Some Thoughts On Craig's Post
By Larry Smith
Craig Brougher wrote:
> 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.
I think Craig feels very strongly about certain things and may not be using very precise language about it, but I thought I might point out a very obvious things that might bear on this debate.
I don't think anyone seriously objects to certain types of music becoming "popular" with the public. I know I certainly don't. But there are certain types of music that _are_ popular that many of us feel really shouldn't be. Despite the simple-seeming reversal of the concept, these are two separate and really _unrelated_ thoughts.
As to _why_ some of us feel that certain types of popular music are trash, I think it's a very emotional issue -- and that should surprise no one, for music exists for no other purpose than to evoke emotion. But whereas most of us here (I'm assuming) have a very positive and upbeat feeling for music -- we respond with lightened hearts to The Song of Joy, with smiles and toetaps to the Maple Leaf Rag and so on -- much popular music speaks instead to nihilistic, even mean-spirited emotions. I, for one, would not care to hear a music box -- which is for me the very epitome of happy and cheerful -- playing Ice T's "Cop Killer". I think that is the feeling Craig is talking about.
What behooves us is to recall that every human being is a bundle of varying emotions -- we, each of us, run the gamut of all emotions -- and while I would never listen to "Cop Killer" no matter what emotion I was feeling, I can't help but hope that someone who would would also listen to the Song of Joy in another mood. And at that time, with that music, we can reach a common understanding.
That is why this music is so important to us. It's our way to reach people we'd like to be with. For those who don't listen to music the same way, we can't help but feel rejection of ourselves and our values. And, of course, that is _precisely_ the emotion music like "Cop Killer" is meant to invoke. In essence it _denies_ the concept of a common understanding.
And the sad bottom line: there are some people who simply don't care to communicate or share the things _we_ consider to be positive. And we fear that those people will take the trappings of our happiness and contaminate them somehow -- like a music box sparkling along to "Cop Killer".
But that _is_ an illusion. We need only turn that box off and turn once again to the Maple Leaf Rag and the Song of Joy and find again that which is important to _us_. To those people who want to share that, we can. To that that do not, we don't. To each his own.
regards,
Larry Smith |
(Message sent Mon 10 Feb 1997, 16:05:33 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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