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Is classical music superior to pop music?

I almost lost a friend a year ago when I said that pop music listeners are less cultured than classical listeners. The guy was pretty mad. Since then, I have been listening to pop music by various artistes to atone for my ignorance, but still find that it lacks a lot of things that classical music has an abundance of, for example pop music is nowhere near as poetic as classical music, nor does it have that certain intelligence in which the musical lines move, and interact with each other. I try to remind myself that no one type is better, they're just different, but still find that classical music is superior. After all it has withstood the trials of time, whereas some pop artistes have already been forgotten. But pop artistes earn much more. What do you think?

Public Comments

1. Not at all. A person's taste differ from another. I personally like both classical and pop music..
2. i think tht there is no comparison between the to classical music is on its side and pop music is on its own side
3. there's no comparism between the two.but accordin to me classical is much better tan the pop music!
4. I think you're forgetting that a lot of classical music started out as pop. People disliked it when it was new for the same reasons you dislike todays music. It has indeed "stood the test of time" and so will some of the pop music we listen to today. Not all music,composers, singers or even instruments from the renaissance period is still around either you know. You don't have to enjoya particular genre yourself for it to have merit.
5. The classical music will live forever. You can ear it in the 23th century too. The pop music is only easy listening ... just for a month or for two, three years. But if you speak about Dire Straits, Santana, Eagles ... ok, it's music for ever :)))
6. Even classical music started out as popular music when it was first written or performed and it had its critics too, just like the popular music of today. In the way that we know the big classical names such as Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky etc, I think that in years to come the music of some of today's greatest artists and musicians will also be remembered. But at the same time, others will be forgotten and this is the same as when classical music was written. Not all classical music stood the test of time and I am sure that some composers were not as popular as others. In order for popular music to withstand the test of time it has to be popular at the time and still have people wanting to listen to it in the many years to come. I wouldn't necessarily say that pop music listeners are less cultured, they maybe just don't appreciate classical music. I didn't fully appreciate it myself until I joined an orchestra and really got to know a varied range of classical music through performing it and getting to know it so much better. This, coupled with my love of music has led me to completing a music degree and I am starting a PGCE course in order to become a music teacher. Now, I am just as happy listening to classical music as I am listening to pop music. As for pop artists earning much more you have to realise that at the time the great composers were composing, a lot of them were either working for themselves and composing for the sheer enjoyment of it, but others were employed to be composers in residence for courts and royalty. They were not earning a high wage but they did not mind this because they were getting paid to do what they loved and it was a way for people to hear their music. A lot of today's artists are not particularly talented, some record companies have just employed them because they look good and think they will earn them a lot of money. It just goes to show how commercial music has become, like so many other things in today's society!