Skrillex, LMFAO, Ke$ha (key-dollar sign-ha), Katy Perry, Foster the People, Deadmau5 (which should be pronounced like the number five, as “5” is neither the proper letter s or an eszett) and Cobra Starship. These frequently heard groups/people all have something very obvious, and some what alarming, in common: they are contributing nothing to music as a whole. As more people tune in to Kiss FM and ignore the works of Bach, Chopin, Gershwin, Holst, Mussorgsky, Saint-Saens, Wagner and countless others, the principles of the art are being broken down.

I would love to live in a time where classics are a more frequently integrated part of society. Unfortunately, this will probably never be a reality and I accept that. I will not accept, however, complete abandonment of the very things which modern music is built upon. While I’m not going to knock down anyone for their musical tastes, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I feel as if everyone should be well-versed in all types of music. No one should just get up and decide they don’t like one type of music simply because it’s different than another genre they fancy.When I was a freshman and sophomore, I was a member of the marching band. While our band had actual talent, we were constantly being criticized for our use of electronics in our marching show. It was not until after my junior year when “hit” songs such as “Party Rock Anthem” and “Sail” did I begin to realize how little talent using electronics requires. Now, don’t get me wrong, some groups like our marching band and Daft Punk utilize electronics in an extremely innovative and technically challenging way, but the bridge into the mundane and musically stagnant is being built.I like to think of myself as a musically-versed person with pretty peculiar tastes. I occasionally listen to pop music to stay with the times which, in this day and age, is pretty hard. Innovations to the voice and sound of groups should be keeping music constantly evolving but it seems like every time one person takes a risk with something musically interesting, like techno “break down” sections, with one song, everyone other group immediately does the exact same thing with their next single. No one is willing to go out and make their group unique; no one is willing to take a risk. The only thing currently separating pop/electronica groups from one another happens to be their names, which are kind of terrible.

Electronics are giving every aspect of life a new edge, but it’s current usage in music gives it a rather blunt end. We shouldn’t completely abolish electronics in music, but should instead keep the integrity of music by keeping electronics pushing for advancement of sound, risk taking and artistic individualism.