Tony Bennett Slams Modern Music: Today’s Songs Are ‘Terrible’

Parade ^ | MARCH 21, 2014 | Lindsay Lowe

[nickcarraway]

Tony Bennett doesn’t have much patience for most modern music. The legendary singer, 87, told the BBC Radio 4’s Today program that most modern songs lack a “lasting quality.”

“The songs that are written today, most of them are terrible,” he said. “It’s a very bad period, musically, throughout the world for popular music.”

He added that today’s music industry leaders are more concerned with making money than making quality music.

“The corporations took it over and they want to make so much money and they don’t care whether the public likes it or not,” he said. “They think the public is ignorant, so their attitude is, ‘Don’t give them anything intelligent, because it won’t sell.’”

He also criticized what he sees as the music industry’s bias toward younger listeners.

“Today, record companies are failing because they are putting their accent just on the young, and I think that’s rather silly,” he said.

Bennett is a huge fan of one young pop icon, however; he’s collaborating with Lady Gaga on a new jazz album, Cheek to Cheek.

“She’s one of the best singers I ever heard,” Bennett told Parade.com in 2012. “She also plays great piano and dances very well. She’s an all-around great performer…I’ve met so many people in show business over the years and I’m very impressed with her. She’s one of the great talents coming up. She’s going to always surprise everybody with her artistry.”

Watch Bennett and Lady Gaga perform “The Lady Is a Tramp”:

[berdie]

First one that comes to mind...

Bacharach (sp?) and Warwick.

[EveningStar]

I'm really late to this thread, but anyway...

“The corporations took it over and they want to make so much money and they don’t care whether the public likes it or not,” he said. “They think the public is ignorant, so their attitude is, ‘Don’t give them anything intelligent, because it won’t sell.’”

So sayeth Tony "I left my heart in the old Soviet Union" Bennett.