TV ON THE RADIO--Second Song

"Composers face the agony of choice. They can turn a deaf ear and carry on as if music were still music; or they can practice the same levelling out on their own account, turn music into normality, and maintain, as far as possible, a certain level of quality. Alternatively, they can oppose the tendency by resorting to extremes, with the prospect of either being drawn in and levelled out after all--as one can already witness with Kafka--or withering away as a speciality. The highly uncomfortable situation of composition today stems from the decline of music's raison d'etre, the undermining of its very possibility. This, admittedly, communicates itself in the decline of criteria, in the loss even of a tradition that could be experienced negatively, and in technical, intellectual and social disorientation." Adorno, Philosophy and Music, p.430