A few of my friends look at me weird when I say I listen to pop music, recommending that they check out the new Britney Spears album. Possibly my favorite era in music during my young life is during the late ’90s to early ’00s between when grunge rock faded away and rap became Top 40 radio mainstream.

Let me explain how I listen to music. When I first hear a song, I listen to “the big picture,” the overall feeling of the song and not yet analyzing the little details like lyrics and composition.  In later passes I dissect the components of a song and analyze each individually.  It will take at least four playthroughs before I’ve actually really “listened” to a song.

For me, a “good” pop song is one that I will let play through without wanting to switch to another song.  In other words: inoffensive.  It doesn’t have to actually be good or great, just not bad, just “good enough.”

After all, getting past “no” is often the hardest, most important part.   Everything past that is gravy.  That’s the lesson.  In order to reach the widest possible audience, you don’t necessarily have to figure out how to appeal to every kind of person, just offend as few as possible.