X-rated Bob wrote
Or RAP! No more dissing rap, y'all.
In fact, no dissing anything.
Or we can consider something deeply unfashionable.
How many of you do the very un rock 'n roll thing of watching Dancing With The Stars? OK.... you don't have to reply here, nor confess that the only reason you watch is all those Russian girls with next to nothing on. Thing is, the perpetual villain of the show is judge Craig. But the thing about judge Craig, as far as I can see, is that he has standards. He's not that interested in how nice a person you are (well, he is, but he's not going to give you points for it in a dancing competition) or how much fun you look like you're having or even how loud the audience hollers, he's interested in whether or not you can DANCE. Because it's a dance show and because he has standards.
I think standards are good. It's no crime to assert that some things aren't very good when they're not. Indeed it might help to raise the overall standard. The modern craze for affirming everything is not good IMO. Everything must be applauded and granted a place in the spotlight because who are any of us to say it's good or bad. What piffle!
I think you're heading off on a somewhat un-related tangent here, Bob, but for what it's worth: dancing contests have enforceable, agreed upon standards. Footwork, body positioning, timing etc. all need to be within well established guidelines to be considered "good".
There are parallels with classical music: a classical piece is an established, known and well-understood piece of music. Thus, for any classical piece, there is a minimum ability required from a performer if they wish to perform that piece. Anything less than that minimum: a missed note, improper timing etc. means you could quite happily classify that performance as "bad". However, whether the actual classical piece itself, as a piece of music, as a work of art, is "good" or "bad" is pretty much impossible to quantify.
Similarly, there is no universal set of metrics to qualify pop, or rock, or jazz etc. as "good" or "bad". How then, can you classify fans in similar fashion?
