This trend of popular mediocrity makes me concerned that much of today's contemporary top 40 music is of bottom of the barrel quality; a lot like that dark period in music history which brought us disco and later dance music. In spite of today's state-of-the-art computer technology, very little of today's music compares favorably with such albums of the sixties and seventies as: the Rolling Stones' "Hot Rocks", the Eagles' "Hotel California", Blondie's "Parallel Lines", Pink Floyd's "The Wall", and several other truly great performances.
The most tell-tale sign that a band or solo artist has minimal or no talent is when a musician(s) lip-synchs most or all of their tunes during a concert. The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, and many others would likely have never achieved their respective longevity if they had ever dared to lip-synch their music while in concert.
As far as I'm concerned, if a musician lip-synchs his/her music while in concert he/she is both cheating and deceiving their fans and other music buyers, and therefore has no business even being in the music industry. After all, why pay $20+ for a ticket to a lip-synched concert when you can pay next to nothing to see lip-synch(ed) amateur nights or Karaoke at almost any two-bit local nightclub. In fact, the amateurs will probably put on a much better show. (to be cont'd)
[Originally appeared in Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Lantern student newspaper in the early '90s and part of my unpublished manuscript "In Mediocrity We Trust... In Debt We Die" And Other Essays]
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