oh yeah... I did want to chime in aboot one of the things that Sam touched on... since I agreed with him again.. and because it's a point I brought up twice that I think is kind of relevant to the conversation.
About that whole "dumb it down" comment... I'll do a little implication analysis (much like you did with Sam's post).
To say that you had to "dumb it down" so that people like your parents would like it implies that they're "dumber" than you musically. It implies that your music is of a "smarter" or possibly "better" taste than the music they like, or are capable of liking. And since they're too "dumb" to enjoy it in it's natural state... you had to "dumb it down" in an attempt to appeal to their "dumber" tastes. This is the logical implication of that statement.
Even if that's not what you're saying, (since I'm sure you'll respond by saying that I misunderstood some minutia of your "point" and therefore everything I said is irrelevant
) I still would like to address that attitude (since it surely exists in the music community at large).
This is the very attitude that I was warning against in my earlier post. The attitude that says, "if you don't like MY stuff... it's cause YOU'RE just not "smart" enough" (or "refined" enough, or "sophisticated" enough, or what have you). This is nonsense.... and arrogant, I might add... oh yes... and ignorant. (I will explain these later.) This implies that the writer/arteest is incapable of writing bad music, and that it's
always the listener's fault when the music is received negatively. It doesn't always start with that implication... but as the "arteest" lets this attitude take root in their mind, it eventually does end up being the dominant mindset.
This is nonsense because... well... it is. That's just foolish and anyone with common sense can see that. It's arrogant because it sets the arteest up as some kind of universal standard that everyone on planet earth must agree with or else they're "dumber". And it's ignorant because it is incredibly hypocritical and closed-minded... I mean... who the f#©k are you to say that your parents musical taste is "dumber" than yours... and that their styles of music aren't as "smart" as yours? Aren't you, in essence, saying that their music is "bad art" by implication... or at least that your "art" is so much better than theirs, that you have to "dumb" your art down just so it will sound more like their "dumber" type of music?
This is where we get into the arena of artistic self-delusion and arrogance. If you EVER respond to criticism by implying that it is in ANY way the fault of the listener... then you are in danger of ending up like this.
You see... some art just plain sucks... and it's the fault of the arteest alone. Maybe they just aren't that good... Maybe they got so arrogant, that they lost touch with reality. (i.e. the Emperor's New Clothes) Maybe they have a few good, inspired works... but some of their other songs are nothing more than "fillers" that they barfed out because they felt like putting something on paper that day. Who knows...
But you should always be open to every type of criticism. If someone’s just trying to flame you or be belligerent, then that’s usually pretty obvious, so who cares. But if a bunch of people are rather calmly just telling you that it's not very good, then maybe you should just move on to the next song, or try to make some improvements to the current song, instead of just blaming it on the listener.
The goal here is to make better music... and shutting out criticism, or even trying to "disqualify" criticism as being "uninformed", will make that task all the more difficult.
WATYF
P.S. I also agree that it's the comments made here that have stirred things up. I don't think the music has had much to do with it.
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