Claire Bernish, Antimedia - Ten years ago, the most popular songs read between a third and fourth grade level, but the inanity only increased with time, and after a five-year downward tumble ending in 2014 (the last year of the study), chart-topping hits had a reading level equivalent to second or third grade. Broken into genres, the levels measured just 2.6 for Hip-hop/R&B, a tie of 2.9 for Rock and Pop, and faring best was Country at 3.3 ...
Even further to that point, the most intellectually stimulating song, Blake Shelton’s Country hit “All About Tonight”, measured just 5.8, while wading deeply into the ludicrous was Three Days Grace’s “The Good Life”, at a level equivalent to 0.8 — begging the question, did they have to try to craft lyrics a kindergartner could easily read?
When just six corporations control 90% of the media, and 80% of radio stations have identical playlists, mindless content isn’t a choice — it’s a virtual mandate. In this self-propelled cycle of banality, the conglomerates dictate content to be promoted by radio, which in turn pushes it endlessly, creating a false perception that what is being played is due to listener demand. But this insidious marketing ploy is more akin to kidnapping and is every bit as dangerous.
There is a dearth in music options over the airwaves, so when vacuous lyrics are foisted on listeners, they become captives under duress. It is scientifically proven that flexing the intellect can slow cognitive decline, but there has been a cultural shift away from stimulating thought in favor of homogenization and living for the moment, and empty radio content is both symptom and reinforcement of that trend. Society is focused on entertainment, materialism, and self-promotion, and when coupled with a need for instant gratification, it’s really no wonder we’re in such a sorry state.
Just as radio drama was replaced by tv, radio music is replaced by satellite. But sirius is still vastly incomplete there is a Sinatra channel but not a Jobim one. Youtube is where the good music has gone, such as the 1995 Grateful Dead concert at the Memphis pyramid, and several 50'sJune Carter comedy tv appearances. Or Mingus in concert with Dolphy. TV eliminated the variety show, but Youtube allows you to make your own. TCM aired a remarkable Bob Wills short this week with unique western swing square dancing. Jerry Lewis, in the Disorderly Orderly got tv time with a cameo by the great Jack E. Leonard. What happened in the 50s is blacks like Chuck Berry and teens like Buddy Holly turned country into a classical form, just as whites like Elvis turned black music into a classical form. Dvorak had already demonstrated how to do this in the New World symphony. Jobim did this for the samba, Ellington for jazz. The Disneyfication of music makes tonality the dominant factor such that melody is subordinated. The degradation of melody was already notable in the failure of any current US composer to even try to imitate Bachrach or Jobim. Wynton Marsalis became stuck in Duke Ellington of the 1947 era but thats a good thing, and may serve as a model for other composers to attain cultural literacy.
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