Is music getting shorter these days?

[Triton4]

I was wondering if the music nowadays is getting shorter, i.e songs are barely 3 minutes long nowadays, compared to older songs from 80s and early 90s that were, on an average, about 5 to 6 minutes long.

Have anyone of you noticed this?

[Cylob]

No, it's not getting shorter....

It depends entirely on the band and their style. Take punk and post-punk (late 70's and early 80's), many tracks were less than 3 minutes. That was the style.

Indie bands have always excelled at the short track. The Jesus & Mary Chain, Pop Will Eat Itself, R.E.M. etc. Of course, The Smiths!

Do you have any examples?

As Jones says...........

[Mr Jones]

Yeah, but go back to the 50's and 60's etc etc and compare again, how long was the average Beatles song anyhow, some of the early stuff was pure two minute wonders.

Songs from the 80s and so on were just pumped full of extra rubbish to pad them out, 'twas the era of making everything big, big hair, big clothes, big music.

Just look at your own sig for example, Frankie were the kings of over inflation, how many un-needed bass guitar solos or drum loops featured in their songs, same goes for a lot of 80's bands, they just overstretched music to make it seem more grandious.

[Triton4]

Cylob - I'll give you specific examples in a while.

MrJones - I agree with the fact that FGTH used a no. of unnecessary samples in their music. But this, by now way, is a measure of their quality of music.

True, there may be extraneous stuff in their recordings, but if you think further, you will realize that it was mainly due to the fierce competition that existed in the music industry (the 80s represent the birth of commercial music).

Their style of music was dynamically changing from 1983, when their big-hit 'Relax' was released, upto their last album in 1987; but Frankie have always maintained their quality throughout the years, which is why they are one of the all-time great artists.

[Mr Jones]

I didn't mean it to come over as a reflection of their quality, indeed I've been a fan of FGTH since day one, however I recognise overblown when I hear it, and great chunks of Pleasuredome were just that, over blown, Liverpool was a much tighter album all around.

Don't forget however, that a lot of the Frankie sound was down to Trevor Horn and his production, and if you take a look at some other stuff Horn has produced you can spot similar stylings in it.

[Triton4]

Liverpool is their best album to date

Getting back on topic, I not really into 60s or 70s music - my reference was basically with 80s music, so probably you can judge better

[Vie]

So how would you class underworld, who has never produced a song shorter than 7 mins?

[NJK]

It all depends on the style of music - bands that make albums and hope to get airplay make short songs- because nowdays radiostations don't play long versions anymore- but like Cylob said above - there are still lots of bands that don't care about airplay ( album bands) and just make music like they want to make it - with track up to 10 or 11 minuts.

[Triton4]

because nowdays radiostations don't play long versions anymore

They don't play long versions anymore? But why?

[NJK]

Originally posted by Triton4
They don't play long versions anymore? But why?

most stations are commercial -

take a hour of broadcasting subtract 10 minuts for news and weather at the top of the hour-
subtract 20 min of mindless talking by the dj and you are left with 30 min to play as much as posible - so all short songs - you can find in more songs that way

[marvinbarcelona]

I'd rather have 2 minutes 30 seconds of musical brilliance, than 4 minutes of over-indulgent crap.