I woke up with a strange feeling.
>
> I read yesterday that "My Morning Jacket's album had been leaked".
>
> At first, after having seen the thread on this site, and read the comments of excited forum members eager to listen to the new song, I felt a modicum of guilt. I felt complicit in having disrespected the artists, whom I admire so much. I felt like I had violated the code of allowing an artist to have control over their work...to release it in their own time...on their own terms. And I looked at the microcosm of the larger culture that is this forum, and started to wonder about the behaviors that drive it...this constant seeking...this constant speculation...the insatiable appetite for what you can't have...the segmenting of information into a kind of social stratagem of the "haves" and "have nots". And I started to wonder if this kind of fetishism was not taking something from the music itself...
>
> But then I thought about it on another level. This voyeurism...this fetishism...is exactly what sells. I don't know about you, but I bought the single from Pono. It was not leaked. It had a source. And that source was authentic. Yet the threads on the topic had been removed, like some Watergate paper trail...like a catfish...never to be caught...untraceable. And I started to think about this move to Capitol Records...right in the heart of Hollywood...the marketing capital of the world. A town filled with the masters of slight of hand...that steal your soul, and make you think that you are still in control...those Kardashian PR teams...progenitors of leaked media...and this feeling rose in my chest...I can't explain it...save to say that I felt like a foreign invader had arrived...bringing with it seeds of an invasive species, and a scorched-earth will to match.
Perhaps this is just a reflection of my distrust in propaganda...but I feel like when everyone is drinking the cyanide they call kool-aid, that I'd rather get my water from an honest well. There is no one to blame, but all are responsible in making sure that the art and messages we live by, are being dispensed in an honest way...that everyone is accountable at each part in the process to make sure authenticity are not compromised in the name of accessibility...so convenient but at such a cost...
I know that this thread will likely be erased or go unanswered, but I had to say something. This is a group of intelligent, honest, caring, and funny people...and I feel like when something is great it sells itself. There is no need for speculation. There is patience, and a steadfast belief that everything will come in its own due time. I feel like all this seeking takes away the magic of the music...we become strands in a disconnected web.
A lot of this topic arises from something within me that cannot be rationalized or explained. It will not be popular. But when it comes down to it...instinct may not pay, but it can never be sold.
To clarify, let's assume that art falls under the same principles as Marxism. There's the proletariat (the fans)...the bourgeoisie (record/media companies)...and the artists, who are in a middle-class type limbo. Now, if the artists are alienated from the modes of production (artistic liberty/distribution/fair wages), then the model ultimately favors the bourgeoisie...which is not a desired, nor a sustainable model. However, if the artists are complicit...if they sell out for a little more...this is problematic. And in any colonialist subtext, the biggest mistake that the bourgeoisie make is in believing that their "cultural" fingerprints are not evident to the proletariat. But see, the proletariat IS the culture. Ghetto music. The proletariat can spot the original from the print because they ARE the starving artists...I'm not saying success automatically equates with selling out. But I am saying there is a very thin line to tread...and this is a real litmus test.
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 10:29 AM
my distrust in propaganda...
I look at it this way: if you know it is propaganda, then there's nothing to worry about because you're ahead of the curve. It will feel right or it won't. There's plenty for everyone. Music is like that. Easy peasy.
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 11:20 AM
To clarify, let's assume that art falls under the same principles as Marxism. There's the proletariat (the fans)...the bourgeoisie (record/media companies)...and the artists, who are in a middle-class type limbo. Now, if the artists are alienated from the modes of production (artistic liberty/distribution/fair wages), then the model ultimately favors the bourgeoisie...which is not a desired, nor a sustainable model. However, if the artists are complicit...if they sell out for a little more...this is problematic. And in any colonialist subtext, the biggest mistake that the bourgeoisie make is in believing that their "cultural" fingerprints are not evident to the proletariat. But see, the proletariat IS the culture. Ghetto music. The proletariat can spot the original from the print because they ARE the starving artists...I'm not saying success automatically equates with selling out. But I am saying there is a very thin line to tread...and this is a real litmus test.
