below is a response I just made to a post on the
microsound list; might be of interest and start a
discussion:
On Sun, 15 Dec 2002, "Chad Munson" wrote re: grindcore
& death metal:
"...As far as pushing the limits of modern music these
bands do alot more for me personaly than most clicks n
cutz, mircosound and lowercase. Im not saying that
electronic has less merit, i just think that electronic
musicans as a whole tend to have an ego complex. More
electronic musicans need to break the mold, and start
enjoying or at least appreciating other forms of music
you cant forget electronic music branches from
everything..."
Chad: While your first sentence is a statement of your
personal preference, no disrespect intended, but the
"as a whole" and "more" generalizations in the two
sentences that follow are nonsensical assumptions about
a huge group of people (ie everyone who makes
electronic music other than yourself). I'm guessing
that this statement came from perhaps your thinking
that if some people on the list don't appreciate
grindcore and death metal, that it would follow that
these same people are not "appreciating other forms of
music". I would state the opposite is true.
Pop music is music which is most popular; music which
transcends languages worldwide and by the sheer number
of people it pleases, is aimed at the lowest common
denominator. One of the world's most popular artists,
regardless of music style, is Shania Twain. Why did
she release two different versions of her new album (a
"rock" version and a "country" version)? Well, to
appear to the greatest number of people worldwide; by
making her material as accessible as possible, she was
aiming for the lowest common denominator.
People who are true music _lovers_ (I'm basing this on
professional experience--my own and others--on radio,
in the music media, and in music stores) tend to like
music for the sake of music ie they truly like the
music that they like, whereas people who are music
_consumers_ are the ones who tend to--because they do
not have a true love for music and do not have their
own tastes (their tastes are _created- by
marketing)--treat music as sonic wallpaper. When they
purchase music, they tend to go for the music that is
popular at the time. Right now, the most popular form
of music on the planet is hip hop/"hip pop". Now,
there are certainly people who like hip hop because
they like hip hop, but there is a far greater amount of
people who like hip hop/"hip pop" because that is what
is popular, and, having no personal opinion, follow the
crowd.
The highest common denominator are those who have
personal preference and personal opinions on what they
do and do not like. Microsound is challenging music;
it is demanding to listen to and, unlike a song from
Britney Spears, for example, has not been crafted to
appeal to a worldwide audience of millions. The
average Britney Spears fan is someone who is a fan
because s/he is a follower of popular opinion, not
because s/he has listened to a wide variety of styles
of music--microsound, glitch, lowercase, folk, blues,
jazz, pop, etc--and decided that Britney Spears is
his/her favorite music. Pop music's biggest consumers
are those who have the least interest in music; pop
music is the opposite of challenging and demanding
music (such as microsound, and even grindcore and death
metal) because pop music, by its very nature, is
designed to appeal to the lowest common
denominator--the greatest number of people worldwide.
I'm not sure if you meant _elitism_ when you spoke of
"ego complex"; if so, I would say the opposite is true.
The UK's The Wire magazine, for example, has been
accused by some of elitism, of being "snobbish" and
reviewing only challenging and demanding and
"difficult" music; yet, Timbaland and The Neptunes--who
are behind some of the most popular of the pop music
out there, receive "props" for their innovation. I
find this an interesting juxtaposition because, whereas
The Wire will review microsound producers _and_
Timbaland and The Neptunes' productions--and The Wire
is called elitist by some--you won't see a popular
magazine such as Rolling Stone--which is never called
elitist--reviewing microsound, and yet it _is_
constantly focusing on popular music such as your
Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, etc. The Wire is
reviewing microsound _as well as_ Timbaland and The
Neptunes because The Wire exists to champion music of
the highest common denominator--that which is
challenging. Rolling Stone, on the other hand, has the
exact opposite goal.
I know when I'm listening to the new single from
NSYNC's Justin Timberlake ("Cry Me A River"), I'm
appreciating the fact that the production from
Timbaland and Scott Storch is built on percussion and a
hook that is fashioned from Timbaland's mouth sounds.
I couldn't give a damn that Justin Timberlake is
popular; heck, I'd rather that I had access to an
instrumental version so I didn't have to hear his
voice. But the majority of people that do listen to
Timberlake are listening more because they have been directed
to it by popular opinion (the lead singer of a popular
band goes solo routine) rather than that the hi hats
are vocal-chord-created.
When people form their opinions based on what they know
is popular, these people narrow their scope and end up
shying from the challenging, the demanding, and the
difficult. The Wire, microsound listees; we're into
music for the sake of it, for the love of it, and are
thus open to music of all types to please the ear's
hunger; not to be seen as matching up to the kid next
door who just got the new Britney Spears CD because the
kid next door got it because the kid next door got it
and so on. If someone on this list doesn't like
grindcore or death metal, it's because s/he doesn't
like it, not because s/he isn't open minded and doesn't
appreciate other forms of music.
Andrew "waiting to check out the new Aaliyah album on
Tuesday in the hopes that there will be new productions
from Timbaland on it" Duke :)
albums out now: Sprung (
http://bip-hop.com)
More Destructive Than Organized
(
http://staalplaat.com)
Highest Common Denominator (
http://pieheadrecords.com)
Physical and Mental Health (
http://dialrecords.com)
74'02 (split with Hypo) (
http://tsunami-addiction.com)
check Cognition (
http://techno.ca/cognition)
for upcoming appearance and release updates
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