This will seep over into the mainstream.

I often wonder what music people who complain about "the mainstream" think should replace it. What is "intellectual" music - or music for those that aren't radio-listening baby children?

I have seen that study on the "dumbing down" of pop music, but I believe it was only referencing the last ~10 years. Would be curious to see how they compare to the 60s-70s. I can't imagine The Beatles or Rolling Stones are writing lyrics at an English Language PhD level.

In my experience, the people who complain that mainstream music should be "smarter" are the same ones who get angry when they hear an artist they like on the radio.

No, it's not that. Many of us have lives outside of the internet. Not all people are happy to be at home playing video games and posting on safe spaces such as Reddit. Many of us go out, look for adventures, have lives.

You two dudes are internet millenials. Trust me terrorists aren't going to kill you if you go to dive bars to catch local musicians and Hip Hop artists perform.

In talking to older middle class musicians there is a Southern music scene which is vibrant and a Chicago scene that is vibrant. In Southern CA, we have quite a few local hero's and the scene is growing. Again, but you got to get out of the house...but if you cannot relate to people maybe it is better if you stay in your safe spaces, let the big boys live life.

Yeah, or whoever wrote "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?".

The internet will only die when they invent semi-sentient sexbots and its major purpose is gone.

It's not about smarter, it's about production value and musicality. The Beatles and Stones wrote quite a bit about society especially religion and their music was erotic. Go onto a Beatles forum and they talk about it quite a bit. They did it in a relatable and subtle way. Ah, who cares if you don't get it...you will never get it.

Either you're an over-forty fuddy duddy, or an under-thirty try-hard. This is entry-level musical elitism, brah. You gotta step your game up if you're gonna hang with us. I spam Ke$ha and then berate people for being pussies cause they can't take a little grindcore, after which I make the odd post about how I'm really digging some art rock record from the seventies, as if that makes me not a cretin.

Join us.

Here's the thing that you aren't realizing though. There were thousands of other artists on the radio around the same time as the Beatles and the Stones, and do we talk about them anymore? No. We can act like every band and artist from the 60's right through to the 90's wrote songs with as much "societal meaning" as those two did if you want, but that isn't the case. There was, and always will be pop acts who are successful for having music that is simple, direct, and easy to process. Does that make it bad? No. You don't have to like anything, but you should respect that not every one out there wants to listen to music with deeper lyrics.

I live in San Diego and am an actively performing musician there, btw. I believe regionality isn't a thing any more because a sound isn't affixed to a certain area since the Internet allows for an easy spread of information and what someone is doing in San Diego can easily be picked up by someone in Germany. Pretty simple stuff if you don't let your head get too big to think rationally just because you're a big boy.