No one, absolutely no one, designated me a music critic. My views, opinions, about today’s pop culture music are of no significance or consequence to anyone but me.
Now, having said that, let me offer my proverbial two-cents worth about said music culture.
First, I don’t understand it. Much of the “American Idol” genre seems less than, well, musical. Seems — to me — that it’s often about young women making grotesque faces while engaging in controlled screaming. Not all.
They sing songs I’ve never heard of before, many, if not most, of which are nonmelodic. The judges, all of whom I have rarely heard perform, seem to love it.
The professional singers (I will not call them “artists”) sing songs with their accompanying sexually implied movements and gestures, often with background instrumentation that is louder than the singer. I understand almost none of the lyrics. In some cases that’s probably a good thing.
And those music videos? Mercy.  The camera(s) change angles every 2½ seconds. Try watching that for 3-4 minutes. My cognitive capabilities cannot keep pace with such rapid and constant change.
Then there’s country music. Today’s music is a long, long way from the country (hillbilly) music of years ago. On the plus side, I can understand almost all of the lyrics, and find most of it far more melodic than the pop music.
Gone too, at least in part, is much of the nasal sound. My idea of hell-on-earth would be having to listen to Randy Travis sing all day long.
Fact is, it seems that many of the male country singers, with their cowboy hats pulled down to their eyebrows, sing in, well, a “wimpish” sort of way. Lots of male testosterone presentation, but weak voice quality.
So. Enough of this. I’m no music critic. And none of those who are a part of the music scenes I addressed could give a rat’s rump about my opinion.
They probably don’t care for the music I enjoy, and my tastes are far-ranging and cover numerous genres.
Through the years, I can’t think of anything that’s given me more pleasure than music. It has truly enriched my life.
Yours too, most likely.
But not all of it. The music, that is.