David Gilmour Thinks Most Modern Music Is ‘Very Formulaic’
After the 20-year hiatus that followed 1994's 'The Division Bell,' there was clearly plenty of pent-up demand for new music from Pink Floyd, but guitarist David Gilmour thinks that isn't the only reason for the massive pre-order sales that greeted the band's new 'Endless River' album.
Gilmour recently sat for an interview with CNN, and didn't mince words when asked for his thoughts regarding the LP's early sales success. "God, I’m going to sound like a grumpy old man," he admitted, before arguing, "Modern music, to me, is very formulaic."
He went on to bolster his claim, adding, "My children, who are now in their late teens and in their twenties, all went through phases of thinking the Beatles were the greatest thing on the planet. There are an awful lot of young people who are searching back through older music for something real, or more original. Maybe they’re looking for something they’re not getting; something that’s not made quite so robotically."
Of course, given that Gilmour collaborated with techno outfit the Orb for the 2010 album 'Metallic Spheres,' he isn't entirely dismissive of "robotically" made music -- or of modern sounds in general. He also went on to suggest that some of his feelings might stem from a generation gap, shrugging that "I’m not delving into the whole of the world’s music as much as I would have done when I was a younger person."
Gilmour's been quite open about his hopes for 'The Endless River' as an old-fashioned listening experience in the shuffling and streaming era, musing in the record's nine-minute press kit that "You have to get into the right mood to listen to this. There are lots of people who still love to listen to music that way -- listen to a whole piece all the way through and get really into the mood of the whole thing, rather than listening to shorter pieces. This is for them, really."
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