Ah yes, but don't forget what Engels warned at Marx's burial..."mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc." :wink:
here we go...
Ahhhh.... Let the games begin :bath:
Quote from: e_wind on Feb 26, 2015, 12:06 PM
here we go...
When I meditate, I like to focus on brown velour. It's so soothing!
Instead of Marxism, maybe we could discuss how the record industry just changed the global record release day to Friday and how that may signify that the industry isn't as resistant to change as they appear to be.
http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/ (http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/)
How about just some good ol' fashioned rock and roll :cool:
I can't stop signing "Speculation" ala "Strangulation"
Quote from: walterfredo on Feb 26, 2015, 12:30 PM
I can't stop signing "Speculation" ala "Strangulation"
I wish that was the way I read it. Now I have Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" stuck in my head.
Quote from: vespachick on Feb 26, 2015, 12:19 PM
Quote from: e_wind on Feb 26, 2015, 12:06 PM
here we go...
When I meditate, I like to focus on brown velour. It's so soothing!
OMG, I thought I was the only one!!!
Quote from: getinthevan on Feb 26, 2015, 12:32 PM
Quote from: walterfredo on Feb 26, 2015, 12:30 PM
I can't stop signing "Speculation" ala "Strangulation"
I wish that was the way I read it. Now I have Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" stuck in my head.
Goddammit, Van!
I didn't realize catfish were that hard to catch.
Quote from: getinthevan on Feb 26, 2015, 12:24 PM
Instead of Marxism, maybe we could discuss how the record industry just changed the global record release day to Friday and how that may signify that the industry isn't as resistant to change as they appear to be.
http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/ (http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/)
I don't understand how establishing uniformity signals adaptivity...To tell you the truth, I find the whole notion of trying to innovate with "surprise drops" a la Beyonce or "automatic downloads" a la U2, trite. Like how Taylor Swift got so offended by Spotify and two days later was dropping some single on YouTube's new medium. I just feel like the energy spent on marketing literal SHIT is such a mind fuck. Again and again it is axiomatic that the medium has swallowed the message. The revolution will not be televised. I'd like to see an artist with enough balls to not market anything. To put 100% of their energy into the creative process. If people choose to market for them, that is their business. Even to go so far as to not tell anyone that this is their m.o. Just do an entire fucking tour of rock n roll. No press. No gimmicks. THAT would be remarkable. And I know music costs money to make and that the people who invest the money want to make money back...which is why it would take someone with balls of steel to Andy Kaufman the whole fucking tour.
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 12:49 PM
Quote from: getinthevan on Feb 26, 2015, 12:24 PM
Instead of Marxism, maybe we could discuss how the record industry just changed the global record release day to Friday and how that may signify that the industry isn't as resistant to change as they appear to be.
http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/ (http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/)
I don't understand how establishing uniformity signals adaptivity...To tell you the truth, I find the whole notion of trying to innovate with "surprise drops" a la Beyonce or "automatic downloads" a la U2, trite. Like how Taylor Swift got so offended by Spotify and two days later was dropping some single on YouTube's new medium. I just feel like the energy spent on marketing literal SHIT is such a mind fuck. Again and again it is axiomatic that the medium has swallowed the message. The revolution will not be televised. I'd like to see an artist with enough balls to not market anything. To put 100% of their energy into the creative process. If people choose to market for them, that is their business. Even to go so far as to not tell anyone that this is their m.o. Just do an entire fucking tour of rock n roll. No press. No gimmicks. THAT would be remarkable. And I know music costs money to make and that the people who invest the money want to make money back...which is why it would take someone with balls of steel to Andy Kaufman the whole fucking tour.
