Maybe it's just me, but...
 

Why is mainstream music constantly complete garbage? If it's mainstream, that means the majority of music fans like it (?)... how can so many people like these songs that are generally sh*t?
I know it's all a matter of opinion, but I also know, for a fact, that I'm not the only person that feels this way.

The top 5 songs atm according to myspace.com:

1. Find Your Love, by Drake
2. OMG, by Usher
3. Billionaire, by Travis McCoy
4. Drop The World, by Lil Wayne
5. Not Afraid, by Eminem

I really did try to give each of these songs a chance and I'm now suicidal (not really).

Eminem's new stuff is great

mainstream music is garbage because it's sold as a product to passive listeners who are more interested in having the 'correct' topical background soundtrack to their daily lives as per their peers than they are interested in actively searching for music that speaks to their soul.

and yeah, the new Eminem single is the best thing i've ever heard from him.

I will say the Eminem song is the only one that I started to get some sort of enjoyment out of.

I wouldn't go (even nearly) that far! But as I said before it's a matter of opinion.

Surely it's just a matter of personal taste? Each to their own and all that? Ok, so if we look at stuff like X Factor winners, manufactured boy bands (do they even still make those anymore?) then I think we can agree that any 'original' music they do is pretty non-descript, standard stuff that my 4 year old neice could write, given the chance. But you've made a pretty sweeping statement about mainstream music. I think a majority of it is just where people can't be bothered to give other genres a chance. I guess some people are just happy listening to whatever's there and not really delving any deeper.

I have a friend who stops listening to material from a band once they've appeared on a 'Now that's what I call music' album, purely on the basis that he thinks that being in the mainstream is a kind of sell out these days and that the band will now probably go downhill (granted, some do...), which I think is kind of sad.

Saying that, Apart from Eminem (not a massive fan but even I rate his new stuff) I haven't actually heard any of that list. Usher and Lil Wayne can suck balls as far as I'm concerned, so I merely stay away from it. I can't remember the last time I listened to a local radio station or a music channel so I'm kind of out of touch with what's in the charts now. I know what I like and tend to stick to those areas.

I think the problem is the majority of people either can't be bothered to look deeper for music and are content to have it spoonfed to them or just assume that, because it's not from a big name, it's automatically crap, or both. Also a lot of mainstream listeners in pop aren't willing to give any other genres a try and make generalisations like all metal is smashing dustbins together and shouting.

One could argue that listeners of other genres sometimes do the same sort of the thing, I know I do. I (as a metalhead) make alot of generalizations about other genres and sometimes see a band isn't metal and automatically think I won't like it before listening to it. A big difference between myself and the common mainstream listener is that I have a basis to judge the other genres, as I've given non-metal genres a chance: country (which I do like sometimes), rap, indie rock, and even pop (in the boy band era *shudders*) to name a few.

Yah it can go both ways, for example, a lot of "indie" people refuse to listen to anything if it's mainstream for no fact other than it's mainstream, which I think is just as bad. And yeah, I went through that boy band era... >.> but now I try to keep an open mind to whatever I'm listening to, but I do tend to make generalisations abot rap...

I couldn't agree with you more. It's like you knew what I was thinking.

I really try giving today's mainstream music the benefit of the doubt, but every time I do, I feel like I've lost a thousand braincells. It really does my head in. I completely understand that it is a matter of taste and that I'm just the weird minority that don't get it, but that's just the thing - I really don't get it.