[smhenderson]

I kind of like it, the Hammond organ at least.

As far as intelligence, at least this song is trying to comment on what was current at the time with a nod towards a political message.

Who cares what games we choose Little to win, but nothing to lose

It's easy to see it as nonsense pandering now but I think people really bought into these types of songs when it came out.

Now do kids today listen to pop music with a message? I'm not qualified to say because I tend to listen to music that came out around the time of the song you cited so I'm biased. But I'm sure my parents thought music was stupider when I grew up then when they did, that's just a natural progression.

I think the author's methodology is a bit too rigid to define music as stupid or not. Without examining underlying nuance, I don't see how you can fairly judge the differences.