“Music sucks now, dude.” Those were the words I heard my stepbrother Jason say to my other stepbrother Jeremy during a recent family vacation. I started to disagree, but instead I stopped to think about the statement, and I think he may be right.

It seems like music is simply not what it used to be. I think that living in the digital age is having the biggest impact on the industry. I mean, why hire a drummer for a studio project when you can use a program to do the drums for you. Also, if your lead singer does not sing great all of the time then just record twenty takes and cut together the best pieces to make the song.

I like listening to rock music of pretty much any subgenre, but I have really come to like classic rock. One of my favorite qualities about this music is how real it sounds, for the most part. Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s when a band recorded a song in studio, they performed it themselves without the aid of a lot of today’s technology.

This meant that whatever came out of the takes went on the record, so bands would pretty much sound the same whether someone listened to them live in concert or at home on a record player. There is even a push going on now from some music lovers to bring back records and the analog format.

New digital technology means that anyone with Pro Tools can cut together a song and digitally enhance the music. This can be great, but sometimes it ends up making the song sound to engineered, or even made up. For instance, a few years ago I bought a dual-CD set of Breaking Benjamin’s album “Phobia” that included an entire live concert performance on DVD. I popped in the DVD and was shocked at how poor the lead singer’s voice sounded compared to on the CD. While I still think that Benjamin Burnley is a decent singer, clearly he is benefitting from some digital editing on the CDs.

Taylor Swift also comes to mind. The first time I ever heard her on the radio was nothing like the first time I heard her sing live on TV. Let’s just say that the live performance was bad. My first college roommate even refused to listen to her music because of how “made up” it was.

The real winner in the digital age is the film industry because movies now are way better (in my humble opinion) than movies from our parents’ childhoods. I think Bob Seger said it best when he sang, “today’s music ain’t got the same soul.” When it comes to music, I like that “Old Time Rock & Roll.”