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Can you separate the music from everything else? The bands look, the album covers, how they're marketed, what genre, etc. Right now, I'm listening to the Grateful Dead. And I hate hippies. Is it alright to enjoy the Grateful Deads music and not like the smell of patchouli? Is ok to enjoy Jerry's guitar noodling and cringe at the sight of a dreadlocks on white folk? I would think so.
How much of enjoyment of music is the tune and how much is the "brand." The Gorillaz is a manufactured image, so are the Backstreet Boys, The Monkees started as a manufactured band and then tried to wrestle control from their creators (was their music better when they did? eh. that's depatable). Is it a band or is it a brand?...hmmmmm..that's snappy.
Anyone remember The Alarm? They were fairly big in the 80's, "Sixty-Eight Guns" was one of the songs I remember them by. Anyway, about a year ago they released a single under another name and hired a younger band to lip sync to the song in a video. The song went to the UK top 30 before anyone figured out who it really was. Do you think it would have gotten that far if folks new it was actually a song from the moldy oldy Alarm?
4 Comments:
But, Aaron.... wasn't The Alarm just a manufactured version of U2?
Can we honestly make an objective statement that the artifice of constructed bands is bad when the entire medium of music is based on subjective opinions? And don’t forget that any form of theatre involves a suspension of disbelief. Beyond the sublime, gut level reaction we all have to music, the immaterial nature of the medium demands that we subscribe to the ongoing dialogue of any genre.
There are only well or poorly marketed bands. The Grateful Dead was a perfectly marketed band, simply because they successfully wrapped a culture around their sound. Brian Weaver said it best during his Dead phase by saying (and I paraphrase) “you pay for your ticket, you buy the tie-dye, have sex with hippie chicks and smoke the dope. The music is a perfect accompaniment. It’s like an amusement park.”
So in the end all we have are bands whose brands are well done, and our opinions and taste. I am here to say that the Grateful Dead suck ass on any given day. They are a fantastic example of the self-indulgent wanking that the boom generation is continuously capable of. No wonder it lives on. Even high, that music is unlistenable.
I'll pitch in with Cathy and say that reggae is pointless as well. However, Tighten-Up era ska is quite a beautiful thing.
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Imagine my delight, when visiting the record store and realizing that I had MP3s in my possession that I had no visual reference for.
Ok, I'll agree with you that dreadlocks on white people are freakish at best and downright skanky at worst. However, I am have to admit that I really do like the Grateful Dead. I know, it's shocking and kind of embarrassing. I went to see them in May '95, right before Jerry Garcia died and it was an amazing show. I had the requisite long hair (no dreads, though, I do have standards) and Birkenstocks and we ingested, ah, substances, and it was really fun. So, while I'd never willingly listen to reggae, I don't mind a little "Truckin'" or "Casey Jones" every once in a great while, like when I'm alone in my car. But just for the record, I never liked the Monkees. Please don't shoot me.
Did Aaron tell you I can be a little sharp-tongued when it comes to music? It's absolutely true.
We all like what we like and though I scoff at anyone who listens to that junk, I'll admit to having enjoyed some of the trappings of that era.
And besides, Aaron can also tell you about some of my musical guilty pleasures. He oughta. Probably before you two get married. x-a-n-a-d-u anyone?
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