Monthly arts and media column
When Arthur Sullivan tried out Edison’s new invention of the phonograph cylinder in 1888, he commented that he was terrified by the prospect of recorded music. At the same time as considering the phonograph to be a wonderful invention, he objected prophetically to ‘so much hideous and bad music on record forever’.
Eleanor Margesson
If you’ve watched the X Factor lately, you may be inclined to agree with him. Alongside all of the wonderful recorded output that we can listen to whenever we like runs the musically awful and frankly superficial mush that seems to draw the most attention and gain the greatest sales.
