Still Too Soon To Know

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Three questions, which I will try and phrase right - all related though.

They're about importance. For once I'm not talking about importance to one's personal listening history, emotional development etc. I'm interested in how we as individuals perceive "music history" and "historical significance" while it's happening.

The question:

1. What moment, or trend or era in music have you felt was most important while it was happening?

2. Have there been any moments you felt at the time were important, which don't seem as important with hindsight.

3. When you first became aware of pop music as something which had a history, what seemed to you the most important things in the previous ten years?

Comments

[koganbot]

Motown is a hard one because Motown itself has been canonized, and "canon" tends to drown out the idiosyncrasies. Probably the best way to approach something that has been canonized is to listen for the stuff in it that seems to have nothing to do with the story that's usually told about it; afterwards, the whole thing may appear different from the canonical story, and it can become yours to do with what you will without its having to bear the weight of its historical importance.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah I just posted in that thread that a reason I find it daunting is because I know from my experience of genres I DO immerse myself in, that it's never as simple as waltzing into a shop and picking up the canonised box set, the most interesting tracks will often be the ones which have slipped through the cracks.

Also why the fuck do people seem so...I dunno, offended when others admit ignorance? and why do they instinctively patronise you? Is it actually possible to ask ANYTHING ABOUT MUSIC AT ALL on ilx any more without someone implying that you're a bad or lame person for not knowing the answer already?

[koganbot]

Well, ilX seems to have crossed some threshold so that the bores and creeps carry the day, though my reading of it is too limited to know for sure (impressions like mine become self-confirming, since they're what drive me away from hanging around and looking for counterexamples; and of course there are still some good threads, and the fact that people like Tim Finney are still around must mean there's a lot of value not only in what they're saying but in what they're reading). Also, your stance threatens people so some of them are looking for an edge that allows them to dismiss you; and the threatened ones who aren't looking for an edge might be projecting onto you the idea that you're bragging when you say you don't know who someone is. There are 60,000 CDs released each year (that's what I read somewhere, anyway), not to mention Internet-only stuff, so no one's going to know most of what's out there. Some music attracts more toxicity than others (which doesn't make it bad music); I'm more hesitant talking about hip-hop than I am about country, even though I'm vastly ignorant on both subjects. Hip-hop people who think they know their shit are more likely to shit on others. They'd rather maintain a knowledgeable facade than to learn new and interesting ideas from someone who may not have heard all that they've heard.