Re: Serious vs. Serious

[arc!ken@apple.com (Ken Stuart)]

> From: adams%bosco.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Jeffrey P. Adams)

> "Commercially successful music has no artistic integrity."

> [discussion elided]

> Is there something in you which wants to stand out from the crowd so
> badly that you will like something more if it's not popular?

	This is definitely true of some people, but it has no bearing
on the truth of the first quote.  I have several friends who define
their personal identity in terms of not liking what is popular.

> Hypothetical thought: Maybe there is merit to the above statement.
> Maybe, just maybe, struggling artists have a different kind of energy,

        I think some of us would say that this is true just by virtue
of the number of artists we appreciated, who stopped being musically
adventurous when they became successful.  We wish this weren't true,
but it happens over and over again.  The Beatles are the only
exception I can think of; in some cases, success took so long that it
can't be determined if it was success or simply age that took the edge
off (Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd), in other cases, an artist is never
really popular or successful on a major scale (Fripp, Rundgren)(these
are two good examples of the 'vice versa' being true since they
obviously still have artistic integrity).

        Also, I would rephrase the statement as "lack of artistic
integrity usually leads to commercial success and vice versa".
Occasionally, artistic integrity is commercially successful too, but
not often.
-- 
                                      - Ken
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