And I try, and I try

[andrewducker]

I try to keep some empathy with ordinary people. And I try not to look down on people. And I try to not feel superior.

But when Will Young sells 800,000 copies of his single in one afternoon, despite being obviously completely manufactured, not having a single original idea in his head, and patently being nothing more than a method for record companies to make money, I say it's time to take off and nuke the site from orbit.

Comments

Re: Yup

[broin.livejournal.com]

You don't believe in souls. What did you mean?

?

[andrewducker]

Um, surely soulless has more than one meaning?

Dashing to Merriam Webster - "having no soul or no greatness or warmth of mind or feeling". Leaving out the soul bit, I'd go with that. A piece that doesn't reflect on, or produce, feeling in a person. Something which skates across the top of emotion, being trivial and simplistic, and not actually going into the depths of things.

Obviously, the 800,000 people who bought copies of the single may well be deeply touched by songs like Evergeen and Anything is Possible, but that just fills me with feelings of horror. The songs and lyrics and music I like aren't insanely popular, the songs that I find facile and pointless are. I'd rather live somewhere where the material that makes me feel was successful, because it would indicate that people felt at least somewhat more like me.

Re: ?

[broin.livejournal.com]

Yeahyeah, I looked up M-W too.

You're making such a value judgement, though. You're assuming that when you listen to, oh, whoever you like, that you're more greatly affected than the 800,000 people listening to a pop song. That's quite an assumption. Your argument has ceased to be when you make that kind of assumption.

Is 'The Wasteland' less valid somehow because it's well-known? How about 'Macavity'? How many people does it take to enjoy a Sisters' song before it gets to be 'meaningless'?

I'd rather live somewhere where the material that makes me feel was successful

Intriguingly idealistic.

Nope

[andrewducker]

You're assuming that when you listen to, oh, whoever you like, that you're more greatly affected than the 800,000 people listening to a pop song. That's quite an assumption. Your argument has ceased to be when you make that kind of assumption.

Nope, I'm not. As I said:

Obviously, the 800,000 people who bought copies of the single may well be deeply touched by songs like Evergeen and Anything is Possible, but that just fills me with feelings of horror.

I never said that they were less touched than I am by the things I'm touched by. I just said that I didn't like it that this was the case.

Re: ?

[broin.livejournal.com]

Hey, here's another one. Show me an artist who doesn't want fame and/or fortune.

Hmm

[andrewducker]

Some want one, some want the other. Some seem to just want their music to be heard.

I like the Zappa quote: "I write the music I like. If other people like it, fine, they
can go buy the albums. And if they don't like it, there's always
Michael Jackson for them to listen to."