Saturday, December 04, 2004
mewsic!!
Hello cats and kittens.
I have so many new cds to listen to now -- so exciting! New cds rule. I went out and bought a few the other day (Gwen Stefani, new Eminem, new Greenday) and then my mom's book sale at work brought in a whole bunch more. I picked up Everclear's effort from a few years back, Songs from an American Movie, Volume 1 (for some reason I own the second part and not the first), which is okay but nothing like their earlier stuff. The dude whines a little more than I would like about being poor and whatnot, when it's highly unlikely that he's been poor since about 1996, just before So Much for the Afterglow came out. Like Rage Against the Machine, he may at some point have to admit the poor-me thing's getting a bit tired for a millionaire. Gwen Stefani has succumbed to the same ridiculous trend in that dumb, dumb (yet disturbingly catchy) song on her new album called Rich Girl. The lyrics go something like:
If I was a rich girl
See, I'd have all the money in the world
if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me
my cash flow would never end
cause I'd have all the money in the world
if I was a wealthy girl...
Uh...newsflash Gwen, you've put out half a dozen albums, some of which have been insanely popular and have sold millions of copies, you've toured the world about ten times, you have your own clothing line, you married a rock star, and you wear designer clothes on a regular basis. Quit your complaining!
I also got Keshia Chante's new cd, which was for the Boy, but he insisted I listen to it before I give it to him (plus since he's in Toronto he's not going to be listening to it at the moment). I wasn't expecting much from it, but damn it was bad! She's got a decent voice that she devotes to alternately silly and formulaic purposes, and her head is also too big for her body. In short, she bugs me. She's got some idiotic song called Bad Boy, which annoys the hell out of me. I can deal with that ridiculous Shook song cause I heard it a few times last year and as such it reminds me vaguely of clubs in Europe, and that song Does He Love Me is kind of fun cause of the tumbling in the video and it's also pretty damn catchy, but other than that, major retching territory. I can see how it might go over nicely with a younger crowd though. Power to her for that.
Also got a newish Aimee Mann cd, cause I love her, but I haven't heard any of the songs on it yet and so I have no idea if it's any good. These cds were all 4 bucks so if I don't like them it's not a tragedy. I got The Rasmus' cd Dead Letters, cause I enjoy one of their songs, but also have no idea if the rest is any good. Also found a Divine Comedy cd, which was a real score, and a live Dave Matthews cd, which has some potential.
I'm often mystified by my bro's bemoaning of my musical taste. He keeps saying that he wouldn't care about it if all I listen to was cookie-cutter pop, but since I also listen to Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, The Who, Nick Drake, Bush X, OLD Greenday, Sheryl Crow pre-makeover, The White Stripes, The Vines, Sigur Ros, etc., that that makes my occasional foray into the worlds of pop, rap, Avril Lavigne, and all that just that much WORSE. What I don't get here is the ridiculous definitions of "good music" and "bad music," which many of my friends, and other totally intelligent people insist on making. I thought we had dismissed the whole hierarchy of high and low art forms a long time ago, but apparently not.
My feeling is that if music like that Usher song with the catchy beat in the background can make me want to continue running for another five minutes or keep dancing when I would otherwise go home, or make browsing in the Gap a little more fun, then I say, bring it on! While I can definitely appreciate the sometimes bizarre, melancholy, haunting stylings of Jeff Buckley, Sigur Ros, Coldplay, and many others, I also recognize that playing them at a party and expecting people not to complain about the music or fall asleep is incredibly naive. I also recognize that saying people are dumb, ignorant, or brainwashed because they appreciate the finer points of head-bopping to Madonna, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera is snobby, closed-minded, and frankly downright silly. Why not appreciate all music for what it has to offer, and if you don't feel it has anything to offer you, then at least respect those who do find something in it? And maybe don't hate yourself so much the next time you realise that Hilary Duff sounds pretty pleasant on a Saturday afternoon when all your essays are done and you're getting ready to go out. Let's acknowledge the flaws and inadequacies of pop music, but let's also appreciate it for what it is: a fun diversion from the heaviness of life and the artists who express it in all its often-painful poignancy. We should probably also remember that early Hollywood movies were considered silly pop culture diversions at the time, but now most people consider them to be classical expressions of high artistic value, and actually devote entire university courses to studying them.
Everclear puts it nicely:
I close my eyes when I go bed
and I dream of angels who'll make me smile
I feel better when I hear them say
Everything will be wonderful someday
On that note, I will go back to browsing through some of my pop-music finds.
Bye for now.
-Nomusicality (heh heh)
