Re: Mechanical Music for the Masses
By Craig Brougher
Sorry if I misspoke or gave some people the wrong opinion about my impressions of involving the world in player pianos. I had hoped that the thought would involve the entire letter and not be contextualized, but I have to admit, that seldom happens, anymore.
When I read people's comments, I try to find areas of agreement. But when taken out of context, I can be made to seem like someone who is very biased, closed-minded, and provincial.
Maybe I just didn't write it very well. Anyone who knows me also knows that I love to introduce people to the thing I love--player pianos. I've been doing that all my life. I do not dislike anybody who also likes rock and roll, because I like rock and roll! But apparently some of us do not understand how absolutely wretched much of this trash really is, hence the people who also sing it. Were they to sing it for you, you would feel as though you had just been mentally violated (at least, if you were a decent person, you should feel that way). It is rotten and sick, and must be sung by the world's grungiest sickos because an upright, decent person is repulsed by it! Were you to write down the words to what I refer to, Robbie could not reproduce it here. And I dare you to take grunge and display it as a "score" that any other musician could duplicate.
The basis of my thought is simply this, and I will requote my letter and do not back down from it at all! Anybody who does not think this way, that's their business. But at least acknowledge that I clarified it before you go off half-cocked to refute what I did not say. I even wrote, "Please do not assume that I think all music is done this way, etc." All disclaimers were unfairly ignored. I wrote:
"This music represents an era. A time that represented the peppy, can-do attitude of the free world. You can still relive that time-- in the music of the era. Music is actually timeless because it is a spirit, and as such, it becomes a driving force. The music we choose is NOT a force for rebellion, sensuality, and division, but a force of sensitivity, energy, and confidence. It speaks. We listen. We learn. We are transformed. (In so doing, we are separated from that kind of anguish.)"
If that paragraph does not clarify the difference made between the really filthy, rotten, vile music of the 90's and what you would like to let your children and grandchildren listen to, then I truly feel sorry for you! Anyone who says they love good music, but who do not hate bad music, cannot truly love good music, either. You cannot love the good and tolerate the bad and call yourself decent. You do not stand for what is right if you fail to challenge what is wrong, And I don't back off those principles at all! That is what I stand for, folks, and I don't care who doesn't like it! Anyone who wanted to know what I thought about some of this filthy, bad music could get it out of my letter. I made it clear what we were discussing. Anyone else wishing to accuse my motives personally could do that, too, but they would have to dishonestly excerpt the letter first. This is, however, a reciprocal, live forum of ideas. That's why I would suggest reading a single subject letter _in full_ and considering it as a complete thought before whipping off a hasty reply, because you too can be replied to.
Craig Brougher
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(Message sent Sat 8 Feb 1997, 16:57:10 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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