Interesting read about the dumbing down with/of music

[Glimmer]

And it's not only music. It's the mindless sitcoms, reruns of the same dumb movies, spectacular but empty newsflashes, the non subjects made big in news and media.. Total lack of intellectual stimulation.. Imagine growing up in a enviroment like this..

Quote: A recent study served to confirm the patently obvious: song lyrics for the most popular genres of music are ridiculously obtuse — and getting worse over time. Though this might not be a revelation, the figures are distressing indicators of both an intellectually vapid societal and cultural future as well as its apparent inevitability.

If you’ve already moved away from Billboard music, congratulations, you refuse to be insulted. But if you haven’t, or if you’re concerned about pop culture trends acting as portents of systemic dysfunction, you should probably pay attention. Andrew Powell-Morse of SeatSmart studied the “Lyric Intelligence” of 225 Billboard songs in the Pop, Country, Hip-hop, and Rock genres that spent three or more weeks parked at the top of the charts to analyze any changes over the course of ten years. And change there was.

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 — though declaring a winner in this insipid race to the bottom seems somewhat defeatist. 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?

So how did this happen and why is it getting even worse? For the sake of brevity, this is a systemic issue being reinforced across the board by pandemic anti-intellectualism. Some have argued there is no harm in a bit of mindless distraction, but this is incontrovertibly false. 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. Occasional forays into mindless distraction would be understandable and harmless if they were just forays, but the foundation is faulty due to a sharp decline in quality education at every level.

Education has become the highest form of indoctrination with teachers forced into regurgitating information so their students can pass tests rather than become innovators and original thinkers. And who could blame them? Currently, they’re held to the ridiculous system where their performance is ranked, and salary determined by how those students perform on standardized tests that are, themselves, flawed. As Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, put it, “This country has spent billions on accountability, not on the improvement of teaching and learning at the classroom level.”

An education system based almost solely on taking tests is not only intellectually dimming, it’s stressful — instructors doling out the tests are given a set of instructions for what to do when students vomit on their test booklets. All of this is designed to send students to college where the situation is perpetuated. According to Catherine Liu, a film and media studies professor at the University of California, “We don’t educate people anymore. We train them to get jobs.”

From a political standpoint, all this ‘dumbing down’ makes sense: indoctrination creates obedience. If music and culture focus on mindless diversion, and education lacks, well, education, then people lack the acuity necessary to question the absurdity of the system. Those who manage to liberate themselves from this mold and have the gumption to question official authority will find a cozy spot on the government’s watch list. So while we bemoan our country’s lack of intellectual prowess, it isn’t by a failure of design.

Source: http://theantimedia.org/how-popular-musi...an-idiocy/

[EVILYOSHIDA]

the swedish pop music farms have figured out the formula for what makes a hit pop song.

so they are all going by the formula now

back in the 90's something like GNR's november rain was a top hit.

heck even Bjork's stuff was mainstream.

today Bjork or radiohead would be considered experimental. back then it was just pop.

[Glimmer]

(08-26-2017 12:27 AM)EVILYOSHIDA Wrote:  the swedish pop music farms have figured out the formula for what makes a hit pop song.

so they are all going by the formula now

back in the 90's something like GNR's november rain was a top hit.

heck even Bjork's stuff was mainstream.

today Bjork or radiohead would be considered experimental. back then it was just pop.

Yes you're right with that. in the 90's there was a lot of room for creative artist, and they where accepted. Now the scene is closed by the big labels and it all has the same dull sound. Luckily with spotify and that sort of mediums people can get much easier acces to better music and artist, even when the mainstream is pushed hard on the platforms

[Glimmer]

(08-26-2017 12:27 AM)EVILYOSHIDA Wrote:  the swedish pop music farms have figured out the formula for what makes a hit pop song.

so they are all going by the formula now

back in the 90's something like GNR's november rain was a top hit.

heck even Bjork's stuff was mainstream.

today Bjork or radiohead would be considered experimental. back then it was just pop.

Sorta like this. And the funny thing is.. it is catchy..

[EVILYOSHIDA]

the music now is too modular and calculated.

the best music flows and surprises you

also focusing on sound character and timbre is great important. with every chord progression being done to death.. i think it's more important to concentrate on sound character more and arrangement.

the truth is people don't give a shit about music anymore. there is too much of it. and it's all the same left wing nonsense.

music shouldn't be a fun type of thing.. it should be seen as sacred to some extent. but people just like to have fun with disco and nonsense. pathetic.

[Redneck]

Music is one of the most powerful forms of magic.

[EVILYOSHIDA]

yes and studies confirm that diff types of music have an effect on the growth of plants

[EVILYOSHIDA]

people should actually listen to less music instead of more music. do not explore all types of music but get a feeling for what you want and then explore that.

it really blows my mind how bad the pop music is today

actually RAP and TRAP today is not bad and is quite innovative. not my cup of tea but at least they are doing something interesting with it.

[jho]

America has achieved peak Idiocracy.

[EVILYOSHIDA]

dull musics deluxe meals for errr one!!

[jho]

The Globohomo art style

[EVILYOSHIDA]

[Count Iblis]

I'm totally on board with vaccinating the non-whites first.

[EVILYOSHIDA]

whoever is promoting the vaccine should be vaccinated first

Did Bill Gates get vaccinated by random draw on public TV? or did he just say he got vaxxed?