The end of the world as we know it...or maybe just more of the same...

I found this article from the Guardian at the Burned by the Sun blog. Wow, that's some amzing technology, huh? But, just as in the rest of life, "amazing technology" doesn't always spell "progress" and "good."

The fundamental problem with Hit Song Science is that music isn't a science at all (or at least it shouldn't be). HSS accomplishes two things: First, at best it damages, and more likely it destroys, the creative process. So much of who an artist is comes from the process of finding his/her voice over time. The Beatles didn't just wake up one day and write great songs. They played together for years in crappy clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg and went through a period of becoming that lasted until they broke up in 1970. But with HSS, they would just feed "Love Me Do" into the computer and it would suggest of few minor changes to make it sound more like Pat Boone and then they could rehash it for 8 years. That leads to my second point which is simply that HSS only takes the past into account. Now, I'm the first one to say that knowing your roots is essential to making great music, but roots are to build upon, not to be regurgitated. HSS would purge minor innovations and shoot down entirely anything that really breaks the mold.

I don't know if HSS is going to really change the path of popular music or just hasten an already bad trend. In the 50-some years of rock n roll, business has slowly but steadily usurped the "three chords and the truth" that has always made rock touch our hearts and souls.