Hooray for me. I applied for my first real job today. I guess technically it's not a real job, since the position is only for 2 years, if that. But at least it will get me out of graduate school and make payday a little more enjoyable. I feel good about the application. So good that I'm going to share some thoughts on one of the great joys in my life: music.
After reading my brother's post on why aussies have bad taste in music (Music Worth Your While), I thought about what it means to say "I hate [insert music genre here]". This could make a novel, so I'll just give some highlights. There's plenty of space to discuss this further later. For starters, you don't have to like all music equally. You can have favorite genres. But saying you hate some type of music means that you block out what could be incredibly meaningful thoughts or ideas just because of some unfounded prejudice. Try to have an appreciation for music just for music's sake. Believe you me, there's plenty of bland, thoughtless, un-commited, and just plain bad music. But there's something to be said for being open to new music. Too many people dismiss complete genres of music either through willful ignorance, refusal to understand a different art form, or because it falls outside their comfort zone either lyrically or rhythmically. All I can say is this...all through high school, my friend John lived on KYXY, playing "soft contemporary rock", and refused anything else. Then one day, I paid a visit to his frat house at Oregon State and, holy of holies, this kid was rocking out to System of a Down. If he can spread out and understand what some crazy Armenians are screaming about, then anyone can be more open.
In the interests of disseminating music for perusal, here's a list of albums in my car CD player and MP3 player:
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Greatest Hits
Jack Johnson - On and On
Ryan Adams - Gold
Basia - London Warsaw New York
The Moody Blues - Live at Red Rocks
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
ZZ Top - Greatest Hits
Ludacris - Release Therapy
Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider
Jim Croce - The Best of
Harvey Danger - Where Have all the Merrymakers Gone
Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Colorblind
Shakira - Oral Fixation Vol. 2
Talib Kwali - Prisoner of Concious
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls
This rotation is a little heavy in the "classic rock" direction, which is where my personal favorites and inspirations reside. When I put the next rotation in, I'll give you a new list. Until then, if you've heard the bands, it's time to hear them again and if you haven't, it's time to take a chance and really LISTEN to some new music. You may not agree with the style or lyrics, but understanding music is a way to understand someone that you'll never get in conversation. Tomorrow, maybe some posts of my own song-writing attempts.
3 comments:
For word!
Besides the fact that "genre" is the most arbitrary term since "traditional", dismissive language closes one off rather than opens one up. I'm not a "Country" lover, but I do likes me some Johnny Cash and Nashville Skyline-era Dylan, as well as the occasional Kenny Chesney or Alan Jackson track. I've been digging on Garth Brooks' 'Fresh Horses' all month.
Meanwhile, what solo, acoustic-guitar driven artist doesn't cross the line into "country"? Conor Oberst does so unabashedly, Glen Phillips does, Jenny Lewis does too. Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker and Beck appropriated country for hip-hop and experimental musics and actually sold it to a wide audience, not to even touch Ryan Adams or 'alt-country'. Suffice to say that anyone who is so close-minded that they can't find ONE positive thing in any form of music is hardcore missing out for no reason than their own stupidity.
Why all the hating, Uhmurrica, really?
P.S. In way of explaining genre as an arbitrary and infinite term, I present a short list of accepted folk sub-genres:
psych-folk
freak-folk (aka Naturalismo)
anti-folk
neo-folk (aka Apocalyptic folk)
indie-folk
country-folk
fuzz-folk
Need we even get into the FUNK-rock vs. funk-ROCK debate?
Dismissing all the songs in one "genre" is akin to saying you like all the songs in another.
And lets face it, all bands, even your favorite bands, release bad music now and again.
Example: Kid A
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