Two decades of musical breakthroughs have been overshadowed by kids shrieking annoying mashups.
Or are we overreacting to the news that the cast of “Glee” has ousted Elvis, the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll himself, as the artist with the most total singles to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 chart?
Sure, both of them represent the pandering every generation of pop musicians does to their teenage base. And both parties have done covers of songs which became more popular than the original versions. We’re still having trouble thinking the likes of an overproduced, soulless version of “No Air” could topple the powerful gospel songs that earned the King his first Grammy.
We understand this distinction is based on the quantity of music produced and how popular it becomes, not necessarily its value. We also know that the earworms cranked out for the Fox show take no chances, relying on a formula to elicit the desired response from the public. While Elvis did much the same — the structure of pop music is almost scarily consistent from 1955 through today — he also helped break down racial barriers within music by introducing white audiences to the traditionally black world of rhythm and blues. The most the songs from “Glee” have done is increase the interest in a cappella groups.
With an average of three songs a show hitting the charts, we need to ask ourselves how predictable our musical tastes are that a television show should capitalize on them with such regularity.