How can you be certain some are not already doing that? :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:
Quote from: vespachick on Feb 26, 2015, 12:52 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 12:49 PM
Quote from: getinthevan on Feb 26, 2015, 12:24 PM
Instead of Marxism, maybe we could discuss how the record industry just changed the global record release day to Friday and how that may signify that the industry isn't as resistant to change as they appear to be.
http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/ (http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/)
I don't understand how establishing uniformity signals adaptivity...To tell you the truth, I find the whole notion of trying to innovate with "surprise drops" a la Beyonce or "automatic downloads" a la U2, trite. Like how Taylor Swift got so offended by Spotify and two days later was dropping some single on YouTube's new medium. I just feel like the energy spent on marketing literal SHIT is such a mind fuck. Again and again it is axiomatic that the medium has swallowed the message. The revolution will not be televised. I'd like to see an artist with enough balls to not market anything. To put 100% of their energy into the creative process. If people choose to market for them, that is their business. Even to go so far as to not tell anyone that this is their m.o. Just do an entire fucking tour of rock n roll. No press. No gimmicks. THAT would be remarkable. And I know music costs money to make and that the people who invest the money want to make money back...which is why it would take someone with balls of steel to Andy Kaufman the whole fucking tour.
How can you be certain some are not already doing that? :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:
Surely I would have read something in Pitchfork by now... :thumbsup:
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Quote from: vespachick on Feb 26, 2015, 12:52 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 12:49 PM
Quote from: getinthevan on Feb 26, 2015, 12:24 PM
Instead of Marxism, maybe we could discuss how the record industry just changed the global record release day to Friday and how that may signify that the industry isn't as resistant to change as they appear to be.
http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/ (http://www.stereogum.com/1783667/friday-is-officially-the-new-global-record-release-day/news/)
I don't understand how establishing uniformity signals adaptivity...To tell you the truth, I find the whole notion of trying to innovate with "surprise drops" a la Beyonce or "automatic downloads" a la U2, trite. Like how Taylor Swift got so offended by Spotify and two days later was dropping some single on YouTube's new medium. I just feel like the energy spent on marketing literal SHIT is such a mind fuck. Again and again it is axiomatic that the medium has swallowed the message. The revolution will not be televised. I'd like to see an artist with enough balls to not market anything. To put 100% of their energy into the creative process. If people choose to market for them, that is their business. Even to go so far as to not tell anyone that this is their m.o. Just do an entire fucking tour of rock n roll. No press. No gimmicks. THAT would be remarkable. And I know music costs money to make and that the people who invest the money want to make money back...which is why it would take someone with balls of steel to Andy Kaufman the whole fucking tour.
How can you be certain some are not already doing that? :shocked: :shocked: :shocked:
David Bowie already did that. But what else do you expect from the man? He has always been worlds ahead of everyone else.
http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/how-david-bowies-white-square-infiltrated-our-minds-8530858.html (http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/how-david-bowies-white-square-infiltrated-our-minds-8530858.html)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/david-bowie-trent-reznor-nin-666371 (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/david-bowie-trent-reznor-nin-666371)
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 01:02 PM
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Usually, when someone thinks they "have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career", they don't say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career. Usually.
I hate posting pictures of cans of SpaghettiO's
(http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/spaghettios.jpg)
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 26, 2015, 01:56 PM
I hate posting pictures of cans of SpaghettiO's
(http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/spaghettios.jpg)
I prefer Spaghettios over Celine Dion & Joey Lawrence lubed abs :cheesy:
So I read this thing in this Greil Marcus book I'm reading called "Mystery Train":
The audience that gather around rock n rollers are as close to that ideal community as anyone gets. The real drama of a performer's careers comes when the ideal that one can hear in the music and the audience that the artist really attracts begin to affect each other. No artist can predict, let alone control, what an audience will make of his images; yet no rock n roller can exist without a relationship with an audience, whether it is the imaginary audience one begins with, or the all-too-real confusion of the audience one wins.
