gulley@stolaf.UUCP (William T. Gulley) (01/23/84)
net.music, because basically it's a flame on much of what is known as "popular" music today. By "popular", I mean the stuff that usually exudes from my radio speaker everytime I, usually in an attempt to brighten my day, decide to tune into what is commonly termed as a "top-ten radio station". (Many of which abound and flourish in all sectors of my radio dial.) The re-emergence of the group Yes kind of cued me in on this train of thought, but many genres of music exemplify this almost inate sense to gravitate towards the catchy- klitch formulaic gimmickry that seems to pervade much of the music business. In a nutshell, my question is, "Why?". Why in the world do musicians have to resort to such eccentricities such as gooking facial makeup on themselves, growing and braiding their hair, and purpose- fully giving the impression that they are of a gender that they act- ually aren't, just to be heard and make a living? (How do you even KNOW he's a boy?) Even speaking on a strictly musical level, I kind of wonder why it's necessary to listen to a modern day Bill Haley clone, ranting and raving and rolling in the dough, when I can break out my old 45-s and listen to the man himself doing it before anyone else, and better. Better because he created the style, and it was his, not because he wanted to capitalize on someone else's good taste, just to make a buck. I don't particularly care for regurgitated anything, much less guitar licks, but that's basically what you're in for with The Almighty "Top Ten". For you that listen to it, what motivates you? (This is not an attack on your taste, but an honest question.) Is it the "beat", as in "We've got the-"? Why then bother with chordal pro- gressions, just go to your local Kimball dealer, put your ear on the speaker of a "Fun Swinger", push all the presets down simultaneously, crank it up to ten, and blow your ears out! (A Linn drum machine and a Marshall stack would have a similar effect-) Or, is it the noise, as in "C'mon feel the-"? Richard Strauss used it well once, but Pratt-and-Whitney (airliner engines) has a corner on the market also, and speaking from a Physics standpoint, there isn't much difference between that and Quiet Riot at 210 db. . Granted, I'm sure there are many people reading this who can honestly say, "It's makes me feel good". But are they creating noise for the sake of creating noise, or for the sake of creating music, which ARE two different things. (Or they'd have the same name) Then what defines "good" for The Almighty "Top Ten"? (Yes, I am razzing the subjectivity of that certain usage of the word, "top") Why did Kansas make it, and not The Dregs? Why hasn't Mannheim Steamroller, as opposed to Chris Cross, or Rick Wakeman, as opposed to Elton John? (I personally enjoy all of the above mentioned, with the exception of E. John.) And, with all of this electronic dweeping and dwooping going on, why haven't we heard more of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Oldfield (who also have leaned toward the "pop" formulae), and Jean-Michel Jarre? It seems the "losers" mentioned above of the race for the "Top Ten" were not "losers" at all, they simply didn't run, and THAT'S why they "lost". It seems to me that professional musicians, like all of us, have to make the choice every day of whether to be an individual or a conformist, them in the making of their music, and us in whether to listen to it or not. What we accept in our listening to a music does have a direct bearing on what we accept, or at least want to be shown, in ourselves. There is plenty of good, honest music in all genres around, like good, honest people, it just takes a little more effort to find it/them, and you can't just blindly trust the "Top Ten" to find it/them, the motivation has to exist to go out and find it/them yourself. And, on the musician's part, to be honest in what they put out. Why, if none of us are Xerox copies of each other, do we have to listen to the eternally Xeroxed "Top Ten" klitsch? Man, that felt great! William Gulley !stolaf!gulley
andrew@inmet.UUCP (01/26/84)
#R:stolaf:-132700:inmet:6600076:000:709 inmet!andrew Jan 24 09:53:00 1984 Nice to see someone else has heard of Mannheim Steamroller. I bet their records would sell a lot better if non-audiophile pressings were available from "normal" record stores at conventional prices! I know of only two places that stock their records - both high-end audio dealers, who charge $18 each for them. Needless to say, this does inhibit sales... Andrew W. Rogers, Intermetrics ...harpo!inmet!andrew 733 Concord Ave. ...hplabs!sri-unix!cca!ima!inmet!andrew Cambridge, MA 02138 ...uw-beav!cornell!esquire!inmet!andrew (617) 661-1840 ...yale-comix!ima!inmet!andrew PS: I actually did hear parts of Fresh Aire III on the radio a while back!
dya@unc-c.UUCP (01/28/84)
References: stolaf.1327
..... Which is why, I ask, is there possibly an excuse for "Thriller"
(like most preprogrammed electronic disco crap, sounding like the Multibus
does when you get an AM radio near one) fouling my favourite AOR station,
whilst Cristopher "Aural Equivalent of 50 mg Valium " Cross gets on the
local soul station.
** DONT FLAME AT ME, I USED TO PROGRAM A REAL DISCO STATION....
I am sorry, but even when one can morally justify top 20, there is
no justifcation for 6 stations playing essentially the same records over
and over again, with the existence of the aforementioned.......
Secondly, I can remember when the same AOR station, with the same
personnel, used to run "DISCO DESTRUCTION HOURS" in response to my station
going ** REAL ** disco (i.e. 1978-80.). I am sick and tired of white people
(of which I am one) constantly badmouthing urban contemporary, only to
justify it when white artists re-do it or it emerges under "dancable new
wave" or other such schlock. Let's face it, good music is good music.
I suppose that one of the problems is MTV, which makes it chic to like
anything "new" with their Stamp of Approval. Diversity of music in radio
and in the record stores is rapidly becoming extinct, and I, for one,
am sorry to see it go. There are times when I want to hear real R&B
or disco, and others when the progressive rock stations of the early
and mid 70's is more appealing.
What I miss most are the Joni Mitchells and Ian Andersons, who could
write more intellegently than "Cum On Feel The Noise"or any other 50 million
top 20 songs you could name. This is both musically and lyrically. Doesn't
single radio station have the BALLS to avoid playing something because
it is # 1??? Wimpy programme directors are the single reason why public
consciousness of a wide variety of music has dwindled into Halothane induction.
I do not object to any single form of music (except country, which is
the shade of things to come in popular and urban contemporary) but rather
the fact that it all is going into two catagories: glop and non-glop. Glop
is the popular song which is pregnant with the feelings of adolescent puppy
love......Air Supply, etc. Non-glop is the rest.
When a station decides to play gold, why not Bill Quateman, Laura Nyro,
etc ?
AT LEAST little kids are learning what a proper folk song sounds like,
since Buffy Sainte-Marie is on "Electric Company" or "Sesame Street".
*** Now I feel better, too. Flames to me personally..
David "Last of the Analog" Anthony
( decvax!duke!mcnc!(unc-c,urp)!dya )tynor@uiucuxc.UUCP (02/05/84)
#R:stolaf:-132700:uiucuxc:30800009:000:353 uiucuxc!tynor Feb 4 10:12:00 1984 Here's another vote for the Mannheim Steamroller... I've sometimes wondered why they call their albums 'Audiophile Pressings'.... Have you ever heard a more poorly recorded piano? (Not that I think that the albums are worthless.. I love the music... It's the engineering that leaves so much to be desired.) Steve Tynor ihnp4!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!tynor
ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (02/09/84)
Most people I know who hate disco don't hate it because it's black, they hate it because it SUCKS, just like whiteboy nuevo-disco. Come to think of it, dance music is almost always the pits. I guess you're not supposed to listen... -michael