The Best Music Is Behind Us.

But that’s a good thing. Here’s why…

This essay began as a “Best Album of 2025” post, where I was going to share my favourite album of the year and what I loved about it. As you would have noticed from the title, though, it grew into something entirely different. Why?

Well, according to Spotify’s Wrapped analytics, my favourite artist of 2025 (who I listened to for 5,495 minutes) has been dead for 275 years. Yep! The genius of geniuses J.S. Bach is my favourite artist of the year. In fact, Spotify tells me I’m a top 0.07% global fan of Bach. That’s my new claim to fame!

And my favourite Bach pieces of 2025 are the Goldberg Variations, which were published in 1741. So my favourite music of this year is almost 300 years old. My favourite recording of this masterpiece is by Trevor Pinnock and the Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble. This album is new, but it’s not from 2025 either. It’s five years old.

So now you can see why my “Best Album of 2025” essay morphed into this post, which will be a reflection on the state of music. And unsurprisingly, my conclusion is that the best music is old. Very old. But (and it’s a big but), that’s a good thing. Very good. Let me explain why…

Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox.

The great composers of the past, like Bach, reached a level that we can’t comprehend. It’s like the architecture of ancient civilizations, which we can’t even recreate nowadays, let alone surpass. Exactly how this level of genius was achieved is beyond the scope of the present essay, though it is a fascinating question with many fascinating hypotheses. For now, though, it’s enough to simply acknowledge the fact that we can’t reach Bach’s level nowadays, let alone surpass it.

“So how’s that a good thing?”, I hear you asking. Well, there are two answers. One from a listener’s perspective. And one from a songwriter’s perspective.

For the modern-day listener, who’s being bombarded by hundreds of thousands of new songs uploaded to Spotify and Apple every day, the fact that the best music is behind us should come as a monumental relief! We can all rest assured that nothing new is ever going to come close to the great composers, so we can let go of our FOMO (fear of missing out).

By all means, listen to some new music here and there, if you want. I do. And I enjoy a lot of it, too. For example, I’m absolutely loving the new Chronixx album titled “Exile”. But, let’s all continually remind ourselves that while some new music is good and enjoyable, when we compare its level of composition to Bach and the other great composers, it doesn’t come close.

Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox.

In other words, instead of going down the bottomless rabbit-hole of new music, find your favourite handful of Bach albums (or Mozart, or whichever of the great composers resonates most with you), and get to know their music intimately. And we can all do this relaxed in the knowledge that we could not be listening to anything better.

On that note, I’d love to know which of the great composers is your favourite, so please let me know in the comments. Also, I don’t paywall any of these essays as I don’t want to exclude anyone. If you’re enjoying this and want me to make more, please support my work by becoming a paid subscriber. It’s only about the cost of one coffee per month, but if enough people join, then I can pay the rent and keep doing this work. To sign up, please visit HackMusicTheory.com/Join.

If you can’t afford to at the moment, though, no problem. You can give Hack Music Theory a 5-star rating in your podcast app, that supports my work too. Either way, thank you so much! Right, now back to the topic at hand…

In addition to ridding us of the fear of missing out, this minimalist approach to listening (i.e. focusing on the great composers) also decreases the stress and anxiety we feel from trying to keep up with new music. Living in this day and age of infinite music is overwhelming. It’s impossible to keep up, like trying to drink from a firehose. Yet we feel that we should try. The only thing this accomplishes, though, is turning joyful activities (like listening to music) into stressful chores.

Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox.

Now, why is the fact that the best music is in the past a good thing from a songwriter’s perspective? Because, it takes all the pressure off us. Hallelujah! We’ll never be as good as Bach, or Mozart, or any of the other great composers (of which there are hundreds). But nobody else will be as good as them either. None of us will even come close to their level. So there’s no competition. What a monumental relief, right?

In this extremely competitive world we’re living in, it’s liberating to know that this competition is closed. The winner has been announced. It’s over. So, we can all let go of our competitive tendencies, and just make music for the sheer joy of it. What a wonderful gift Bach and Mozart and all the other great composers have given us.

And it gets even better than that. There’s also a never-ending list of health benefits we get from making music. If you’re interested in learning more about that, check out my essay titled Making Music is Hard. Why Bother?.

Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox.

And if you’re ready to begin your musical journey, you can start right now by reading my free book 12 Music Theory Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords. It only takes about half an hour to read, then you’ll have a solid foundation of the basics.

Next, you can take my Songwriting & Producing “crash course”. It’s only 1-hour long, and consists of 12 short videos. You’ll learn how to write great lead melodies, backing melodies, chord progressions, bass lines, drum beats, vocals and lyrics. It also includes my bestselling Songwriting & Producing