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I may be clueless, but at least I'm eclectic

Quoth Ysobelle: 

>I may be clueless, but at least I'm eclectic.

I wanna print that up and put it on T-shirts.  Not really.  There are too
many T-shirts.  Too many with words on 'em.  But if I did want a T-shirt
with words . . . .

Then again, I might have to opt for Tim's comment:

>earing Neil Diamond being sung by a choir of angels, and wishing there
was a 
>ure for it.

LOL!  I'm not having this problem, but I can see how it might become a
serious disorder for some . . .   =)

Quoth Bruce:

>my declining music theory:  perhaps when ya get old (be it 18, 21, 30,
70) 
>or have a change in lifestyle, it's no longer feasible to "digest" music

>like you did earlier in life.  you can't sit down with a lp and read the

>liner notes, relisten that same night, and revisit it a day later. 
there's 
>too much else to do.  so you find yourself listening to less and less
music, 
>and not missing it, 'cos there's so much else filling your day.  and
when 
>you get back to it, it's hard to get into, like a mental muscle that
flabs 
>when unused for some time

What Bruce is sayin' here is pretty right (I*M*HO).  But maybe it's not
so much about the flabbiness of a music-listenin' muscle.  I think when I
was seventeen I was a lot more concerned about figgerin' out everything
on the radio.  Without any real sense of music history, I would soak up
every new song or band like it was an epiphany.  As I did develop a sense
of pop music history, I began to sense patterns and repetitions in the
myouzic biz.  Like, when a band like Marcy Playground comes out, I can
tell that they're quite derivative of especially Nirvana in a mostly
uninteresting way.  So at the same time I think that the St. Joe on the
School Bus song is kinda cool, I have no desire to go out and become an
expert on the band.  There doesn't seem to be enough there.  Although
maybe they'll get better.  But not yet, so I'm not buying.   

I have two semi-rules about music listening:

1) Enjoy pop through selective radio listening.  I listen to the radio in
limited enough bursts, rotating it in with my CDs and tapes, that when I
do listen it's just kinda this fun panorama mishmash of silly wonderful
pop musicality.  I even enjoyed mmmBop, for what it it's worth, because I
could see it as just this bit of candy.  At seventeen, I would have
somehow perceived that song as a threat: "Music is goin' *down the
tubes*, dude," I would have thought.  But having seen popular music of
all kinds go through a couple of cycles, and having read about and
listened to evidence of the cycles I missed cos I was too young or too
unborn, I usually now just kinda smile and recognize the state of music
as temporary.  Someday we'll get another bunch of good bands, then a
bunch of copy cats (some of which will be quality bands in their own
way), then maybe another run of tepid and uncreative, which always stirs
up that rebellion which leads to a new run of good music . . . .

2)  The third album rule.  The quality of a band's third album is an
indicator of their potential longevity.  This isn't always true.  But
there's some notable examples.  On the "this band's got some life in
them" side, there's OtR's Eve (of course), U2's War, Radiohead's OK
Computer.  On the "get 'em outta here" side, there's bands like
Cinderella and Slaughter who sold a gazillion billion records for a
little flash moment and then crashed hard at about the time of their
third album.  There's a life cycle in popular music, cos both industry
and listeners wanna get new blood on the air as soon as possible.  Very
few bands are able to get over that bump that is album #3.  What's Soul
Asylum's third album after their popular success?  And they were pretty
good.  At seventeen, knowing about the Marcy Manson Third Eye Dog's Eye
Hootie bands was quite important to me.  Now, I wait for something to
blow me away repeatedly, but I can only do this if I follow rule #1, cos
if I stop enjoying the uneven mess that is pop radio, eventually I go,
"%$#@ this, me and my Pearl Jam albums are gonna go get a brew."  I don't
so that, so I'm still in the game, and enjoying it, but I ain't as hip
and in the know as a seventeen year old about current phenomes.  On the
other hand, my album collection kicks their album collections collective
butts most days of the week.  Cos I make less buying mistakes these days.
 

And I have more bands around who, like OtR, don't really get on the
mainstream radio/video circuits at all.  Will I sacrifice buying the
Third Eye Blind CD so that I can afford VOL's Audible Sigh?  You betcha. 
And my CD rack will hum with happiness.

Fred

NP: LSU--Graceshaker

Everyone should hear: The Eels--Electroshock Blues
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