THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY (Day 24) : A MATTER OF TASTE
One of the things that irritate me most is when someone says a certain song is crap, in my opinion no music is bad , it is all really a matter of taste.
To explain my thoughts on this, I will give you a short intro to my personal music experience .I come from a small town about 15 miles from Glasgow I was always interested in music as a teenager my taste being sort of in the middle of mainstream to indie. At around the tender age of 21 I became involved with a guy who ran a local mobile disco , this was a vehicle to put across my music taste and to meet girls! I eventually ran this disco and was very successful locally as I discovered that I had finally found something I was good at and was passionate about. I then was approached by a local publican to be a resident DJ a job that I held for what must be a record of 16 years.
I started off thinking I had high moral standards about what I would play and what I would not play everyone would like what I liked. Then I had one of these drunken moments of clarity which made me think what right do I have to decide what people hear ? My job was to play what they wanted whither it was my taste or not and from then on I played such a variety of music you would not believe , yes I played Metallica , Spice girls, Take That , Rush (that was extremely hard to play) to Erik Morrilo and back with as much of my beloved indie music that I could possibly squeeze in. Watching the reactions of people when their genre of music was played made me realise I was right whither it was mass produced pop to indie to rap as long as they were entertained by the song then it was good for them and ultimately was worthwhile making and by my definition not crap.
Another instance from my personal life is around five years ago my nephew insisted he wanted to see Busted. I picked the lad up with his mother after the concert. He was hooked t-shirt , blow up guitar etc. He wanted to be them , now he is an accomplished young guitarist who constantly bugs me for information and has a fantastic varied taste in music all due to Busted (mass produced pop). I rest my case.
My soon to be six year old son overheard Sandman ,by Metallica (metal crap to some) in our car and linked it to the prayer he learnt at school after watching on you tube with me. His thirst for music is insatiable, it makes me laugh but equally melts me to hear the garage band he and his friends have formed and have created their first song "Brocolli" if I ever get it recorded I will send it to JC.
I am sorry if this is not the most interesting of postings but it is something I have always wanted to get of my chest, and I am grateful of the chance to do this ! If JC includes my words . I will end with three songs which are purely from my own warped personal taste ( I don't think any of these has ever graced TVV) and hope someone gets even a modicom of pleasure from. "
Son of the rock.
mp3 : Dirty Vegas - Days Go By
Just a wee tune that I would describe as a cross of dance and indie two of my favorite genres.
mp3 : Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind
A song I only became aware of through a comedy show on TV a few years ago but just totally love. Special merit badge for the first person to tell me which show and when during that ?
mp3 : The Roots - The Seed
Please give this one a full airing don't be put off by the start, there is a stunning vocal in there by a guy with the excellant name Cody ChesnuttOne of the things that irritates me most is when someone says a certain song is crap - in my opinion no music is bad , it is all really a matter of taste.
TODAY'S GUEST POSTING THE FIRST OF TWO IN THE SERIES CONTRIBUTED BY SON OF THE ROCK, A RESIDENT OF DUMBARTON, SCOTLAND (AND BIRTHPLACE OF DAVID BYRNE.... )
I'D LIKE TO GIVE SON OF THE ROCK A SPECIAL WORD OF THANKS FOR COMING IN EVERY DAY DURING THIS SERIES OF GUEST POSTINGS AND LEAVING BEHIND HIS THOUGHTS...
7 comments:
Excellent post, Son of Rock, I too dj'd in a local pub for years but I could never reconcile myself with having to play Blanket On the Ground and Build Me Up Buttercup. I used to slip in a few of the tracks I loved each night and occasionally somebody would be interested enough to ask what it was which would make my night.
However I disagree that there is no such thing as bad music, the a fore mentioned Billie Jo Spears track and Simply The Best by Tina Turner which here in the West of Scotland has a special place in the hearts of one half of the bigots who call themselves football fans, are the epitome of crap music.
I eventually left/was sacked due to musical differences with the owners.
I'm paticularly proud of he fact that my 7 yr old son's favourite sone if king of rock and roll by prefab sprout - although this is closely followed by i like to move it move it. I guess i would call one good and one crap but through damian's ears they are just irrestably catchy
friend of rachel worth
Not sure I agree that there is no such thing as bad music, and yes it is a matter of taste. But some people have crap taste.
That said, if I like a song no matter how corny, it doesn't matter what other people think. And I happen to like a lot of old '70s AM fare, including the Gordon Lightfoot song you posted.
i've come for my award...
was it the dogs fighting sketches in trigger happy tv?
s.g.d.
SOTR, It's a little uncanny that this was posted now as I've been discussing this over on my blog, hahaha
I will argue that there is no such thing as bad taste in music. Whatever taste we have is created by our surroundings and by the choices we make in our lives and while they may not be choices I would make for myself, others' choices are their own to make.
However, last night I sat through a set by what was perhaps the WORST band ever to take the stage in my presence. Not a single one of them could master their instrument in and the singer was off on most all notes he attempted to hit. They had just enough talent to make you believe that they suffered from hearing loss and couldn't tell they were playing so badly. And yet, they had about 20 fans who cheered them on, raucously! It was stunning. I will argue that those 20 people had terribly bad taste.
Thanks for the post, now get your own blog SOTR!!! xoxooxxo
Folks excercising my right to reply
Guess I'm in minority who believes all music is good it's only an opinion.
SGD I think you were close it was Trigger happy tv but I believe it was when the pavement artist left the customer sitting at easel and he buggered off can't say for sure though.
Drew I most certainly agree with you on one thing I think it is appaling when a group of bigots hi-jack a song to promote there hatred for us in WOS it is the song you quote but it happens all over the world to. (Not the songs fault ) I also ended my DJ career due to musical differences but I guess that is polite speak for your too old and not relevant any more!
Warden Corny and Gordon Lightfoot in same sentence (I expected better from you)
Tart Surely someone of your musical knowledge would realise that without plagarism we wouldn't have much music to talk about although i do protest my innocence
have to say your headline picture was much nicer than JC,s version.
forw try your best to keep damien listening to prefab sprout.
thanks to all who took the time to read me.
Son of the rock
eh...I like Blanket On The Ground....I've even been known to give a drunken rendition of it at karaoke evenings.....
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