Pop music = crap
You already know this, but here’s confirmation that pop music = crap:
About one-third of hit songs — including three-quarters of rap songs — have some form of explicit reference to drug, alcohol or tobacco use, a new study found.
“Overall, 116 of the 279 unique songs (41.6 percent) had a substance use reference of any kind. Ninety-three songs (33.3 percent) contained explicit substance use references,” wrote the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers.
Just under 3 percent of the songs mentioned smoking, but almost 24 percent touched on alcohol use, close to 14 percent depicted marijuana use and 11.5 percent depicted other or unspecified substance use, the researchers noted.
The researchers did their study by analyzing Billboard magazine’s 279 most popular songs of 2005.
The overall rate of references varied widely by musical genre. One or more references to substance use were found in 48 of 62 rap songs (77 percent); 22 of 61 country songs (36 percent); 11 of 55 R&B/hip-hop songs (20 percent); nine of 66 rock songs (14 percent); and three of 35 pop songs (9 percent).
Of the 93 songs with explicit substance use references, the behaviors were frequently associated with partying (54 percent), sex (46 percent), violence (29 percent) and/or humor (24 percent). In these songs, substance use was most often motivated by peer/social pressure (48 percent) or sex (30 percent).
Wait ’til they get to 2007!
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wait til the get to the violence and sexism in lyrics could delay the results even more.
So… if you remove all references to drugs, alcohols or tobacco, what you end up with is an instrumental?
I believe in the Country category, drinking is associated with prison, dogs, pickup trucks and wimmin’…not necessarily in that order.
That about sums it up, no reason to say DUH! now.
Or an instrumental about guns – Pachelbel’s Canon…
(Yeah, I know what a Canon is versus a Cannon…)
After what I hear on the radio on a daily basis, that’s not such a bad idea!
And the other two-thirds are about 9mm’s, bitches and ho’s.
Yeah, right.
Just because Bob Dylan sang that “everybody must get stoned” (to use an easy and obvious example*) does not make all Bob Dylan music “crap.” Nor does Black Sabbath singing “Snowblind” or “Sweet Leaf.” Or Willie Nelson’s “Bloody Mary Morning.”
I hate most contemporary pop music, but it has nothing to do with the subject matter. It’s because the music is boring and predictable.
*Since the article says that references must be “explicit,” please feel free to replace that line with “she was working at a topless place and I stopped in for a beer” from “Tangled Up in Blue.”
Funny how MM picks up the Pop music = crap as the headline and skips over the Country music stats which show a far percentage rate for “substance use” lyrics.
Don’t want to alienate the reader base eh?
Probably not even a good instrumental either, 30.
Got ‘em covered in #3.
And, they’re covered in the excerpt of the article.
But, “pop” music was the one with the heaviest scores, not country.
I’ve been saying this for years now. Today’s music (not just pop, let’s be honest) sucks democrat.
Navywife91, I don’t even listen to the radio. CDs all the time.
You’re right Barry F. I should have added more to the list but you’re right.
I’ll say it AJ:
Duh statement of the day.
Who left the friggin bridge down? This day is just loaded with trollish posts. Can we change the name of the day to Stupid Tuesday?
Snausage, guess what? Pop music = crap non the less. Oh, and make up your mind. First you attack Michelle on another post and say she needs a sense of humor transplant and now you say she is funny.
You on the other hand, keep showing your true colors – trollish. Add something or just go away!
Soap, add to that the fact that he/she thinks MM’s commenters are as tempermental as he/she is – alienating a reader base. Please. Facts don’t scare us – that’s a liberal thingy.
Um, check again. Pop had the lowest scores. I guess attacking rap is kind of old hat and attacking country would make all the patriotic Toby Keith fans upset.
You’re right, sausage, Michelle should have mentioned Rap first, but then you would have accused her and “the reader base” of being racists.
We’re smart enough to read the entire excerpt.
Funny how you singled out country.
30 – CD’s? Classical stuff? That’s all I play here – things like “Baroque Bach”
All together, now, everybody:
JUST
IGNORE
THEM
All together, now, everybody:
JUST
IGNORE
THEM
I think you mean poop music=crap
Navywife91, They can’t argue that the stats are incorrect, so they go about attacking the messenger. Typically trollish behavior.
