A Low Note

Re: Steve Hochman’s “Only 15 Minutes of Top 10 Fame?” (July 30). Frankly, the so-called “artists” don’t even deserve that. The whole “music” score can be printed on the head of a pin. And the lyrics are a joke.

The record business has been riding a high for 10 years, recycling on CD product once released on vinyl.

Now that bubble has burst, and they have to deal with the gross musically mediocre swill that flows from the musically ignorant “artists” on their rosters.

Popular music today has hit an all-time low. It has gone from the mediocre of rock ‘n’ roll to the sewer. The recording artists of today are motivated by financial greed rather than musical accomplishment. You only have to read biographies of past real recording artists and biographies of rock ‘n’ roll artists to realize the difference in motivation.

Popular music has for the past 50 years been sliding down to the lowest common denominator. Any musicologist will tell you that the zenith of American popular music was the big-band era.

With rock ‘n’ roll, my generation got the rhythm section. My parents had the whole band. The record business is the only winner; the kids are really the big losers. They are listening to such musical fecal material that until they smell a musical flower they won’t know the difference.

As the recording process improved, the musical content declined.

MARTY CAPUNE

Newport Beach