Got the AI Blues? Here's A Prescription from Dr Dre [View all]

Anthropologists tell us that singing preceded speech. Humans make music for all kinds of reasons -- it feels good, it squeezes out some grief that needs squeezing, it expresses feelings that words alone cannot, it takes us to a deeper state of mind, trance-like and rich with possibilities. AI doesn't do any of that. It can't. Never intentionally will.

It's November 1971. On the radio a new song uses something unheard before. The "drum" has the character of dripping water and the beat is clock-like; "perfect" yet not as cold as it should be because there are lush soulful vocals, bass and Billy Preston's keyboard over the top of it. The era of drum machines and disco is born with the release of Sly and the Family Stone's "Family Affair".

July 12, 1979. Comiskey Park, Chicago. A crowd of 20,000 was expected. 50,000 have showed up. As promised, a crate of disco records is blown up on the field of the MLB double header between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Crowd members storm the field to stomp the records into shards or throw the intact discs at each other like Oddjob's hat weapon in "Dr. No". Due to the riot, injuries and the mess, the second game is forfeited. To Motown.

January 1993. An infectious swingbeat super-spreads to all who will listen. A way to put the human touch into the backline of rap music is being popularized by Dr Dre. "Nuthin' but a G Thang" is instantly recognized as a revolution in Rap because it is imperfect, its beat not quantized. Listeners didn't need to know exactly what was different to know it was more satisfying. It felt different. Connected emotionally with the deepest and oldest parts of our psyche.

It's March 2027. Suno was expected to be the end of music as a craft. But it wasn't. Turns out that, unlike with chess or trivia, humans have a huge advantage when it comes to music. We will always feel the difference. We will always crave and recognize the connection with human joy or sorrow expressed as it only can be by other humans making music.