Sorry about the double post.
Computer froze – thought I had made an unregistering click.
Apologies….
30
It’s hard to listen to the radio anymore because all of the morning DJ’s are trying to beat each other by becoming more outrageous and controversial. We have one station here in town that plays current music, along with older tunes, that my girls can actually listen to with me on the way to school.
110% correct.
Bob Dylan music is crap regardless of his lyrics.
cpodug,
I don’t have much classical music. I have more Christian music than anything but I listen to Rock and R&B sometimes.
I’m surprised to see such a low rate of references to Marijuana usage. If it was equal to the percentage of people in this nation who actually USE the substance, I suspect it would be substantially higher.
Pop music these days is indeed crap, but that’s because it’s retread uncreative industry manufactured tripe, not because it’s got references to substance use in it.
#14 On February 5th, 2008 at 2:47 pm, 30 pcs of silver said:
“Navywife91, I don’t even listen to the radio. CDs all the time.”
Ditto.
She didn’t mention country because it sucks so much no one listens to it. *runs away*
Who needs stats to know pop music = crap? All one has to do is listen.
Who believes trolls listen to country? I am going out on a limb here and going with: they just want to argue.
Other analogies:
Paris Hilton = skank
John McCain = liberal
Water = wet
Fire = hot
Yes, 30, that’s true, but I’d like to know why some refer to the stats as “attacks” when the facts are being given. I think this same problem exists in politics too. If you give any facts which are unfavorable, but true about certain candidates, it’s labeled an attack.
Umm, didn’t drop by to defend Rusty and Sausage, but…
Granite #20-21
I
Can’t
Help
It!!!!!!
Actually, I listen to news/talk radio. I rarely ever turn music on in my vehicle. But, if I do, it is, typically, country, maybe even some “Toby Keith”, as you suggest. But, it does me good to listen to a little Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 38 Special, etc. Nothing like a little Southern rock to get the blood flowing.
And, just as an aside, Rap, R&B/Hip-Hop and Pop music are, basically, all the anti-country genres and fall in a popular music genre. Add their numbers up.
Sausage (and then later Rusty) –
I don’t know Michelle’s mind, and she certainly doesn’t need me to defend her, but… I took her use of “pop music” in the headline to mean all current popular music, not the specific genre of pop. Maybe it’s just me, but I have always referred to all top radio songs/Billboard hits as “pop.”
I don’t know about the “reader base” and their music tastes but I don’t listen to any “pop” if I can help it. Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, Van Morrison, CCR, The Guess Who, Tom Petty, etc…
I remember buying all the latest LPs and tapes as soon as they came out, of my favorite groups/singers. Today, I listen to oldies/classical/jazz. Pop music is nothing more than rehash with different lyrics. After 50 years, you get tired of it, especially when, in order to be different, they must include drugs and profanity.
#26 On February 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pm, jrlingreenbay said:
“Just because Bob Dylan sang that “everybody must get stoned” (to use an easy and obvious example*) does not make all Bob Dylan music “crap.”
110% correct.
Bob Dylan music is crap regardless of his lyrics.”
Bingo!
As our sons said some years ago, Bob Dylan wrote some of the best songs that OTHER people have done.
For example:
Turn, Turn, Turn by The Byrds.
All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix.
Highway 61 Revisited by Johnny Winter.
But, as far as Dylan himself?
Puh-leasssse.
Exactly.
Read the whole article. Pop songs sampled were about half as many as all of the others. I can pick 35 songs and get a 100% if I had a mind to.
Since most of today’s music seems like the same ol’ same ol’, I get my tunes from internet stations. I don’t bother with radio anymore; it has become dominated by a handful of large corporations who don’t care much about what they play – as long as they can sell ads.
I’m no troll, but most country makes my Yankee ears bleed…as does most music that is less than 20 years old.
…oh, and, pop still is crap. I used to be a big fan. Now, it just turns my stomach.
Don’t forget “Quinn the Eskimo” by Manfred Mann!
