I can’t say I am particularly pleased with this week’s new music releases. Some of it certainly isn’t bad, but it’s not anything I’m especially interested in spending my money on. I’ve got a mortgage to pay, afterall, so I’m pretty particular about where my discretionary funds end up.

So, I won’t be reviewing anything today … not exactly. However, a new record released Tuesday by Madonna, “Hard Candy,” has compelled me to discuss musical integrity based on her lack thereof. This could also apply to Carly Simon’s latest “comeback” (she put out a new bossa nova-ish album, “This Kind of Love,” this week), but I actually have some level of respect for her as an iconic musician with passion for the craft, so I’ll forgive her for her limited number of mistakes.

Some people just don’t know when to stop. Music is supposed to be inspired, organic and meaningful, not manufactured and marketed. This is probably going to make me sound like a total hippie, but quality music can’t be made unless it is first felt. Madonna’s new album wasn’t felt at all. It was all forced — created from a predetermined design. Judging by the content of this album, I figure she was not inspired to make a new record because she was overflowing with musical ideas; she quite clearly wanted to make a new record simply because it’s her “career.” I frequently wonder if Madonna chose the wrong career. She was just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year and she’s been churning out records for over two decades, so I suppose I have a lot of opposition on this idea.

Sure, I’ll admit that not all of her music is bad. What she did up until about 1995 was pretty good, and some of it even becomes better with time. I think I enjoy “Like a Virgin” about 10 times more than I did when it was brand new. But just because your older songs are becoming more valuable, Madonna, is not an invitation for you to make something new. Trust me, in another 25 years, more people will remember “Into the Groove” than anything you’ve made over the past decade. Even your perverted rendition of the Don McLean classic “American Pie” will be long forgotten (if there is any justice in this world).

There’s a little phrase that applies here: “Quit while you’re ahead.” There was a time when Madonna was beloved and exciting. She should have quit before that time ended — when she didn’t have to rely simply on her diehard fans for record sales. You diehard fans all get a gold star for keeping the Material Girl from feeling like a failure. But honestly, as a diehard music fan, I’m somewhat insulted that she continues to create records that lack talent and passion just for the sake of keeping up with the demands of the industry and not losing her place in the spotlight.

In Madonna’s defense, she’s not the only aging musician who’s made this mistake. Most people were unable to escape the debut of Paula Abdul’s new single, “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow,” on the “Randy Jackson’s Music Club, Volume 1″ compilation. Abdul’s last album (aside from some greatest hits compilations) was released in 1995. There’s no reason for her to ever make another, but she will. Oh, just you wait and see, she will. And it will never compare to the hits she had in her heyday, like “Cold Hearted” or “Straight Up.”

And that’s just one other example. I could bring up some more, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Music is art. It isn’t business. Listen to the blues — John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan — and you’ll get a perfect taste of what music sounds like when it’s truly inspired. Some great examples of music that really means something, that has heart, can be found on old records of Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young (Jefferson suggested Mr. Young, and I couldn’t very well argue with that one); deep within the basslines of Fleetwood Mac or the guitar riffs of AC/DC. From the compositions of Camille Saint-Saens to those of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl … It’s all real, and it’s all beautiful, and it all stands the test of time because the music chose them — they didn’t choose the music. Great musicians are merely the vessels that bring great music to life.

That’s what I like in my music, because that’s what I think true music ought to be. If there’s not already a song in your heart, then please, I beg of you, don’t sing. But more importantly, don’t let Madonna sing. I don’t know what her heart is breeding now, but it’s certainly nothing to sing about.