Music, that is. Why not listen to the very best? Why not listen to music that challenges you, that is innovative, that crosses genres, and that took more than a Sunday morn' to completely finish?
I used to listen to some music that I now find very weak. The more interesting music I listened to and the more I learned about it, the less often I returned to my old habits. They just didn't interest me anymore. Some people might call what I listen to avant-garde, which means "pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo". I just call it "good".
I understand that not everyone listens to music in the same way that I do. Not everyone tries to analyze the lyrics, or figure out how to play the song technically. I know that I am different than some in that regard. But what I don't understand is why people settle for less? Would you eat a generic brand of pizza that costs $5 if a gourmet pizza with better ingredients and more variety also costs $5? I don't think so. How about coffee? Imagine choosing a bitter, stale cup of coffee that costs $4 over a freshly brewed latté for the same price. The same goes for other forms of entertainment. You wouldn't buy a DVD that has nothing on it except the movie if there was a special edition with an extra disc of features at the same price. The only place that my analogy falls short (in my favor) is that, unlike a good and bad cup of coffee, good and bad music actually DOES cost the same! Unlike the comparison of a disgustingly freezer-burned pizza and one with gourmet ingredients, music that either emasculates or massages your ears costs the same!
SO...
My point is...why do people settle for less? I have a theory.
I think people either just don't care (I've actually met people who, when asked what kind of music they like, have told me they don't really listen to any music!) or there is something personal that they connect with in the music which means the other stuff doesn't matter. I have the same experience with music I like, but I find myself so distracted and bored with 1-dimensional music that even if I connect with the words, for example, I am not able to get to that special place.
The Real Group - Gøta
16 years ago
An interesting aspect to this whole paradigm of 'bad music' being the norm is examined in the documentary Before The Music Dies (www.b4md.com).
ReplyDeleteThey take a look at Clear Channel, the largest corporate radio network, and the way they run music test groups - on what demographic, and what music they play - is anyone's guess, but I'd wager it's teenagers and it isn't the good stuff. It's stuff that the industry can mass produce cheaply, say what they want through the mouths of voluptuous pinheads who have their lyrics written for them, inserting the messages and the looks that further the mass consumption of goods and trends. The music industry is the worst travesty in the history of art - worse than all the burnings of the library of Alexandria, because when art in that case was lost, it was an external and accidental destructive force. In the case of the industrialisation of music, art is being sterilised and subdued from the inside. It is a purposeful and internal erosion, and it is robbing us of our souls and our humanity.
One thing that is happening here is that you are looking at music through a singular perspective. Just because a song is complex, doesn't make it innovative. Just because it is unique, doesn't make it intelligent. When the argument of good music or bad music comes up, you are looking at it through your own preconceived notions of what you enjoy in music and your preferences will have an affect upon your judgments. I think even pop music has a lot of offer in terms of catchy beats and hooks. There is something in the generality of pop music that can unite people under a majority banner that would never have led them to walk, stride for stride, together in song. Most of the 'good' and 'unpopular' music may have the potential to do this, but will never accomplish what a mainstream song can do. Both are offering something unique to the table with two totally different results that can't be weighed by mere logic or even personal preference.
ReplyDeleteI have a rule that if I don't like the song, maybe I'm not ready for the creative element at the time. I will come back to that song, style or genre years later if needed, to see if I have changed enough to enjoy this. If lots of people like it and I don't, than most likely the issue would reside with me. My iTunes is filled with music that at one time I hated or thought was 'bad' and now enjoy the fruits of even a mainstream produced executive song writer's efforts.
When critiquing music you have to look at so many paradoxes that flow together harmoniously. It is just as important to be loud as it is to be soft in the right places. Just as a song can be complex, the one that shows restraint is just as equally creative. Etc, etc...
Most people listen to 'bad' music, because they haven't been exposed to anything else. Their social circles and entertainment venues probably feed them specifics all the while denying them options. I think the burden of being entertained and evolving in musical taste is just as much our responsibility as it is the artists. I will enjoy a song more if I know the artist is truly pursuing to grow in his or her musicianship and I will most likely enjoy MORE music if I am allowing my ears to grow musically as well.