Who says there's no good music anymore?

Memes are the scourge of Facebook. The comedic ones are never funny; those dealing with politics tend to be aimed at preschoolers. The rest are just regurgitated Hallmark cards. Some days my timeline is so full of this junk that I’ve considered deleting my account.

A few days ago, though, I finally saw one worth re-posting. “‘There is no good, new music’ is a phrase generally used by people too lazy to check out anything released after they graduated high school.”

This is so true! As a person who is too embarrassed to admit the age I’m about to turn next month, I hear these sentiments on an almost daily basis by those in my demographic. It’s the reason so many bands with only one or two original members can still count on making big bucks whenever they make their annual return to our city.

I have nothing against those bands. There is certainly a place for nostalgia in your music listening. My journey to see the Replacements last September is honestly not that much different than the thousands that were so excited for the Eagles and Bob Seger hitting our city earlier this year.

The problem isn’t the continued love and existence of acts whose best day are long gone. It’s the immediate dismissal of anything not from their favorite decade. Every era has great music, and that is true for all genres.

Granted, it’s not as easy to find new bands these days. In past decades, commercial radio had a great track record in discovering the best tracks of the period. Even in the ‘80s, college radio existed to mop up everything missed by “regular” radio.

Thanks to corporate mergers and shortened playlists, the vast majority of releases have zero chances of airplay. The record companies and radio stations have all merged into just a handful of companies. There’s no DJ in a small market turning an obscure single into a national hit, as there’s some consultant in a Dallas office deciding what every station in the country is going to play.

Because of this, to an extent I get the frustrations of people my age who aren’t hearing modern versions of the sounds of their youth. It takes work these days to discover music, and most people just don’t have the time or energy. Again, that doesn’t mean “there’s no good, new music.”

Here’s my advice if you have any desire to update your music library. Investigate. Go old school and visit a local record store. A good friend of mine who travels a lot has a desire to pick up local music in every city he visits. At the local indie record store, he’ll simply ask if there’s any local releases that are in any ways similar to a small list of his favorite artists. Inevitably, he walks out the door with at least a couple records he had never heard of before entering the store.

Despite the cliches of hipster clerks, record store employees do enjoy turning people on to music. Do what my friend does. Tell them your likes, and odds are they’ll hook you up. Or pick up a music magazine, particularly British publications such as “Mojo” or “Uncut.” If something looks interesting, preview it in Spotify or Apple Music.

Better yet, find a friend who is a music nerd and go old school. Have them put together a mix disc, or go modern with a playlist. I have found that’s the best way to not only get turned on to unknown music, but it’s also the best way for me to brainwash others.

If you’re content with your current library and have no interest in finding new bands, that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with having your own personal music niche. Just don’t dismiss entire eras or genres based only on what the media proclaims to be the biggest stars, as there is more to the music world than Rhianna and One Direction.