That was how Director of Youth Affairs Richard Carter summed up some of the offerings this Crop-Over season.
Saying he was speaking from "a purist calypso point of view", he stressed: "A lot of rubbish is masquerading as calypso. There is a clear decline in the quality of the art form.
"The use of lyrical and other devices in the calypsos has declined substantially. We hardly have anybody that is using wit.... I'm talking about humour as a tool in the calypso art form.
"Unfortunately, what has also happened is that the media, radio stations, are playing, probably because they are easily available and accessible, more of the soca/party type of music which is of dubious lyrical content, much of it of little aesthetic or other value and are doing a disservice to the development of the art form of calypso," Carter said yesterday.
He was responding to a question from the media before a Press conference to launch the second annual National Youth Awards at the Ministry of Youth Affairs' Elsie Payne Complex, the City.
"There is a lot of smut and a lot of poor quality, a lot of lyrics that do nothing to uplift, enhance and contribute to national social development if that is what the festival is supposed to do."
However, president of the United Artistes of Barbados and reigning Pic-O-De-Crop monarch, David Kid Site Piggott, held a different view.
He said in a telephone interview that a lot of young people who had entered the arena were inexperienced and needed help with their work.
"They need encouragement in order for them to improve. I find that we are too quick to knock the young people.
"More people, the old and established artistes, those who got something from the [Crop-Over] festival should help the youngsters and they will get better," he said.
Piggott said he had taken some youngsters who came to him for help into the studio, showed them "certain things", and fine-tuned their work.
Please see also Page 4A.