I have no problem with off the wall songs at all Jerry. Different songs go in different contexts. I love the Stones, for instance, but not many of the songs they wrote would be good examples of what most of us here aspire to. They sound great on the albums and at the gigs. There is nothing wrong with writing for money either. Offer me the loot and I'll take it brother!
In the folk scene, however one defines it, we are looking for songs which stand up with very simple arrangements. That usually means songs with well crafted words, tunes and underlying ideas. I am not implying any disrespect to other genres.
I liked that phrase about "how to get trite right". I think that is what we are talking about, when we are discussing songwriting for commercial radio!