[wdcbooks]

I am now 34 and my daughter is now 14 1/2. I was a little bit older than her when I found the alternative to the dreck that was being played on MTV and Top 40 radio when I was in high school. Thanks to the cool older brother of my best friend I discovered bands ranging from The Replacements and Robyn Hitchcock to Public Enemy to the Velvet Underground. As part of that discovery of good music I also realized that the prevailing popular music was really terrible and there was so little music that was worthwhile around that I discarded the lot of it.

When I take a look at the Billboard Top Twenty for a date from my youth it seems clear that I wasn't imagining things. Popular music really did suck by almost any measure. Looking at 1988 the top songs for the year featured acts like Rick Astley, Richard Marx, Debbie Gibson and The Bangles. The only bright spots were the awesome "Wishing Well" by Terrence Trent D'Arby and the all time great "Sweet Child O'Mine" by GNR. Those were anomalies though in a landscape of hair metal and bubblegum pop.

Part of our family ritual is to sit and watch today's version of the top 40, VH1s top 20 videos on Saturday morning. Aside from this diversion I am completely unaware of popular music today. I listen to independent music and old favorites. My daughter has better taste than the average fourteen year old, but her favorites are things like the All American Rejects and Dashboard Confessional. Today’s version of safe boy band pop, but even that is of a higher quality than the analogous NKOTB of my youth. So today I had already seen the Red Sox highlights twice on Sportscenter and I was working from home. I spent almost two hours listening to videos on VH1. Here are some of the highlights.

Regina Spektor - "Fidelity" - She reminds me a bit of a less annoying Tori Amos, or even Joni Mitchell before her voice went downhill. Nice fun song with a good hook. I have listened to some of her other stuff and it may not be for all tastes, but it is original and interesting.

Amy Winehouse - "You Know I'm No Good" - To be honest I thought this was amazing. It has been a long time since I have bought an album after hearing one song, but this reminds me of when I heard "Hey Ya" for the first time. It didn't matter that this isn't really my genre of music. She combines jazz and R&B with a Cockney accent and almost punkish lyrics. I am sure she has been a big star in Britain for some time, but this is the first time I have heard her.

Lily Allen - "Smile" This isn't great art, but it is an insanely catchy tune. Well produced and infectious, I am not going to run out and buy the album but I wouldn't delete the single from my IPod.

The Killers - "Read My Mind" - They are the band most likely to still be around ten years from now. They aren't super edgy, but they are impossible for me not to like. They remind me a little of Oasis or Green Day. They are not different enough to be threatening, but they are innovative enough to change their sound and stay relevant. This is a really good song.

Brandi Carlile - "The Story" - Kind of from the Lillith Fair emo songwriter line. The kicker is that her voice isn't just pretty, it is really interesting. She sounds more like Patsy Cline than Sarah MacLachlan. The lyrics were pretty pedestrian, but I enjoyed the song. Kind of sounded like a young Loretta Lynn forced to sing rock and roll.

Shakira - "Hips Don't Lie" I don't need to say any more here. This is one of the best dance songs ever made and the video is mesmerizing.

These were the highlights. The rest was dreck, including Maroon Five, Nickelback, some non-descript emo guys in white t-shirts. There were also two terrible R&B songs that were so unoriginal they could almost serve as parodies. By and large though the quality of music I heard was pretty good to very good.

Does this mark an era of quality in popular music? Did I happen to catch a streak of good songs in a sea of crap? Or do I just have bad taste?

I think that it has become almost axiomatic that popular music sucks. It is part of the package people buy into when they discover independent music and start to move beyond the mass marketed stuff on MTV. It is also indisputable though that there are eras where the prevailing popular music is high quality and has a lasting impact. I am on the fence as to whether anyone will remember these songs in a decade, but I found my foray into my daughter’s musical world to be a pleasant surprise.