Grammy Gripes, Week 2

A&R; is a lost art; today it’s driven solely by money--not that it hasn’t always been a consideration, but today there is little, if any, regard for musicianship (“Selling Millions on a Sour Note,” by Geoff Boucher, Feb. 20). We are listening to bookkeeper music, not art. Music needs to be challenging, and we all suffer when it is not.

JIM HILTON

Laguna Niguel

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They’ve just realized that there’s a creative drought? Where have they been the last 30 years?

GEORGE FERRICK

Los Angeles

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How many recent ‘songs” have you heard whose only reason for existence is that it was built in the studio by digitally sampling an old record? On this year’s Grammy telecast, this ugly trend was evident just three minutes into the show (Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” was the central structure of Will Smith’s opening number).

The music industry has realized that it’s much easier (and profitable) to copy the vast archives of classic pop and R&B; than to pay artists to develop their songwriting chops over a period of often nonprofitable years.

So, what’s a new artist to do? Devote years of hard work with your instrument, searching for musical magic--a la Gershwin, Elton or Stevie--or buy a sampler, copy some catchy, already-proven work, and make some big bucks?

KIRK JORDAN

Long Beach

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I watched the Grammys till I fell asleep (10 p.m.) because there wasn’t much to hold my attention. A VH1 show I have watched several times could hold the answer to the questions/quandary posed in the article. It is a game show that pits a baby boomer against a Gen-Xer in a trivia matchup about past and current music. The baby boomer usually loses because of a simple fact: Today’s music holds nothing for him/her, and questions about it are met with a blank look. The Gen-Xer usually wins because yesterday’s music is still of interest.

I think the same oldies you hear now will be the oldies played in the future.

Rick Howell

Oak View