I was never a big radio listener. Mostly background noise. And now even more so. In the age of Spotify and YouTube and Amazon, I can’t see why anyone would listen the radio anymore for music (and podcasts seem to have replaced talk radio in many respects). I don’t think I’ve used the radio in my car for anything other than listening to Korean news and commentary in years.
But now it seems that not only is listening to the radio worthless in general, it’s also worthless in that there just isn’t any good music anymore. There’s a radio in the restroom where I work, and it almost seems that the same song is playing every time I walk in there. The genre apparently changes…I can tell when they’re playing a “country” song versus pop and hip-hop…but within each, there just isn’t any real difference.
And there’s one mark of almost all of the music that is especially prevalent: the use of auto-tune. It’s at its worst in hip-hop, followed closely by pop, and maybe just not so blatant in country. But it’s there. Nothing in the world – to include fingers on a chalk board or a fork on a dinner plate – disturbs me more than auto-tune. And of course, since it’s used in just about every song “written” (I use the quotes, because I don’t think anyone even sits down to “write” music anymore – they just throw some crap into a machine and let it do the work), that means just about every song made today pretty much makes me physically ill.
Now, being that I’m a big fan of our constitution and the American way of life, I’m not going to call for a ban (or even a boycott). I’m an adult. I can mitigate the possibilities that I might encounter such swill by being always at the ready with noise-cancelling earbuds and my own playlist. Yes, it’s sad, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice. Still, I can at least ask (plead) that the “industry” comes to its senses and mercifully puts modern “music” out of its misery. Let’s face it – it’s all been done before. Especially now. There’s no reason why they can’t just go back and find actual good music to play. No need to “create” new music. It has no chance whatsoever of being good, just recycled at best.
Still, I’m not hopeful. I know that money is what drives this all, and apparently the youth of today don’t know what good music is, so the machine that creates the current garbage can still crank it out and be pretty safe. It doesn’t have to last (I write this as I’m listening to an album that came out in 1974 and is still one of the greatest ever recorded) – it just has to rope in enough of those who don’t know any better.