The best popular artists create immediate links between people who might have nothing in common but a response to their work, but the best popular artists never stop trying to understand the impact of their work on their audiences. That means their ideal images must change as their understanding grows. One may find horror where one expected only pleasure; one may find the truth one told has already become a lie. If the audience demands only more of what it has already accepted, the artist has a choice. He can move on, and perhaps cut himself off from his audience; if he does, his work will lose all the vitality and strength it has when he knew it mattered to other people. Or the artist can accept the audience's image of himself, pretend that his audience is his shadowy ideal, and lose himself in the audience. Then he will only be able to conform; he will never be able to create.
The most interesting rock n rollers sometimes go to these extremes; most don't, because these are the contradictions they struggle with more than resolve. The tension between community and self-reliance; between distance from one's audience and affection for it; between the shared experience of popular culture and the special talents of artists who both draw on that shared experience and change it- these are the things that make rock n roll at its best a democratic art...
I think a lot of these things hit at the heart of what I am trying to express...these contradictions that seem to "counter-intuitively" rely on each other. And I think it is a testament to the gifts that the members of the band possess that make it so easy for them to navigate what I find so confusing. There are so many factors in the process that are so controlled, but which also require the relinquishing of control. The very notion of propaganda and corporate control are only contentious to those who contend. It is only they who have given way to all these forces, that can find and determine their own path...
I think at the heart of it, when you love a band or a form of art, you revel in change so long as it is free from restriction...but I suppose even restriction is a self-imposed boundary...
Alas, confusion remains.
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 26, 2015, 01:53 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 01:02 PM
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Usually, when someone thinks they "have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career", they don't say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career. Usually.
Right?
*stops reading 1000 word unibomber missive after first sentence*
btw, did mamakel get a new handle or something?
Quote from: millerjustin on Feb 26, 2015, 04:34 PM
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 26, 2015, 01:53 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 01:02 PM
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Usually, when someone thinks they "have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career", they don't say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career. Usually.
Right?
*stops reading 1000 word unibomber missive after first sentence*
btw, did mamakel get a new handle or something?
I felt like I just read an incredible SNL sketch script or something with that last "Usually." And to immediately follow that with millerjustin's "Right?" added to that just perfectly.
It is Mama Kel. I hadn't been on in a couple years, but after OBH, wanted to try it out again. Just love the band and thought it might be a good place to write. But I apparently offend people on this forum, so I think I will go back to doing my own thing. Hope you all enjoy the album, and this summer's tour!
USUALLY: usually, anyone on this forum writes their feelings about the band, good or bad - right? Usually, people on this forum are nice in their comments about what someone else is commenting/writing about - right?
Quote from: pattilovesmmj on Feb 26, 2015, 05:13 PM
USUALLY: usually, anyone on this forum writes their feelings about the band, good or bad - right? Usually, people on this forum are nice in their comments about what someone else is commenting/writing about - right?
Right on!
Quote from: millerjustin on Feb 26, 2015, 04:34 PM
btw, did mamakel get a new handle or something?
I believe she has had at least 3 or 4 handles over the years, and then deletes the accounts. Just pure SPECULATION on my part..
Quote from: walterfredo on Feb 26, 2015, 05:42 PM
Quote from: millerjustin on Feb 26, 2015, 04:34 PM
btw, did mamakel get a new handle or something?
I believe she has had at least 3 or 4 handles over the years, and then deletes the accounts. Just pure SPECULATION on my part..
I can see it now.... SPECULATION, and USUALLY will be a part of the forum lexicon forever! :grin:
just catching up here (not on the forum as much since all the changes). I thought this thread was about the album being leaked? read through and really not much actually said about that.... :huh:
Quote from: bluesky on Feb 26, 2015, 06:20 PM
just catching up here (not on the forum as much since all the changes). I thought this thread was about the album being leaked? read through and really not much actually said about that.... :huh:
a single track was yesterday, Big Decisions. Posted on several sites, and pulled from all.
thanks Walterfredo! I caught that. But the album, that's a little different. Hope you are enjoying the California sunshine!!! (cold here)
they say the new song was co written by Dan Wilson of Semisonic
http://www.danwilsonmusic.com/about/official-bio (http://www.danwilsonmusic.com/about/official-bio)
can't wait to hear it
Quote from: vespachick on Feb 26, 2015, 12:46 PM
Quote from: getinthevan on Feb 26, 2015, 12:32 PM
Quote from: walterfredo on Feb 26, 2015, 12:30 PM
I can't stop signing "Speculation" ala "Strangulation"
I wish that was the way I read it. Now I have Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" stuck in my head.
