From Michael Upton Sent Wed, Jul 8th 1998, 22:09
From Michael Upton Sent Wed, Jul 8th 1998, 22:09
On Wed, 8 Jul 1998, Mike Baugh wrote: | should music be liked because of the difficulty of it's production? I tend to the no side... ignoring the fruitlessness of attempting this kind of justification. You already feel one way or the other, get on with life. ;) | yes: | -because people naturally like extremely complex things that we get lost | in...just look at mozart, glen gould etc... and Aqua and Brian Eno, and, well, Bon Jovi....? Aphex's 'SAW II', which you mention yourself? IME it's not true. A lot of people are happy to listen to very simple music. Maybe not solely simple music, but yeah. | -because music that is easy to make can often be used for the sole purpose | of making money, ie: Aqua, etc... This just gets the big "whatever" response from me. Like, well, fair point, but simplicity is just a feature of music that sells. It doesn't mean that simple music has to be like commercial crap in any other respect. | -because we can tell that a lot of blood sweat and tears went into making | the music, which is appreciated by the listener... Yeah, but this doesn't mean the results are enjoyable, as you mention below. There're plenty of electronic releases that I think sound fully overworked. eg. 'Endtroducing' by DJ Shadow. I found that album completely lifeless and overwraught compared to earlier releases by him. | no: | -because all that matters is the final product, whether what you hear is | pleasurable. I identify with this one fully. I can enjoy ideas of music, and music, and the enjoyment of either isn't a question of whether it's difficult. Not saying I don't like some "difficult" music, but I don't think I like it because it is difficult. | -because very melodic music is not always that complicated but can still be | very emotional and touching Any kind of music can "still be" very emotional and touching. There is also an underlying thing about "difficult listening", which I hate, which is the call to keep pushing forward. I always think "to where? to what end?". Not to mention the whole thing of, for example, someone mistaking u-ziq's 'Lunatic Harness' for something progressive and adventurous. Actually the most classic example I can think of is Tricky. Throw in lots of roughly looped, sometimes distorted bits, and mutter away, and you're not doing something new, you're buying into very pretentious expectations of what it means to be experimental. There's my ramble. Now I should do some work before my boss fires me. :) Michael "You know what? I'll call him Jet Jaguar..." http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~michael/jj.html Site last updated 15/4/98