«Today’s Lyrics Are Pathetically Bad» Rick Beato

As a previously frequent poster on the Jazz For Aficionados thread would often point out, (paraphrase, “just because there is improvisation doesn’t mean it is Jazz”.

Jazz and Classical music sales, as a percentage of total music sales of all genres, have seldom broken the 2% mark for quite a few decades. This does not mean that there haven’t been up-ticks in sales and general interest as is the case currently, but still in the 1.5-2% range. Data also shows that when asked, about 10-20% of respondents say that they listen to “Jazz”. Why the asterisk?

Much of the music that many listeners listen to is not Jazz in the traditional sense. It is R&B, Rock, Funk, whatever, WITH ELEMENTS OF JAZZ. Particularly in the improvisation (when it is there) which is often heavily informed harmonically by Jazz.

@tyray , I very much appreciate your enthusiasm and optimism for Jazz and its future. I share your optimism inasmuch as I believe that there will always be a small minority (2% +/-) that will buy Jazz. However and sadly, I doubt this number will ever be substantially higher than this and certainly not as it was decades ago when Jazz was the Pop music of the day. I do think that there is somewhat more interest in Jazz among young (25-45) listeners today. SOMEWHAT more, but still a very small percentage of the total number of young listeners. Your own posts prove my point, I think. What you posted as examples of “Jazz” that young people listen to and even play, I wouldn’t call Jazz at all, but more as I described above… Funk/R&B with elements of Jazz.

Here is the lineup for the 2016 NOLA Jazz Fest, aerial view of which you posted as further proof. Might explain the huge crowd, but Jazz?! I did see Wayne Shorter and Preservation Hall Jazz Band among the others listed, but still…..

https://www.al.com/entertainment/2016/01/jazz_fest_2016_stevie_wonder_p.html

I get it .  NOT a statement about my feelings on Rap one way or the other, but there is a big difference (in my book, anyway) between lyrics with “raunchy” sexuality, usually by way of innuendo or double entendre and lyrics that demean and debase by way of raunchiness, misogyny and/or suggestions of violence. The latter is the Rap that I can do without.

That’s actually pretty funny.  Well done. 😊

That may be, and I don’t disagree,  But the issue here is not Steely Dan’s lyrics per se.  Nonetheless, an argument could be made that their lyrics are a perfect fit for their at often vapid, urban-hip overall musical aesthetic delivered with ultra-precise technical execution.  Still, with a couple of notable exceptions from their past catalogue, hardly top-forty.material.

As concerns the claimed “nuances” in today’s popular music and its lyrics which are on a similar level of artistry and that might appeal to an equivalent percentage of the music listening public as did the songs of Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Elton John/BT, Marvin Gaye, Simon and Garfunkel, Jimmy Webb, yes The Beatles (just a few that come to mind), please educate me and post some examples.  Honest request.  ​​​​​​

**** expecting to find "good" lyrics (or music for that matter) in the stuff most popular these days is akin to him expecting to find good food at a fast food restaurant ****

That was Beato’s point.  ….as concerns the stuff most popular these days.  Re a different comment:  lyrics don’t have to be “incredibly deep lyrics” to be good lyrics.  

I think some of you miss the point of what Beato is saying; which I mostly agree with. He is not saying that there are no good lyrics being written today. He acknowledges that there are. He is saying that today there are few songs with good lyrics relative to their popularity (number of listens). Top ten songs today have, by and large, pretty awful lyrics compared to top ten songs of, for instance, the Beatles era.

I don’t share the cynical view that he is expressing these opinions for effect and his own popularity.