Re: Serious vs. Serious

[ircam!kato@uunet.UU.NET (John Kitamura)]

In article <8905200040.AA02157@GAFFA.MIT.EDU> Love-Hounds@GAFFA.MIT.EDU writes:
>> From: adams%bosco.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Jeffrey P. Adams)
>> "Commercially successful music has no artistic integrity."
I can only speak for myself, but I believe that for music to be commercially
sucessful, it must appeal to a broad range of tastes, and so necessarily
is devoid of the "sharp edges" and "dangerous curves" that I find musically
exciting.
>> 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?
I have been often accused of this, but I believe that the less commercial
(ie. stranger, bizarre, etc.) music I find more interesting because it is
something I haven't yet figured out. Like a Rubik's cube, it's fun until you
see how it works, after which it becomes a simple toy. A lot of music I hear
is interesting when it is "new" (to me) but by the time it becomes popular
it becomes less of a puzzle and less interesting in its familiarity.
>> Hypothetical thought: Maybe there is merit to the above statement.
>> Maybe, just maybe, struggling artists have a different kind of energy ...
Certainly the artistic muse gets active when emotions are running ragged.
When I look at my favourite albums through the years, they all seem to be
by bands at a period of instability (about to disband, go bankrupt, lose
a member, get a divorce, etc.)
>Really-From: arc!ken@apple.com (Ken Stuart)
>The Beatles are the only exception I can think of ...
I think the Beatles were under continual pressure to produce a lot of material
in a short time (especially after reading the Abbey Road Sessions book) and
with very little (monetary) reward. I doubt if any current group ever had it
so tough.
>... Fripp,Rundgren ... are good examples of the 'vice versa' being true since
>they obviously still have artistic integrity ...
Well, IMHO Fripp is quickly losing his integrity, judging by the hour of
techno-pop he and Toyah played here last month. Perhaps the show was
under-rehearsed, but I think it will be a long time before we see anything
like _Exposure_ again.

But (here's where I can sound really pompous) if you step far back and embrace
the whole popular music scene, it's all just an exercise in commercialism and
presentation. Everything from industrial noise to new-age has been previously
explored in the non-profit netherlands of contemporary classical music, but
pop and rock artists have found a better way to display it. Robert Fripp's
classic disjointed solos can be traced back to Debussy, but watching Fripp
writhe around on a stool is more fun than seeing a oboist in a black suit.