My daughter is watching the 2013 MTV VMA's and I just sat through the first half hour of it with her . I gotta say, today's music is really in the shitter . Besides Lady GaGa who I thought was entertaining and always interesting to watch , the rest of the half hour was shit . How can anybody call this crap talent ? How are these so called "artist's" big ? Absolute garbage !

I'm sure there were similar comments after watching Ed Sullivan, Dick Clark, Soul Train...... take your pick.

While I don't particularly care for or listen much "current" music, I certainly won't dismiss someone else's musical tastes.

I wouldn't ever knock a person for listening to anything . This is just my opinion on how I feel about today's music . I did not hear a single musical instrument played . It was all electronic noise . I'm 52 , I grew up on Black Sabbath , The Kinks , Dean Martin , Johnny Mathis , Johnny Cash and so much more . I still listen to all that along with many more bands and artist's from along the way . I can listen to Eminem and NWA to Brooks & Dunn to Motorhead and Heart to Muddy Waters . But to me , besides Lady GaGa there was not anything near talented on that stage or on their screens. As far as Ed Sullivan and Dick Clark etc , I remember my parents saying things like "a bunch of hippies" or something like that but they knew there was talent there . There is minimal talent in today's modern music .

I'm avoiding the VMA's tonight, I'm trying to relax and don't need to be annoyed.

I blame autotune.

80's pop tended to be heavy on synthesizer, samples and drum machines, light on actual musical instruments.

It's hard to deny that any of this is true, although I would modify your second sentence to "today's popular music is really in the shitter." I'm not one of those people who believes music was better "in my day," but it seems that during my formative years ('70s & early 80s) and the decade preceding it, the pop charts included a much higher percentage of talented artists...many of whom have stood the test of time. There was always crap, and there were always great artists who never broke through to the mainstream, but these days it seems that the best/most interesting/most talented people don't rise to the top. All of this is subjective, but that's how I feel. And it's why I had no interest in the VMA's, but I also feel that there's as much exciting music to be found today as there's ever been. It just takes more work to find it, and it's not on MTV.

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that electronics are being used in pop music!"

Pretty much what Rich said.

XM replays old Casey Kasem countdowns. Sometimes I'm surprised at how much 70s music I remember - and other times, at how much I don't remember. There were some really bad songs that were hits then - and I don't mean the cheesy crap (a lot of which I love), but some genuine lousy music. More than I remembered.

There is really good stuff out there, but it's not getting played on MTV (really, what music is?), it's not getting much radio play, but it's there. It's the path to it that has changed.

Sinatra could rise from the grave and start singing and right now all people are going to talk about is Miley Cyrus in her underwear dry humping the air with a foam finger on the VMA's.

It's not on the radio either. Fitz And The Tantrums, Grace Potter, Meyer Hawthorne, Allen Stone, Diane Birch, Eli "Paperboy" Reed (LOVE Reed!!) and others. You will hear none of those acts on the radio....and they all kick ass.

So EmpTV actually had music on? <thud>

IMO, our entire "modern" culture is style over substance & least common denominator.

crosby said it years ago when commenting on britttany spears, "it's about tits, and how you look, talent is not an issue" (paraphrased of course)

my wife and i got free tix ($20 each!) to a club in atlantic city this summer. i was the oldest in the place by 30 years, but we hung around and "watched" for about an hour. i swear to you all that the song that played was the same one for the whole hour....all electronic with some type of vocal meanderings below the noise and fake drums.

i weep for the youth of today, weep.

and about the subject, if the MTV VMA 's were the only thing on TV i would turn the TV off and put a CD on.

Saw the video clip of Miley. She's a talentless young 'en that's not even that sexy.
I can see why some people were disgusted with her performance considering the audience but most modern dance clips are all involving some form of use of sex to sell the music.

I am just glad I have some 'real' music to enjoy.

I'm just relieved that somehow Britney Spears wasnt a part of last nights festivities. How did she stay away?

Guess Miley was trying to out do Gaga. Gaga is a tough one to compete with, I'm not sure i could even come up with something more outlandish than her.

And talk about bad 70's songs that were Top 10 hits, I heard Jim Staffords "Wildwood" yesterday on our drive to NC.
I barely remember it in 1974 but it reached into the top 10 and its not even a song. It's a joke, a pot joke.

I think it's pretty self-explanatory how it became a hit.

MTV VMA shows have always been full of female performers trying to "shock" viewers with their risque outfits (not that this is a good thing). I had to Google "twerking" after reading the CNN piece on her performance just now. TIL.

Next thing you know, Elvis will be swiveling his hips on TV, just to gin up publicity.

And where did they come up with a term like "rock and roll," anyway?

Clearly everything has gone downhill ever since artists stopped selling their souls to Satan...

I thought that those screencaps of Cyrus making faces with her tongue out the side of her mouth like a Don Martin character were just awkward moments picked out of videos by mean spirited people. But, after watching the video, I can see that she actually did lurch around the stage making her face appear as stupid and ugly as possible.

Why would anybody watch the MTV Video Music Awards if they don't like contemporary pop music? Exactly what basis could anybody have for assuming that the content of the show might have changed for this year's broadcast?