Another naive listener writes his first letter

[Mark Woodruff <WOODRUFF%UCF1VM.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU>]

Re: The State of Radio

Have you ever considered not to any music for any lengthy period of time?

I tried for about six months, but found it virtually impossible to do.
It seems that most people never really *listen* to music; they use it
as background noise to fill up voids in their attention.
For whether it's at work, in the car, watching TV, studying, or wherever,
there is always some bloke who insists on playing some kind of music.
Keeping this in mind, commercial radio makes excellent background noise--
dull in content, but with a persistent upbeat rhythm.

The solution is not to listen to the radio at all, and to insist that
people around you turn off their radios when they are not really listening
to them.  I know this seems rude, but until a significant number of
people stop listening to commercial radio, there will be no change in
its programs.

Re: The Top Ten (40? 100?)

Album sales do not correlate well to an album's quality, performance, or
musicality.  Unless you have some monetary interest in the record, why
pay attention to the charts?

Re: MTV

My attention span must be shorter than the average American's.  I can't
seem to watch MTV for more than one or two videos.  The quality of videos,
of course, have absolutely nothing to do with this phenomenon.

Re: Abba

I've never liked this group, even though Robert Fripp insists that they are
"very, very good" at what they do.

Re: Kate Bush

The "Hounds of Love" album is the first work I've heard of hers.  I think
she has a good voice, but generally find her songs to be pretentious and
overly thick with sounds.  Why use 15 instruments, or 15 synthesizer sessions,
to play a simple three-part harmony?  Sure, it must be fun to try to figure
out what makes what sounds in what song, but this sort of mental masturbation
is better done in private, than in (rather noisy) vinyl for all to see.

[Doug--don't get me wrong, I like this digest, even if I'm not overly
fond of Bush.]

Cheerfully yours,
Mark