I grew up with the Latin mass and occasionally attend one offered at our cathedral. What made the English language mass so awful was that the liturgists at the time (early 1960's) were hung up on protest and folk music and the counter culture. Hence what we got were hootenanny liturgies, tie dyed vestments and hippie priests. The rich Latin liturgical tradition was also abandoned rather than integrated.
When I was studying in France in the 1970's, I was pleasantly surprised to find that in other countries the liturgical traditions were not abandoned and prayerful music without guitars was the norm.
What made the English language mass so awful was that the liturgists at the time (early 1960's) were hung up on protest and folk music and the counter culture.Amen to that. The argument for the guitar mass is that it appeals to the young, but why should music in the 60's folk music style appeal to the young? It's like listening to a friggin' Peter, Paul, and Mary concert during PBS pledge week!!!