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For music snobs: Foreign pop? Intellectually dishonest?

Lots of people-by people, I mean music snobs- listen to foreign rock and pop music, sneering at today's pop scene, acting like their foreign import pop is better. Problem: yeah, it's not on the radio here, but does that really make it better? Seriously, it's on the Top Forty in Japan or France. It's not any better than the Kelly Clarkson or Ashlee Simpson you flee over here. So why do they insist on acting like it's better, even though it's really the same content and format? Does this make sense to anyone? True fact: Edith Piaf is the French cultural equivalent of Judy Garland.

Public Comments

1. Well, I think that's because some of us got fed up with American music coz they got played over and over again on the radio. But I believe that there are many out there who lives in Japan or Europe that are sick with their domestic music and prefer to Kelly Clarkson rather than Alizee. While some of us in the U.S found that Alizee or Ayumi Hamasaki are much better than Kelly Clarkson or Ashlee Simpson. I think it's just a matter of taste.
2. Bad pop music (kinda redundant) is bad pop music regardless of where it is from. You don't have to search over-seas to find good music, you just have to look past your radio.
3. Yes, what you say makes sense. Most pop music is of poor quality, regardless of what country it is from. Pop music is typically focused on everything but the music. The only reason it is popular is because the big record companies get it so much radio play that it becomes familiar, which in turn causes people to respond favorably to it, just like baby monkeys when they see pictures of their mother. Then, they make "new" music that sounds exactly the same as the "old" music. The result is a cycle of progressively worse music that the fans eat up, but really only because it is being shoved down their throats. The people you describe who listen to foreign pop are trying to be different. I applaud them for trying to find something different, but all they have done is the equivalent of saying McDonald's is bad and going to Japan for McDonald's. Rather than actually expose themselves to quality music that isn't popular, they find foreign pop which, as you said, is no better nor does it sound much different than American pop music. People are so scared of good music because it sounds so different than the manufactured junk on the radio. Tell your music snob wannabe friends that if they want to be different, actually listen to something different. You are rarely if ever going to hear anything cutting edge or different on mainstream radio. Go outside of the mainstream genres of rock, pop, and hip-hop/R&B. Listen to some jazz, funk, classical, fusion, or find quality, unique music from the mainstream genres. You may not like what you hear, but don't turn away from it just because it is different. Try to find out why so many people love that music. Open your mind, because, in reality, being open-minded is truly different in this world.