For some meaningless philosophical arguments, read below. For the point of
FSOL/AFX bashing, skip to the next section...
I must admit that I did my best to start arguments about how FSOL
and AFX suck. The reason I brought up these two specific groups is that it
seemed to me as though everyone treated them as gods on this list, and I
had never heard anything but praise about them. For me, this was
indicative of a Emeperor's New Clothes syndrome (as someone on alt.rave
aptly described it) or a Pygmalion Effect. I have always tried to avoid
being labelled because I believe labels limit your own personality; when
you try to define yourself, you begin to live by your definitions rather
than having the definitions be a description of how you live.
For example, when I first became interested in techno music, I
thought that 'good' techno consisted of nothing more than The Movement
"Jump". I simply hadn't been exposed to all this underground stuff. I
have some friends who at that time had very similar tastes to mine
(technopop swill and the like). However, the longer I was on this list,
the more my opinions of music began to change from theirs, even though I
let them listen to all the 'new' techno I bought. Why was this? I exposed
them to new stuff yet my tastes started diverging from theirs. The reason
was that a day didn't go by where I didn't hear you guys talking about how
good this "intelligent" techno was and as a result I began to believe it
myself. I thought this was what was happening with FSOL, AFX, and a few
other groups discussed on this list. People thought they were gods mostly
because everyone else said they were gods and this perpetuated a cycle
which resulted in an Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome rather than deep
thought.
<<<The point of FSOL/AFX bashing in a nutshell>>>
Everyone treats FSOL, AFX, and a few other groups like gods. I questioned
their divinity because I thought it would be very healthy for people to
reexamine their own consciousness. Did they like FSOL/AFX because they
were truly innovative, or were they claiming that they were innovative
because everyone said they were gods and therefore their stuff _had_ to be
innovative by definition? I never meant it to degenerate into a stupid
shouting match. I think everyone should think about the question posed,
and I am sure that after you meditate on it, you will realize that music is
100% subjective. Not mostly, not a lot, but 100%. Here's something else
totally unrelated musically but very related philosophically for everyone
to meditate on - there is no such thing as an absolute right or wrong.
peace out.
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|\| _\_ \ \|\||=| Tai Nguyen |\| email address: |=|
|=| /__/\_\ \=||\| Cornell University |=| thn1@cornell.edu |\|
|\| / /\ __/\|(:)============================(:)====================(:)
|=|/ / /\ \ |=||=| "These are not my figures I'm quoting. They're |=|
|\/__/ \_\/ |\||\| from someone who knows what he's talking about." |\|
|=\__\/\ \ |=||=| - unknown congressman in debate |=|
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