Undeniable proof that the school systems in this country are worthless: here

The fact that John Lennon was a college dropout means nothing. My hypothesis was not that getting a "bad education" can render you unable to write good music - but that getting you mind screwed up by means of getting a modern (progressive) education can do so.

Actually, not going to school at all might be beneficial for a kid nowadays - given the deplorable state of the schools (and day care centers).

I think a lot of music from the 60s, 70s & 80s is crap. Especially the tons of soft rock/ pop rock that dominated the charts in the 70s.
I don't spend ages making up elaborate reasons for it, it's simply because I think it's crap.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney went to public schools, during an age when socialism was quite popular in Britain. According to your theory they were unlikely to have written good music due to an inferior education. Brian Wilson also attended public schools. I'm sure that means he wrote crap, too. :bonkhead:

I don't see why this thread has to be ruined with a political discussion.

As someone who was as skeptical as you of modern music a mere 7 months ago (see first few pages of this thread), I seriously wonder how much you've actually listened to. Or maybe you're insisting music today is bad because it gives you another reason to rant against the education system?

Tell me these songs aren't melodic. You don't seem to be listening or critiquing the songs shown in this thread. Here is your chance. I actually sing these songs in the shower.

Browse through some of the videos I've shown.

If you like Jimi Hendrix you'll like this. Frankly I think this particular tune is an improvement on anything Hendrix did, though I admit much of my reasoning for that is because Kevin Parker's got a nicer singing voice.



If you like the Beatles you'll like this (same band).



And as I said before, as much as I love the Beach Boys I don't think Brian Wilson could have thought of something like this. Part of it's the tools available at the time, but not all of it. This is more complex than I think Wilson would ever have been comfortable with.



LISTEN to each of these a few times and then I dare you to come back and tell me they suck.

BTW, if you're into "pure" melody, unadorned stuff, here's some answers to your question.

Even my (70-something) mother likes Jack Johnson!




Then there's Fleet Foxes. 21st Century folk-rock. With the emphasis on the folk.

OK, strictly speaking politics is off topic. But the subject came up.

And I am serious - I do believe that the deterioration in the schools can explain the deterioration in popular music.

As for John Lennon's, Paul McCartney's and Brian Wilson's education in public schools - my entire point was that the schools (both public and private) are still worse today than they were in the earlier decades.

Those three musical geniuses went to public schools in the 1940s and v1950s. Their minds were certainly not nearly as screwed up by their "education" as the minds of kids who went to school in the 1980s and 1990s. The schools in the entire western world have gone from bad to worse.

Have you listened to a single one of the tunes I posted? It appears not. You're not even trying to like anything new. You're so insistent on using music to make your political point that you almost seem to be afraid to listen to anything that might prove you wrong.

Music has nothing to do with politics or education.

Unless you can provide a link to a research study that proves any of this and gives spine to your argument, I'm not inclined to believe your amateur observations.

Also, different countries have different education systems.