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Popular music is the music listened to by most people by definition. Most people are not very smart (not to say they are stupid). Therefore, pop(ular) music wil

• Practicality 11y ago
  Indeed. It should never be surprising that the mainstream is mediocre. It has to be. That's what mediocre means. Mediocre people often prefer to refer to themselves as "average," but it's the same thing.
  • Dewie3 11y ago
    "Average" just means that, while "mediocre" means average + negative connotation. You're the one who is using a word with more baggage than the straightforward, "by definition" meaning (probably to do with some statistical distribution). Average is not always bad, unless you think that being non-average is inherently good. And having average music taste is about as harmless/inconsequential as average-ness goes - you like the music you like. That's it. Anything beyond that is more about social signalling and stratification than it is about the enjoyment of the music itself.
    • Practicality 11y ago
      Contrast average with "Exceptional. Special. Distinguished. Excellent. etc." The nature of these words show a clear bias that being non-average IS inherently good, at least when you are talking about quality. Music is clearly a qualitative arena, and therefore, average means, "not exceptional," "not special," "not distinguished" and "not excellent" Ergo, my point is, the parent to this discussion is correct, "average" music can never be exceptional as the difference between average and exceptional is what defines those very words. I am simply trying to use the word mediocre to make more obvious what average means when it comes to quality. To be fair, there is a non-average that is below normal as well, with related words: Poor, sub-standard, deficient, defective, inferior, etc. So, being worse than average is even worse than being average. Again, in terms of quality. Of course, average in another arena, such as average height, for example, is neither bad nor good. But height is not a measure of quality.
      • Dewie3 11y ago
        > Contrast average with "Exceptional. Special. Distinguished. Excellent. etc." Contrast average with "Odd. Weird. Freak. etc." > Music is clearly a qualitative arena, Strongly disagree.
        • Practicality 11y ago
          I am sincerely curious as to how music could be not qualitative (IE, quantitative). Is better music just more notes? Or more words? What numeric value of music would be better? Making more money, perhaps? Or are you saying that a music's popularity, in terms of how many people listen to it, is how you determine it's value? That is definitely an interesting way of looking at it. I can't say it's not a valid way of measuring it.
          • Dewie3 11y ago
            I thought you meant that there is some way to measure quality of music.
            • Practicality 11y ago
              I think there really is music that is clearly better, but only subjectively. But you're right, a lot of hipsters think that there is objective quality in their particular brand of music. But I think they are just a different section of average.
              • Dewie3 11y ago
                > I think there really is music that is clearly better, but only subjectively. Hmm... it looks like we agree much more on this point than I thought.
      • Practicality 11y ago
        In reference to why people call exceptional things weird, odd and strange, please refer to Albert Einstein's quote: "Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly."
  • tormeh 11y ago
    Many people say "mediocre" when they really mean "shit", though, which is why many prefer using "average".
• kolev 11y ago
  You can't downvote the truth, pop fans!