Mark writes about music judgement.<\/p>\n
Author:\u00a0 Mark Seymour.<\/p>\n
Date: 26 June 2022.<\/p>\n
Original URL: N\/A.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Article Text<\/p>\n
\u2018Music\u2019<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t hate any music. Sure, there\u2019s some I\u2019d rather not hear, especially at the gym. But I\u2019m not offended by it. It doesn\u2019t make me angry, or feel the need to start waxing philosophical to whoever\u2019s listening while I\u2019m doing my chin ups..<\/p>\n
about its fundamental unworthiness or how it panders to the capitalist construct.. or.. how the beat is puerile.. or whatever..<\/p>\n
I just can\u2019t see the point in getting \u2018upset\u2019 about it if it isn\u2019t my \u2018thing\u2019.<\/p>\n
I used to of course, back when letting other musicians know what music was \u2018bullshit\u2019 and what wasn\u2019t was code for who was in and who wasn\u2019t. A bit like picking sides for volley ball at lunch time..<\/p>\n
Little boys seeking validation from each other.<\/p>\n
None of it had anything to do with the song.<\/p>\n
The point is, if I hear something that actually moves me.. that fills me with wonder or melancholy, a certain turn of phrase, or a rising chord that drives me to go for my precious thirty chin ups.. well, that\u2019s my business right?<\/p>\n
And make no mistake. It could be anything.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not going to force it down your throat though. Not now. What would be the point? The horse has bolted. So what\u2019s cool? Fucked if I know. Me telling you \u2018you\u2019re wrong\u2019, or sneer at your playlist, isn\u2019t going to effect the song one bit. I can guarantee you, the song will, as they say, continue to walk the earth in its own way. Besides, if it\u2019s a cracker, it will walk for years regardless of what point you might try to score so you can show me how superior you are..<\/p>\n
Still, there are those amongst us who on hearing \u2018Coldplay\u2019.. will eye roll immediately..<\/p>\n
\u201cUggh.. Not Coldplay!!\u201d<\/p>\n
But rather than being reasonable, with a gently probing question..<\/p>\n
\u201cOh dear. Is this because you\u2019ve heard \u2018The Scientist\u2019 so much on the radio, (like thousands of times) that you\u2019ve simply grown bored with it.. or does your visceral contempt run to something much deeper? As in, does your contempt for Coldplay indicate how interesting you are as a human being? That your vast intellect demands greater listening challenges? Otherwise what?<\/p>\n
You might die?<\/p>\n
But no..<\/p>\n
Better to follow the lead of a conversation once heard in a filthy St.Kilda flat thirty-five years ago mid arvo, a bunch of us sitting \u2018round an upended fruit box, drunk, stoned and listening to vinyl..<\/p>\n
Chris gets up to change the record, which might\u2019ve been Bruce. He liked Bruce and I liked that about Chris.. because back then, amongst the cognoscenti, Bruce was a dirty secret \u2026<\/p>\n
So Chris puts on \u2018Tom Waits\u2019..<\/p>\n
Up until that moment, the entire room was effectively comatosed. Punks on the couch.. fully rigged, spectacular, heads back.. eyelids fluttering<\/p>\n
But suddenly one of them arcs up..<\/p>\n
\u201cUggh.. NOT TOM WAITS?\u201d<\/p>\n
And our Chris immediately roars back..<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the F#@CK is WRONG WITH TOM WAITS?\u201d<\/p>\n
He had a point. After all, who was going to argue? We were all too fucked. I mean.. you wanna have a chat about it? Do you wanna deconstruct? Will we pin TOM WAITS down right now? And by the way, who\u2019s got the bong?<\/p>\n
Or maybe we can just shut up and LISTEN TO IT?<\/p>\n
And so.. thirty-five years later, in a moment of blinding clarity, trapped in a moving vehicle on the Hume Highway.. having just sung in front of Hunters and Collectors in Wodonga.. you launched back..<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the F#@CK is WRONG WITH COLDPLAY?\u201d<\/p>\n
Got some pearl thrown back like \u2018the drums are dull\u2019<\/p>\n
Yeah maybe..<\/p>\n
But see, also MAYBE, it was just some weak bit of gas light and nothing more… this business of making your contempt so utterly condescending it had nothing to do with Cold Play at all and everything to do with who was in the car. Mock the other guy\u2019s taste and elevate you own status at the same time.<\/p>\n
But you know what?<\/p>\n
Just go and write a song mate.. See how that works.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Comments<\/p>\n
N\/A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mark writes about music judgement. Author:\u00a0 Mark Seymour. Date: 26 June 2022. Original URL: N\/A. Article Text \u2018Music\u2019 I don\u2019t hate any music. Sure, there\u2019s some I\u2019d rather not hear, especially at the gym. But I\u2019m not offended by it. It doesn\u2019t make me angry, or feel the need to start waxing philosophical to more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9456,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12443","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5xhjD-3eH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12444,"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12443\/revisions\/12444"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humanfrailty.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}