I want to explain why this is a golden age for pop music. Appearances notwithstanding, one artist after another has figured away to redefine rhythm.
Rock has been out of favor for years but dance is just careening and the reason is at least partially tenchnology.
When you listen to Usher and Will I Am’s “OMG” (which I put high on my best of last year, and would have put higher if it had beaten out Katy), what you hear is the apex of beat and samples: everything about it delights the ear.
When you listen to Linkin Park you wanna off yourself.
Rock band after rock band failed to deliver the goods last year. Take Kings Of Leon. I liked the album fine, but it flopped so I liked it less. Ubiquitousness is an end in itself. It is why we call it popular.
Rock’s problem is its lack of popularity. It looses strength through irrelevance.
And, cmon, bad rock sucks.
Bad dance at least has a back beat.
And what’s the grading system?
Is the concept that because it won’t last it sucks? Won’t an hour get me off enough? If I buy a cup of coffee for the same price as a song, and a song lasts a week, how long does the coffee last?
If pop music is a disposable art form, is it no less an art form for being disposable. If i buy a meal and thoroughly enjoy it, do I enjoy it less the next day because I am no longer eating it?
The ephemeral nature of pop is essential to its abilities to make me happy.
I loved “OMG” -haven’t listened to it in awhile