| I thought I'd chime in...
I long ago became disenchanted with so-called "hit records" and what got played on the radio. I realized that my personal taste in music didn't coincide with what audiences or the gatekeepers of the industry thought was good or marketable. I made my peace with that and it no longer bothers me. I will listen to what I want to listen to and the delusional masses can listen to what they want to listen to. Who cares? It isn't worth being angry about it. Just make peace with it.
One thing to consider is that great art and popular culture are two different things. It is possible to be a great artist and die in obscurity, and it is possible to be a celebrity and make millions, but produce disposable crap that happens to be popular. It is very rare for those two worlds to intertwine (i.e. to make great art AND be popular at the same time), but it does happen on occasion. Jimi Hendrix was a great recording artist, a great performance artist, and the highest paid live music act in the world at the time of his death. (I think I read that somewhere, but don't quote me on it.) Of course, he only had 1 or 2 top 40 hits in his career, but he was very popular in life and even more so after death, AND he created great art (which is subjective, of course, as all art is). Record sales, chart positions, and radio spins are quantifiable, whereas quality in the arts will always be qualitative and subjective.
This has probably drifted off topic, but it's late and I'm feeling philosphical. Back to the original post, I'm not sure how they do it today, but back in Motown, I heard a story that Berry Gordy got the idea of using a quality control board from when he worked in Detroit auto plants. After a car left the assembly line, but before it went out into the world, it had to pass very rigorous quality control tests. Inspired by this, Gordy would have a room full of secretaries and average listeners hear a new single that was just recorded. Before it went to the radio stations and the stores, the song would have to pass inspection. He would ask the question that if you were down to your last dollar and had to buy either a loaf of bread or the new single, which would you buy? The quality control people would have to unanimously choose the single, or else it went back to the drawing board. If that won't inspire you to work hard, then I don't know what will.
Peace,
Rappy |