30 and navywife, I have no issue with these statistics. They’re probably correct. To be honest, I’m surprised the numbers are so low. I was just having some fun with the country music fans.
And, to my credit, I did specifically mention Willie Nelson as not being “crap.”
Want an instrumental about guns? Try The 1812 Overture which actually does have cannons : )
Classical music can be s-o-o-o violent!
At least it doesn’t have objectionable lyrics, as a rule.
If you replace 38 Special with Molly Hatchet then we 100% agree. “Flirtin’ with Disaster” is a fantastic song.
Yeah, I’ve been unable to stomache country for the last 15 years or so. . .for the last decade or so especially, it’s just sounded like pop music sung with a vocal twang, as if Tiffany or New Kids on the Block drank a couple whiskeys, rode a mechanical bull, and hit the recoring studio.
It was a lot better when you were just Hot For Teacher.
Van Halen in Atlanta on SUNDAY !!!!!
Well, Rusty, I disagree. I’m not a fan of Willie Nelson(I think he always looks dirty)and don’t listen to country much myself, so I wasn’t offended by that at all. I had an issue with the other guy, not you.
The only radio I listen to anymore is conservative talk radio.
Yashmak – That was funny. I do however like some of the older stuff. Always on My Mind is a great song, or Behind Closed Doors, or anything Johnny Cash. Unfortunately, due to my age, all I associate the phrase “country music” with is the pop stuff, e.g. The Dixie Chicks. And I’m not sure you could pay me to listen to them.
Rusty, now we’ve got problems.
“Pop” music is short for “popular music,” which all the genres listed fit into. Attacks on MM because she didn’t specifically point out country for fear of alienating her (presumably, in their eyes) hick, NASCAR-loving, confederate-flag waving, gun-toting, racist, homophobe, etc, base are ridiculous. She’s noting popular music as a whole, not individual genres.
All the lib geniuses on here who look down their noses at the rest of us could at least do us the favor of actually dealing with the issue presented, instead of finding one little nuggest that allows them to resort to identity politics straight-away.
I don’t consider any of those to be “pop” (and I’m guessing you don’t either, but I’m not sure of the context).
And I don’t consider all rock to be “pop” by a long shot. I’m not sure how exactly I would classify “pop”, but I know it when I hear it, and usually it’s some watered down crap designed to appeal to the masses.
I don’t necessarily consider any song that references alcohol, drugs, or tobacco to be a bad thing either. But I think what most object to (or at least, speaking for myself) would be those songs that promote their use in unhealthy ways.
Actually, the article says they took the 279 most popular songs of 2005, as listed by Billboard. They didn’t cherry-pick. Then they broke those 279 by genre.
Let’s not lose our sense of humor. Traditionally Country music is awash in Beer-drinking songs, one would expect a large percentage in that category.
Now, Willie, I do consider “crap”. I have never liked him. I’ll give you Molly Hatchet. That is a favorite of my wife, at least on a few songs. But, It would not be on my playlist.
Someone would have to pay me to listen to the Dixie
ChicksTwits.There has only been one song that I can think of the uses crime, rape, child abuse, selling dope and hanging in its proper context:
Simple Man by Charlie Daniels
I ain’t nothin’ but a simple man
They call me a redneck I reckon that I am
But there’s things going on
That make me mad down to the core.
I have to work like a dog to make ends meet
There’s crooked politicians and crime in the street
And I’m madder’n hell and I ain’t gonna take it no more.
We tell our kids to just say no
Then some panty waist judge lets a drug dealer go
Slaps him on the wrist and then he turns him back out on the town.
Now if I had my way with people sellin’ dope
I’d take a big tall tree and a short piece of rope
I’d hang ‘em up high and let ‘em swing ’til the sun goes down
Well, you know what’s wrong with the world today
People done gone and put their Bible’s away
They’re living by the law of the jungle not the law of the land
The good book says it so I know it’s the truth
An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth
You better watch where you go and remember where you been
That’s the way I see it I’m a Simple Man.
