Criticism

I had never really been bothered by bad criticism prior to reading these articles. I happily read my reviews in the New Yorker or Harper's or listened to them on NPR and didn't give much thought to what was going online or in newspapers. I suppose I thought that bad music was around because people liked bad music, regardless of what the critics had to say.

The story about Harry Connick Jr.'s comment about pentatonic scales becoming a joke changed my perspective. American Idol is a highly visible form of music criticism, and it's not really encouraging quality music making. In reality, critics, especially on a show like this, hold a lot of power of public opinion of music.

Regarding film, I feel that reviews from good critics are more visible but that people simply ignore them. I know many people who gleefully report that they never agree with the critics -- and these people have very bad taste in film. Sadly, I really can't envision a solution to this problem. Given how easy it is to spread information now, there will certainly always be a wealth of people who know nothing giving away their opinions to other unsuspecting people who will happily believe them.