Random Rants
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Sonic Youth is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That is all.
Sonic Youth is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
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That said, give me the Source Awards over the Grammys any day of the week. Do not get me started on the fucking Grammys.
Hey Matt… I’m interested in hearing your opinion on the Grammys.
I, too, am interested in hearing your opinions on the Grammys. The most hallowed, objectively, accurate award ceremony of musical arts America has to offer.
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Well, since you asked. The Grammys ignores a disturbingly large portion of new music in favor of what’s readily accessible on top 40 radio. Clean, polished radio friendly actors like Green Day and Maroon 5. It celebrates not the quality of musicianship, songwriting or even critical acclaim and instead celebrates music that achieves its popularity from children and low IQ adults.
I accept that the Grammys are what they are and not something I’d prefer them being, but as a lover of good music I still hate them.
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music that achieves its popularity from children and low IQ adults.
I'm giving you a slow clap for this
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@mclaincausey you were 30 minutes from me and didn’t PM!?!?!?
@Matt I would have but we didn't have any transportation and I didn't realize it was that close–we used a car service with a car seat to get to and from the airport but were pretty much stuck in the plaza for the 48 hours Hattie and I were there since we had no car seat or wheels. Next time--and there will be many next times, as lovers of NM, and now we're in love with Santa Fe in particular!
Thinking about the Grammys, it shouldn't surprise anyone that they suck. Hollywood wanted the recording industry to help them figure out what stars to put on the Walk of Fame, and we got "The Recording Academy." An "Academy" that was doing fuck all to advance the actual industry of producing music and recordings (I am sure they do some kind of shit outside the Grammys these days--perhaps the pretentious title was aspirational?). I can't think of a more vacuous origin story, and everything about this silly popularity contest makes perfect sense when you think about it in those terms. And if they're a reflection of what's popular, of course they get everything wrong, cos most people have poor taste.
Same exact story for the Oscars. Is it any wonder that the tastemakers responsible for the garbage that comes out of Hollywood suck at recognizing talent? That was never really the objective in the first place. It was more of an exclusive, masturbatory fraternity (a circle jerk, if you will) of people who thought they were better than everyone else because a lot of people thought that they were.
With the RR HoF, it's just some corporate record executive's pet project, completely arbitrary and without legitimacy or even solid qualification criteria. To be honest, seeing Sonic Youth inducted there would kind of suck the life out of me a bit, because even though they joined a major record label, they embody the statement "corporate rock sucks." It's bad enough to hear that Kim Gordon played with Nirvana.
Fuck em all, they don't know what's up and are a reflection of all of the worst things in popular culture, which is probably why we share such vitriol against them. But, again, we're probably better off pretending they don't exist. It's a shame angst is so fun.
It might be interesting to have awards, rankings, or other popularity contests with a particular point of view or people I respect doing the judging, but at the end of the day, I know what I like and don't need any guidance from the likes of these "academies" and whatever the R&R HoF is (though I do like being exposed to new music here, and there is definitely some good music criticism out there).
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@mclaincausey just give me enough notice to get a sitter. You can come down here or we can go to SF. Both have cool shit.
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Will do! This was a weird situation because I got in late Friday night and Brandi was working Saturday, then Mother’s Day Sunday. Def next time @Matt !
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Is MmmBop a masterpiece of modern music that will influence generations and eventually be regarded with the same reverence as Mozart? No, but so what? It's a genuinely good pop song, and that's fine. It's worth mentioning that the Hanson guys are actually reasonably talented, too.
(Oh, and awards for art of any kind are fatally flawed from inception, since they depend on the impossible proposition that something emotional and subjective can be measured and the "best" is determinable)
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"Best" is absolutely determinable… on an individual, subjective level. And then we call it "favorite." I don't know why I find it so maddening to see them conflated. I guess because it just seems so pretentious to impose one's subjective opinion as objective fact, which means anyone who disagrees with them is just wrong.
I'll never understand the need people have to rank art. One of the things I really like about art is that it is, or IMO should be, above such mundane things. Leave that shit to the wide world of sports. The joy Chris gets out of the Hansons is entirely legitimate, even if I don't share or even understand it.
When people try to attach "best" and "greatest" to art objectively, it starts in "my dad could beat up your dad" territory for me and can only descend into tribalistic ridiculousness form there. I saw some people on a Grateful Dead subreddit who were butthurt that Bob Weir wasn't listed among Guitar World's inane "Greatest Rhythm Guitarists of All Time" fan poll. So they started a campaign to vote Bob Weir into contention on this absolutely meaningless poll. The comments were pathetic, saying he was "hands down" the greatest rhythm guitarist ever (my personal opinion is that he wasn't even the best rhythm guitarist in the Grateful Dead). Why they needed this validation is beyond me, but I was amazed that anyone would think that Weir was "better" on rhythm guitar than some of the luminaries listed like Chuck Berry, Jim Hall, Jimi Hendrix, James Hetfield, Alex Lifeson, Johnny Marr, Jimmy Page, Prince, Tony Rice, Keith Richards… Really? Does he need to be for you to enjoy the music? Can't he just be the "best" rhythm guitarist for the moment you are enjoying?
Note: you will see some lead guitarists above, and I am speaking to the craft of playing rhythm guitar, not the role–people like Lifeson, Hendrix, Hall, and Page count because there was no other guitarist and they had to play rhythm and lead, and I only mention Garcia because he to my ear is a better accompanist than Weir on guitar.
