When somebody sells a hundred million albums I want to know about that. I want to know what it is that can have such appeal. I want to feel what it’s about and identify with the sway of the phenomenon. I’m interested in the sound, the image, the people behind it, the whole package that so attracts the public.
I find that infinitely more interesting than the marginal tastes that are found among what I would call aesthetic fundamentalists. You get these fundamentalists in every kind of music. They are the snobs, the exclusivities who believe their choice is so much better, so much more enlightened than everybody else’s. They are journalists, record company A&R folk, or just your average disaffected, what I refer to as the dislikers, those who are better exercised in what they don’t like than what they do. They tend to prefer ugly to beautiful. They are drawn to the untutored, the undisciplined, the unaccomplished before the skilled and the conventionally talented. Theirs has less to do with an appreciation of art and the time honored values associated with great works. They are more concerned with finding material that resonates with their contempt. These are the rock-culture equivalent of religious zealots. They would like to tell everyone how to live and what to like. They wish to kill off all they disapprove of.
As I’ve said before, my personal (and professional) interest in music is more of an emotional identification with the popular work. I want to share what the hundred million are getting and not distinguish myself from them in some pseudo-superior way.
Apart from the genuine artistry that is usually to be found in mainstream pop there is also for me a sociological dimension. I’m intrigued by how a particular artist is able to take the zeitgeist and run with it, sometimes redefining it on the way. That’s a thing to do in life. That is why I am more interested in Eric Clapton than Joy Division.
I find that infinitely more interesting than the marginal tastes that are found among what I would call aesthetic fundamentalists. You get these fundamentalists in every kind of music. They are the snobs, the exclusivities who believe their choice is so much better, so much more enlightened than everybody else’s. They are journalists, record company A&R folk, or just your average disaffected, what I refer to as the dislikers, those who are better exercised in what they don’t like than what they do. They tend to prefer ugly to beautiful. They are drawn to the untutored, the undisciplined, the unaccomplished before the skilled and the conventionally talented. Theirs has less to do with an appreciation of art and the time honored values associated with great works. They are more concerned with finding material that resonates with their contempt. These are the rock-culture equivalent of religious zealots. They would like to tell everyone how to live and what to like. They wish to kill off all they disapprove of.
As I’ve said before, my personal (and professional) interest in music is more of an emotional identification with the popular work. I want to share what the hundred million are getting and not distinguish myself from them in some pseudo-superior way.
Apart from the genuine artistry that is usually to be found in mainstream pop there is also for me a sociological dimension. I’m intrigued by how a particular artist is able to take the zeitgeist and run with it, sometimes redefining it on the way. That’s a thing to do in life. That is why I am more interested in Eric Clapton than Joy Division.
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