Why do nearly all songs recorded in the 1970s sound so much worse than many songs recorded in the 1960s? I can’t understand it. Did recording tech go backwards? I can’t find any evidence of that (and I know quite a lot about that) but otherwise it’s difficult to explain.

It must be just stylistic, then, but why? Why was it important to people that their music sound murky and the drums be so far back in the mix they sounded like a chipmunk banging on some styrofoam cups with a toilet brush? I find most 1970s songs intolerable not just because they are vapid but because the recording is so atrocious and unlistenable.

Even though I grew up with a lot of those 1970s songs I am not at all nostalgic for any of them as they all sound so horrible.