When a Pop Musician Says it . . .

       It’s one thing for those of us in the choral profession to bemoan the state of current music.  After all, the promotion of historically viable music is our gig.  But when a hipster pop musician starts saying things like “the loss of melody has been a major contributor to the decline in music’s standing in American culture,” one must admit to feelings of vindication.

     The following is an excerpt from the column, “Top Ten Reasons Why the Music Industry is Failing,” by Ramin Streets, a singer/songwriter and entrepreneur from Chicago

 

       There seems to be a serious lack of musicianship at play across so many of the song artists that are signed to major labels. It’s become common knowledge that some of the most famous folks priding themselves on their singing ability rely way too heavily on auto-tune. There used to be a running joke about certain bands that made their living (and their hits) only playing 3 chords (nothing wrong with it – i.e. The Ramones). Yet now it really seems to have gone too far. Where are the virtuoso instrumentalists? Where are the guitar and drum heroes? The fact that we need video games to get our fix vs. seeing the real hero perform the real licks at a real show only further points to the fact that a deep seated need amongst music lovers is just not being served properly anymore.