Don McLean is not a fan of modern music: "Repetitive, lacks substance and means nothing"

14 April 2020, 14:40

Folk-rock star Don McLean, who is best known for his 1971 hit ‘American Pie’, has revealed that he isn’t a fan of today's music offerings.

The 74-year-old American singer-songwriter believes "repetitive" music in 2020 "lacks substance" and "means nothing".

Don told host Tom Cridland during an episode of his YouTube series The Greatest Music of All Time: "The music doesn’t mean anything."

Watch: Ed Sheeran sings 'Vincent' with Don McLean backstage

He said: "The music reflects the spiritual nature of the society. We have a kind of a nihilistic society now.

"No one believes in anything, no one likes anything, no one has any respect for anything much. The music shows that."

Asked about today’s popular hits played on the radio and music in general, Don replied: "It doesn’t exist as far as I can see.

Listen: Ellie Goulding covers Don McLean's 'Vincent'

"Music is not on the radio. There’s some form of music like sound, but it’s not music to me.

Don McLean and Ed Sheeran Sing 'Vincent' and It's Pure Magic

"There was a show called Name that Tune back in the 1950s, and by the fourth note, they would say, ‘Oh, that’s 'Strangers in the Night'.'

"There’s nothing on the radio you can name in 20 notes, almost."

Don also claimed musical groups also don’t know how to write a melody, saying: "They have a lot of riffs. They’re very cool and the records are great but they’re not melodies and the lyrics are not about anything. It’s very vague and vacant.”