I was at a coffee bar this morning and they were playing the usual lame pop CDs. In this case, it was a woman singing and playing the guitar. Each of her songs used the same two chords, which she alternated, one chord per bar: F, C, F, C, F, C.
I realize it's much easier and more convenient for the
performer to use only two chords. Imagine how much time can be saved not having to learn and practice more than two chords---valuable time that can then be used to promote one's music career.
However, allowing such predictable music to become so tremendously popular has exacted a tremendous cost on our culture, and hence the depth and meaning of our lives. Perhaps this is why coffee bars have sprung up everywhere: so we can caffeinate ourselves at a moment's notice and, among other things, still find the music we hear interesting.
But it's a vicious cycle. Soon we'll be down to one chord and no doubt be drinking even more coffee to compensate. This must make the coffee companies happy, but what will future generations have to say about us (assuming we don't eventually become so shallow that we no longer reproduce because we can't be bothered by the intellectual effort)?
As I sat there listening to this Ping Pong™ music, it occurred to me that it was like binary computer code: 0, 1, 0, 1. Except that even computer code is more interesting---because rather than simply alternating between 0 and 1, computer code varies the sequence. In that respect, I realized, the computer code that made up the song's data on the CD was more interesting than the song itself. If only the song's code were visible as well as merely audible, we'd really have something.
Thus my idea: a CD player with a large display that shows bits (no pun intended) of the code as it plays. Naturally, you wouldn't be able to show all the code because it'd flash by faster than we could take it in. Just some of it now and then would do. This would add variation and unpredictability to the music---and, IMHO, make it much more interesting, perhaps even worthwhile.
What do you think? Use your own words. I don't care what you write, as long as you are witty and don't just use the same two words over and over (or, if you must, that you at least vary the sequence).