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[Aion]

I am someone who struggle to like pop music not because of the emotions but because of the ideas cultivated behind it. When I hear it I feel bad physically and energetically. When I think about pop music it seems pretty negative. Do you think I have or am the problem?

Pop music is mainly about sex, power and self expression or peer acceptance. I have no problem with those emotions as they are certainly normal for most human beings but I just am not looking for that when listening to any music. So far I don't think I would be categorized under what you described.

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So yes when I think about pop music in general I have a pretty dark picture of it. According to you am I the problem or is my idea of it really distorted? Have I a problem to process something? Do I miss a catalyst? Of course I can still find love for the individuals but the fact remains that even though the sound coming from the speaker is not STS it seems like their work is done out of ignorance or really self centered. Even if I try to see it in a positive way it just seems to me like pop music is neither done out of love and neither out of wisdom. Maybe it is done out of humor to the creator. Maybe it is done so that some people learn to let some people do whatever they want out of STO catalyst. Maybe the universe needs to explore the infinite opposite of quality to create a chain of reaction to explore infinite quality.

I understand that, as a previous 'music elitist', I know all about these concepts precisely. It's big in the metal community to hate on any pop music or mainstream culture.

However, I would contend that "pop music" isn't actually what most people presume it to be, and maybe my understanding as a musician has taken some of the weight off the labels. For example, Iron Maiden could be considered pop music. Albeit with distorted guitars, fast drums and intense vocals, but it is none-the-less pop music in that it was not only a major popular icon, but it uses many pop music conventions, dynamics and 'hooks'. All of the same elements in pop music are present in classic rock, albeit in a different form. Look at the history of pop music before the 90's and you'll see it's basically just proto-rock or some manner of folk/cultural music. Disco was pop music, again in a different form. The Beatles were pop music. Not to mention, there is lots of 'mainstream' music, especially in classic rock, that defies the "2 and a half minutes of hooks" formula.

The fact is that what you are talking about can exist in ANY genre, that is, shallow or materialistic or egotistical ideas. Blues, jazz and the like has plenty of its own pretentiousness. Metal most definitely does.

What it is about big mainstream music though is not just that it is oriented towards these concepts in many cases, but it is highly repetitive and it is the repetition which makes it 'stick in your head'. So, by all means you could view some songs as being like brainwashing, however music is a huge industry and there is everything from the basement, solo artist to the big company performer and you can find every part of the spectrum in every part of every genre. Of course, it's less common for a big company performer to be really original and have most creative control, but that depends on the force of the individual it seems and the company they get involved with. I don't think they're universal.

There is a guy at work who plays this kind of music all the time and it's not that it is in itself terrible but he plays the same things all the time and they're so repetitive that you feel like you're fighting for original thought. However, that sort of thing is alleviated by not listening to it every goddamn day.