Much of what is called music isn’t anything of the sort. I’m not out of my depths. Merely expressing opinion, or because I’m a certain age, I, what, suddenly lose all critical thinking, reason, intelligence? Certain people instantly throw out, “It’s because you’re old!”

No. It’s because it isn’t music. It’s dreck. It’s rubbish. It’s demonic. It’s not music.

I watched the Beatles live on the Ed Sullivan program. Every time they were on. It turned out it really was “a really big show,” as Ed would say, almost every show. It was different then. It was a really big thing.

I began playing accordion at an early age, when I wanted to have and play an electric guitar. So, my parents bought a used, 3/4 size, white accordion. Talk about hip. Cool. Wow. Yeah.

I eventually did get an electric guitar. Took lessons. Been involved with, listened to more real music than most people I know. As a teenager, in the 1960s, I had not only an amazing LP collection of the greatest rock bands and artists, but also albums of great Jazz artists — Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and many, many others.

I also had a large collection of Classical music. I listened to Mozart, Beethoven, and the really old masters. Blues players. Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and the list goes on. I had a collection of crooners, also known as lounge singers, such as Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, and a few others [I even had a “Perry Como sweater,” when I was about 10 years old — that and a 3/4 size white accordian? Wow!]. I still listen to Dean Martin. Even country. I was a fan and ardent listener of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and those guys.

I could fill a book, write a book solely based on music in my life.

Presently, I’m studying, practicing jazz guitar primarily, while also praying and working towards establishing a custom guitar building business. One man shop. Because music is important. REAL music.

It’s throughout the Holy Bible. God made REAL music in man and woman possible.

I bought, listened intently, daily, constantly to good music. Went to live concerts and gigs. Worked with bands. Worked in the leading music store between New York City and Chicago.

I’ve always subscribed and aligned myself with Duke Ellington, [who I had many albums of his], and his quote when asked about music. Duke said, “There are two kinds of music, good music, and the other kind.”

Today?

The dreck passing for music?

It isn’t even “the other kind.”

If you knew how it’s made, the no talent behind it, what takes place in recording studios to make it, and the mentality behind it…

Wow, perhaps then you’d begin to pay attention, but even then, probably not.

Most people are oblivious to its content, which is not musical but demonic in nature. To control. To enrage. To lead to violence. To destroy.

First, the individual soul. Then a community. Than a generation.

Don’t know because I’m old?

I know music.  I know what good music is. And what passes for music today, of certain genres, isn’t music.

It is destructive. It is deadly. It is demonic. It’s got an agenda, and its agenda has taken root and spread.

Think it’s bad now? Do the status quo, head in the sand, and if blessed to have ten more years of life, hey, if five more years of life, see how further it all erodes, decays, declines, and what the fruit all this dung bears.

It ain’t good fruit. It ain’t music.

And nobody is doing anything about it.

Imagine that.

Yeah, mark the music…

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Thursday, January 8th, 2026

Mark The Music

“We are teaching savagery and are naively appalled at the success of our instruction.”

January 8, 2026

By John Dietrich

Reprinted from American Thinker

Recently, country music singer John Rich commented on a remark made by rap singer Sean Combs.  Combs boasted, “I own your kids. I own their souls. I determine what they wear. I determine what they listen to.”  Rich asked, “Is anybody going to rebut this devil and what he just said about our kids?”  He answered his own question: “Nobody did. Nobody said boo about it.”  Unfortunately, Rich is correct.  Few recognize the damage resulting from large numbers of children being “owned” by degenerates.

The power of music has been recognized since ancient times.  The fourth-century BC Confucian philosopher, Xunzi, claimed, “If music is dissolute and dangerous, then the people will be dissolute, arrogant, vulgar, and base.”  He described the “music of decline”: “ no sooner were these wicked notes struck in the Royal Palace than the . . . kingdom and sovereign went to their doom.”  The ancient Greeks also recognized the power of music.  Plato wrote, “when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them.”  “Licentious works . . .  have inspired the multitude with lawlessness and boldness.”  Aristotle purportedly said, “Music has a power of forming the character, and should therefore be introduced into the education of the young.”

