I don't think so. I think we're almost saying the same thing but worded differently. I said it's not a bad thing or a good thing. That's what they choose to listen to BUT it does have an impact when they are not willing to seek out anything more than what they hear on radio. In my opinion people who listen to what they are fed and nothing more are not true fans of music. They are fans of songs, often times because it's what other's like and that's it. You'll be able to see the evidence of this 20 years from now when NOTHING that's being released now is being listened to then. Not even the so called soundtracks to their lives will be listened to because it's crap. Nobody is driving around listening to Fall out Boy or My Chemical Romance o Limp Bizkit anymore and those were soundtracks to people's lives. Nobody is gonna be pumping Lil'Wayne 15 years from now. Nobody pumps 50 Cent now!  That's the difference.  When the general public accepts crap and only crap(which is the case for the most part in 2013 and has been for a while) as a soundtrack to their lives then when they are 15 years older that soundtrack is going to sound terrible and nobody will be listening to it.

I believe it comes down to this. Most people are not true music fans. They like music, they'll listen to what's fed to them but they are not true music fans in the sense that they crave music and want to hear all that is possible. They are not willing to seek out quality music. If you hear a song that you like or even love by an artist  yet you are not inclined to go out and dig deeper into that artist's catalogue you are not a true fan of music. It's not a good or bad thing it's just how I view it personally. Myself I am a true fan of music so if an artist catches my ear I will dig deeper and I will buy full albums. I always do with the artists I like and in fact when I purchase a new album I often skip the singles on first listen because I've already heard them and I want to see what more the artist has to offer me.

The problem now is true music fans are becoming less and less and it has a lot to do with what Axlin just talked about. Consume, consume, consume, produce, produce, produce, work, work, work and on to the next thing. Sadly now more than ever people are fake and strive so hard to be what other's want them to be. I honestly believe a lot of people load their ipods with music they don't really enjoy but they have it because they think others enjoy it and that's "what matters" these days. Thus creating an entire generation of single consumers who are for the most part not really fans of music but simply fans of collections of songs that they may or may not like but that they think others will. It's shocking how many people get into my car and love the music I play yet they've never heard any of it. Remarks such as "This is way better than what I have on my ipod" or "Why isn't this stuff on the radio?" are common yet these same people aren't willing to do anything about it by supporting the artists I have in my car or by searching out music they'd actually enjoy without being told  to enjoy it. They are content to listen to what's fed to them and be manipulated into thinking they really enjoy it. That's fine, that's their choice but I think it's a problem and does have an impact on the amount of quality music being released.

And then there's the big problem of artists knowing that this is the case and not taking the art of making full albums with 12 or so great songs on it seriously. They know as well as we do people consume singles and if they can focus on making one great single than the rest is just filler.

Some may think I'm way off in my opinion but I believe there's a lot of merit to what I'm saying.

MTV is nothing but a cesspool for shitty reality tv shows and bullshit programing. The closer an "artist" is to a shitty reality show stars like Jersey Shore jackoffs the more MTV will acknowledge them. It's a prime example of the deterioration of society.  Fuck MTV. The sad thing is everyone knows it and nobody does anything about it.

I think Todd Kerns should be the singer in Slash's band. No joke. For real.

So true! I bought that album the second it came out. Literally. I was in the music store hovering over the guy as he was unpacking a box of new releases. I guess I was excited for it, especially since I loved Wild Mood Swings. Like you said the idea behind the record was partially Robert's lack of inspiration. He had nothing left and he was on record as saying it was definitely The Cure's last album. You're right, writing about your lack of inspiration was genius.  He also said it kinda completed a trilogy of albums with Pornography and Disintegration so there are times when I think that should've been the last Cure album. Sail off into the sunset with arguably the best creative effort of your career, have your grammy nomination for best alternative album and call it a day...... then again I'm still excited for each Cure release that has followed even if it's not up to the old standards(in my opinion). There's always a  chance though.