Confessions of a Music Snob

I get a fair amount of popular music sent to me by friends, both real people I know and electronic friends (whatever that means). These people aren't musicians. They just love music and that's a wonderful thing. But the fact is that almost all of the music I get sent my way is frighteningly bad. Yes, the songs tend to be mega-sellers. They are still frighteningly bad.

I'm a music snob there is no doubt. I don't understand the ears of the listening public. For instance, the other day I was listening to something by Eric Clapton from the 1990s. By then, Clapton was old enough to know that the notes you don't play on a guitar are as important as the notes you do. He picked some good songs for the CD as well with some interesting chord progressions. But the production of the music was pure junk. It was click-tracked out the ying yang. The drums sounded artificial and mechanical. Clapton's voice, never much to being with, was inexplicably put way out in front in the mix and he sounded like a vocal metronome with his phrasing. I could barely listen. It wasn't really music.

Most of the time, it's much worse than this. The production is terrible. The song is horrible both melodically and lyrically (if there are lyrics). Everything is so simple and unintelligent musically that I know exactly what's going to happen 30 seconds ahead of time. The rhymes are just plain lame, expressing sentiments of someone with the emotional and intellectual depth of a ten year old. The singer, if there is one, can't really sing and you can hear Auto-tune bring back the notes to a precise, yet artificial sounding pitch. Or maybe worse yet, the producer has decided to Auto-tune a singer who actually is very good and by shaving every little slightly off pitch warble sucks the life right out of the song.

There is so, so much wonderful music out there, both old and new, that rarely gets listened to. I'm talking strictly about pop music here because I know hardly anyone listens to classical. The musicians are inventive. They play live without gimmicks. The singer is expressive. The songs are unique. The lyrics make you pause, they are so good. I smile uncontrollably when I hear something wonderful like that. But I also know that if I'm smiling, the music isn't going to sell a lick. I think it's precisely because the music is interesting enough to keep me listening that it bores or scares the hell out of the public.

I will never understand what makes a hit song. But then again Ray Charles said the same thing and his ears, I know, were much, much better and more critical than mine. Despite that, Ray Charles did alright for himself. I just wonder what he'd say about Lady GaGa.