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From:
Julia Matusov
To:
,
Date:
Fri, 17 Aug 2001 09:49:16 -0700
Subject:
Re: [idm] 'timeless' music (was Re: NIN?)
Msg-Id:
<LAW2-F113JhKPc99ir30000d778@hotmail.com>
Mbox:
idm.0108.gz
dropping into this a bit late... not having read all the opinions but most, so I hope I dont repeat any... but.. hahaha, I just pictured a bunch of college students and a professor sitting there and listening to "I wanna fuck you like an animal. I wanna feel you from the inside. You get me closer to go-od." 200 years from now. Can you picture that? Analyzing the composition, taking notes ferociously. Who knows... it might happen. Henry Miller is a big icon and all he talks about is his big cock. I always felt really embarassed for NIN though... I dont know why, Trent is just such a little princess squirming around shirtless and trying to be all shocking... Maybe its the lack of integrity in his fame and his ego-centricism. I am sorry if I am upsetting anyone, but I really really hope that they are forgotten. I know people get really emotionally attached to Nine Inch Nails, so I do truly apologize. I would kill anyone who disses Pink Floyd. Grrr. Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, Brian Eno... i dont know, Coil. But that shit... is just bad... since I am not from the US I have a hard time feeling any nostalgia towards NIN, just deep embarassment...
quoted 123 lines From: Adam Piontek <apiontek@yahoo.com>>From: Adam Piontek <apiontek@yahoo.com> >To: idm@hyperreal.org >Subject: [idm] 'timeless' music (was Re: NIN?) >Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 08:30:32 -0700 (PDT) > >Since some people recently are debating the "timeless" >nature of Nine Inch Nais and related industrial bands >(most of which I freely admit I don't and haven't ever >listened to), I've been thinking about it as well. > >I find that I seem to have a much stricter meaning for >the word "timeless" than most people. I take it >almost literally. > >You see, while an angst-ridden teenager, I found some >meaning and importance in The Downward Spiral, and >even now I admit that some of the lyrics have a >certain poetic quality to them, and much of the music >is still well-done and enjoyable. Much of what I >listened to as a teenager is even "timeless" in a very >general sense, as applies to my life - a lot of it is >so much a part of me, even though it's not my favorite >music anymore, that if I do listen to it again, I >still enjoy it a lot or get something out of it. > >However, it's not really, really "timeless". It >continues to have some meaning to me, but to me, >"timeless" is Shakespeare's Macbeth; "timeless" is >Beethoven's 5th; "timeless" is anything that touches >so close to the human spirit or the human condition >(whatever those are) that they continue to have >meaning and affect us, even hundereds of years later. > >I hate to say this, but I really don't think that NIN >or even Coil will still be remembered or thought of >much a few hundred years from now. However, I'm >fairly confident that many of Shakespeare's plays, or >the old Greek plays, or tons of classical music, will >be. > >Is anything "timeless" still being made? Sure it is. >Heck, maybe a few odd pop tunes here and there will >make it, and maybe NIN's TDS will be one of the >longer-lasting pieces - I don't know for sure. I >think some of the music by The Police is more timeless >than TDS, though. Just because an industrial band >takes some themes from the bible and existentialist >thought, waters them down 100-fold, embeds it in talk >of "machines" and such (how 20th-century!), doesn't >make it a great work of art, and certainly doesn't >render it timeless. > >Will any IDM be timeless? I'm willing to bet that >some of it might actually gain some wider hearing >eventually (probably the mid-career work by Autechre) >and last a while. > >Part of the problem is that true "timelessness" is a >largely cultural phenomenon, relying on the majority >of the people in a culture appreciating and enjoying a >work, and in that way, the culture internalizing the >work such that you can't hardly grow up without being >exposed to the work in some aspect. > >So, to a certain extent, I don't see many "timeless" >things coming out of the modern age at all, simply >because there are so many people and so many works >that even the truly potentially timeless works are not >absorbed or noticed by everyone. Culture is less >fluid; it has become a gas, moving around extremely >fast and randomly. A chaotic system in which artistic >works flounder and find niches in which they grow, but >it takes a gargantuan Hollywood effort to really reach >the great mass of people that is today's global >culture. > >Imagine, if humankind does reach out into the great >beyond and colonize other worlds, someday there will >be multiple cultures on different planets, all >developing on their own, with different new "timeless" >art that separate worlds will not share. Will they >all still remember Shakespeare and Mozart? Probably >some relics from the past will always remain. >However, how many of us remember much of the >"timeless" art that must have been created in >Babylonian times? We have almost no record of any >Egyptian art - for example, there must have been some >form of theater (acting is something humans do without >thinking - it isn't much of a leap to act out a >story). Why is the earliest theater Greek? The >earliest music lost? Because eventually it is all >lost. > >So, will NIN be around in 50 years? Probably it'll be >around as long as Trent's fans are alive, but given >how culturally-bound the music is (industrial is >easily "dated"!), I doubt if the kids 50 years from >now will find it as appealing as you did when you were >15. If anything, music kills itself nowadays because >most of it is marketed towards kids, and kids are so >flighty and picky - they don't *want* old music, for >the most part - they want something new that makes >them unique; they want music that's different from >everything else. They want to feel special. A >ready-made market for the music industry to always >churn out something new that's just different enough >for the new batch of teens to think "this is *my* >music - no one else likes this!" > >Sorry, I've been reading too much Vonnegut lately. > >-Ada~` > > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger >http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- >To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org >For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org >
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