r.e. "the music is more aggressive and

Mark, if you listen to modern pop music, and compare it to what was on the radio in the sixties and seventies, you'll easily hear the mechanisation in the new stuff. You can hear the pops and tempo wavering and bum vocal notes in songs ranging from 'Louie Louie' by The Kingsmen to 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' by The Police. Listen close enough, and you can hear the fingers on the guitar and bass strings, the control of the drum sticks going across the cymbals. Modern pop and rap singles are often wholly synthesised and computer-programmed, and pitch-correction software is now considered an essential piece of recording technology. For example, compare Freda Payne's 'Band Of Gold' to the 2007 version by Kimberley Locke. All of the tempo weaknesses and flubbed notes in the former have been eliminated in the latter, and the humanity in turn has been buffed and rubbed out. The tune might not have changed, but the human element certainly has been muted. Or simply go to any health club or dance bar in major urban centres and listen to the music they play on the PA -- you'll hear the mechanical and aggressive elements right away.

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