What you have to remember there is that was the very start of rock and roll, it was the new emerging sound , and what they could actually do was limited by equipment.

No multi tracks , and in 1957 , mostly still a bass, drums and the odd electric guitar.What you hear on those records is remarkable whether you like the genre or not, its a single take recording of the band playing the song, often recorded from a single microphone.

When you hear the nuance of harmony from somone like Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers , they get more 'music' into a recording using 5 guys stood around a mike, than modern music gets out of electronic manipulation galore.

For me, the problem is that digital production hasnt, as hoped, led to innovation and variety, its led to a formulaic releases.

We've gone from being restricted by the medium (in the '50's) to now, where the meduim has very little, if any restriction on possibilities, only to be now restricted by accountants.

There's nothing with digital recording 'per se' .It's the abuse of digital recording that's the problem i.e. The Loudness War

Smells like Teen Spirit - an approximation of how sound engineers would record it today as compared to the original recording

Bob Katz - Loudness: War & Peace

If a digital recording was recorded at similar dynamic range as old analog vinyl recordings most people wouldn't notice the difference.Trouble is music recorded with high dynamic range doesn't tend to sell very well - 'loud' / highly compressed music sells better - whatever genre it is.This is not a genre specific problem at all.Recording's from the most generic pop through to Extreme metal are all generally recorded with a high level of compression these day's.

MOR pop or acoustic folk music is as loud as Extreme Metal these days.This just made me realise why rock music is less popular in the 'charts' these days.Loud guitars / drums just don't sound as loud anymore

No problem with loud music, I like loud music, and I'm well over 35. The issue, for me, is the use of compression, which as applied to most modern recordings, beefs up the entire waveform, making for a virtually uniform level of sound that is, indeed, LOUD.

It is arguably superior to record music without over use of the technique, thus creating pieces with natural peaks and troughs. Okay, it would not have that dynamic punch of today's top tunes. But on the other hand, there are thousands upon thousands of absolutely brilliant songs made without the sort of compression used now, by the those who are still the world's best-selling artistes.

But radio sound engineers use compression as well - people who don't automatically buy their favourite artist's recordings will probably buy it because they listened to a 'radio engineers' compressed output of it.
Youtube seems to be a way for people to get recognision these days - sound quality is usually pretty bad.Youtube sort of sounds compressed because it is usually distorted as well - people seem to be willing to except it as long as it's not recorded too quietly (yet undestorted).
I wonder if streaming sites like Spotify use compression as well for original recordings which have alot of dynamics - Spotify is often claimed to be the modern equivalent to radio by some ????

Streaming media is compressed to sh*t so that multiple users can stream music or videos simultaneously without using up too much bandwidth.

YouTube is largely awful but I don't think most people mind. It's free music on demand and that's what people want.

Spotify is a bit better but it's still low bit rate for streaming and I don't know if they add more DRC but when I listen to songs they mostly sound a bit flat but I find that a problem with a lot of digitally recorded music.

I'm not an audiophile but I do appreciate music with a bit of range. Pop music especially sounds dull and lifeless. Maybe that's compression or maybe that's because the vocals are largely pushed right to the front and music (what little there is) is largely relegated to a feeble background hum. Maybe that's the X Factor effect but a lot of pop sounds practically a capella.