Modern researchers have also recognized the power of music.  Unfortunately, their findings have not received the attention they deserve.  Musicologist Dr. Adam Knieste described the power of music: “It’s really a powerful drug. Music can poison you, lift your spirits, or make you sick without knowing why.”  Dr. Jose Antonio Abreu found “music produces an irreversible transformation in a child.”  Of course, the “musicians” themselves are aware of the power they hold.  Jimi Hendrix claimed, “music is a spiritual thing of its own.  You can hypnotize people with music.”

The “elite” in the music industry is aware of the negative consequences of the music they promote.  However, they insist on promoting this noise created by untalented cretans that is obscene, racist, and misogynistic.  The “elite” of the music industry are followed by progressive politicians.  Former Senator John Kerry claimed to be “fascinated by rap and hip-hop,” and observed that “there’s a lot of poetry in it,” saying, “I think you’d better listen to it pretty carefully, ‘cause it’s important.”   Kamala Harris claims, “Hip hop is the ultimate American art form.  Hip hop now shapes nearly every aspect of America’s popular culture and it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people.” When Barack Obama was contemplating a run for the White House, he invited rapper Ludacris to his Chicago office.  Ludacris’s  repertoire includes  “Ho,” “You’z a Ho”, and “I Got Hos.”  Once in office, Michelle Obama invited a rapper who calls himself Common to the White House for a delightful evening of poetry.  Common recorded a tribute to Assata Shakur, an infamous cop killer.  Another—“poet” Rick Ross—glorified date rape with the lyrics, “Put molly all in her champagne / She ain’t even know it / I took her home and I enjoyed that / She ain’t even know it.”

The media has played an important role in the promotion of this “music.”  The Huffington Post described rapper Ice Cube as a modern-day Renaissance man, one of his generation’s cultural icons.”  Ice Cube performs that classic, “We Had To Tear This Mothaf—a Up.”  One method for promoting rap is to give the “artists” numerous awards.  Tupac Shakur has been given several awards, including the NAACP Image Award.  Common has won two Grammys.  Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize for music.  His creation, “Lust”, includes the lyrics, “Wake up in the mornin’, thinkin’ ‘bout money, kick your feet up, Watch you a comedy, take a sh_t, then roll some weed up, Go hit you a lick, go f__k on a b_tch, Don’t go to work today, cop you a fit.”  Lord Infamous won an Academy Award for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”

Of course, the Deep State’s educational establishment plays its part in promoting rap.  Former Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona deleted a tweet showing the music playlist he was promoting during his bus tour visiting schools.  The list included, “F—k all you hoes.  Get a grip, motherf—kers.”  The National Council of Teachers of English recommended the use of hip-hop lyrics in urban public school classrooms.  Ivy League universities have provided their students with culturally enriching rap.  Both Harvard and Yale have rap libraries.  MIT hosted Killer Mike for a lecture on race relations: a part of MIT’s “Hip Hop Speaker Series”.  At times, rap may show a certain insensitivity about race.  Ice Cube’s “Black Korea” contains the lyrics, “Look, you little Chinese motherf—ker, I ain’t tryin’ to steal none of yo’ s__t, leave me alone!”  Yg’s “Meet The Flockers” gives a reason and instructions on robbing Orientals: “Find a Chinese neighborhood, cause they don’t believe in bank accounts.”  William Shakespeare’s warning is fitting for these troubled times: “The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.”

John Dietrich is a freelance writer and the author of The Morgenthau Plan: Soviet Influence on American Postwar Policy (Algora Publishing).  He has a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations from St. Mary’s University.  He is retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.  He is featured on the BBC’s program “Things We Forgot to Remember:” Morgenthau Plan and Post-War Germany.