In 1958, Babbitt achieved unsought notoriety through an article in the popular magazine High Fidelity. His title for the article was "The Composer as Specialist" (as it was later published several times) but, he said, "The editor, without my knowledge and—therefore—my consent or assent, replaced my title by the more 'provocative' one: 'Who Cares if You Listen?', a title which reflects little of the letter and nothing of the spirit of the article".
