[peterlk]

Short explanation: the music industry has discovered that capturing the teenage market pays dividends and teenagers are emotional.

Unrelated anecdote with a different explanation:

I had a fascinating conversation with my parents recently. They are both children of the 60s and grew up in San Francisco. We often share music just to talk about it. I was playing some heavier (dubsteppy-metal) music to them, and wanted to dig into why they didn't like it.

The reason that I like heavy music (especially at shows) is because it is very rare that I get to cut my rage loose, and let it flow. Mosh pits are the only place I can think of where this is an acceptable form of self expression. This feeling is sometimes a good gateway to making me feel like I can win (aka, be alright) when I'm feeling down.

I asked them if what I just described, and the feelings that the music engendered made intuitive emotional sense to them. Regardless of whether they agree that it's positive or negative, does that emotional drive resonate with them. And the answer was, shockingly to me, "No".

Through our conversation, we settled on a convenient narrative (with absolutely no research or sources to back it).

In the 60s and 70s, the rebellion was not against the machine, it was for betterment. They saw the moon landings, and went to concerts in Golden Gate Park that sang about love and freedom for all, and they said that there was a feeling that anything was possible. You just had to do it. And there were lots of problems, but we made progress, it just took doing.

While there is likely some rose-tinted-ness about this recollection, I found it interesting that this was not the way I grew up seeing the world. I grew up with the narrative that everything was wrong, everyone was wrong, and so fuck everything - tear it down.

A short list:

Rage Against the Machine

Eminem

System of a Down

Our convenient narrative was that when our leaders act in bad faith, the result is generations of damage (i.e. the Vietnam war), and that this is reflected in culture. Interestingly, this polarizes both ways politically. So you get a feedback loop of culture becoming more extreme to differentiate itself while serving a polarizing society.

Aside: I'm so happy to see charts with error bars!

[onemoresoop]

>In the 60s and 70s, the rebellion was not against the machine, it was for betterment.

The rebellion was very much against the machine, the establishment, the norms,etc.

It's very interesting that nowadays rebellious trends tend to feed the machine. You were spot on on your first line. Whatever captures any market and pays dividends is echoed right back, amplified by the machine (which takes the dividend). There is still great music being made, but it's harder to find (if not impossible) on mainstream channels.

[rnd0]

I don't agree about the 70's, in that assesment; even the 60's are dubious (eg "trouble coming every day" by Frank Zappa, misc protest songs, the Doors).

According to "Please Kill Me" part of what led to the creation of punk was a sense that everything was going to hell and there might not be a tomorrow. On the metal side of things you get the same sense if you listen to early Black Sabbath (eg "Wicked World", "Hand of Doom",). There's probably other examples to be had, but I can't think of them offhand.

I grew up in the 80's and I can relate to half of what you're saying about aggressive music and moshing. What I find interesting, though, is when you say "Mosh pits are the only place I can think of where this is an acceptable form of self expression". That definately wasn't the case for me, just the opposite. The messages and sentiments I picked up on were that repression was unhealthy -better to get it all out, EST style if need be.

I find it interesting that it's somehow become more taboo to express negative emotions, anger, confrontation, etc than when I was a teenager. I might be off the mark, but from what I've noticed it seems like we're collectively becoming more repressed (emotionally and otherwise) than we were 20 or 30 years ago.

[empath75]

The 1960s were almost apocalyptically bad— the arms race, vietnam, lynchings, inner city riots, bombings, assassinations, etc. There was plenty of angry protest music— there just wasn’t much of an angry audio aesthetic.

[rch]

I'm surprised at the proportion of people who have never heard of the Weather Underground and the SDS.

[empath75]

There was also plenty of right wing terrorism (the Klan in particular)

[rch]

I don't support right wing terrorism (the Klan in particular).

[c0vfefe]

> it is very rare that I get to cut my rage loose, and let it flow. Mosh pits are the only place I can think of where this is an acceptable form of self expression.

At the metal shows I've been to, it's precisely the guys trying to "cut [thier] rage loose" that you want to avoid. Moshing, like football, should be about a physical form of communal fun, not expressing anger and aggression; otherwise you get safety problems.

[e9]

Random observation that might be related. If you take some bands that were formed in late 60s, early 70s like Rush, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, King Crimson and follow their careers, as they became older their music became angrier and angrier lol(especially starting late 90s and into 2000s). I always attributed it to band members getting older and bitter at life but maybe as you say it’s due to times changing...

[onemoresoop]

Also, its fascinating how the test of time clarifies things up. I now enjoy the music my parents listened to but rarely do enjoy the music that I grew up on

[athroway]

Interesting. Many people I talk to about this stuff tell me they basically only like whatever they used to listen to when they were teenagers and have a hard time getting into other musical genres as an adult. You also see it in non-niche nightclubs generally broadcasting a mix of pop music from 10 years ago + a few recent viral hits. They know what demographics to target.

[plutonorm]

I hated the music when I was growing up in the 90s. Especially the dance music, so dull, so repetitive, bland. Dubstep, now that's something I can go with. Its fab.

[SOLAR_FIELDS]

Definitely age specific - I listen to almost nothing I enjoyed as a teenager anymore - mostly emo and metalcore. I do find myself listening to music that I enjoyed during my formative years more often though. For me this was early 20’s. My bro science rationale is that we attach music we enjoy to our formative years.

[llamataboot]

I mean, counter-cultures are complex in terms of what they question and what they absorb as immutable, etc. But arguably the 60s in the US and across the Western world were way more confrontational and itching-for-revolution than most counter-cultures are today.

I mean, let's not get distracted by the acoustic guitar, a lot of protest folk music was explicitly calling for the abolition of capitalism, the end of US military dominance, etc.

[mc32]

The 60s and 70s were more than Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. It was Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin and Motown, etc. There were protests and protest songs but it’s wasn't the majority. And Japan pretty much skipped the whole thing.