Musical Distaste

What is your favorite kind of music?

It's almost a universal question these days, adorning internet dating sites, email forwards, and MySpace biographies everywhere. And the answer always seems to come back the same: Everything.

I don't know if it's an American problem or a global pandemic, but it seems that there is no such thing as the discerning music fan any longer. "I like everything," is the common answer with exceptions sometimes being made for country and rap. Peoples' musical tastes range from "all of it" to "an entire musical library" to "whatever". Herein lies the problem.

There is so little emphasis being put on listening to good music that very little of it is being made. From The Baha Men to Lou Bega to Fantasia to William Hung, we can't get enough of bad music. But it doesn't stop there. There is some music that we don't know is bad.

The Black Eye Peas are one example. We listen to the catchy "Let's Get it Started" (or the original "Let's Get Retarded") and we begin to tap our feet, we sing along, we want "It" to start, without even knowing what "It" is!

In another blog post, I made mention of Lenny Kravitz. His lyrics "I wish that I could fly/Up to the sky/ So very high/ Just like a dragonfly" seem inspired by a three year old. Likewise, Madonna hasn't written any good music in at least ten years. And I'm sorry to say it, because he's one of my favorites, but if Ben Folds wasn't such a genius on the keys, he'd have never made a single record with that voice!

So what are we to do? How about turning off the radio, unplugging the iPod, changing the channel to something other than MTV, VH1, and The OC and going out to a concert--one that doesn't feature an open guitar case and a drink minimum--and discovering what real good music is. Learn to read music. Learn to compose music. Learn to discern for yourself what really is well constructed music and what is force fed garbage. When you do, go back to your iPod and erase half of your library. Keep your Paul Simon, your Appetite for Destruction, your Norah Jones. Keep your Blues Traveler. Keep your No Doubt, but throw out any solo work Gwen Stefani has ever done. Keep one Weezer album. Throw out your Britney Spears and you Cheryl Crow and your Alien Ant Farm. Pick up a copy, any copy, of a Chanticleer album and some Aaron Copland. Make these creeps earn their fame.

Then you can have diverse tastes--heavy metal, rap, folk rock, a cappella, orchestral, opera, pop--with one common denominator. They're all good.