Watched the MTV awards that night

Its somewhat entertaining along the lines of a circus perhaps, but musically MTV keeps lowering the bar every year. The early glory days of teh 80s and the music videos then seem like Beethoven in comparison. Can it go any lower?

Pop music has always been pretty lowest common denominator. The LCD has changed a lot and probably broadened over teh years resulting in a bunch of stuff that mostly all sounds and looks the same.

Its all the other stuff always around that gets factored into it and lost in the shuffle worth seeking out. It'll be different strokes for different folks, not the amorphous blob basement dwelling LCD.

The LCD almost always consists of:

1) hot girls and/or the talented girl next door
2) cute or hunky guys
3) catchy beats
4) pushing the boundaries of morality of the day
5) lots of attitude. At least as much as teh masses will tolerate which is a lot these days.

The only thing that changes really with pop music is how all this plays out at any particular time.

You don't hear much about Al Jolson anymore these days, but yes, he was the biggest star of his time as I recall.

Says a lot.

The thing is with modern technology/production, there is so much done to beef up a production technically, often with a single sound/style in mind that will appeal to the masses, that the individual talent of the actual performer matters less than ever. Its kinda like fast food, crank it out for the masses. All driven by marketing and metrics across an increasingly diverse demographic of consumers. The results are very lowest common denominator. Real individual unique talents will appeal to just a subset of the target audience.

So it is what it is. The smart thing to do is to maybe just accept pop culture for what it is and enjoy it or not, but seek your individual musical pleasures elsewhere. There is more of that out there to find and enjoy than ever. Some of it dating back to the earliest recordings made almost a century ago.

I have a 2 record Jolson compilation that I recall being pretty darn good. I need to give that another spin.

Jolson was still a popular legacy act when I was a kid in teh early 60s. I recall TV ads pitching Jolson recordings. I never paid much attention. The Beatles were breaking and all that. Plus old records sounded crappy on the cheap gear I had back then. Now those old recordings are entrancing, especially when digitally remastered well.

Read his writeup on Wikipedia. fascinating stuff!

How'd we start on Al Jolson in a thread about VMA awards again? A good omen maybe.