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previously and forever unpopular but extremely good music that the music biz never deemed appropriate for mass consumption.

It was a beautiful song
But it ran too long
If you're gonna have a hit
You gotta make it fit
So they cut it down to 3:05

I like the old classical/progressive rock. Kansas, Rush, Yes etc and most of their songs were well over 3-3 1/2 minutes. I like other music too, including some pop and a few R&B tunes. Country too if it's not too cliche, doesn't repeat the title of the song 20 times in the song and isn't too tear in my beer. Most blues songs are too standard. Bluegrass is ok if it's not a standard format like most blues is.

There's still some good music being made but it doesn't make the radio even when the song isn't too long. John Rich writes a ton of songs including for many other artists like Faith Hill but they won't put Rich's recorded songs on the radio because he's pro American. A lot of country songs hit #1 in fan popularity and never get played a single time on the radio because they don't fit the political/cultural agenda of the industry, which like every other industry, has been taken over by the commie left.

Aaron Lewis' Am I the Only One comes to mind. Pro American, fans loved it and made it #1 but they wouldn't play it on the radio. The music's not dead. The music industry has just been assimilated into the Borg.

I like the old classical/progressive rock. Kansas, Rush, Yes etc and most of their songs were well over 3-3 1/2 minutes.

Or an album side: Yes - Close to the Edge. Oh albums, think about. We used to read liner notes, know the producers, sound engineers, and all the musicians that played. Plus there was the art work. It seems vinyl is making a comeback. Maybe music will too.

I like the Ballad of Billy the Kid. And I love Billy Joel. As a piano player, I look at his 7/8 time measures and D#19 chords and say, “how did I ever play that?” but how I did it is he is just soooo damned talented of a writer that the most progressive oddities in his music just flow so naturally.

But seriously, whatever “criticisms” of the record industry make it to an album are precisely those “criticisms” that the record industry wants to promote. Pat Benetar learned this the hard way when she released Sex As A Weapon as a #MeToo video thirty-some-odd years ahead of its time. MTV dropped her faster than if she called for people to worship Christ! (Ironically, the song was merely about getting so hot and she lost her better judgment.)