Goddammit, Van!
I just noticed the title of this thread and laughed out loud
Quote from: Santo on Feb 26, 2015, 05:24 PM
Quote from: pattilovesmmj on Feb 26, 2015, 05:13 PM
USUALLY: usually, anyone on this forum writes their feelings about the band, good or bad - right? Usually, people on this forum are nice in their comments about what someone else is commenting/writing about - right?
Right on!
u·su·al·ly
ˈyo͞oZH(əw)əlē/done, found, or used most of the time or in most cases : normal or regular.You are correct and I agree 100%. Usually, people on this forum are nice in their comments about what someone else is commenting/writing about.
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 26, 2015, 01:53 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 01:02 PM
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Usually, when someone thinks they "have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career", they don't say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career. Usually.
Between this and the aerosmith reference my keyboard is covered in coffee. And Mama, we aren't offended; the post just came off a bit ironic considering your sources. Marx was an advocate for free press: so post away sister. That being said when you post such a radical, passionate side to this matter, you've got to expect a few difference of opinions. We don't want anyone to disappear or get angry. This is a forum. Debate, joke, jab - all in good fun.
It's music. It's supposed to be fun. It's a luxury. I'm excited. Probably too excited. However, it's not altering any critical life decisions for my family (except where we will be vacationing for the next 10 years).
Quote from: byrdpickem on Feb 27, 2015, 08:55 AM
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 26, 2015, 01:53 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 01:02 PM
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Usually, when someone thinks they "have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career", they don't say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career. Usually.
That being said when you post such a radical, passionate side to this matter, you've got to expect a few difference of opinions. We don't want anyone to disappear or get angry. This is a forum. Debate, joke, jab - all in good fun.
Differences of opinion, debate, jabs are all good. Stifling conversation is a different story. But that's just one man's opinion. I've enjoyed Mama's posts and I hope she sticks around.
no offense intended and profuse apologies to mamakel etc if any taken....I was just joking about the length of posts....which isn't necessarily a bad thing.....I'm just a simple man with sound bite levels of attention span....ADD at it's worst.
cheers and carry on
Quote from: headhunter on Feb 26, 2015, 12:33 PM
Quote from: vespachick on Feb 26, 2015, 12:19 PM
Quote from: e_wind on Feb 26, 2015, 12:06 PM
here we go...
When I meditate, I like to focus on brown velour. It's so soothing!
OMG, I thought I was the only one!!!
hope we see more of
the brown velour on the tour
perhaps a cape, too
Quote from: Santo on Feb 27, 2015, 10:28 AM
Quote from: byrdpickem on Feb 27, 2015, 08:55 AM
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 26, 2015, 01:53 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 01:02 PM
Bottom line, I don't know dick about the music industry. I have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career...
Usually, when someone thinks they "have no right to say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career", they don't say anything about how anyone runs their life and/or career. Usually.
That being said when you post such a radical, passionate side to this matter, you've got to expect a few difference of opinions. We don't want anyone to disappear or get angry. This is a forum. Debate, joke, jab - all in good fun.
Differences of opinion, debate, jabs are all good. Stifling conversation is a different story. But that's just one man's opinion. I've enjoyed Mama's posts and I hope she sticks around.