Now I’m the kinda man that’d not harm a mouse
But if I catch somebody breakin in my house
I’ve got twelve guage shotgun waiting on the other side
So don’t go pushing me against my will
I don’t want to have to fight you but I dern sure will
So if you don’t want trouble then you’d better just pass me on by
As far as I’m concerned there ain’t no excuse
For the raping and the killing and the child abuse
And I’ve got a way to put an end to all that mess
Just take them rascals out in the swamp
Put ‘em on their knees and tie ‘em to a stump
Let the rattlers and the bugs and the alligators do the rest
It is country but it is good country. Oh, and I think country is crap as well – LOL!
Sausage’s post above #10 was not meant to be humorous (He/she doesn’t have your talent for being funny). That is what some of us are referring to. I think we all have a healthy sense of humor, but no patience for the troll.
Changing the Tune
Four years ago….Now, they’re groveling for our votes.
Kumbyah
#53
Yeah, Johnny and Willie are big favorites of mine, from my childhood days riding in a beat-up Pinto station wagon to the gun range listening to my dad curse (which he couldn’t do around my mom). I remember songs like “Sink the Bismark” and one about the Swamp Fox chasing the Redcoats through the swamps of Louisiana in the War of 1812. I remember maudlin oldies like “El Paso”, funny songs like “The Day the Squirrel Went Berserk”, and countless others. You don’t even hear that stuff on country stations around here anymore. Just the pale immitation they try to pass off as country now.
thirteen28 (#56) – I just read over what I wrote… I was pretty unclear. Sorry. i was saying I don’t listen to pop and that those I listed are the artists of my choice. What I consider to be exceptional music.
Who said “beer”? I’m game. What kind’s on tap?
Yashmak, RaisedRight, pretty much for me the day the music died was when the Statlers retired, Sorry.
Well, I listen to CDs. Golden Oldies from the early 60s, classical music, opera,
cajun music, some country, lots of celtic music and even some Dylan. If you get
past the stuff everyone knows and really listen to the rest, the instrumental parts
of his music are outstanding. There’s a lot more music that I listen to but none of
it is “new.”
To quote my 17 year old head banging son, “Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, along with Hank Williams” are friggin’ musical geniuses. Talent shows thru in most genres, but pop music still sucks most of the time. Bland pap usually.
‘
We certainly have, at minimum, some significant overlap in what we consider exceptional music, as I would give a big thumbs up to any of those artists
I hear you NavyWife…:)
I know sausage was trying to insult MMs readers (though probably fewer of them listen to Country than he would imagine. Though I personally think there’s a lot of talent in that genre. No, really.)
I was a MH fan until I saw their “farewell” tour. They played in our little town at a small bar. They sucked so bad that at the end of every set, the lead singer did a few lines of coke of a Marshall half stack and chased it with a 5th of Johnny Walker Black. They faded into oblivion. Too bad because when their first two albums came out, I saw them in concert and they packed the joint, a civic center in the next town.
Now for something that is perplexing to me. Where would a guy who lives in New York learn about MH?
On February 5th, 2008 at 2:36 pm, Rusty said: (#9)
Rusty – I’m not sure what anyone else is arguing, but I don’t think the point here is that any individual song is rendered “crappy” by the inclusion of drug and alcohol related content. I think it is more the pervasiveness of these references as well as the nature of them that lead to the idea of pop music=crap. “It’s a Bloody Mary morning, Baby left me without warning” is not the same as “Rich Boy sellin’ crack, F*k niggas wanna jack, Sh*t tight no slack.”
I agree that 99% of today’s “pop” music is utter garbage…I long ago relegated myself to listening only to the music that I enjoyed as a younger person in the 60s through the early 80s (give or take a song or two here and there).
I get razzed by some friends for never trying anything new, but most of my peers are in agreement with me, and besides I don’t have the time or genuine desire to hunt down anything that might appeal to me.
In fact, the only new music I bother listening to is always created by the groups and/or artists from my youth that are still producing.
The corporations slowly but surely took over the music industry and what we have now is their complete control of everything that goes into making any musician “popular,” whether it be who writes the music, what the music says, how it is distributed, and even the clothes that the “artists” wear.
Anyone can be made into a singer if the corporation backs him, unlike in the past when this equation worked in reverse (as it should be).
