MUSIC SUCKS".

It was already lame back then, but back then this shit was ambient. You couldn't escape it on the internet. But now this attitude still exists... but not only is it not nearly as common as it used to be, it also feels rather...corny.

In the 2000s, a lot of people thought 80s music was better than the music at the time. In the 2010s a lot of people thought 90s music was better than the music at the time. You used to constantly hear people say "today's music sucks, I miss Nirvana, Guns N Roses, etc."... You've seen the memes.

But something feels different now. I've noticed that today’s mainstream music (2020s) doesn’t seem to get roasted as harshly as it used to be.

Even then the current memes about "old rock vs pop" are a lot softer and more gentle in tone and less... theatrical and actually hateful than the 2000s and 2010s memes.

Am I the only one who's noticed this?

1-4: 2000s/early 2010s memes 5-8: the 2020s equivalent When I was a kid this attitude against modern music was a lot more common. I remember in the early 2010s tons of "CLASSIC ROCK IS THE ONLY REAL MUSIC, TODAY'S MUSIC SUCKS".

It was already lame back then, but back then this shit was ambient. You couldn't escape it on the internet. But now this attitude still exists... but not only is it not nearly as common as it used to be, it also feels rather...corny.

In the 2000s, a lot of people thought 80s music was better than the music at the time. In the 2010s a lot of people thought 90s music was better than the music at the time. You used to constantly hear people say "today's music sucks, I miss Nirvana, Guns N Roses, etc."... You've seen the memes.

But something feels different now. I've noticed that today’s mainstream music (2020s) doesn’t seem to get roasted as harshly as it used to be.

Even then the current memes about "old rock vs pop" are a lot softer and more gentle in tone and less... theatrical than the 2000s and 2010s memes.

Am I the only one who's noticed this?

1-4: 2000s/early 2010s memes

5-8: the 2020s equivalent

When I was a kid this attitude against modern music was a lot more common. I remember in the early 2010s tons of "CLASSIC ROCK IS THE ONLY REAL MUSIC, TODAY'S MUSIC SUCKS". For you young ones using this subreddit... this is what this sub was initially built on. I used to be "r/smokeweed21" (hey i was 14) and I remember this vividly. It was already lame back then, but back then this shit was ambient. You couldn't escape it on the internet.

But now this attitude still exists... but not only is it not nearly as common as it used to be, it also feels rather...corny.

In the 2000s, a lot of people thought 80s music was better than the music at the time. In the 2010s a lot of people thought 90s music was better than the music at the time. You used to constantly hear people say "today's music sucks, I miss Nirvana, Guns N Roses, etc."... You've seen the memes.

But something feels different now. I've noticed that today’s mainstream music (2020s) doesn’t seem to get roasted as harshly as it used to be.

Even then the current memes about "old rock vs pop" are a lot softer and more gentle in tone and less... theatrical than the 2000s and 2010s memes.

Am I the only one who's noticed this?

1-3: 2000s/early 2010s memes

4-6: the 2020s equivalent

When I was a kid this attitude against modern music was a lot more common. I remember in the early 2010s tons of "CLASSIC ROCK IS THE ONLY REAL MUSIC, TODAY'S MUSIC SUCKS".

But now this attitude still exists... but not only is it not nearly as common as it used to be, it also feels rather...corny.

In the 2000s, a lot of people thought 80s music was better than the music at the time. In the 2010s a lot of people thought 90s music was better than the music at the time. You used to constantly hear people say "today's music sucks, I miss Nirvana, Guns N Roses, etc."... You've seen the memes.

But something feels different now. I've noticed that today’s mainstream music (2020s) doesn’t seem to get roasted as harshly as it used to be.

It seems the 2020s have reverted that 20 year cycle and nowadays a LOT of people (not everybody) seem to think that today's popular music is better than it was in the 2000s and early 10s (first few years of the 2010s). Not everyone thinks this but it's interesting to note... so many people say "today's music is better". You NEVER heard that phrase in the 2000s or early 2010s.

Even then the current memes about "old rock vs pop" are a lot softer and more gentle in tone and less... theatrical than the 2000s and 2010s memes.

Am I the only one who's noticed this?

What do you think. Do you think we've leard to live and let live, or do you think today's music is just better than what we grew up with? Or maybe we've just stopped getting irrationally angry at what teenage girls like?

So on Spotify I saw that New Kids On The Block have 1.6M monthly listeners.

