1. Why do you think Bachata was rejected initially?
2. Do you like Bachata now, why or why not?
3. Do you or anyone you know still associate Bachata with the lower class?
4. Do you think there is a reason why Bachata came about during the dictadura de Trujillo?
5. Do you think Bachata communicates the way bachateros really feel (about respect for and the value of) or do you think it is just supposed to be over exaggerated for the purposes of the musical genre?
I have numbered your questions, thus the numbers below reflect the answer to such question.
1. Bachata has traditionally been music for drunk lowlifes who have marital problems and resolve them by wheeping on the shoulder of some hooker in a bar while drinking liquor into oblivion. Anyone with education and some culture will not fall to such disgraceful level and bachata was the song that identified that lowlife group of people.
2. Not at all. The singers for the most part are horrible, the topics are too damn depressing, and its garbage for the most part. If you want to hear some depressing or love music, listen to boleros. At least the singers know how to make real good music in that genre.
3. Some acquaintances associate bachata with the lower classes and since the lower classes are uneducated, obnoxious, and an embarrasment to many; bachata, as a noisy representation of that group of people is not welcomed. I, on the other hand, reject bachata simply because its mostly garbage, with a notable exeption being Juan Luis Guerra's "Bachata Rosa." If bachata was more refined in the Juan Luis Guerra's way, it would most likely be adopted by the upper classes.
4. Pure coincidence, bachata is an off shoot (a horrible off shoot) of boleros.
5. Its probably a mixture of both, but in most cases the singers can't sing! So, regardless how sentimental, their horrible voice and lack of knowledge on how to properly sing (hitting notes, etc) turns what could have been a good genre into crap.
The same goes with much of modern merengue, perico ripiao, etc. There are exceptions in all of them, but the majority of Dominican singers are crap, regardless of the genre!
-NALs