From H James Harkins Sent Sat, Aug 1st 1998, 15:05
One thing that really pisses me off is musical anti-intellectualism, or the idea that serious music can't be fun, and fun music can't be serious, and that one DARE not take fun music seriously. The result, as anyone can see from looking at the history of Western music since WWII, is that fun music becomes stupider, while music that seeks to raise questions and make you think becomes more and more impenetrable. Not a good situation, and it's a situation *we* as knowledgeable listeners can change by the ways *we* talk about music. This is in part what Alex was trying to do, and while I approach music very differently, I applaud the effort. Unfortunately, many on the list initially dismissed not just the result, but the effort as well. The first few responses here to Alex's post were not, "nice try, but too much jargon and speculation." They were more like, "shut up you stupid academic wanker." As if no one should even try. As if it's somehow an insult or misrepresentation of the music to look for cultural meaning below the surface. So much for *I*DM, then. Ae of all groups are occupying a real interesting space between noise-collage and conventional ambience, finding evocative rhythms and melodic contours in noise, or--here's my point--making SENSE out of NONSENSE. And we're *not* supposed to talk about this?! And before you say, "that's not what I meant--of course he should try, just in a different way," my question is, why didn't you say that in the first place? J ________ \ / | "I don't want more choices, H. James Harkins | I just want nicer things!" xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxx.xxx | \/ | -- Edina Monsoon "The sky is big enough to let all the clouds pass." -- Kobai Scott Whitney