Tail-end Gen-X here, and I absolutely co-sign your not-so-boomer thoughts on good music vs. fun. It's the difference between loving music for its technical prowess (Steely Dan) vs. loving it because, as the prophetess Daria stated, "it has a beat and you can dance to it, if you have no shame." It's understanding that Jon Batiste was really onto something in his Grammy speech when he talked about music finding you at the right time and the right place and connecting. Time changes how people are appreciated, as does age. It's really funny watching my cohort of Gen-X wake up and realize that we're in the vaunted 35-54 demographic, when we suddenly become the sweethearts of marketing and our cultural markers are everywhere. That changes this calculus too.
Man there's a lot of goodness in this comment. I actually have a song I want to write about next time that I love SOLELY for its technical prowess. I'm sure most readers will hate it, but the 5-10 who don't...
There's an old quote which may or many not be attributed to the late Paul Williams when the concept of hype infiltrating "our" music was fairly new. It was about the Monkees and it went something like they could outsell anyone in the history of music and remain irrelevant. Although I'd make a case for the Monkees actually having relevance and impact, we've seen that same argument brought up for decades now. Honoring the big-selling, arena -filling occupants of the AOR playlist that many of us had rammed down our eardrums has become a kind of sacrament. Where does the line between what is good and what is popular get drawn? Grand Funk Railroad in 1970 were militantly championed by a lot of teens but they were top 40 fodder by 1973 and totally forgotten by 1976. It's become an annual tradition now for Jann Wenner's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to stir contention for honoring that same old AOR playlist and ignoring artists who have arguably had more influence. Maybe the problem is that the criteria for what constitutes good rock has been a really evasive issue. Rebellion has arguably carried as much weight as the blues. Attacking plasticity and being plastic yourself has been a tactic for Elton John and Billy Joel. Today's trash might be tomorrow's treasure and maybe both at the same time.
Yeah, it's kind of an eternal debate. That's why I'm trying to not focus on that stuff TOO much. I get sucked into those HOF outrages as much as anyone, but it ends up curdling my enjoyment of music. I have a few decades of semi-intellectual music "appreciation" under my belt at this point, so I feel like if a song makes me feel something and I can least sorta put it into words, that's as "important" as it needs to be.
Thomas, reading your comment, my brain skipped a groove and for the first time in my 50 years I had this bizarre thought: that mega-artists like U2 and Prince are as much a byproduct of the music business as anything else it produces. Like, just as a thought exercise, I imagined that the goal of the music business was to give us Wall Of Voodoo and Haircut 100 but the overachieving Michael Jackson swooped in and hogged an inordinate amount of the glory; that any time success is defined, there will be people on either side of the line. Only tangentially related to your comment but that's where I wound up.
It shouldn’t be the Komorebi song that I find myself wanting to listen to repeatedly. It really should be one of the other two. It’s especially embarrassing because everyone knows 8-bit bands are corporate sell-outs. 4-bit is where the cool shit is happening.
Chiptunes! I love all that stuff (obviously). Lame Genie and Bit Brigade are too of my favorite "video game bands" right now. I've seen them both live at different times at different video game Cons and they rule. (Bit Brigade has a dude playing/speedrunning a game, Mega Man 3 for example, live while the band plays along behind him. It's pretty bad ass).
It’s funny that Steely Dan comes up in the comments, because I just came here to suggest them for a future For Fans Of.
Do you remember several years ago when The Darcys released a track-for-track Aja cover album? That was cool, but mostly because they managed to translate Aja into a completely different (and simpler) kind of sound. But who these days is doing anything actually reminiscent of the Dan? Inquiring minds want to know.
Oh that's perfect. I have a good Steely Dan analogue, i think. Although I recommended them to hardcore Dan fan I know and he disagreed, so... No matter! Onward!
Tail-end Gen-X here, and I absolutely co-sign your not-so-boomer thoughts on good music vs. fun. It's the difference between loving music for its technical prowess (Steely Dan) vs. loving it because, as the prophetess Daria stated, "it has a beat and you can dance to it, if you have no shame." It's understanding that Jon Batiste was really onto something in his Grammy speech when he talked about music finding you at the right time and the right place and connecting. Time changes how people are appreciated, as does age. It's really funny watching my cohort of Gen-X wake up and realize that we're in the vaunted 35-54 demographic, when we suddenly become the sweethearts of marketing and our cultural markers are everywhere. That changes this calculus too.
