Arts & Entertainment
 

Pop charts in hands of lazy fans

Unique artists have spotlight stolen by mediocre musicians

Stay Sick

Jason Gagnon

Sure, there have been a few anomalies in pop music that were actually brilliant and managed to find public approval. Recently, we had Outkast and Modest Mouse (by the way, how did it take so long for these Washington cats to get the acclaim they deserve?) actually take a risk at forwarding dying musical genres, and now they are hailed as the visionaries they are. But, aside from bands like that, it is obvious that the rankings on the Billboard charts don't mean squat and therefore, the music buying majority knows absolutely nothing about what is good. The problem is that pop music is homogenized for the purpose of making big bucks -- the only way to assure a profit is by catering to the millions of morons who feel that dinosaurs such as Rolling Stone and MTV are still relevant to music. 

But this trend is not new. If we go back through history we can see a consistent streak of lame wankers being this year's pearl by producing some of the most vile and wretched music ever conceived. I've got two words for you: Bee Gees. I don't care how many albums they've sold, because they played some downright awful music, and the millions of fans they have on this planet just confirm my notion that human beings, for the most part, are idiots. How else can you explain the baffling popularity of cretins like the Darkness or Linkin Park when vital, relevant and unique artists like Le Tigre, Turbonegro and PJ Harvey barely register as anonymous blips on the pop culture radar? 

It's not all your fault, though. You just don't know any better. Looking at Americans specifically, we are so lazy and zombified that we take whatever is thrown in our lap and contentedly plaster a goofy smile on our face. Of course you're gonna dig the Strokes if have no idea who the Velvet Underground, Television or the Pretenders are because you have not been made aware of their existence by the conglomerate music industry hype machine, let alone their superiority. 

It really says a lot about our society's priorities and collective IQ when more people vote for pre-fab, Pop Tart karaoke singers on American Idol than have voted in any presidential election. Ultimately, the burden lies on you, the consumer, to demand something better than blitzkrieg trends milked dry before the expiration date and to actually go out and explore music for yourselves and not rely on the money machine muckity-mucks to control what you listen to. Whoa, sounds like we're down with fascism now, huh?

To summarize, not all popular music is horrible, but that decent 1 percent (which is a generous estimation) should expand to encompass the whole enchilada because, after all, it is up to you to make good music popular.

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