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Harvard grad and former Wall Street Journal writer Martha Bayles’ 1994 treatise, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music, suggests that rock ‘n’ roll and R&B’s sound and sensibility since 1966 has been undermined by art-school nihilism, extremist left-wing counterculture attitudes, distorted concepts of sex and race, and the misuse of modern musical technology. Bayles insists that her book’s dismissal of nearly all popular music of the last 28 years is based on quantifiable factors rather than (as her detractors suggest) nostalgic longing for the music of her youth. She elaborates on her controversial views in “For Generation X, the Dead End Is the Music.” At 7 p.m. at the Library of Congress’ James Madison Building, Pickford Theater, 1st & Independence Ave. SE. FREE. (202) 707-5049. (SK)