Tl;dr: you're 100% right on.
Man there's a lot of goodness in this comment. I actually have a song I want to write about next time that I love SOLELY for its technical prowess. I'm sure most readers will hate it, but the 5-10 who don't...
Also, I didn't watch the Grammys, but now I'm going to look up that Jon Baptiste speech.
There's an old quote which may or many not be attributed to the late Paul Williams when the concept of hype infiltrating "our" music was fairly new. It was about the Monkees and it went something like they could outsell anyone in the history of music and remain irrelevant. Although I'd make a case for the Monkees actually having relevance and impact, we've seen that same argument brought up for decades now. Honoring the big-selling, arena -filling occupants of the AOR playlist that many of us had rammed down our eardrums has become a kind of sacrament. Where does the line between what is good and what is popular get drawn? Grand Funk Railroad in 1970 were militantly championed by a lot of teens but they were top 40 fodder by 1973 and totally forgotten by 1976. It's become an annual tradition now for Jann Wenner's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to stir contention for honoring that same old AOR playlist and ignoring artists who have arguably had more influence. Maybe the problem is that the criteria for what constitutes good rock has been a really evasive issue. Rebellion has arguably carried as much weight as the blues. Attacking plasticity and being plastic yourself has been a tactic for Elton John and Billy Joel. Today's trash might be tomorrow's treasure and maybe both at the same time.
Yeah, it's kind of an eternal debate. That's why I'm trying to not focus on that stuff TOO much. I get sucked into those HOF outrages as much as anyone, but it ends up curdling my enjoyment of music. I have a few decades of semi-intellectual music "appreciation" under my belt at this point, so I feel like if a song makes me feel something and I can least sorta put it into words, that's as "important" as it needs to be.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Thomas, reading your comment, my brain skipped a groove and for the first time in my 50 years I had this bizarre thought: that mega-artists like U2 and Prince are as much a byproduct of the music business as anything else it produces. Like, just as a thought exercise, I imagined that the goal of the music business was to give us Wall Of Voodoo and Haircut 100 but the overachieving Michael Jackson swooped in and hogged an inordinate amount of the glory; that any time success is defined, there will be people on either side of the line. Only tangentially related to your comment but that's where I wound up.
We recently reviewed "Off to the Races" by Jukebox the Ghost. Give it a listen. Several tracks are quite "Queen-adjacent"!
Yeah, I keep hearing that name and confusing it with Postmodern Jukebox. Gotta re-wire my brain and check them out...
Love these. Completely out of my wheelhouse of reading, delightful break. Thanks for making. (And Pete sent me, but did not pay me)
Happy to hear it! Thanks for reading.
It shouldn’t be the Komorebi song that I find myself wanting to listen to repeatedly. It really should be one of the other two. It’s especially embarrassing because everyone knows 8-bit bands are corporate sell-outs. 4-bit is where the cool shit is happening.
Yeah, that does kind of surprise me. Less surprising: I didn't know that bits referred to bands or what that even means.
Chiptunes! I love all that stuff (obviously). Lame Genie and Bit Brigade are too of my favorite "video game bands" right now. I've seen them both live at different times at different video game Cons and they rule. (Bit Brigade has a dude playing/speedrunning a game, Mega Man 3 for example, live while the band plays along behind him. It's pretty bad ass).
I thought that might catch your eye. Curious to hear about the big move!
It’s funny that Steely Dan comes up in the comments, because I just came here to suggest them for a future For Fans Of.
Do you remember several years ago when The Darcys released a track-for-track Aja cover album? That was cool, but mostly because they managed to translate Aja into a completely different (and simpler) kind of sound. But who these days is doing anything actually reminiscent of the Dan? Inquiring minds want to know.
Oh that's perfect. I have a good Steely Dan analogue, i think. Although I recommended them to hardcore Dan fan I know and he disagreed, so... No matter! Onward!
I look forward to being a stereotypically judgmental Dan fan!