The Number Ones: Jack Harlow’s “First Class”

April 23, 2022STAYED AT #1:3 WeeksIn The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. The column is now biweekly, alternating with The Alternative Number Ones on Mondays. Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music.There's a line that AI music practitioners use habitually, a talking point that they've turned into an article of faith. Thus far, it's been hard to manufacture a whole lot of public enthusiasm around the idea of generative AI in popular music. It's a silly novelty at best, a plague that must be eradicated at worst. Other than those who stand to profit from the enterprise, very few people are into that shit. As the midterm elections approach, almost no politician is willing to say that they want data centers built anywhere near where their constituents might live. But you'll still see AI-music foot-soldiers — possibly paid, possibly just doing it for the love of the game — who insist that the backlash is shortsighted, that every new development in technology has led to people coming along ...