Do you like reading "Music Writing"?
Feb. 7th, 2006 10:05 amI don't think I do.
Internet mutual interest groups drew me into usenet and bulletin board (ahem) discussions about music, but i think i was only ever in there, for a "i like x" "really you should try y" "i recommend z then" sort of stuff, and general chat about stuff i like. I noticed some time ago that i don't think i get talking about stuff you don't like - it happens a lot on the internet, and i dip into those conversations. But i find it baffling that anyone would sustain much of a conversation (beyond "wow that's really popular even though i think it sounds rub") IRL about a band or piece of music they don't like all that much. (Mentioning no names.) I like hearing people being enthusiastic and passionate because i like to be enthused. And i like a lot of music.
now i've read quite a bit of the internet by now (maybe half of it), and you may not know this but the internet is a fertile place to find all manner of musing on music. And a lot of it bugs me. The language used doesn't chime with my experience of music at all. Where is the conflict in all this music, when all i see is plurality? You don't get this when people talk about contemporary clothing (eg off the top of my head there). Another minor thing, but the "music is food" metaphor (nourishing, balanced diet, "x is good for you") is balls too.
I'm sure i'll think of other stuff.
(ps the chart still hasn't been re-calced yet, but i'll be there when it is)
Internet mutual interest groups drew me into usenet and bulletin board (ahem) discussions about music, but i think i was only ever in there, for a "i like x" "really you should try y" "i recommend z then" sort of stuff, and general chat about stuff i like. I noticed some time ago that i don't think i get talking about stuff you don't like - it happens a lot on the internet, and i dip into those conversations. But i find it baffling that anyone would sustain much of a conversation (beyond "wow that's really popular even though i think it sounds rub") IRL about a band or piece of music they don't like all that much. (Mentioning no names.) I like hearing people being enthusiastic and passionate because i like to be enthused. And i like a lot of music.
now i've read quite a bit of the internet by now (maybe half of it), and you may not know this but the internet is a fertile place to find all manner of musing on music. And a lot of it bugs me. The language used doesn't chime with my experience of music at all. Where is the conflict in all this music, when all i see is plurality? You don't get this when people talk about contemporary clothing (eg off the top of my head there). Another minor thing, but the "music is food" metaphor (nourishing, balanced diet, "x is good for you") is balls too.
I'm sure i'll think of other stuff.
(ps the chart still hasn't been re-calced yet, but i'll be there when it is)
no subject
Date: 2006-02-07 08:13 pm (UTC)As early as the 5th or 6th grade I remember a bunch of Big Scary Girls (the ones who were already making out and perhaps even Having Sex, and who when in a gang rather than 1 on 1 could surely kick my ass) came and pressed up uncomfortably close to me while I was emptying my tray in the cafeteria.
What they had to say was, Our Sources tell us that you like that nigger music. (Their Sources! As if they were Government Agents or something.) Then they basically informed me that not only was I a twerpy little faggot who really got on their nerves anyway, but the music I listened to proved that I was prejudiced, so was I gonna do something about it, or were they going to be forced to kick my ass?
--Elizabeth Shaw, in Why Music Sucks #8
Nuff said.
koganbot