by Eric Armstrong

Created on: February 08, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Terrible music is an epidemic. It is the Bubonic plague of the entertainment world. It spreads itself across our great nation preying on the innocent pre-teen and devouring the free will of the ignorant.
What do I mean by terrible music? Some would argue that there can be no absolute on the issue citing the relativity and subjectivity of its nature. I am here to make right this horrendous fallacy endorsed by the evil one himself. It is my design to be an informer, a truth bearer in this cold and sinister world that is so steeped in deceit and greed.

Allow me first provide some guidelines on how we are to judge between the good and the bad products of the music industry. Good music is recognizable by many characteristics. It should enlighten, enthrall, provoke deep thought, or elicit real emotion from the listener. Good music often is new and different from its contemporary counterparts. Good musicians understand this and often make it their goal to create music that slices through the ordinary and the mundane while retaining all the credibility and integrity.
Here are some examples of musicians that produce(d) good music: Wolfgang A. Mozart, J.S. Bach, Ludwig V. Beethoven, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, George Gershwin, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, (the list goes on). All of the musicians just mentioned have, in some way, positively contributed to the progression of music as a whole in their time.

Bad music is also recognizable by many characteristics. It often will evoke little or no emotion from its listeners (except that of rage for being so poor). It will usually lack accomplished musicianship or skilled songwriting. This music lacks genuine talent. In many cases bad musicians will have a professional songwriter to create their music for them or even "coaches" to teach them how to be stars.
Here are some examples of musicians that produce bad music: Britney Spears, N'Sync, Ashlee & Jessica Simpson, 50 Cent, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, Nickelback, etc. All of these musicians produce music that, to the trained musician, obviously lacks any real talent.

So, why then are there so many poor musicians making so much money? The answer is simple. The economic imperative. This is the ideology that the demands of the economy require capitalists to lower quality in order to produce a higher quantity of their product.
This principle pervades the American culture. It is used and abused regularly in every branch of commerce in order to get more for less. The

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