Why don't they write memorable melodies anymore?

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In Popular music. Well today, its just that its more about the rythm and the beat , rather than the melodic structure that was so evident in the tunes of yesteryear. I think that is why a lot of people pine for the older days of music. I mean, its rare to come across anything with a distinctive melody anymore. I can't find anything that I want to sing along with. Is this a cycle of trends?

I think some people still do, but I think part of the difference is that songwriters' influences seem a little more homogenized. It's hard to imagine "Eleanor Rigby" or Frank Zappa coming out as something normal today. I think too many rock and pop writers listen to too much rock and pop.

Alt-J are a great band who only have out three albums. Creative arrangements, good melodies.

In today’s 24 hour 7 days a week multitasking world people do not have the time or energy to listen.

I think there was an evolution to from songs to performances.

Michael Jackson was a performer. He had a great stage presence.

Its all about money. You make lots of money performing on stage.

https://splinternews.com/1-million-stre ... 1793848260
"There is money in the music industry. It's just not winding up in the hands of songwriters."

There's lots of sampling. (Been happening since the late 80's, sampling the the 60's and 70's) (Here's One: Bone Thugs n Harmony - It's All Mo Thug vs Isaac Hayes - You Make Me Live)
Also, non-direct sampling, or using part of the melody but changing it up a lot, but still sounding similar (Gravy - Smoove vs Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stone Cold Bush)
I like sampling in hip-hop, but I think for pop and other artists it doesn't really ring well. (cough cough Mariah Carey)
(Though the company probably owned the rights) But I couldn't tell you how many times every popular Soul/Funk Artist has been sampled and put into a beat.


You have to figure most melodies are memorable theme songs that have nothing to do with the actual thing. So like, the notes in Star Wars do not directly sound like a space war movie, but its own theme, then that theme is related to Star Wars. So next time you hear the theme song, you know, oh yeah, Star Wars! If you see Marvel movies, they don't have memorable themes. They use background music or noises that fit the environment. Which is safe, fits the scene, but does not get stuck in someone's head like a famous melody.

Most melody writers in the MAINSTREAM are dead. There's lots of voice sampling and filtering. (Logic, LOL)
The new trap rap is just repetitive auto tune and mumbling, not to mention the lyrics aren't even telling a story.
Seriously, the attention spans are so small these days, its like most kids these days like 4-measure beats instead of an entire song. Lots of sampling and filtering so much these days to produce a feeling, its not even about the notes anymore. The underground musicians like me and others will rise some day! The industry has no soul so they rely on royalties from the dead and new industry puppets.

I've been making up some melodies on my piano. They come from the soul. If I didn't hear them in my head first, I wouldn't of been able to create them on keyboard.

Hey, Adele has good lyrics.

I think you just need to dig a little deeper. Try Spotify, I've been using it for almost 5 years now.

judging music by looking at pop is....well, not very wise


video games have long been an overlooked source of quality music.

although...yes, OP it may actually be true that pop is less varied and experimental than it was back then, millenial whoop coming to mind. if the "point" of that genre is to illicit a certain kind of mental response, then maybe you could say we've discovered the optimal combination of timing and beats/soundfonts to illicit the response we're looking for?

This! Many games even use licensed music, like the Saints Row series and the Fallout franchise. Fallout 4 in particular has 5 songs that were written by Lynda Carter, the original TV Wonder Woman herself. She's got quite the jazz voice.

I've got the opposite problem with mainstream pop- I can't the damn hook line out of my head, because it's repeated over and over again for about 85% of the song! So, hearing lots of all-too-memorable short melodies here. Not so many memorable long ones, though. There's a definite move from more traditional multiphrase melodies to using just these tiny repeating tunes. I read something about how Lady Gaga builds up tracks from several different interlocking hooks- it was really pretty clever, but unfortunately the result still drives me up the wall.

The way I see it, people these days are lazy. They're more about what makes them the most money than about being original. That's why you have so many crap pop songs out there.

What has happened is that the melodic complexity of music has gone down, but the production and sonic complexity has gone up 10x.

Don't be fooled, alot of the producers working in pop are so talented you wouldn't even believe it, only the best in the world get to do what they do, they just hold themselves back musically to appeal to the masses. It's hard (especially for producers) to make a living these days. Most of the money is in live gigs now.

Some pop is sonically very very impressive, but the chord progressions are simply too boring to hold my attention.