True, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't agree with most of what he's saying. Outside of being tedious, the only thing I can really ding him for is his lack of appreciation that people _want_ bland garbage. It's like complaining about McDonalds. There is no conspiracy, outside of people wanting to make money selling something a majority of other people will buy.

I loved the Zappa pull quote. He's spot on, as always. Plus, my handle is name checked. How could I not be sympathetic?

Seconding the music career info. Googling doesn't help.

As for the content, getting angry at what music people listen is something I got over. I became a bit of a music nazi for a while, but then my sister got married. At the time I was a stereolab/guided by voices/belle & sebastian/magnetic fields junkie, and I my sister wanted me to press play on CD as she walked down the isle to a Shania Twain song. At first I was such a dick that I refused, but then I realised that my sister had a real emotional response to what I would consider a terrible song, and that there was little in my music catalogue I would choose to walk down the isle to.

I still can't stand listening to popular music, but I can understand that whatever the intention of the music studios, once the music is out there people just adapt it to their own lives and attach real meaning to it. No one is forced to pay money for it, and these days most don't. If you do choose to invest time learning what is beyond the major studios, you have the most diverse selection of newly released music in history to choose from.

fun fact: there's one particular illuminatus in control of the entire music industry! can you guess who they are? hint: it's not Jay-Z!