…It means inferior, damaged or otherwise of poor quality and I’ve never used it to refer to the quality of music.  I’d always heard it used to refer to certain…ahem..”combustibles” of poor quality.  But using it to refer to the quality of music is what Jody Rosen does in this Vulture.com article In Defense of Schlock Music: Why Journey, Billy Joel and Lionel Ritchie Are Better Than You Think.  Rosen spends a fair amount of ink (electrons? pixels? bandwidth?) explaining that if you’ve ever read or paid any attention to music critics you would know that almost all popular music, past and present, is considered schlock by those critics.  And despite the critic’s…err…criticism, the music was and is commercially successful, widely popular and has stayed popular over time.  Huh.  I can’t really decide if the article is a true defense of the music, a defense of the critics who deemed the music schlock, or an idictment of the public for embracing and consuming the schlock tunes because about halfway through the article I started to lose the will to live – no offense meant to Jody Rosen.  Anyhoo…I don’t care.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say (or so I’m told that they say) and I don’t need a critic to tell me if a painting is good, or if I should like a song.  I know what I like when I hear it.  I DO NOT LIKE The Pina Colada Song – just want to get that out there.  Now THAT is some schlock.  God, now I’ve got that in my head.

So in the critics’ opinions, my taste in music runs to “schlock”.  Everyone has their opinions – one man’s schlock is another man’s…umm…something that’s good music.  Let’s try that again.  One man’s schlock is another man’s..BACH!  Awesome.  Just find something you like and let it make you happy!

Here is number 109 from The 150 Greatest Schlock Songs  of All Time:

Hat tip:  Althouse