DANCE DUDS!

On the way home from the Hamptons last night, we listened to hours of dance "music" on the radio. The driver switched stations a lot but it was on 105 a lot. Then he switched to some vintage rock station and I heard Gimme Three Steps by Lynrd Skynrd for the first time. (Just because I'm southern doesn't mean I like Lynrd.) But I remember thinking that Gimme Three Steps was the first song I'd heard that I liked--even though I'm not really a rock or country fan. I prefer dance music. But all we heard of that was formulaic garbage--and because it was Saturday night, they were playing harder remixes of the same songs, Don't Stop The Music, Sexy And I Know It, etc. Of the new stuff, I particularly hated Eva Simons' I Don't Like You. I'm not saying that singers of color have to be pigeon-holed into singing r&b-flavored music, but does it strike anyone else as odd that dance music is finally in the top 40 in this country--yet it has arrived with no soul in it? Rihanna, Usher, LMFAO, Black Eyed Peas, Minaj's dance stuff--Adele has more soul than these. Does anyone else remember Usher's r&b classic U Remind Me?

How do you abandon soulful melodies and chords, which was alway my favorite element of dance music? Dance was the one genre where you'd get to hear artists who may not all look great in a bare midriff top but who were terrific singers--like Martha Wash, Jocelyn Brown, Barbara Tucker, Adeva, CeCe Penniston, Kristine W, Robin S, etc. Does no one else miss soul? I guess the artists just wanna cross-over and appeal to a bigger audience for bigger sales. But if you cross over too far, you suck! I never understood rapping over Islands In The Stream, Every Breath You Take or Video Killed The Radio Star, either. And let's not even mention the Black Eyed Peas' smash The Time (Dirty Bit), which used that Sandals' ad as their hook. Am I bitter and unable to keep up with musical trends or am I onto something here? Or both?

Eva Simons is very pretty and she can sing, but I think this is garbage.