New questions for alternative music gurus

[hsut@ec.purdue.edu (Bill Hsu)]

No, no, this is not a list of questions about obscure groups, more
like a rephrasing of some stuff that came up before...

Question of the day: How do you justify philosophically to a person
with mainstream tastes that he should listen to different musics?

You can tie your victim to a chair and play him lots of non-mainstream
music that he'll even admit to as being "beautiful" and "interesting".
You may even seduce him with music that may be compatible with his tastes,
e.g., the chamber music lover with Tuxedomoon, the jazz fan with However
and Art Bears, the '60s fan with the latest Butthole Surfers. But
let's face it: a lot of people are not very demanding of their music,
and they're not going to want to take the extra trouble to seek out
alternative music when they feel they have all they need from Top 40.

Quasi-aesthetic arguments might not work because your victim always
has the standard disclaimer that he's not into, umm, "culture". :-)

Socio-political arguments (support starving oppressed musicians) might
not work because your victim can always use quasi-aesthetic arguments
("Top 40 sounds better than Sonic Youth, who cares if Sonic Youth 
are starving oppressed musicians?" :-))

What would YOU do?


				Bill Hsu