Poptimist THORT For The Day

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"quality, though it exists, is not a poptimist concern"

So sez jauntyalan - what say you?

(The Poptimist TFTDs will be drawn from that text poll I did last week about "Poptimist Tenets")

Comments

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

there are two versions of quality doing battle --

i. = characteristic (someone is totally undiscerning = can't tell one song fron another)
ii. = value as linked in to a particular discussion-sphere

(ie re ii.: if you argue that LOUD = ROXOR, then high volume is a desirable quality and sign of value)

i think the poptimistic tic is to be on the alert for CHARACTERISTICS YOU ARE DRAWN TO over and above (and in fact prior to) VALUES YOU HAVE COME TO (or been taught to recognise) as "qualities acknowledged and sought after by the cognoscenti" -- of course bcz the latter move in and out of fashion, the characteristic you are drawn to MAY (in former times) have been a quality acknowledged and sought after by a now-dispersed or vanquished cognoscenti; and it may actually be a quality acknowledged and sought after by a current ruling cognoscenti you just happen not to be in with

(what i'm getting at is that the judgment "this is good bcz it exhibits a thing that those in the know KNOW is a sign of being good" -- the sense of comparing it to a approval checklist -- is NOT poptimist: you are checking your own responses come what may, and then -- afterwards -- pinning down what it is yr responding to)

viz "everyone is saying this song is bad bcz TEH LOUD is WHERE IT'S AT, but what *i* like about it is that there are five Ks in the title!"

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

the "people in the know" and hence the "values you are taught to recognise" have a habit of changing...indeed isn't a lot of current anti-poptimist rhetoric all about "we are sick of all these critics telling us from on high that we should like avril lavigne!"

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

yes

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Avril I saw her video on Popworld and it is AWESOME! She's so nasty to that girl!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

yeah I think you know I'm DAMN PRECIOUS
and hell yeah i'm the MOTHERFUCKING PRINCESS

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

pinning down what it is yr responding to

This kind of ties together my first reply & my reply to Tom above - defining the qualities of the song that inspire a reaction (good or bad) is what I enjoy. These qualities may change over time, or even between songs!

An over-simplified e.g: "Cor, Song X goes BOSH BOSH BOSH and is therefore wicked, but I like Song Y because for once this boshing band aren't going BOSH BOSH BOSH and it has CONFOUNDED me..."