gulley@stolaf.UUCP (William T. Gulley) (01/25/84)
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I guess you really haven't heard all of the music these days.
There is (was) a band who destroyed all of the images of 'top ten'
radio and who were not conformists. They refused to be conformists,
and even when they started to become popular, just more than a cult
following, they decided they were TOO popular and broke up. Not many
bands would do this, unless they felt like they would change the way
they sound. The hardcore scene was built around this band, yet not many
people heard of Minor Threat. They were it. Ask anybody who saw them.
Don't get me wrong. I like Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, and I am
a big fan of Eno's. But they don't begin to match the intensity of what
Minor Threat. And I have seen a lot of hardcore bands come and go.
You would have to see them to believe them. Sorry Bill, but you
made yourself sound like a fool. And just think, you didn't
even try that hard !
--
-- Everything you know is wrong ! --
Tim Wicinski
University of Maryland
UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!timw
CSNet: timw@umcp-cs ARPA: timw.umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay
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Actually, Tim, I don't know of too many people who have
heard of all the music going on these days, and if you think that you're
exemplary of this kind of background, I'd say that either that you're
suffering from extreme delusions of grandeur, or God. If you are
the latter, then, and only then, would I feel that you're qualified
to make the last statement of your response. But since you seem to
exhibit a good deal of the former quality, let me attempt to clear up
a misconception that my article may have brought up with you and
possibly others.
I do not advocate or deadvocate any one genre of music as
exclusively exhibiting the mentioned evils in the "top ten". I feel
(repeat- I, MYSELF feel. .) that most all genres of music have a certain
amount of it exhibited in their respective works, just as, correspondingly,
most all genres of music have many examples of what I referred to as
"good, honest pieces". (Which I define as pieces that do not have the
ever-present, ever-the-same compositional formulae as its main substance.
I like to hear a little real creativity once in a while.) It entirely
depends upon the motives of the artist creating the work, whether he/she's
doing it just to make a buck, doing it to make a decent, enjoyable ex-
pression of his/herself, or both. Either of the last two is fine, but
works composed under the first motive consistantly result in nothing but
pseudo-artistic trash, which does come out noticeably in the work itself.
Either way, the work ends up acheiving its motives. Listeners with a
like quality of motives in their lives will buy the quality of music that
corresponds to those motives. (Whichever type they are.) I cited the
"top ten" so much in my article because the structure of the "top ten"
itself is based upon bucks, (i.e., the "top sellers") and tends to attract
artists with a "make a buck" mentality more often than not. True, it
tries to cater to what it thinks the audience wants, but like a lot of
good motives, it ends up getting corrupted by greed. I've known many
friends of mine to go out and buy a "top ten" album, for the sole
reason that it's on the "top ten" list, and "everybody listens to it".
Without passing judgement on the friends themselves, I think that their
actions serve as a case in point.
No matter what it sounded like, Tim, I do believe there exists
"good, honest" hardcore music. (Night Ranger, and some of the old Aero-
smith tunes are among my few favorites in this area.) (No Quiet Riot,
Black "bleagh" Flag please. .) And I do think that the "top ten" has
managed to net a few good ones in its history, especially in the early
70-s. (Early-Kansas, early-Yes, early-Styx. .) But as for the subjective
quality of "intensity", I can hear just as much of it (only a different
type) in Beethoven's Ninth, and much of the same type in Stravinsky's
"Le Sacre du Printemps". But, needless to say, (but I will anyway) it's
all subjective. As for what you told me about the group Minor Threat,
I, at least, admire their motives, without having heard their music.
You're right, not many bands would do that kind of thing, but that's
exactly what many present "top ten" bands were looking for, the chance
to make the big moolah, and they would stoop to utter banality to do
it.
Tim, please attempt to respond coherently or not at all. .
William Gulley
!inhp4!stolaf!gulley