found on front page:

[Click to view comic: 'Metal-heads']

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When they invent BookFace, I'm -there-.

Once upon a time, there was "OLD MUSIC" and it was all music and it was good. Then came "NEW MUSIC" and it was dubbed "RACE MUSIC" because it was the music which was played by "THOSE NEGROES" and it was called bad and many aspersions were cast upon it.

Then a DJ in Cleveland found the NEW MUSIC and played it in a rotation of great weight, and he did dub it "ROCK AND ROLL", and it was quite good. Fuckoff good, actually. And the kids did sing along and leaveth the family car's radio tuned to it. And the old man would get pissed off and ground them but they did not care, for the music was good.

And the white kids did dance lamely and learn to move their hips and they did laugh and celebrate and glue their ears to the HOLY ORB which was radio. And it was good.

ROCK AND ROLL became the dominant form of popular music and there was much listening to other people's shit. And it was good.

And then there were "BEATLES", as was foretold by a man on a flaming pie. And they were good. And they did change up all the shit that had come before. Thus did THE MUSIC roll on. And they did sell enough records to make Croesus blush.

Then came the men of the "INDUSTRY". And the INDUSTRY looked out at a sea of gape-mawed teenagers who would gladly mow lawns and bust ass in the drugstore after school to buy "RECORDS". And they about shit themselves with greed.

The INDUSTRY then proceeded to sign every yo-yo with a guitar and a bad haircut to their "LABELS", and some of it was good and some of it was mediocre and some of it was fucking awful and some was, actually stunningly brilliant. Thus was the "DOMINANT PARADIGM" of the INDUSTRY established.

Then there were festivals, and hippies and Lord knows what the fuck else and the older bands had fallen to the side and the newer bands were signed, and it was business as usual.

Then there were the "GREAT DIVISIONS" and individual styles of original artists were codified by marketing fucks -in Brooks Brothers suits who kneweth not of what they spake- into "GENRES". They did take the petty arguments of the teen factions and set out to manufacture GENRES of prefab music that were aligned into the marketing camps.

And the stoned and the lazy grinned as would the village idiot in his ignorance and listened not to new music that might be a disconcertion to their stoned-ness. And there was Southern Rock. And there was Psychedlia. And there was Hard Rock and Soft Rock. And there was Neil Sedaka, for fuck's sake. And even Disco. And there was Punk. And there was post-punk. And there came metal that was pop, and metal that was heavy and metal that was hairy and there were a host of "STYLES".

And there were manufactured clothing and accessories to allow THE KIDS to establish their alignment with their GENRE of choice that was but a creation of marketing fucks in, what were by now, much nicer suits.

And the malls were filled. As were the shops where those who were "TOO COOL FOR THE MALL" would go to buy their hipness.

And there were more motherfucking sub-strata of musical "styles" than you could piss on after a case of Miller Lite. And it was an abomination.

And the music that was THE MUSIC was pushed aside by the KIDS and by the LABELS and they did, in great numbers, attend the CONCERTS and the FESTIVALS but paid no attention to THE MUSIC which had now just become another way to sell PEPSI.

And even KISS was dubbed great although they could playeth not even as to have the worth a bloated rats rump. And it was bad.

And the HOLY ORB was desecrated.

And I caution thee to not even getteth me the fuck started about MTV.

And thus did THE MUSIC that had, by it's very happy nature, given unity and social alignment and a source of joy to THE KIDS become but another day-glo sticker on some spotty fuck's second floor locker.

And then the boy bands came. And it was worse. And the arguments as to the "ONE TRUE STYLE OF MUSIC" raged on. And they were the "STYLE WARS". And the RECORD EXECS ate until they were vomiting of the profits from the dead of those wars. And they continue. And there is not abatement to be seen.

And THE HOLY ORB has become a temple of vipers. And there is a pestilence there.

And it is sad.

The end.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

Amen!

quote:

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Hey- I care. I like any discussion about music because I harbor the same feelings about what "really" is Jazz.
So write on, there are people listining. (In Regards to DX's opinions)

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(Joke on Bunner's sermon on the mount)
because i thought it was funny

So.... the only thing that I need to do to bring any posted thread here to a grinding halt is to post in it?

Cool.

This is valuable information.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

I've personally always had trouble wrapping my head around how ravers subcategorize techno into trance, ambient, house, drum'n'bass and jungle....

To any ravers in the house: no, I'm not asking.

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"America loves its kings, from George III to Larry." --HJS

*standing ovation for bunner*

Legend. Deadset legend.

