When I was in College, my Music Theory Profesor once said that " The Beatles are not REAL Music" To sum up the underlying meaning of that comment he was stating that in his opinion the only real music is Classical or Jazz. This excludes pretty much all of today's music and at least over a hundred years of musical progression that has evolved over this period.
What do you think? Is Classical the only REAL music? Is all Rock n Roll crap? Is Punk Trash? Does pop suck? Is Folk just 2 chords and no brains? Are the bands that we love and respect as serious musicians just making uneducated noise?
My Opinion: That professor has a narrow mind that is encrusted with the shit of the world. I absolutely love classical music, for the fact that I was classicaly trained. I have to admit though that it bores me at times. What is often overlooked is the classical influence that bands over the generations integrated in with thier own style. I have much more respect for them than some composer trying to pump out the same old Mozart style Score that has reused for centuries.
And I have to say that this is one of the reasons that I love Sonic Youth they have managed to take what most consider to be racket and mesh it into "Real Music"
To me music is not about how many notes you know, how fast you can play or even how outrageous you are. Real music is most often simple and arises out of pain and sometimes joy. Real music is hearing what someone is feeling and feeling it with them.
Music is a spirituality that brings you closer to god and you're inner being. It's also quite fun to have around when you get trashed and need to get some of that little troubled girl out of your system.