For what it's worth, I think the current wave of modern pop is much more interesting-sounding than 80's hair metal or the pop from the earlier 2000's that was autotuned ad nauseum.

For example, look at the current top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1.) Easy On Me - Adele. Adele's music is always far from empty. She is a true artist.

2.) Stay - Kid Laroi. This may not be your type of music and there are certainly a lot vocal effect here, but there's a lot going on here rhythmically and melodically. The chord structure is also pretty unusual.

3.) We Don't Talk About Bruno - Lin-Manuel Miranda. LMM is a genius, but it's a Disney song, so let's skip this one.

4.) Glass Animals - A rare indie hit to make it to make it to the top, this one is arguable the "simplest" song on this list. It still feels like it has character and that the artist has put their stamp on it.

5.) Shivers - Ed Sheeran. If Sheeran's music feels tedious now, it might just be because his music has been at the top of the charts virtually non-stop for more than a decade. Still it's hard to deny his talent or argue that his songs are simple musical drivel.

It's fair to say that MOST of what is produced is derivative drivel, but I would say that's probably true of pretty much any era. There were tedious grunge artists, tedious metal artists, tedius disco artists, tedious arena rock artists, etc.

Compared to a good 80s track like Jump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwYN7mTi6HM all songs you listed sound limp, fake and barely even alive. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but come on, tell me I'm wrong.

You are wrong, in that a lot of those tracks listed have completely different tempos and genres from the song you're comparing. So then you're favoring '80s rock, specifically glam metal, over modern pop. You're not wrong in preferring one over the other, but there's no objective comparison to be made when the songs are playing at completely different speeds with very different styles.

Funnily enough, there is an '80s revival going on with some modern pop right now, but again then you would have to compare the original '80s new wave, synth-pop music to it and not '80s rock.

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52109397

As far as why there isn't as many modern rock top hits to compare to '80s ones... well, this decade didn't kill rock. That's a historical phenomenon that dates back to the 2000s or so.

Jump was primarily an incredible pop hit, with just a sprinkling of rock as seasoning. I'd say it crushes all those alternatives, with the exception of the Adele tune which was lovely, but agree it is hard to compare those specific two. Just too different.

That doesn't rebut my point at all! "Jump" has a completely different sound despite the synth, it's got far heavier rock instruments than everything else. You're comparing apples to doorknobs here.

Should have picked something more synthy like "I Ran" A Flock of Seagulls or A-Ha. Those are at least similar, and worth conceding their superiority to. But even that's still incomplete. The Ed Sheeran song has certain R&B beats and a sound that wasn't really present until like the late '90s imo. The Glass Animals song is even more R&B and is literally about loss and longing, so would be flattened by any song that's upbeat, completely incongruous from "Jump". Not too dissimilar, "Stay" is a mopey teenage relationship song, and thus would have a certain angsty lower energy.

So, not even the wrong genres, but wrong emotional beats entirely.

These details aren't particularly relevant in a bouncy pop song.

Not all pop is created equal. If you want a substantiative discussion about music, you need to go beyond facile comparisons. Genres are immense and myriad, especially in the modern day. Just because pop means popular doesn't mean it's within the genre of pop- most of the aforementioned songs are closer to moody R&B!

There are probably better, higher-energy, modern songs to compare with "Jump." Here are #19 and #20 in the current top 40.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVaG6adE2mA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oq4heYOdQ0 (an actual rock band, from Italy)

But again, because rock has ceased to be the influential force it used to be, comparisons are going to be very imprecise. And Top 40 itself is a snapshot, not necessarily the best an era has to offer. For reference, here are some pop songs in the past couple years that have been bigger hits both in terms of the charts and the critics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NRXx6U8ABQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUVcZfQe-Kw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adLGHcj_fmA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNi_6U5Pm_o

If you wish to dissent without substantiation, that is your perogative. However, if you wish to substantively compare eras of music, it behooves you to actually examine the music involved. If not, you cede the argument entirely.

It's most ironic that this discussion began with you touting "Jump", yet your reluctance to continue the discussion betrays the spirit of the song: "You've got to roll / With the punches to get to what's real." Eddie would be most disappointed.

You are wrong. Heck, even Jump was criticized to hell and back for being synth garbage instead of the shred metal that Van Halen was known for prior to that song.

There has never been a time in history when more great music was being created and made accessible to the masses than today. And I say that as a crotchety jazz nerd.

VH was never metal, they started before it with hard-blues reminiscent of Led Zeppelin with a party posture, then added piano chords and pop sensibility via synth. They were only in the neighborhood due to EVH imitators.

There's nothing bluesy about "Right Now."

So what? It certainly isn't metal either.

But it does shred.

I had never actively checked out the Billboard Hot 100 until you mentioned it just now. I had to laugh at how blissfully unaware I had been at the amount of country music that comes out of the USA!

Going through those 100 songs, pop music doesn't seem to be noticeably worse than 20 years ago - except when it comes to the sheer volume of mumble rap. It stands out to me as uncharacteristically bad/monotonous/derivative/etc (and I say this as someone who was a big hip-hop fan all through the 80s/90s/2000s).

I don't think it's just a matter of taste, either, because I definitely don't like most of the chart (Adele/country/indie/etc), but I would never say it's lacking in musicality. Mumble rap is just irredeemably bad.