And I was pointing out the irony of posting several really long opinions and then contradicting them all by saying you actually have no right to have an opinion. She sort of stifled the conversation herself and that's funny. It's all in fun, lighten up a wee bit. :smiley:
Quote from: Tracy 2112 on Feb 27, 2015, 02:51 PM
And I was pointing out the irony of posting several really long opinions and then contradicting them all by saying you actually have no right to have an opinion. She sort of stifled the conversation herself and that's funny. It's all in fun, lighten up a wee bit. :smiley:
Gotcha, the lack of inflection and passive aggressive orders, the Achilles heels of sarcasm on the internet. Since we're being the irony police, I call shenanigans on your last comment. :wink:
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 04:11 PM
So I read this thing in this Greil Marcus book I'm reading called "Mystery Train":
The audience that gather around rock n rollers are as close to that ideal community as anyone gets. The real drama of a performer's careers comes when the ideal that one can hear in the music and the audience that the artist really attracts begin to affect each other. No artist can predict, let alone control, what an audience will make of his images; yet no rock n roller can exist without a relationship with an audience, whether it is the imaginary audience one begins with, or the all-too-real confusion of the audience one wins.
The best popular artists create immediate links between people who might have nothing in common but a response to their work, but the best popular artists never stop trying to understand the impact of their work on their audiences. That means their ideal images must change as their understanding grows. One may find horror where one expected only pleasure; one may find the truth one told has already become a lie. If the audience demands only more of what it has already accepted, the artist has a choice. He can move on, and perhaps cut himself off from his audience; if he does, his work will lose all the vitality and strength it has when he knew it mattered to other people. Or the artist can accept the audience's image of himself, pretend that his audience is his shadowy ideal, and lose himself in the audience. Then he will only be able to conform; he will never be able to create.
The most interesting rock n rollers sometimes go to these extremes; most don't, because these are the contradictions they struggle with more than resolve. The tension between community and self-reliance; between distance from one's audience and affection for it; between the shared experience of popular culture and the special talents of artists who both draw on that shared experience and change it- these are the things that make rock n roll at its best a democratic art...
That is really interesting and thought provoking, I'm going to have to get this book. I'm not familiar with the author at all. Thanks so much for sharing Mama :)
Quote from: IMeMine on Feb 27, 2015, 08:19 PM
Quote from: MusiKel Mama on Feb 26, 2015, 04:11 PM
So I read this thing in this Greil Marcus book I'm reading called "Mystery Train":
The audience that gather around rock n rollers are as close to that ideal community as anyone gets. The real drama of a performer's careers comes when the ideal that one can hear in the music and the audience that the artist really attracts begin to affect each other. No artist can predict, let alone control, what an audience will make of his images; yet no rock n roller can exist without a relationship with an audience, whether it is the imaginary audience one begins with, or the all-too-real confusion of the audience one wins.
The best popular artists create immediate links between people who might have nothing in common but a response to their work, but the best popular artists never stop trying to understand the impact of their work on their audiences. That means their ideal images must change as their understanding grows. One may find horror where one expected only pleasure; one may find the truth one told has already become a lie. If the audience demands only more of what it has already accepted, the artist has a choice. He can move on, and perhaps cut himself off from his audience; if he does, his work will lose all the vitality and strength it has when he knew it mattered to other people. Or the artist can accept the audience's image of himself, pretend that his audience is his shadowy ideal, and lose himself in the audience. Then he will only be able to conform; he will never be able to create.
The most interesting rock n rollers sometimes go to these extremes; most don't, because these are the contradictions they struggle with more than resolve. The tension between community and self-reliance; between distance from one's audience and affection for it; between the shared experience of popular culture and the special talents of artists who both draw on that shared experience and change it- these are the things that make rock n roll at its best a democratic art...
That is really interesting and thought provoking, I'm going to have to get this book. I'm not familiar with the author at all. Thanks so much for sharing Mama :)
Don't stop there, Greil Marcus is one of the definitive music writers. Check out all his stuff.
Quote from: Penny Lane on Mar 02, 2015, 09:56 AM
Don't stop there, Greil Marcus is one of the definitive music writers. Check out all his stuff.
Thanks, I will!