who's an ignoramus?

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

behold it was written by somebody--
>>There was a time in this country's musical history when a significant number
>>of people (listeners and music industry execs) were capable of judging song
>>quality and performance talent. Over the years the number of people with
>>this level of education and judgment has sadly declined. Instead, we are
>>left largely with music of very low quality, delivered by dreadful
>>writers/performers, largely to the ignoramuses who listen.

Auntie Donna, your very civil broadcast historian reminds you that in 1901,
ragtime was called low-class and vulgar.  In 1921, jazz was accused of
leading to delinquency and causing pregnancy.  In the 1950s, everyone from
Tin Pan Alley accused rock of being without merit and totally devoid of
musical talent.  It goes on and on and on.  Yup, there is a lot of garbage
out there right now, and yup a lot of stations are BOOOOORING.  But there
are still some excellently-written and intelligent songs out there, still
some artists who ARE creative.  I am hesitant to blame today's music on
'ignoramuses' any more than I would agree that the music of the 50s or the
60s was inherently superior to music from (pick a decade).  Let's keep it
all in perspective-- there has always been crap, songs that should never
have been hits.  But there have also been songs that amazed me by how good
they were, and they DID become hits.  I guess not everyone out there is
stupid all the time... and it's a good thing!     

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