Ted Gioia: "Music Criticism Has Degenerated Into Lifestyle Reporting"
I’ve just spent a very depressing afternoon looking through the leading music periodicals. And what did I learn? Pretty much what I expected. I found out what the chart-topping musicians are wearing (or, in many instances, not wearing). I got updates on their love life, and learned whose marriages are on the rocks. I read updates on the legal proceedings of the rich and famous. I got insights into the food preferences and travel routines of megastars. And I read some reviews of albums, and got told by “‘critics” (I use that term loosely) that they were “badass,” “hot,” “sexy,” “tripped-out,” and “freaky.”
The periodicals in question have certainly become harder to read, that's for sure. But as Gioita points out, music's been a tool of self-definition for many years. At MeFi, lizarrd heads "down the rabbit hole" of websites that apply music theory to pop.
