Comments on: “The point is to like pop as well as everything else” http://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2000/07/skip-this-entry-if-you-dont-want-to-read-editorial-metastuff-music-content-minimal/ Lollards in the high church of low culture Tue, 29 May 2012 13:50:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: pink champale http://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2000/07/skip-this-entry-if-you-dont-want-to-read-editorial-metastuff-music-content-minimal/#comment-673905 pink champale Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:13:25 +0000 http://freakytrigger.co.uk/old-ft/nylpm/2000/07/skip-this-entry-if-you-dont-want-to-read-editorial-metastuff-music-content-minimal/#comment-673905 well yeah, except that if you have to judge a record's worth according to a whole load of external factors (is it written by the singer/someone i can respect? do they play their own instruments? even so, are they vulnerable to being considered a boyband?) before you know whether or not you like it, aren't *you* the one who is more vulnerable to falling prey to the dastardly marketing people? if the only criteria someone has for liking a song is whether they, er, like it, then where is the room for marketing to interpose itself in the relationship? if, on the other hand, you require an artist to have sat in a garret for twenty years before pouring out their pain onto wax, then its very easy for marketeers to tell you that that's what they've done and that it is therefore your moral duty to like it. well yeah, except that if you have to judge a record’s worth according to a whole load of external factors (is it written by the singer/someone i can respect? do they play their own instruments? even so, are they vulnerable to being considered a boyband?) before you know whether or not you like it, aren’t *you* the one who is more vulnerable to falling prey to the dastardly marketing people?

if the only criteria someone has for liking a song is whether they, er, like it, then where is the room for marketing to interpose itself in the relationship? if, on the other hand, you require an artist to have sat in a garret for twenty years before pouring out their pain onto wax, then its very easy for marketeers to tell you that that’s what they’ve done and that it is therefore your moral duty to like it.

]]> By: Brooksie http://freakytrigger.co.uk/nylpm/2000/07/skip-this-entry-if-you-dont-want-to-read-editorial-metastuff-music-content-minimal/#comment-673881 Brooksie Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:21:45 +0000 http://freakytrigger.co.uk/old-ft/nylpm/2000/07/skip-this-entry-if-you-dont-want-to-read-editorial-metastuff-music-content-minimal/#comment-673881 I don't think you'd be discussing it in such detail if you didn't like it. There's a very modern mentality that seems to say, "If you're criticising something then you don't like it." That includes criticism which is not necessarily negative, but just observant. It is possible to see flaws in something you like, and it's possible to see positives in something you don't. But we live in a hyperbolic age, everything is "The best thing ever" or " The worst thing in the world." The truth lies somewhere in-between. What's the point in stating you love music up front? Who doesn't? Every teenager's Myspace page says what they love, and it usually starts with "Music, Movies..." etc. Everybody likes those things, *everybody*. When that is established, you simply have to say what you like and why. It's the *why* that usually throws people. I can still recall when the 'average' teenager would have only a few CD's (I grew up in the late 80's) as a 'collection'. The idea of going to a second hand record shop and buying ten £1 albums for the price of a CD was alien to them. They wouldn't do that because the music wasn't in the charts, because the reality is; a lot of people (especially younger, but often older too) buy what is marketed at them. We live in an age where teenagers routinely have 20,000 songs on their Ipod. Does that mean they 'love' music more than teenagers of the past? Absolutely not. In fact, I'd say that the cultural importance of music has actually lessened, due to the increase in all forms of media and the ease with which that media (along with music) is consumed (another discussion for another time). I've always understood how the music I liked worked for me - what buttons it pushed and how. I've never been entirely convinced that everyone thinks about those things. Anecdotally, I was criticising the NKOTB was I was about 15; I said to some girls that the reason I didn't like or respect them beyond a 'tune', is that they didn't write or play on any of their songs. Their response; "So?" To me, it made them karaoke, to them, that didn't matter. I had the same thing in my late teens when I was talking about songwriters; a friend said it didn't matter to him who wrote songs, but I felt that knowing who wrote a song was as important as who performed it, because just like the performer, you may like more of their work. To him, that didn't make sense, because (and I'm editorialising) you couldn't buy the poster or go to see the writer 'live'. Many people just don't differentiate in anything, and maybe that's fine for them; they can still hear songs they like and enjoy them. But it also leaves them much more at the mercy of the marketers that determine what is or isn't going to be rammed down their throats. They'll swallow anything. As far as I can tell, it's the musical equivalent of junk food; as long as you aren't aware of what you're putting into your body, you're always going to end up eating the worst stuff because it tastes better (Boybands for example). Maybe I'm being unfair. Point is; I'm with you. Dissect away. List what it is you love and why. Without doing that, people are no more than dogs with their tails wagging whenever they hear a song they like. To people that say you sound like you don't like music, I say; "Woof!" I don’t think you’d be discussing it in such detail if you didn’t like it. There’s a very modern mentality that seems to say, “If you’re criticising something then you don’t like it.” That includes criticism which is not necessarily negative, but just observant. It is possible to see flaws in something you like, and it’s possible to see positives in something you don’t. But we live in a hyperbolic age, everything is “The best thing ever” or ” The worst thing in the world.” The truth lies somewhere in-between.
What’s the point in stating you love music up front? Who doesn’t? Every teenager’s Myspace page says what they love, and it usually starts with “Music, Movies…” etc. Everybody likes those things, *everybody*. When that is established, you simply have to say what you like and why. It’s the *why* that usually throws people. I can still recall when the ‘average’ teenager would have only a few CD’s (I grew up in the late 80′s) as a ‘collection’. The idea of going to a second hand record shop and buying ten £1 albums for the price of a CD was alien to them. They wouldn’t do that because the music wasn’t in the charts, because the reality is; a lot of people (especially younger, but often older too) buy what is marketed at them. We live in an age where teenagers routinely have 20,000 songs on their Ipod. Does that mean they ‘love’ music more than teenagers of the past? Absolutely not. In fact, I’d say that the cultural importance of music has actually lessened, due to the increase in all forms of media and the ease with which that media (along with music) is consumed (another discussion for another time).
I’ve always understood how the music I liked worked for me – what buttons it pushed and how. I’ve never been entirely convinced that everyone thinks about those things. Anecdotally, I was criticising the NKOTB was I was about 15; I said to some girls that the reason I didn’t like or respect them beyond a ‘tune’, is that they didn’t write or play on any of their songs. Their response; “So?” To me, it made them karaoke, to them, that didn’t matter. I had the same thing in my late teens when I was talking about songwriters; a friend said it didn’t matter to him who wrote songs, but I felt that knowing who wrote a song was as important as who performed it, because just like the performer, you may like more of their work. To him, that didn’t make sense, because (and I’m editorialising) you couldn’t buy the poster or go to see the writer ‘live’. Many people just don’t differentiate in anything, and maybe that’s fine for them; they can still hear songs they like and enjoy them. But it also leaves them much more at the mercy of the marketers that determine what is or isn’t going to be rammed down their throats. They’ll swallow anything. As far as I can tell, it’s the musical equivalent of junk food; as long as you aren’t aware of what you’re putting into your body, you’re always going to end up eating the worst stuff because it tastes better (Boybands for example).
Maybe I’m being unfair. Point is; I’m with you. Dissect away. List what it is you love and why. Without doing that, people are no more than dogs with their tails wagging whenever they hear a song they like. To people that say you sound like you don’t like music, I say; “Woof!”

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