blickstein@speedy.DEC (Dave Blickstein) (06/27/85)
I wanted to point out to Doug Alan and people in general that not everyone
who receives net.music can use the "n" key, which I suppose has something to
do with something on unix, to skip over submissions. There are now many
people reading this on non-unix systems who get net.music in one big
package. Just by looking at the path names, I can tell you that these
people (and I am one of them) comprise a large percentage of the submittors.
Does this mean that you should stop submitting stuff on Kate Bush? No.
But what I would implore you and others is to not deluge net.music with
two-way conversations, mass mailings intended only to popularize a particular
artist, or in general a large amount of articles on one topic that is not
of general interest.
Look. It's obvious to everyone that you are a devoted fan who is trying to
give some exposure to Kate Bush by posting lots of articles on her.
Unfortunately, if everyone in net.music started "campaigning" for their
favorite artist, net.music would become so bloated with trivia that no one
would bother reading it. Believe me, if I wanted to, I could deluge net.music
with 30 pages of Dixie Dregs trivia each week.
I think you are defeating your purpose by this type of campaigning method.
The first reviews of "The Dreaming" raised my interest in Kate Bush and I
had decided to check the album out. Then the deluge of articles by you
and other Kate Bush fans indicated to me a high level of fanatacism and I
always get turned off by musical fanatacism. I believe most other people
have the same kind of reaction. You might say I'm depriving myself of
a musical pleasure, but no one can buy every album that comes out and
we have to make our decisions based on our intuitions and many of us are
turned off to fanatacism (it's probably this very effect that gives you
your hostile attitude regarding Michael Jackson among others.) I'm saying
this only to be honest and not to irk you in any way. Being a fan of the
Dregs (who are in a very similar position to Bush in terms of being a very
non-mainstream band in the music industry), I understand how you feel.
db
(UUCP) {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-orphan!blickstein
(ARPA) BLICKSTEIN%ORPHAN.DEC@DECWRL.ARPAnessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) (06/28/85)
["Has eighteen letters" does!] > From: blickstein@speedy.DEC (Dave Blickstein) > I wanted to point out to Doug Alan and people in general that not > everyone who receives net.music can use the "n" key, which I suppose > has something to do with something on unix, to skip over submissions. > There are now many people reading this on non-unix systems who get > net.music in one big package. Oh my! It might take all of two seconds to skip over a message at 9600 baud! What a time sink! Oh, you're at 1200 baud? Well, have you ever heard of an undigestifier? Don't have one? Awwww! It might take all of half an hour to write.... > But what I would implore you and others is to not deluge net.music > with two-way conversations, mass mailings intended only to popularize > a particular artist, or in general a large amount of articles on one > topic that is not of general interest. Nothing's going to be of interest to everyone. There is a fair amount of interest in the articles I have posted about Kate Bush's music, as evidenced by responses from other people, and the many personal messages I have received from people who are Kate Bush fans or who have become Kate Bush fans since I have started posting messages about her music. I post these messages because I like discussing things that interest me with other people. If I never got any responses, and it just felt as if my articles were being written to /dev/null, I would stop. Also, I have posted many articles on many other topics besides Kate Bush's music. The ones I receive feedback on, I continue to write about. > Look. It's obvious to everyone that you are a devoted fan who is > trying to give some exposure to Kate Bush by posting lots of articles > on her. It's more than just that. Like I said before, I like to discuss things I enjoy with other people, and this has resulted in lots of interesting discussions with lots of people! Isn't that what this net is supposed to be about? Communication? > Unfortunately, if everyone in net.music started "campaigning" > for their favorite artist, net.music would become so bloated with > trivia that no one would bother reading it. I still would! I love reading about music. I don't think it likely that there would ever be too much. And I haven't been posting a whole lot of "trivia". I mean I could tell you that Kate Bush has two cats named Pywackit and Zoodle or ask if anyone else has noticed that Kate doesn't paint her fingernails, but does paint her toenails, but I won't because that would be trivia. > Believe me, if I wanted to, I could deluge net.music with 30 pages of > Dixie Dregs trivia each week. Please do! I'd love to read what you have to say about them. I know nothing about them (other than that they were mentioned in net.music a while ago weren't they? -- see you have to repeat things, people have short memories....), and if I get bored with your postings, I'll just skip by them, the same way that I'd skip by an uninteresting looking article in a magazine. > I think you are defeating your purpose by this type of campaigning > method. I've gotten lots of feedback, which is exactly what I wanted, so everything has gone great! > The first reviews of "The Dreaming" raised my interest in Kate Bush > and I had decided to check the album out. Then the deluge of articles > by you and other Kate Bush fans indicated to me a high level of > fanatacism and I always get turned off by musical fanatacism. Well I'm just as much a fanatic about music in general. I've probably bought 200 albums this year, I subscribe to 7 music magazines, and DJ for the fun of it. Does this turn you off to music in general? I go to SF conventions. Does this turn you off to SF? > I believe most other people have the same kind of reaction. You might > say I'm depriving myself of a musical pleasure, but no one can buy > every album that comes out and we have to make our decisions based on > our intuitions and many of us are turned off to fanatacism (it's > probably this very effect that gives you your hostile attitude > regarding Michael Jackson among others.) My dislike for Michael Jackson's "music" has nothing to do with that he is so popular. It has to do with that he is an artistic void. The fact that radio stations and record companies are so obsessed with making a buck off of people like him, that they ignore true talent whenever possible, though, does annoy me infinitely. I also think it likely that Michael Jackson doesn't have a fanatic following -- the people that appear to be Michael Jackson fanatics are probably really just fanatic trend followers. It'll be Michael Jackson one month, Duran Duran the next, then Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, etc. If Michael Jackson wasn't a big star, would he have fanatic followers trying to promote his music? Fat chance! And if he did, I'm sure they'd have an average IQ 35 points lower than your average Kate Bush fan. I have nothing against many groups that have fanatic or cult followings. If a musician or group has a dedicated following of intelligent people, then there is almost certainly something very powerful in their music, even if I don't necesarily see what it is. In fact, I definitely make it a point to listen to music that incites fanaticism in intelligent people. I've listend to some Duke Ellington because of Marcel's ravings about him. I've listened to some Miles Davis because lots of people say he's god. I have nothing against The Greatful Dead, even if they're not one of my faves. Does it annoy me that nearly every decent music magazine in the country has become a Henry Rollins (of Black Flag) fan club, when I'm not particularly crazy about Hardcore? No, Henry has lots of interesting things to say. Do you see me complaining about all the bickering in net.music about which line-up of Yes existed on what album? > I'm saying this only to be honest and not to irk you in any way. > Being a fan of the Dregs (who are in a very similar position to Bush > in terms of being a very non-mainstream band in the music industry), I > understand how you feel. Well tell me more about them, then! And I'll tell you more about Kate Bush, and we'll all be happy. Hmmm. I was going to post a review of the movie "Urgh! A Musical War" and of Lisa Dalbello's album "Who Man Four Says", but I've spent all my time writing this... Oh well, maybe soon. "Let me bring you the Devil Dreams" Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)