The downfall of music

My friend, Gordon, sent me a link to a great YouTube video worth watching. It's about how music has changed and, in the opinion of the presenter, not for the better. You can watch it by clicking here. The program goes into great detail how most of today's pop music has been reduced from creative energies of bands like the Beatles with their rich timbres, harmonies, and orchestral shadings, to the one-dimensional synth, drum machine, and two-word lyrics of Timberlake, Swift, Gaga, and Mars. The ruination of all that's good in music including dynamics (the loudness wars). As I began to write these words I was reminded they are mirror copies of my parent's generation describing how those same Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Hendrix, and Zappas destroyed the Armstrongs, Bennets, Primas, Holidays, and Fitzgeralds of their day. And though I wasn't there for the condemnation and outright hatred when music morphed from Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Chopin, and Brahms to the modern compositions of Orf, Ravel, Stravinsky, Gershwin, and Cage, I can only imagine the angst it must have caused. The wailings and head-shakings the world's falling apart at the seams. Yet, we are still here and music continues on. As much as we may or may not enjoy different forms of music, we should broaden our scopes as wide as humanly possible. Music is a reflection of the times and we certainly live in interesting times.