I haven't posted in two weeks, so I can't remember if I have mentioned this before, but Billy Joel said something similar in an interview I have on a CD somewhere. It went something along the lines that in the late sixties, the "new music" was a unifying force. You would turn on your radio, and on the same station you would hear Hendrix, Beatles, Stones, Iron Butterfly, Wilson Pickets, etc. No-one really gave a shit about styles and genres - there was just music. These days, music is yet another thing that divides us, something to set us apart from, and supposedly above, everyone else.

He gives an example of guys arguing, saying something like: "I only like rock." "I only like hard rock." "I only like late eighties hard rock." "I only like late eighties hard rock in the style of Guns 'n Roses..." etc...

If you're interested, Bunner, I can dig it up, slap it into an MP3, and send it over.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

We're all snobs about something-- "real" metal vs. mallcore, "good" beer vs. megabrews, "film" vs. Hollywood blockbusters-- something. It's a way of positioning yourself in the cultural grid. It's consuming cultural products in such a way as to produce and display a self.

I don't think I'm a music snob, but... before Pulp Fiction came out, I used to really like old surf guitar music. I'd play it over the PA whenever I did a sound gig, and it went over quite well with just about any faction of the hipster asshole crowd. Then came Tarantino, and I stopped.

Before, playing the Revels was a way of saying I was into obscure and kitschy but cool-sounding old bands who got wiped out by the British Invasion. It was like saying I cared enough to find these old records and bring them to people's attention. After, it was a way to signal affiliation with Hollywood. It was like saying, "Look at me, I'm hip because I'm into Quentin Tarantino." Which is so not. I mean, PF was a big Hollywood release. Everyone saw it. How hip could it make you? Tarantino ruined surf music for me-- punch it up on the jukebox or play it at a party, and everyone's like "Oh, Pulp Fiction." And it doesn't do any good to go around saying you were into it before the movie came out. "Ah was country when country wasn't cool." Yeah, whatever.

So it's not all about the music. People talk about this or that record being to their taste or not, but you can't tell me they're admiring the topline paradiddles on the hat, or the spoinky sring reverb and graceful breakup of the vintage amps, or whatever. Most people don't buy music that way. They hook up with a record because it was in that Disney movie. Or wasn't.

And today's hardcore is tomorrow's mallcore. The second something becomes popular, those who used to consume it as a mark of distinction must drop it like a fawn covered with fire ants.

Same goes for any cultural product. I used to be into Oaxacan carvings, but then I saw them showing up in malls. They were pretty hip malls, and pretty good stores, really, but.... I still display them and even buy them now and then, but I find myself more attracted now to other handmade native art, like Zuni fetish carvings and Mata Ortiz/Casas Grandes pottery. And I was quite excited to find some very odd Nicaraguan pottery the other day, because I'm pretty sure no one else knows about it yet.

Ain't that sick?

And the Hank Hill types who wouldn't drink other than good old Miller or Budweiser, who turn their noses up at the faggy drinkers of faggy microbrews-- they're exercising their own form of snobbery.

Taste-- more's going on than meets the eye.

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What others say about boorite!

I should add that I watch a shitload of sports and other forms of mass entertainment. Different yet similar issues there, but I've already written half a preface to Bourdieu. Time for a warm cup of STFU.

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What others say about boorite!

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So it's not all about the music. People talk about this or that record being to their taste or not, but you can't tell me they're admiring the topline paradiddles on the hat, or the spoinky spring reverb and graceful breakup of the vintage amps, or whatever.

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Couldyer, wouldyer?

Cheers. :- )

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

quote:

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quote:

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So it's not all about the music. People talk about this or that record being to their taste or not, but you can't tell me they're admiring the topline paradiddles on the hat, or the spoinky spring reverb and graceful breakup of the vintage amps, or whatever.

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I am.

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Good points, boorite. Perhaps I can use them as a screen to defend my love for Starbucks coffee. I like strong coffee drowned in milk and caramel, and Starbucks makes that for me. I don't quite understand those coffee snobs who prefer stuff that tastes like a cup full of Juan Valdez' feces.

There. I said it. I like mallbrew. Suck it.

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

There's nothing wrong with that. I don't quite get the whole mall thing as a culture, though, maybe because -and for better or worse I am not shitting you- I have bought things at a mall exactly twice in 16 years. I just hate them.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

We now have a Starbucks here in Melbourne, Australia.

I almost cried when I saw it.

I must not have been into the city for ages, because I was told it had been there for months. *shrug* You turn your back on a central business district for a few moments... I am happy to say that my fellow Melburnians don't think much of it. Rumour is that it will be shutting down soon. I think there just aren't enough people in Melbourne who are willing to pay five bucks a cup for coffee.

I find that somewhat heartening.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.