Is modern pop music just pop music, or does it subvert decency and undermine civilised values?

Here's a reason for corporations not to like the stuff:

The market share of Mitsubishi Motors North America, the United States unit of the Japanese automaker, has been halved in just a year, to 0.8 percent last month from 1.5 percent in June 2003, according to the Autodata Corporation. In June, the company's sales dropped 45.7 percent, to 12,301.

Mitsubishi announced last week that it would lay off 1,200 employees, or about a third of its work force in Normal, Ill., site of its American plant, where it produces the Galant sedan, the Eclipse sporty coupe car and the Endeavor sport utility vehicle.

Mitsubishi has also decreased its advertising. For years it pitched the brand to young consumers with cheap financing and emotional eye-catching ads set to the music of Average White Band, Iggy Pop and Republica. That strategy created some of its trouble because it suffered a high default rate on the loans. Analysts say that Mitsubishi needs to write off about $1 billion in bad loans.

Don't get me wrong, I love pop music. Some of my favourite tunes are pop tunes. I'm not prejudiced. But the suggestion here, that pop music will attract the wrong sort of customer, suggests that there might be other reasons for the predominance of particular sorts of music – commercial reasons – besides the mere likeability of the stuff.

I can almost feel a neo-Marxist theory of musical taste coming on. The superstructure of musical taste reflects the economic infrastructure, that is to say, it is the consequence of the kind of business that businessmen need to do.

Of course, if you are touting for mere repeat business, where the trustworthiness and decorum of your customers is less of a worry and where you take their money continuously, pop music is just what you want.

But if you are selling cars or houses, stick with the classical repertoire. That way, they won't default on you.