In this article, the author reflects on the state of the art of electronic music in 1981. He argues that electronic music has failed to acknowledge or accept alternatives to the structuralist/formalist approach to composition, and so has little to do with the sensual experience that he contends music should be. He also discusses the (then) current state of electronic music performance and its usefulness in comparison to what performance is or should be, arguing that the drive towards perfection in electronic music production technology may well kill electronic/computer music.