One Man Has Written Virtually Every Major Pop Song Of The Last 20 Years.

> Should we think 90% of the stuff produced by HN readers on a daily basis (I mean the software we write, not our comments, hehe) are good things?

In the world I want to live in, would 90% of the stuff produced by HN readers, software, comments, and everythign else be good things? Sure. So in that sense, yes, they should be. Are they? Definitely not.

Is Facebook good? It definitely meets a market need; but what's the social implication of confining discourse into the channels it does? What will the generation raised on the 'like' button be like? How has social media affected journalism -- would people use phones to share linkbait about 10 Things You'd Never Believe We Found in Justin Bieber's Trash?

Snapchat is definitely a good thing. It's single-purpose enough that it doesn't replace anything else, but it add something to the toolkit of how people can communicate. It also brought the concept of ephemerality back to digital communication, which I think is invaluable. You might disagree about that, but it's definitely significant in the way that Call Me Maybe isn't.

I disagree that the idea behind pop music is to make people happier. The idea behind pop music is to make money. Sometimes these values align, and other times they don't. I've never met someone deeply fulfilled on a personal or spiritual level from playing Candy Crush; I've never seen anyone moved to tears by an N*SYNC song.

Assuming that people who make pop music are trying to make people's lives a little more bearable, I definitely think they could do a lot better. This guy is probably incredibly musically gifted, and what is he doing? Writing crap that nobody will remember to make a few bucks, in exactly the same way the greatest minds of our generation are using fantastic computing power and computing over insane amounts of data, thinking faster and deeper than any human ever could, to get people to click ads.

I think he could do better. I wish we lived in a world where he could.

>...and the tech industry is any better?

I don't think I said that.

True. But usually when you judge others, the assumption is that you personally would pass the same judgement.

E.g. the speck in your brother's eye vs. the plank in your own.

I was admittedly assuming you work in the tech industry, just given that most HNers do.

Which, yeah, I was going to have to eat crow if you work in orphanages all day.

I have always been a fan of trashy pop (too busy still listening to "As Long as You Love Me" 10 years later to have any shame). I remember when I was 13 and used to read all the pocket leaflets from audio tapes I would buy. And reading the entirety of the fine print/credits for all my favourite songs after I'd memorized the lyrics (backwards too).

I remember coming across Max Martin and Denniz Pop prominently figuring in just about every single one of my favourite songs. I would be amazed to find a song I liked that didn't mention at least Max Martin. I was amused to find this consistent across BSB, NSync and Britney Spears (and I didn't like very many of her songs). I always thought to myself "This man, whoever he is, whatever he does, is a genius, because he seems to be the only real common factor across all my favourite trashy pop songs. Why isn't he the most important man in pop music?"

I got over my obsession over the backgrounds of pop musicians shortly. But I still find my favourite songs (within my understandably terrible taste according to those with a finer appreciation for the arts) to often be Max Martin produced.

He deserves a lot of respect and credit for not only dominating his field and picking the right talent to work with, but moreso for keeping up with the trends and times (or defining them?), entertaining teenagers and youngsters for multiple generations even as he grew older. That is definitely no easy feat, in music, movies, social media (hi Facebook) or any other industry.

As a game designer, I hope I can develop that talent to cater to the most important demographics in my industry even as I outgrow it.

Sure, I think the guy is extremely talented. No doubt about it whatsoever. He uses his talent, though, on a format that is much simple and the results aren't very long-lasting, I guess because of the simplicity/lack of depth. In 50 years, who will still listen to the classical pieces you were learning? And who will still listen to the pop pieces?