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I found this very interesting article - Blender's 50 Worst Things To Happen To Music. I encourage you to take a look at it, because it's quite entertaining and funny. Most of the time it's true too.

I thought I'd go ahead and make my own list here too. These aren't in any kind of order. I'm going to add my own commentary to each listing too.

Corporate Radio
I thought the point of radio stations was to play a mix of what the record companies want you to hear and what YOU want to hear. Lately, it seems like all that's being played is what the record companies want you to hear. The songs are being overplayed far too often! I don't care how good the song is, you will get sick of it if you hear it enough. Normal radio is becoming irrelevant in this day of iPods and internet and satellite radio. Hasta la vista.

Lip Synching
Yeah, yeah, I know people can't sing AND dance at the same time. But they shouldn't need to dance so much! That's what backup dancers are for. If we're more worried about the dancing than the singing, then the singing is cheapened. Why not skip the singing all together and just dance to instrumental beats? Concerts should be about the music, not the dancing. And if you're performing live on TV, for the love of God please do your own singing! Nothing screams "amateur" more than lip synching to your own song.

Hair Metal
I know this will probably piss some people off, because I know some folks who are into this kind of music. I, however, am not. Sorry, everyone, but it all sounds the same to me. Where's the creativity? Like the pop music mentioned above, it's all about the show and not about the music. Hair metal was born in the 80s and belongs there too.

Disappearing Blues
Without a good dose of the blues, rock is just shlock. Blues brings passion and creativity to the music. It becomes a religious experience. We need more blues in rock today.

American Idol
If I wanted to watch someone sing, I'd watch someone who gets paid to do it or at least has some experience. Kelly Clarkson is the big exception.

Boy Bands
They all sound the same. They all seem to be from Orlando. Each member has to fit into an "image." And, once again, the music just does not matter with these groups. All the songs are about love, and they all sound alike. It's all about the image, and that's not what music should be about.

MTV
I don't like a TV channel telling me what to listen to. MTV has some nerve keep the "M" in the TV when the "M" isn't even around much anymore. Also, they show a VERY limited list of formats. Emo rock, hard metal rock, silly hip-hop, r&b, and pop. Music videos don't matter anymore, and it's all Viacom/MTV's fault.

TRL
See above. TRL is all about image and getting kids on TV. I think they should just drop the countdown and interview the musicians and kids and leave it at that. They're insulting everyone who votes for these videos by only playing a small portion of them. What's the point of a countdown if you never show the whole video?

Garth Brooks
As far as I'm concerned, Garth is the man responsible for this whole pop-country phenomenon. Putting on a cowboy hat and singing with a twang does not make you country. Country just isn't country anymore, and that's sad.

Commercial Hip Hop
When your lyrics are about bling and hos and grillz and cars, you're just as commercial as a boy band. I don't even pay attention to the lyrics, because they don't mean anything. Good rap songs have lyrics that actually mean something.

Nearly Every Hip-Hop Video (#21 on Blender's List)
See above. Music videos used to be creative (some of them still are). We've all seen the cars, rims, hot tubs, cristal and semi-naked women over and over again in nearly every hip hop video in the past six or seven years. We don't need to see it all over again.

Seriousness In Rock
What happend to fun in rock? I'm tired of all these depressed, serious, low-key rock bands. Put a little swagger in it! Be dangerous! Listen to the Rolling Stones from the 60s and early 70s. That's what you should be doing!

Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Diddy (#36 on Blender's list)
He's so full of himself. He thinks he's the best, but he can't back it up. He has to be in every video, and at every music event. It just has to be all about him. Well, it's not. His record label hasn't had a hit for years. Diddy keeps thinking THIS will be the year he has another hit, but THIS year keeps turning into next year. And what's up with all the name changes? P. Diddy doesn't even make any sense! It sounds like something a child would make up. That's what Diddy is - a child.

Death of Guitar Solos
I'm tired of all these crunching guitar riffs that don't go anywhere. You can't tell most of these Modern Rock guitarists apart. Distort it, bang out a few chords and you're done. Where's the creativity and passion? Where's the individuality? We need more guitar solos. They don't have to be long, they just have to be there.

Stadiums
The intimate experience of seeing a show was lost when musicians began playing large stadiums. Now you can pay hundreds of dollars to barely see the musician you came to see, and hear their music on a shitty sound system. When it's all over, you go back to your car and wait five hours to leave the parking lot. No autographs, no interaction with the artist. Save your money and go see a not-so-superstar at a smaller venue.

Disappearance of Indie Record Shops (#28 on Blender's list)
Wal-Mart is the worst possible place to buy music. They have a HORRIBLE selection, and most of the discs aren't even in the right places. That's why it's so refreshing to have your local music shop where, if the disc you want isn't in stock, you can do a special order. If you like a more obscure artist, you'll have better luck finding them in a local store. Unfortunately, many local stores are closing. That means worse selection and fewer used CDs. It also means fewer people who know what they're talking about.

Musicals (#27 on Blender's list)
Why does everything have to be a musical these days? Either write a song or do a play, don't make me listen to the contrived crap you wrote to turn a movie or TV show into a musical. I'm adding Riverdance and other such things to this category too. Celtic music is great and shouldn't be represented by a gimmicky version of traditional Irish stepdancing. With horrible costumes, to boot.

Lists That Reduce Rock To A Series Of Lists (#22 on Blender's list)
Can you REALLY say that one album is better than another, or one artist better than another? Ranking is stupid. It's fun, but it's ultimately stupid. Sure, make a list of things you like, but don't try to rank them in any order. It's pointless and takes away from the point of music - enjoyment.

Overly-ambitious Producers
When a song or album is better known for who's producing it than who's singing it, things are going wrong. If I cared about how great a producer is, I'd buy his or her album. Your job as a producer is to help the artist get what they want out of their music, not to make the artist carry out your own vision of what you want and then get all the credit.

Indie Scenesters
Quit being so serious about your music! Okay, that's what I'm doing here, but whatever. These pissing matches about the "hipness" of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or Sufjan Stevens or Arctic Monkeys or whatever other "band of the moment" are pointless and off-putting. Indie music isn't the only thing of quality out there. Sure, there may be many bad major-label artists but there are good ones too. They started out just as your precious indie band did - unknown. Give them a break and listen to the music for what it is.

Fred Durst (#17 on Blender's list)
Do I even have to explain this one? He's a white man wearing his hat backwards and trying to rap over a guitar. Enough already.

The Macarena/Latino Explosion of '99
Ethnic music is great. Music in non-English languages is great. What's not so great is when those things are reduced to a brief fad and marketed to people who felt the need for a little "excitement" in their musical lives without the commitment. Hopefully Shakira will do it right and be true to herself, no matter what language she uses to express herself.

Musical Deaths
John Lennon. Janis Joplin. Buddy Holly. Ray Charles. Doesn't matter who it is, any famous musician who dies represents potential that will never be used.

The Beatles Breaking Up/Jimi Hendrix Dying
These two things may not seem to have much to do with each other, but they were both the end of one of the greatest times for creativity in popular music. Members of The Beatles' each did some great things on their own, but together they could have done a lot more. Jimi, on the other hand, was ahead of his time and would have changed popular music in even more amazing ways had he lived past 27.

Record Companies
Art and business do not mix. That's all I have to say about this one.