Talk about Pop Muzik

Alec Molloy

I resign from pop music. Fuck you. Whist watching the travesty that was the MTV Video Music Awards, I came to the tipping point. It seemed as though Facebook exploded as soon as Kanye West got up on the stage and took the microphone from Ms. Swift. Teenage America has become obsessed with the products of record labels, most of whom, haven’t a sliver of talent in their body. I don’t mean to attack all music that has become assimilated into pop culture, but it does seem to be that as soon as you break out into the spotlight it is difficult to get out.
People like Britney Spears, Heidi Montag and pretty much anyone associated with the Disney Corporation have been picked out of obscurity to become cultural icons. This quasi rags-to-riches story is utterly disheartening. To see our world become infatuated with these factory-made stars makes me start to agree with all those miserable old farts who like to start off every sentence with “Kids these days...”.
It seems like pop music today is a complete bastardization of what it meant many years ago. Good music to me is something that is able to give a complete sensation of awe at the talent of the artist; something that should almost make me feel inadequate. I want to hear sounds that have heart and soul put into them, timings that while seem off at first, meld together in to the most mind-blowing mastery of mathematical musical creation. Lyrics that I listen to have a simple meaning, but then after deep pondering, come up meaning something completely different. Bands like Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens and Animal Collective have all satisfied these categories so much, that the fact that they are able to continue to do this in completely new ways without fail is a whole new dimension to unto itself.
Pop music today is so badly ridden with untalented people that in order to compensate for their inadequacies, producers now have to use computers to perfect vocals. And don’t even get me started on the lyrics. After listening to lyrical masterpieces written by Thom Yorke, I have the wonderful experience of listening to the “eloquent” shit that rappers spew. It sounds like every single song is about a girl, either who they want to bang, or who left them. They could at least try to try write something resembling poetry, but that would probably confuse the simple peons that mindlessly follow every hook and riff they spew.
Money ruins music. When an artist makes music so that they can make it rain, they have sold their soul to the devil. People who truly love beautiful music make beautiful music. Someone who is on the Billboard Hot 100 *generally* is someone who does not qualify for this category. Artists that are talented, underappreciated musical geniuses may not ever have the followings that 50 Cent or Lady Gaga have, but they will know deep down in their heart that they have made something beautiful. In part, that is what makes indie and alternative music so wonderful, that its almost like a secret club that nobody really knows about. Personally I would like to keep it that way, so to the rest of America: have fun belting out Pokerface for the umpteenth time, maybe one day you will get sick of it and come to your senses.