[kj] [OT] Music Snobbery

[Karen Weil]

"... but I am attempting to diminish several other people's fervour for the music of Michael Jackson at the moment, not least MY FUCKING NEIGHBOURS!"
Sigh ... you have my sympathies, Mr. Peace.  Play some King Crimson really loud in retaliation. ; )  

Cheers,

k.w.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Darren A. Peace 
  To: 'Alexander Smith' ; dpeace at suspiria.demon.co.uk 
  Cc: 'A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)' 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 11:39 AM
  Subject: Re: [kj] [OT] Music Snobbery


  Excellent points. You answered the question I posted in your second sentence, though; the arbiter you're using  is "critical credibility". And you identify the pointlessness of this in your fourth sentence. The world doesn't need music critics. What I think the world needs is strongly opinionated reviewers who the reader can form a view of over time to establish whether a bad review from one means that the reader will either like or dislike it. Music criticism is surely (almost) entirely about the rhetoric - as you say, there is no "easily quantifiable measurement of merit". If lots of people buy something, it is a quantifiable measurement of how popular it is, and that's about as quantitative as it's possible to get.

   

  Music I like over here, music I don't like over there. And I don't care what anyone else thinks, although I always enjoy being told why I shouldn't like an artist; leads to interesting conversations, generally.

   

  I think I agree with you, but I am attempting to diminish several other people's fervour for the music of Michael Jackson at the moment, not least MY FUCKING NEIGHBOURS!

   

  Darren

  Hungerford, UK

   

  From: Alexander Smith [mailto:vassifer at earthlink.net] 
  Sent: 08 July 2009 6:39 PM
  To: dpeace at suspiria.demon.co.uk
  Cc: 'A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)'
  Subject: Re: [OT] Music Snobbery

   

   

  Well, that's my point. I may know full well that, say, Kiss or The Exploited or The Fixx or The Wonder Stuff make music that is bereft of critical credibility, but my reasons for appreciating the music of each of those bands (and scores of others) has nothing to do with popular consensus or any easily quantifiable measurement of merit. People identify with music because it speaks to them on some indefinable level. This is largely why the world doesn't need music critics. I could write volume after laboriously wordy volume about why you shouldn't listen to indefensible piffle like Lady GaGa or Michael Jackson, but if you like it -- you like it. And know cleverly-worded screed penned by me or anyone else can change that. Music is about -- or should be about, at least -- emotion. Emotions cannot be controlled so simply.

   

  At the end of the day, if someone doesn't understand my affinity for one artist or another, that's ultimately THEIR loss in the end. I know full well that Kiss made largely meaningless music, but I still like it. I'll lambast Michael Jackson's music as worthless product, but I doubt that diminishes anyone else's fervor for it.

   

   

   

  Alex in NYC

   

   

   

   

  On Jul 8, 2009, at 12:57 PM, Darren A. Peace wrote:





  Heh! That rankles a bit. If you think that some of what you like is "dubious crap", but you still like it, that can only mean that you like things that you think other people will think less of you for liking. That's awful. What does it matter what anyone else thinks? Which arbiter of fashionable taste are you flouting?

   

  When people harangue me because they don't like some of the stuff I like, I a) point out something far worse that they like and b) laugh at them.

   

  Darren

  Hungerford, UK

   

  From: Alexander Smith [mailto:vassifer at earthlink.net] 
  Sent: 08 July 2009 5:36 PM
  To: dpeace at suspiria.demon.co.uk; A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
  Subject: Re: [kj] 2003 Tour DVD/CD

   

   

  I'll be the first to admit that I like a whole lot of dubious crap, but who cares?

   

  Alex in NYC

   

   

  On Jul 8, 2009, at 12:15 PM, Darren A. Peace wrote:

   



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