Not enough bad music?

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I don't think I hear enough bad -- or even mediocre -- music. My few friends have very discerning taste and pass along to me copies of generally impeccable new releases, and what little else I know of contemporary music is mostly gleaned from the Top 20 radio stations (which themselves are somewhat discerning, if in a diff't fashion). As for me, my own buying habits are by necessity somewhat conservative, and I tend to find things in genres where a degree of conoisseurship has already guaranteed a level of quality? And the internet, with its easily-available volumes of info on nearly any musician and record, has made it immeasurably easier to obtain just the right record to satisfy whatever cravings you have.

So I'm not exposed to a lot of bad music. I'm almost completely oblivious to run-of-the-mill college rock (for example, my friend passed along a Deerhoof CD, which I liked, and shielded me from Manitoba) and I don't hear too much middling R&B or hip hop either. Not to mention that as suggested above almost all the early pop, blues, etc. music I own is celebrated.

I was almost grateful when I purchased a Bumble Bee Slim record a few years ago---not because it was bad, but because it was so average, and reminded me of the special qualities that his contemporaries like Bill Broonzy and etc. brought to that genre.

I wonder if anybody else feels a "victim" of this phenomenon--of only hearing the creme de la creme, or something like it.

This was inspired by:

(a) a comment on a film list to the effect that film students nowadays are too discerning...they're afraid to see a bad film...it's too easy to follow a preexisting canon and not make up their own minds.

(b) the "gigantism" thread where a few people noted that they liked the Stax/Volt box because all the mediocrities or larks produced by those labels are included, breaking up the monotony of one masterpiece after another and throwing the more accomplished music in relief. (Or is that me talking?)

I hope this is coherent. Let me know if it's not.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 31 July 2003 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

One side effect of this phenomenon seems to be my finding fault with records I basically like. This includes a lot of stuff on the Top 40. Stuff that's basically well-produced and sung, etc.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 31 July 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i rented a really bad indie flick the other night, it had NOBODY in it, zero names, small but respectable budget. it was terrible: cuts didn't line up with each other, hands in a different position suddenly, stuff like that, also the script had no direction or motivation, the acting was amateurish, and to top it off you could tell the director had "legit" ambitions. however i watched the whole thing and for some reason i'm glad i did

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 31 July 2003 21:11 (twenty-two years ago)

That's pretty much the sort of thing I had in mind. I watch bad indie flicks on cable sometimes. It sort of reminds you of the rudiments of filmmaking...it calls your attention to the basic aspects of production that one can begin to take for granted if you only watch the classics. Likewise with music I think it is often where something doesn't achieve its (presumed) purpose, where form begins to break down or is simply so conventional that the gears and sprockets begin to show...that is a necessary complement to Appreciation of Great Music which is ostensibly what I spend more of my time with.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 1 August 2003 00:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i can hear bad stuff til it's coming out of my ears, and it never changes my perception of the good stuff.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 1 August 2003 00:39 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm not sure i can tell the difference anymore

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 1 August 2003 00:50 (twenty-two years ago)

wanna hear bad music? turn on yer radio!

― Tad (llamasfur), Friday, 1 August 2003 00:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Finding faults with things that you like -> 100% neccessary.

The problem I have with yr post, amateurist, is that, on some level, it supposes that art's value is based on comparison, not on intrinsic values (i.e. the most annoying musical knee-jerk defense is, "Well at least ARTIST X is better than the shit you hear on the radio etc etc etc"). But in one sense, I like the idea. Not to get too autobiographical, but: I was brought up in an evangelical Christian home, and considered myself a Christian until I was 16 or so. It was then that I realized that the Bible and the basic tenents of Christianity held little meaning for me: they were simply facts. I started feeling envious of the drug-addict-od'ing-on-his-deathbed-only-to-be-saved-by-Christ testimonials (which my parents actually have), because with those people, there was at least a point of comparison of before and after finding Christ. But I grew up with it, so I had no emotional/immediate need for it, ya know? And when I think of yr post that way: mediocrity making excellence that much better, it kinda makes sense. That said, I hear LOADS of awful music every fucking day. Try getting on some mailing lists, and you'll change yr mind quickly!

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Friday, 1 August 2003 01:03 (twenty-two years ago)

its the mediocre stuff gets me. thats the stuff you tend to spend too much time on...

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 1 August 2003 01:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I think you do need to be exposed to crappy stuff in order to appreciate the good stuff more. I'm reminded of how Black Thought from The Roots says he studies wack MCs just as much as the greats.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 1 August 2003 08:30 (twenty-two years ago)

BUT there's just so much good music (and films, books, etc.) out there and so little time...

― oops (Oops), Friday, 1 August 2003 08:37 (twenty-two years ago)

would you rather 10 supposedly bad cds, or one supposedly good?

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 1 August 2003 09:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I get around this problem by simply archiving as much music as I possibly can. I'm currently in the process of reproducing the entire record collections of two of my closest music-nut friends. These days there's just so much music for me to listen to that it's difficult to even form opinions on it, let alone declare some "good" and some "bad".

Certainly, I have my favourites, but overall I like to try and experience the music past and present as a kind of Gibson-esque sea of information. Forming rough, emotional responses to artists, periods, and genres on the fly, and building on those responses to form regional opinions and four-dimensional "music-maps" inside my own head.

I need a bigger hard drive.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 1 August 2003 09:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Unfortunately, this approach to music appreciation often leaves me vague and lost for words during music discussions with people like Keith McD. His encyclopaedic knowledge of all things cultural makes me feel like a god damn ignoramus despite the fact that I know and love so much of what he's talking about.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 1 August 2003 09:53 (twenty-two years ago)

most music is alright and when most ppl criticize music I think its bcz its alright.

very little music stays with most of us tho'.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 1 August 2003 09:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I get around this problem by simply archiving as much music as I possibly can.

Pretty much my thought. The amount of stuff I've pulled down and burned from various sources is astounding.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 1 August 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

solution, come take my job as a second-string music writer at a podunk daily newspaper.
You'll be amazed at all the bad music that falls on yr desk after the promos have been picked over by the starter.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 1 August 2003 14:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Interesting thread & perhaps this thread is sorta related.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 1 August 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Amateurist, just buy an ad saying you're a promoter/manager/label/zine who 'wants demos'. You will not believe anything could possibly be as bad as some of the stuff you will get. Acoustic demos, well I have no standards there as in most things, but the ones with actual BANDS are truly staggering, just for the 'there were FIVE(+) people involved with this and not ONE noticed it sucked!!!' factor

― dave q, Friday, 1 August 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

i think this is getting 'worse' although i care about the ramifications less. i think i will soon be a old fuddy duddy altogether.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 14 July 2005 06:27 (twenty years ago)

(you really missed out on manitoba btw)

― CrimeWaveSoundDisc (David Allen), Thursday, 14 July 2005 11:10 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

http://www.amazon.com/Her-First-Hard-Dictator/dp/B002U9DRL8/ref=pd_sim_dmusic_2

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 17 March 2010 00:31 (sixteen years ago)

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