Now nobody expects these guys to compete with Michael Jackson. But man... it's a telling sign of how far their star fell. And while boy band music isn't exactly music that's meant for longevity, songs by their successors Backstreet Boys (like 30m) and NSync (15M) have endured wayyyyyyyy more than New Kids songs did.

New Kids aren't even like ironically cool. Even on most "80s" playlists they're absent. 80s on 8 hardly plays NKOTB songs. Even IT (2017), which prominently features these guys didn't bring this band back to the zeitgeist.

Is this the most forgotten act relative to how big they were? These guys were a cultural phenomenon in the late 80s and early 90s. They had multiple #1 hits and sold a lot of albums. But they seem like the definition of a music act that didn't stand the test of time.

(I've always been more of a "Color Me Bad" guy myself)

Any more forgotten major acts?

1-2:the before

3-4: the after

When I was a kid this attitude against modern music was a lot more common. But now this attitude still exists... but not only is it not nearly as common as it used to be, it also feels rather...corny.

This is the "YOU SAY JUSTIN BIEBER I SAY METALLICA, YOU SAY MILEY CYRUS I SAY AC/DC" of the new generation i take it

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl5_Lc6b3AU

A song that has confirmed to be made with AI has finally entered the Hot 100

Right now there's a controversy over a nepo baby having one of the top 5 songs in America... but this is arguably even bigger and much more concerning

This song has been confirmed to be made with Treblo, an AI music maker.

Fenix Flexin was a Cali rapper part of Shoreline Mafia, who i confess i was into when i was in high school. Mostly because I'm from Long Beach and they were one of the hotter "local" rap acts. Then he abruptly emerged with a New Wave song, an unfamiliar singing voice, and a British accent. And it's confirmed... it was made with AI.

So this is where we are.

Actual AI music on the Hot 100.

In the 2010s with a couple exceptions it seemed like a lot of 90s rock and most 2000s rock was kind of in the doghouse. It was kind if interesting how usually rock always ages better than contemporary non-rock but for a long time it seemed like the 90s/early 2000s were the big change of that. Like when it came to 80s music it seemed like younger people were more likely to know Guns N Roses or Journey than pop like Madonna despite Madonna being more popular than any rock band at that time, aside from probably AC/DC.

But 90s and early 2000s was kinda like the other way round. For a long time it seemed like grunge, while respected, was largely obscure among people aside from Nirvana. Nu metal, post grunge and to an extent pop punk were widely derided as "the worst music of all time".

Then... everything changed around 2021-2022. The public finally seemed to get over playing the same old 80s arena rock songs and a lot of the youth got super into all of this stuff. Grunge was no longer just "the Nirvana genre" what with a lot of Gen Z discovering the music. Nu metal had a massive tiktok revival. Pop punk went from being super uncool to being super cool again, even spawning a minor comeback in pop music. And post grunge, which was the one that stayed the longest in the doghouse ... even that's had a "divorced dad rock" comeback. Creed sell out stadiums now.

But did this peak in like 2023-2025? Because it's 2026 now.

These replies as shown are not just “people disagreeing with nostalgia.” They are speaking in the native dialect of 2012–2018 internet music discourse.

The familiar ingredients are all here:

“Bland, commercialized metal.” “Rock’s last dying breath.” “Probably for the best.” “This era was embarrassing.”

And treating mainstream rock as culturally humiliating rather than merely mediocre.

That is not the tone of someone saying, “I’m a little fatigued by Y2K nostalgia.” It is the old rock deserved to die posture returning almost word for word.

That period had a very specific historical narrative. Rock died in the 90s, grunge ruined everything, then rock became terrible in the 2000s, devolved into nu metal, post-grunge, pop-punk and butt rock, embarrassed itself, and was mercifully replaced by hip-hop and pop.

That story became nearly conventional wisdom online.

So did the 2022-2025 revival of 90s/2000s rock mainly become a flash in the pan thing?

They sure don't make em' like this anymore. There used to be so much more passion in complaining about music you don't like back in MY day. Kids these days are soft.

I mean this attitude still does exist but it's not nearly on the same level as it used to be.

They sure don't make em' like this anymore. There used to be so much more passion in complaining about music you don't like back in MY day. Kids these days are soft.

I mean this attitude still does exist but it's not nearly on the same level as it used to be.

They sure don't make em' like this anymore. There used to be so much more passion in complaining about music you don't like.

I mean this attitude still does exist but it's not nearly on the same level as it used to be.