And, yes, just the thought of “American Idol” makes me physically ill. I think a good rule for our upcoming elections should be that if you have ever watched “Idol” at all (other than to maybe laugh at it’s sheer stupidity), you are automatically disqualified from voting.
Well, I live in DC but I’m from Cape Cod. And it’s easy to equate the Cape with the Kennedy Compound and yacht clubs, but there is a real Southern element with the locals there. I mean, I used to be a huge NASCAR fan and I still go out of my way to watch Daytona, Richmond, and Bristol every year.
So, our local summer venue, the Melody Tent, gets all sort of Southern acts.
RaisedRight, I would never equate Willie Nelson with hardcore rap. But the post says “pop music = crap” and then bases it on alcohol and drug references. Those references are old as pop music itself.
It may not be as scary, but “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” is some cold-blooded stuff.
As is “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you…”
Why am I thinking of Lucy Liu right now? See, bad lyrics can be anything…
…Can’t….Help.It…
What happens when you play country music backward?
Your wife comes home, the dog comes back to life, and the bank gives the farm back…
Running…Away…Fast….
Granite,
Pete Seeger wrote Turn Turn Turn (well I guess whomever wrote that bible passage actually did). But for real examples of Dylan songs ruined by the Byrds please see Mr. Tambourine Man and My Back Pages.
People, you do not listen to Dylan because he has a pretty voice (though Lay Lady Lay is quite pretty). You listen to him because his music is personal and poetic and beautiful. And no one delivers those lyrics with more raw emotion and meaning than Dylan himself.
I will grant Watchtower an exception on this one, but Hendrix realllly made that song his own. When I listen to the Byrds, I hear nothing but a bunch of bland hacks making a song into a tune. One should not be able to whistle to My Back Pages.
But I digress.
#72 February 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm, jkoolpe said:
“I long ago relegated myself to listening only to the music that I enjoyed as a younger person in the 60s through the early 80s (give or take a song or two here and there).”
I’m there, too.
With rare exceptions, I listen to mid-60s to early 70s (~1972-3) stuff.
(HS ‘70; college ‘74)
(Oh, and of course to classical – especially Baroque and Mozart/Haydn-era.)
It’s eerie, but a noticeable difference developed starting around ‘72-3, with some exceptions, like Zeppelin and Peter Frampton.
But, listen to Cream/Derek & the Dominos, and then to Eric Clapton; or to Traffic, and then to Steve Winwood; or to “early” and “later” Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Santana, CSN&Y, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Johnny Winter (he got a bit more bluesy, and less rock/blues) Aerosmith, Motown, Steve Miller Band, even The Allman Brothers (although they’ve rediscovered their sound the last dozen years or so);I can’t think of others right this minute….
The stuff up to 72-73; compared to after that, especially ‘75 and after; well, for all those bands/artists listed – their sound, their style…are just soooo different.
In fact, one almost cannot recognize the same bands before and after that admittedly somewhat arbitrary date of ‘72-3.
#74 On February 5th, 2008 at 4:19 pm, AlohaGuy said:
“It may not be as scary, but “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” is some cold-blooded stuff.
As is “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you…”
Why am I thinking of Lucy Liu right now? See, bad lyrics can be anything…”
Lucy Liu?
I think Nancy Sinatra did that song back in the 60s….
The Byrds were far better musicians than Dylan and his back up
Well, if you mean they sang better, sure. But 95% of the people on American Idol sing better than Dylan. Doesn’t make them great musicians.
And Granite’s 77 post is absolutely correct.
I don’t follow this. A substance reference of any kind is a bad thing?
91% of the pop category songs did not contain a reference of any kind.
Are we saying that “hit music = crap”? Or, better yet, “rap music is highly likely to contain explicit references to drugs, alcohol, and tobacco”?
That’s about all I can make out of it.
And, every generation, once they hit 30 to 40 years old starts believing that current popular music is tanking in quality. It is the way of the world.
I hope I live long enough to see it that reaction in my children.
There’s good and bad music every year.
I’d like to see the percentages for hit songs in other years.
I bet there was a study done back in the sixties about veiled references to miscegenation. “Those types of songs weren’t sung in my day. Brown-Eyed Girl and Society’s Child, indeed.”
