Scientists Analyze The Loudness War

In a new study called Measuring The Evolution Of Contemporary Popular Music, a group of Spanish scientists have confirmed what Dynamic Range Radio's listeners have known for years: that today's popular music is louder than it was in 1955.

I'm reminded of Norm MacDonald's old gag from Weekend Update... yet another groundbreaking study from the pages of the scientific journal "Duh!"

The study also analyses the pitch and timbre of popular music to determine if there have been any changes in the structure and complexity of hit music in Western civilization, and the researchers conclude that popular music has become more homogenized in the past 50 years. At least, I think that's what it says. It's a bit too sciency for my tired old brain to comprehend without spending hours poring over it, so here's a dumbed down recap of the study from the folks at Slate. We all tend to believe studies that confirm what we've always thought to be true* anyway, so that's good enough for me.

*I'm pretty sure there's a scientific name for this phenomenon, but I'm too tired, busy, and lazy to look it up. This is why I'm not a scientist.