Question of the Day - May 3, 2009

TheHolodigm.com

THE MUSIC REVOLUTION

Logan Metz asks:

I feel like people are getting dumber because of Pop music today. There is no trace of poetry, intellectualism, or meaning in music anymore. In fact, MUSIC ITSELF seems to be dead. Take Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, 99% of hip-hop stars, and DJs/"beat-makers" for example. None can write music, sing music, play music, read music, or even understand music. Why has the world devolved so drastically? Why do people like this ♥♥♥♥? Why are there brilliant, talented, good-looking artists who will never be heard? It seems that, for a legitimate music revolution to take place, everyone is just going to have to get smarter. Where is the hope?

Hartmann responds:

The revolution goes on within you and without you. The public has been dumbed down by formulaic music purveyed by the four dominant record powerhouses and their illegitimate child, Top 40 Radio. In the pursuit of big bucks music itself has been consigned to the back burner of the commercial spectrum. The best selling albums today are more a product of celebrity than music. There are a handful of gold albums and only a few platinum releases this year. A number one album may only have net sales of 100,000 units. This is not enough to sustain the infrastructure that rose from the huge sales and high profits that were produced in the postmodern era. When the youth are exposed to music with less sophisticated content they embrace it anyway, because they don't know better. As the audience matures and spreads its musical wings across more genres, better quality songs and musical virtuosity their taste level rises above the mediocre. The Jonas Brothers, however cute, do not have the talent to sustain long term careers as musicians. The good news is that there is hope. "The Next Big Thing" always explodes out of such a decline in musical integrity. It is the calm before the storm. Usually a new genre, results from a competitive race for supremacy by two or more new forms. Singer songwriters and electronica seem to be competing at this time. One variation is a combination of genres called Pop Reggae which is flourishing in Florida. This is a hybrid of big band electronic music and the reggae beat. All it will take is a superstar to emerge and the hungry ears of youth will follow the leader.