Not that I’m supporting the use of illegal substances by anyone or even legal substances by minors. I’m not. But I think society makes the hits, not the other way around.
Hell, I’m still trying to figure out what Fergalicious means.
(Yashmak #62, the song is about Andrew Jackson and is called The Battle of New Orleans. The Swamp Fox was Francis Marion in the Revolution, if I recall correctly.)
Sorry Rusty, you did tell me you were in DC. MH still sucks though!
Let’s not take this thread into a slugfest of whose preferred music style is better, and which style conjures up the dreamiest emotions.
After all,
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Better musicians but boring songwriters. I’ll take the better songwriter every time. And it’s hard to be a better songwriter than Bob Dylan.
Wow!!!! I had to check the thread again to make sure I was actually reading Michelle Malkin’s blog. There’s a lot of hate going on out there for some music genres. Those of you who are dissing country music for references to drugs and alcohol have fallen into the “liars, damn liars and statisticians” trap. I would be more interested in knowing just what the references are. Unlike (c)Rap, country music songs often are morality tales disguised as a drinking song. The references to drinking and cheating causing pain and loss are almost too numerous to count. Any statistical examination of country music is going to find a large percentage of references to beer and whiskey, but a lot of those references will be cautionary in nature.
Good music and good art often encompass pain, suffering, bad behavior and all the ills of the human condition. I have personally found good songs in almost every genre. I’ve also found garbage in them all.
Pop music is written to relate to an audience. When singing in Folsom Prison what was Johnny Cash going to sing? Tip Toe Through the Tulips? I have Folsom Prison Blues and note the hooting that the line referred to here elicits. I bet those whooping their approval were “framed” too. I heard Johnny’s San Quintin Blues and talk about dark.
Of course most pop music revolves around getting drunk, high, or altered. How many of us head to the bar on a Friday night after work or crack a beer open on a Saturday night.
Pop music is mostly mediocre. Now set me up with Rossinni’s William Tell Overture or Suppe’s Light Calvary Overture. Heck, The Kronos Quartet’s version of Purple Haze is better than the original!
Just a little follow up. I cast a wide net when I say pop including C&W as “Pop with a twang” and other sub-genres.
That is what they do. All they know (or don’t know).
Correct, I have a vision of Lucy as a Sadist in one of her movies – the title to which I cannot recall…
I believe anyone who thinks that watching American Idol somehow disqualifies one from voting has issues of his/her own. Maybe you’re trying to be “funny”, but I happen to watch the show (because it is entertaining and sometimes ridiculous)and I am a very informed voter.
#89
Charlie’s Angels
Alohaguy
I also believe the song “Barracuda” by Heart was playing in that scene.
You’re amazing me…
Is that another way of saying I’m a dork?
OT
Nope. I was thinking of “Payback” with Mel Gibson, not Charlie’s Angels, but that might fit too…as would Barracuda.
Oh, I slightly remember “Payback”. I like Lucy Liu also, but not in the same way you do.
granite#77..I agree. However, a lot of people do not listen to lyrics in run of
the mill pop music. I don’t know about rap. We had a thing in one of my
sons classes where they were given lyrics to four or five songs. They were
not told they were songs, only told to figure out what the words were from.
Three fourths of the class couldn’t answer and were astounded to learn these
were words to songs that they put at the top of their lists when asked what
their two favorite songs were. This was happening when I was a teenager.
I just got finished watching that John Wayne video again before reading this post about today’s pop culture. Talk about your cultural contrasts. I want a time machine so bad.
#90
O.K…maybe I’m being a bit facetious and I apologize if I upset you (I assure you that I have no issues whatsoever, but I am opinionated
), but I truly do believe that shows like “American Idol” and the proliferation of reality shows in general have contributed significantly to the dumbing down of our society as a whole (or maybe it’s a consequence)…
Hopefully, you’re the informed exception to my rule
.
#99
You didn’t upset me at all, but thanks for the apology.
I agree with you, in general, that many of the reality shows bring out/show the worst our society has to offer. All you have to do is turn on “Big Brother” or almost any “reality” show on MTV. I like American Idol because it gives some very talented people an opportunity to be heard.