A couple of things gave me inspiration to follow up our "What Is Good In Music" series with the logical arguments for what in music is not good. First, I got a laugh out of this photo, attributed to Chicago music store Laurie's Planet of Sound, of a list of artists never to buy used:
This week I also had a conversation with a colleague about their refusal to play what I considered to be viable, even vital new music on their radio show. The exchange left me thinking about the divides that separate our tastes, and how they are at times bridged, but mostly left gaping wide. These differences of opinion are essential, however, to our musical journey. Without variation, our collective pool of taste would stagnate and fester. While there are a few who enjoy one small niche exclusively, they are thankfully the tiniest minority. No one else really wants the music world to be just one flavor of ice cream.
This series will tackle the questions of whether it is possible to define what is bad music (and therefore what that music is), and also the broader phenomenon of what is bad IN music, which can include everything from the business to the culture to technology and so on.
I'll be writing this article with my own observations and yours as well. Please leave me a comment below or drop an email to linguamusicashow@gmail.com to let me know if you would like to join in!
Now if I could just find a copy of that Mojo Nixon song...