choice wrote:My original post would have been "There's no good or bad music - it's all subjective,
we all have our opinions, there's no objective method for comparing music"
See, and I knew someone was going to say that too, and after I logged off yesterday I was thinking about this very thing. What I came up with was this - Sure, music, and art in general is all "subjective", but the fact is....the human mind is wired in such a way as to recognize beautiful things, and well composed music. We are naturally drawn to beauty whether it's attractive people or beautiful surroundings,, and when it comes to the audible, most people can recognize when something is off key, or lacking in melody and non-harmonious in general. It doesn't sound "good" to us. We gravitate to that which is harmonious, melodious, and "symmetrical" you could say.
So sure, we one can say that all art is subjective - beauty is in the eye of the beholder - blah blah blah, and that's true...to a point. That's the mentality though of people who generate modern shock art that involves tossing random nasty things onto a canvas, then claiming, "But I'm EXPRESSING MYSELF, see, this is ART, it's EXPRESSION..." Where does one draw the line? With music, I have heard some CRAZY stuff that can't even be classified as music....oh my god the other night in fact montalk was trying out new music, downloading different samples of this and that from online....and this one "song" was in the vain of techno, and was just ONE NOTE pulsing over and over and over.......! I've never HEARD of such of thing. I can't even describe it. We were laughing about it....but then had to realize that, um, maybe whoever made this wasn't kidding....? !! Alarming!
choice wrote:I haven't listened to commercial radio for about 15 years now, but I like Gorillaz though...:P
Yes, Gorillaz are good, indeed! That was probably the last modern CD I bought, actually, back in 2001.
There's a lot to be said about commercial radio, so many things I could write about that it would actually make a great mini-article. For starters, Clear Channel practically owns everything now here in the States, which means, homogenized control of the airwaves. We're all getting the same flavor, whatever state we live in. But Clear Channel aside, even if it's a non-Clear Channel radio station, the fact is, ALL mainstream radio relies on a Playlist. That equates to the same 100 songs, TOPS, played in heavy rotation...over, and over and over and over and over. And in the case of Classic Rock stations, you're just getting the same 100 classic rock standards, over and over and over and over and over with very little deviation. "Deviation" comes in the form of "Specialized Shows", where some dude has his 2 hour show where maybe he gets to play something slightly different. Ooh, it's 80's Retro hour! Or it's the Garage Band hour, or it's Techno Party Time! or whatever. But the majority of any 24-hour day on any mainstream radio is devoted to the standard, programmed, homogenized playlist.
And what does this effectively do? See, here's where it ALL comes together, where the Bigger Picture Conspiracy comes in. Cause you know there has to be one, there always is!
It locks people into repetitive habits, safety, security. TPTB are all about programming humans with the notion of safety and security. And what I've noticed is that SOOOO many people have their favorite radio stations that they listen to at work, for instance, where it's this familiar comforting thing playing in the background. The same familiar DJs, during the same time, Monday - Friday, playing the same songs, from the same playlist, with the same lighthearted banter in between, and the same commercials interupting periodically for the same products.
Day in, and day out.
Comfort and security. Stay in the pen. Everything is going to be ooookaaaay. It's cozy here.
And it helps reinforce the idea of not thinking. These people who play their radios on the same station every day at work, the thing that I saw that EVERY ONE OF THEM had in common was being on autopilot. Not thinking. Going through the motions every day, half asleep. Talking about silly, trivial things, shying away from anything that was "outside the norm", just content with their repetitive routine. Get up, go to work, eat, sleep, watch TV, repeat, die.
Maybe I will do a write up on this. This has spawned into a majorly interesting side topic!
"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!" - Anonymous
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"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
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