Don't you hate people with terrible taste? Like, who ever thought that Britney Spears was a good singer in the first place? In fact, everything that gets played on the radio is worthless trash. It's all crap and the only good music is that sweet underground stuff that nobody knows about.
As soon as you start calling something trash because it’s popular and talking about how the masses have no taste or sense of quality, you’re an elitist asshole. Even if you thoroughly believe it, you still are. If 90% of the people think one thing is good and you don't, maybe you’re the one with the screwed up sensibilities.
The common argument is that the masses are uneducated. The elitists understand their subject on a deeper, more intimate level, therefore they appreciate it more than the commoners and thus they have the right to declare what is good and what is trash.
But isn’t art subjective? What makes your preferences more valid than theirs? Just because you enjoy something on a different level or for different reasons doesn’t make you better, just different.
We are all entitled to our opinions, especially on the arts. Nobody should demean you for your preferences, and neither should you do that to others. If you truly can't accept other people's tastes, at least keep it to yourself. You may be an elitist, but at least you won't be an ass.
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Britney Spears is popular because people don't seek out good music. They listen to the local stations (although I imagine XM radio changes the ball game a little bit) because thats what's available. They listen to and buy the stuff in the top 40 because thats what's well known. Good music is hard to find, because the people who make good music are not necessarily well connected, nor do they want to be. Or maybe they're not what the public is looking for, or maybe not what the record companies are looking for.
ReplyDeleteGetting signed brings in a lot of money, but it brings in a lot of responsibilities that may clash with your musical talents. The record company wants you to make this song or that song, but it just doesn't flow right, but you're bound by contract to make it.
Of course, music is pretty subjective. But I will bet 20 bucks that if you listen to anything by KRS-One you will subsequently agree that soulja boy is a disgrace to hip hop. This doesn't mean that soulja boy should never be listened to or cannot be enjoyed, which is the point of music.
Bad hip hop does fulfill a niche. It's great for dance halls where the lyrics don't matter as much as having a good beat to grind to.
I would agree that its because the masses are uneducated, but I do not think this is necessarily a bad thing. We are all uneducated on innumerable things, and most of us are adept at one or two things and maybe a master of one. To look down on someone for not mastering the same skills as you've had is idiotic, because has has mastered skills which you have not. I would say the same thing about music (or anything else). I don't like country, at all, and might opine about it, but I'm not going to judge you for listening to it. Doing so would only make me an elitist asshole.
Amen, K'Bahlin'! There's more than one way to make art. And bad romances.
ReplyDeleteI just want to clarify that when I say good music, I am more or less referring to the lyrical genius found in the music, and specifically limited to hip hop.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I was listening to the radio today and I heard this line from a song
"I'm down like the economy".
I'll grant that it's a wordplay, but it's one that will make absolutely nosense in 6 years when the economy is no longer in a depression.
Now consider the lines
"for every pair of lines I spit I leave you paralyzed"
and
"if you aren't parallel to my paragraphs"
here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd3_y9Mh7IE
People can get away without being lyrical geniuses because if you're clubbing, the lyrics don't matter as much as the beat.