Was pop music always so shitty? I remember the 80s being vain and thin, but 80s “new wave” was also so self-cynical and ‘glossy with a purpose’. Today’s pop music scene seems to be filled with boy/girl bands (like brit-ney), neo-metal garbage (korn, limp bizkit, et. al.), and rap has been replaced by this bogus gangsta rap. When gangsta rap meant NWA, it meant something, I didn’t necessarily go crazy for it, but I felt emotion in it. Today’s gangsta rap has as much in common with boy/girl bands it isn’t funny. Appealing to the same demographic (namely, children), using violence to attract instead of sexual innuendo. Sigh…..

In a perfect universe, experimental artists (the likes of Autechre, Squarepusher, John Zorn, Mr. Bungle, etc…) would be truly successful. The ones that are actually pushing the envelope. Experimental music isn’t always good, don’t get me wrong, but you can usually bank on it at least being interesting…

MTV needs a revolution….. MTV needs to play music…. We _all_ realized that MTV was simply commercials for music ‘back in the day’, we accepted and loved it. Music has taken the back seat at MTV; It is now the soundtrack to whatever fad MTV is pushing at the time. MTV isn’t necessarily _good_ for music, but it could do a good job of bringing new music to the masses. Unfortunately MTV (and big radio) is under the powerful influence (mostly monetary) of the labels.

I don’t expect a sea-change, but why not start small. Your homework assignment is to go to a record shop and buy something at random. Feel free to narrow it to a genre, but try and pick a cd you have never heard of. You might like it…