Not That Simple

‘Bloom implies that all popular music “has the beat of sexual intercourse.” Taking exactly the same view, Steven Tyler of the hard rock band Aerosmith boasts: “It’s rhythm and blues, its twos and fours, it’s f***ing.” In general, neither friend nor foe acknowledges that the monotonous beat of hard rock (and, indeed, of much rap) is a travesty of the rich, tireless, complicated rhytms of Afro-American music at its best. All I can say to such people is, if the rhythms of good jazz, funk, blues, or gospel remind you of sexual intercourse, then — well, my hat’s off to you’ (Martha Bayles, Hole in our Soul, p. 11).
Douglas Wilson