DJ's spinning (show your hands)

Sweat until my clothes come off

In case you didn't recognize it, that's a verse from Christina Aguilera's latest release, "Dirrty." Here's the story of how I took the trouble to find out.

It was a boring afternoon, all my homework was done and I decided to visit a few friends whom I hadn't seen in a while. I knocked on the door, but finding it open, barged in. The room held an eerie silence, but on the couch, intently staring at the TV were my three friends. I immediately stopped my annoying "Is anyone home?" calls in fear of breaking the mood of the horror movie they must be watching. It was like the calm before the storm.

Imagine my surprise, when I found, not blood and monsters creeping through the swamp, but Christina Aguilera dancing in the tiniest little (two adjectives to emphasize the fact) bikini I'd ever seen. Lost in the silence, I sat down; I understood.

Our eyes tried to keep pace with the flickering, dizzying movements of her naughty steps and for the next three captivating minutes, I contributed to the silence. The song ended, and immediately with sighs of relief, the conversation started and things were back to normal.

But why the silence? What happened to her melodious lilting voice? Well, as I learned, these songs are best appreciated on mute. Nothing distracts you from the actual purpose of the song being made. Sad, but unquestionably, very true. Of course, out of curiosity, I did find the lyrics on the Internet.

Is this music? Is this the future? Girls (they are hardly women yet) trying to compete with each other in costumes, girls trying to make the sexiest videos, girls trying to sell songs with their heavily made-up oomph rather than the required vocal and lyrical strengths.

Here's more:

Lucky that my lips not only mumble

So you don't confuse them with mountains

Shakira, a highly talented performer now known for singing these words, joined the overly crowded bandwagon of teenage bubblegum pop princesses.

I would be terribly wrong if I restricted my dislikes only to these so-called songstresses, or pop divas. The teenage boys are no better. They're worse, as watching them on mute doesn't do much good, either.

Somewhere in the revolution of music, the focus turned to exhibitionism rather than consistent talent and meaningful messages. The songs no longer reflect moods, they no longer speak of love forever and they no longer carry the simple but realistic message of the people. These songs aren't characteristic of anyone's life. Somewhere new laws were written, new guidelines were set and all of them crossed from the lawns of true music to the pastures that seemed more lucrative and greener. But don't they always?

Rewind back a few decades and you will listen to songs that won their fans over the radio. Bands grew out of small towns, with only a guitar and their talent to vouch and pay for their journey into stardom. The Beatles and Led Zeppelin led their respective years with glory and with a commitment to their beliefs that outranked all their other priorities. It would be silly to propose that it was the intoxication of the drugs that made their lyrics so powerful and still ringing, but it does make me wonder if the singers today have sacrificed their attitudes for money.

Was it, then, our videos that killed the radio stars? Can we blame MTV? As humans, we need to point fingers. There are videos that have added to the romanticism of the songs immensely. Michael Jackson (in his prime and when he was sane) was the king of videos. Aerosmith was another. Videos are necessary, but only as an enhancer, a catalyst to push the sales and gather the fans. They aren't a substitute for hiding lyrical inferiority.

Do we blame ourselves for watching, albeit on mute? After all, I downloaded the video. But I would never buy the record, and isn't that the aim? Unfortunately, not a single song sticks in my head. None of the tunes are catchy and the artists are hardly ever complimented on anything but their attire.

But a change would do us good. There's no doubt a lot of the young stars have talent, but they need to channel it. Hit the right chords, write words that make us think and they must try not to fall prey to the temptations of easy money. We don't need more posters, just more records to buy.

The day songs began to be better appreciated on mute was the day the music died. Let's revive it.