| |
|
Bruno: You are so misinformed on so many levels that I, like everyone else it seems, wonder if you have indeed read the thread. Perhaps you could try reading it again, with both of your eyes open? I’m going to try and address some of the points you've raised, but please don’t use engaging with this post as an excuse to avoid the other interesting issues from earlier in the thread, particularly those around race – if you can’t see that you, in co-opting black music, and then subordinating to your own ideological project*, while at the same time dismissing most of the genres consumers, are being in some way racist, then there’s not hope for you.
(*probably a bit rich to describe this as a “project”, since I suspect it consists of nothing more than
collecting CDs and denouncing R&B as the devils music on the internet).
Can I flip your question around, and ask you, and everyone else, don't you believe in ANY criteria for good or bad music?<
I think this rests as Toksik says, on the inherent subjectivity of music opinion. Using a serious sounding signifier like scared/profane doesn’t disguise the fact that you are simply offering up your fucking opinion. And as such, it carries no more weight than anyone else’s - arguable less, as it seems this distinction originates with you and you alone, and is not reinforced by any critical community/group of music consumers.
We can see this quite clearly as we jump from all the “sacred/proface” hooey, in the space of a sentence, to this:
Some artists sound honest, expressive, channelling more energy... other artists sound fake, cliche, boring.
Yeah, TO YOU, that’s your subjective judgement, it isn’t the truth on fucking tablets of stone handed down from the mountain. I use the biblical metaphor advisely as it's you who brought "the sacred" into this. What gives your opinion such weight? Who made you Moses, ready to lead the ignorant masses to musical emancipation? Is it not possible that someone’s else’s opinions can carry as much weight as yours, even if they’re different?
For instance, I personally don’t like some grime (look it up if you don’t know what it is). I find it too aggressive/nihilistic for me a lot of the time, while the kids at the college I teach at love it to pieces. I can see exactly why as it’s full of energy and machismo, plays ups to all their bad boy fantasies, they’ve got a strong sense of ownership of it, as it’s directed almost solely at them, and produced by their peers. So, who’s right and who’s wrong here? Neither of us, different tastes coming out of different moments of our life. is all. If I were to judge them all by your bullshit criteria, I am a) assuming my own superiority b) riding roughshod over their subjectivity and their pleasures, much as you do in your comments about women and music consumption - but I wouldn’t dream of doing that, because, unlike you, I actually have a bit of contact with the people I’m talking about.
And just to finish, because I found this so clueless it’s amazing, amazing, amazing:
Making music with the results (money fame etc) in mind leads to more formulaic music, expressing the feeling of selfishness, profit, etc.
Christt, have you ever listened to ANY HIP HOP EVER? Hip Hop, more than any other music, has commerciality at it’s heart. “Getting paid” has always been a huge concern, for almost every MCs I can think of. What on Earth are you talking about? This seems to rest on the black and white position that any commercial pressure and concerns lead to “bad art”. This is bollocks. Commercial concerns can exist symbiotically with, and drive, creativity. See, I don’t know, any genre of music ever. |
|
|
