Scant Attention

Ever since I can remember, my musician friends have all had the same complaint about pop music: only the most narcissistic, attention-starved, talent-deprived artists, singing the dumbest, silliest, most absurdly simplified messages ever get played on the radio. Meanwhile, the actual brilliant, creative, innovative, constructive and thoughtful ones receive scant attention. This drove my musician friends crazy, year after year. So the rest of you, suddenly having to suffer through the same thing in current US politics, you can stop complaining. Now you know what it’s been like forever for musicians! And if you bought the singles for “Gangnam Style,” “Toothbrush,” “Party Rock Anthem,” “The Macarena,” “Itsy-bitsy Teeny-weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” “I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt,” or “What Does the Fox Say?” then you have been part of the problem, not the solution.