An Apology
Over the past week, this conversation has come up several times, so I decided to put my thoughts down here. Because I know that many of you have thought of this as well.
I have decided to equalize the way I look at Art. We can all recognize that there is Low and High art. Sometimes we shun low art, because it is: "commercial," "not original," "not intellectual," etc. I have decided that it is OK to shun that art, but ONLY if you are going to do it consistently across the board.
For a while, I hated Pop music. I found it too low brow, and commercial. However, this year I have had to rethink my music values. If I never watched action movies, or dumb comedies; or if I only read thick intellectual tomes; or if I shunned most musicals; then perhaps I would be in my proper right to hate all Pop. However, I realized that many times I enjoy "low art" in many other mediums. It is hypocritical to say that all Pop is bad just because it is unsophisticated, and then go home and read a typical fantasy novel.
It is one thing to not like Pop because you still haven't found a Pop song that you like (stylistically), but it is dumb to not listen to something that you find to be catchy just because it is commercial. There is a time and place for everything. Sometimes you want Radiohead, and sometimes you would rather listen to Justin Timberlake. I have realized that it is stupid to feel like you are less of an intellectual human being just because you listen to music with varying degrees of depth.
In fact, I think that people that try to be cool by acting all intellectual about their music are simply insecure about who they are. If listening to some popular music every now and then is going to destroy your identity, maybe your identity is based on the wrong things. Sometimes it seems that people are so worried about being "superficial" that they end up being even more closeminded and superficial than those who don't really think about it. What is worse, the person who listens to only commercial music but cannot appreciate the good stuff; or the person that only listens to high music but does not give commercial music or its listeners a chance? Also, it is annoying when people listen to crap just because someone labeled it as "underground" or "experimental." It reminds me of the story about the emperor's new clothes. Someone says that it is the best thing out there, so people latch on to it even if they cannot appreciate it or like it.
All that being said, I must say that I obviously like original music much more (much of which is underground or experimental). But I refuse to censor my tastes just because society tells me something is cool or not.
I have decided to equalize the way I look at Art. We can all recognize that there is Low and High art. Sometimes we shun low art, because it is: "commercial," "not original," "not intellectual," etc. I have decided that it is OK to shun that art, but ONLY if you are going to do it consistently across the board.
For a while, I hated Pop music. I found it too low brow, and commercial. However, this year I have had to rethink my music values. If I never watched action movies, or dumb comedies; or if I only read thick intellectual tomes; or if I shunned most musicals; then perhaps I would be in my proper right to hate all Pop. However, I realized that many times I enjoy "low art" in many other mediums. It is hypocritical to say that all Pop is bad just because it is unsophisticated, and then go home and read a typical fantasy novel.
It is one thing to not like Pop because you still haven't found a Pop song that you like (stylistically), but it is dumb to not listen to something that you find to be catchy just because it is commercial. There is a time and place for everything. Sometimes you want Radiohead, and sometimes you would rather listen to Justin Timberlake. I have realized that it is stupid to feel like you are less of an intellectual human being just because you listen to music with varying degrees of depth.
In fact, I think that people that try to be cool by acting all intellectual about their music are simply insecure about who they are. If listening to some popular music every now and then is going to destroy your identity, maybe your identity is based on the wrong things. Sometimes it seems that people are so worried about being "superficial" that they end up being even more closeminded and superficial than those who don't really think about it. What is worse, the person who listens to only commercial music but cannot appreciate the good stuff; or the person that only listens to high music but does not give commercial music or its listeners a chance? Also, it is annoying when people listen to crap just because someone labeled it as "underground" or "experimental." It reminds me of the story about the emperor's new clothes. Someone says that it is the best thing out there, so people latch on to it even if they cannot appreciate it or like it.
All that being said, I must say that I obviously like original music much more (much of which is underground or experimental). But I refuse to censor my tastes just because society tells me something is cool or not.
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