Maybe Morrissey has actually been dead for several months now, and his management team is just trying to preserve the illusion for as long as possible.
So I guess it has turned out that in terms of aging well vocally Paul Westerberg is in a class with Elvis Costello, a class which could be called "freakishly well preserved"? Because he sounds amazing.
If we're telling Dom stories, once I drove up to a house party the band was playing that was a couple of hours from my house. I was one of like ten people there and when Dom heard how far I had come he tried to force free shirts on me, even though I had some cash and wanted to pay because there was no cover. Dude was really sweet.
Remember that Mountain Goats song where John says that someone reminds him of "More-issy" and follows that with, "And I don't like you, and I don't like More-issy!" That's a great song.
Honestly, I think it does depend on the quality of the art. Wagner did things for music that no one else could have, and so I'm inclined to ignore his personal failings. I don't listen to Burzum, but based on the innovation of the art I can understand a persuasive argument for the other side. But Chris Brown and Surfer Blood are both artists intent mostly on recreation--Surfer Blood of traditionalist indie rock, Brown of Michael Jackson. If all you're after is a formula, why not go to the source? Listen to Michael Jackson. Or any of his other imitators. I'm not sure why we need to forgive the sins of a knock-off artist. Morally, that's an easy one for me. I'll just listen to other competent guitar rock. Obviously, the okay-if-you're-an-innovator thing isn't standing on the firmest ground, but I do feel strongly that there's really no difficulty when you're only providing something that can be gotten by many other means. Like you said, that Surfer Blood album is empty calorie art.
You know what this comment section remind me of? There's this student band at my school that plays just the worst music in the world--white boy reggae-inflected covers of songs by Taylor Swift and Dispatch. I know the singer-guitarist personally because he's the head of the on-campus "record label" and I run the college radio station, so we travel in some of the same circles. And occasionally, people will say to me, "You know, he's actually a really talented musician--I was in the studio the other day, and he just sat down at the drum kit and was playing this crazy virtuoso stuff." And my reaction is always, "Why in God's name does that matter? Why does that matter at all? Why is craft a defense? He makes the worst music imaginable." I hate that but-look-at-the-craft! defense that gets cited as a defense of bands like these. "At least they're playing instruments! And look how well they play them!" At least nothing! A lot of my favorite music has shitty playing and this music moves me not at all. And of course it doesn't! It's awful! So why qualify that with the skill of its playing? I don't know about y'all, but for me, that's just totally devoid of meaning.
In Defense of Wooden Wand and Other Incredible Folk Music That Hasn't Sold Five Million Copies (Because It Isn't Generic That Way) and Also Doesn't Get Coverage Even from This Site Where He Occasionally Writes Things
I'm always a bit put out when constitutionalism is cited as an ideology. Why does being included in a document affect whether something is considered good or bad? Is it really inconsistent to vie for less government involvement in both guns and postal services? If we're going to talk about the USPS, let's evaluate on its own terms. With that said, I've got a deeply ingrained loyalty to indie labels--I'm the Three Lobed intern mentioned above--and I can attest to how much this is going to hurt them. But I also have to wonder if it's really true that we can only have an indie culture through government intervention. Setting aside conspiracy theories, private postal services can't compete with the USPS on its terms because it is a government agency and has a legal monopoly on mail delivery. So, instead of the same product, they offer a premium alternative. We won't lose your shit, we'll get it there faster, etc. I don't think it's unfathomable that if the USPS caves, private companies might fill the void. And if they don't--if they can't, because the USPS's government status is the only reason it can operate as it does--then that's a difficult situation itself. Only by taking money from people who won't give it willingly can our industry operate, apparently. What I'm saying is, while this situation puts an indisputably painful squeeze on indie record labels, I don't think we should be totally comfortable throwing our arms around the USPS and its rehabilitation, because to do so seems to me a decree of the unsustainability of our culture, which is not something I'm personally all that eager to be convinced of.
Comments