Sir, – Tom Hodson (April 21st) states that he no longer feels bad for not trying to appreciate modern pop music after hearing comments attributed to Irish DJ Krystal Klear ("I farted the mix out in my bedroom in Manchester in an hour or two hours", April 20th).
Some of the most successful songs of the modern era have been written in a short time. Paul McCartney claims to have written Yesterday in a matter of minutes. David Bowie's All the Young Dudes only took two hours to complete. Adele, Lorde, Beyoncé and Mumford and Sons all have critically acclaimed songs all written within 60 minutes.
This isn't a new-found trait only found in "modern pop music". Mozart himself only wrote the overture to his opera Don Giovanni the night before the premiere.
Songs are never truly completed, only released. They can in turn develop and change through live performance.
Quality, creativity, and storytelling are all factors that should determine whether something in the arts deserves respect, and not necessarily the time it took to complete it. – Yours, etc,
GAVIN BRENNAN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.