I showed how my war-ish musical interaction with Friend (Mr. Rock n' Roll) has impacted my music taste. On the plus side, it has made me more critical of what I listen to. It has also made me more open-minded to other genres than what I grew up on. On the negative side of things, my taste war with Friend has made me somewhat apologetic on stuff that I like but know that others wouldn't like. I used not to give a BEEP about what others thought about music. I had the best taste. Period. That feeling of being the god of music is now a bit weakened ... (Just a bit!)
Also, in the previous episode, I told how I provided a carefully selected raggae playlist to Friend to open his taste buds to the genre (to those one drop drum rhythms .. to those skanky guitars.. bubbling organs and mysterious vocals). I mentioned how the dude had nerve enough to think, later on, that HE was the final arbiter on what's good and bad raggae. Also while in conversations with Moi! ME!... The same wise old prof who provided him with Raggae 101! Laughable..right?.
Finally, I pointed out that the end of the friendship somehow coincided with this.
In this Episode...
Questions echo. What has silly little friendly discussions on music got to do with the core of the soul of a friendship? A whole LOT if you ask me. In this final episode, I will show how some of these "trivial" discussions CAN, if you really think about it, reveal your friend's true world view and true character.Listen to a Burning Spear Track:
Now Here is Maxi Priest:
Using these two artistes and songs as metaphor for a typical discussion between Friend & I, Friend's stance will be:
Burning Spear is Raggae. Maxi Priest is bubble gum... Pink & Sweet. Embarrasingly pink & sweet. In terms of the instrumentation of the songs, Friend would argue that Burning Spear's track is full of authentic sounds and live instrumentation while Maxi Priest's is awash with synthesizers, samples, loops and digital sequencing. In terms of the general attitude of the artistes, Friend would prefer the ecologic, au naturelle, rural vibe around Spear to the urban, neo-rastafarian posture of Maxi.
Not that I completely disagreed. I understood his preferences. If you give ANY vegetarian punk rocker the choice presented above, it shouldn't take freudian analysis to predict that on the average (way higher than average, actually), punk rockers will prefer Burning Spear. And this, among many other reasons, because of Spear's dignified simplicity and "poor"-by-choice-and- therefore- rich-in-spirit attitude. I understand why this will find fertile ground in punk country. Punkhood afterall is anti-mainstream by definition. I don't know if these days, punks are LINKED IN to TWITTER around like birds or whether they have their faces booked on FACEBOOK - but back then it WAS all about avoiding all things modern... all things mainstream... all things high tech. Within this framework, I could rationalize my way to understanding his preference and a lot of his viewpoints on these matters.
The point I am struggling to make here is that I disgreed to some extent but understood his stance. The problem is that he did not understand MINE. So What was MY preference? What was MY stance on these matters?
My preference was not to have a preference. One is apple. The other, orange. Both are fruits. But incomparable. And I enjoy both! Let me digress a bit to paint the picture more clearly. Witness (In words. Enough with those videos already!) the following back stage conversation between soul singer Jill Scott and your typical interviewer. (from Dave Chapelle's "Block Party")
INTERVIEWER approximately goes like: So Jill tell me... Erykah Badu is on stage doing her thing, as we speak. Coming on strong. How do you feel about getting on stage AFTER a STRONG act like that?
And JILL SCOTT goes literally like: HA..HA... HA...HA... HA...(and this laughter goes on for some time). Have you ever heard me sing? Erykah has her queendom. And I have mine. Her queendom does not compare to mine. Neither does mine compare to hers.
Along this same line of reasoning, and back to the Spear-Maxi framework, the two should not even be compared. Spear represents the organic, raggae-in-its-natural-habitat side of the story while Maxi represents a subsequent step in the path of the organic evolution of the genre.
So..beyond music, beyond spear, beyond maxi, beyond raggae... reducing everything to bare essentials what can the above show about a "Friend"?
Friend (and the typical observer) will be right to point at me and say "...But Rob..I'm entitled to MY opinion. MY taste shouldn't coincide with yours. I don't have to agree with YOUR stance.. As friends, we can agree to disagree"
On the surface, it looks like I am guilty of intolerance. But think again. How would you feel about the following:
- You REALLY do understand your Friend's viewpoint but he/she doesn't understand yours
- You choose to see things from the big picture perspective. He/She talks from a tunnel.
- You introduce a friend to something/someone. Soon and without any form of humility..without pausing to acknowledge that YOU were there first, your friend claims expert and/or monopoly-like status.
Zooming in on point 2 a.k.a. Forest & Trees a.k.a Conclusion
Friend hated all things "synthetic" when it came to music. To him good music occurred only when 4 or 5 dudes (preferably with long hair) came together to churn out some rocky stuff. No need for horns (that's jazz..ewwww).. No need for violins and orchestras (that's wanksta...) And definitely no place for a computer in real music!
I remember. I remember like yesterday. I remember trying to get MY FRIEND to see the phenomenon of music on a 'cosmic time scale'... From Classical to Techno. From Mozart to Moby. To get him to realize that the evolution of music cannot be stopped. One form of music simply gives way to another... without a fight. And each step on that evolutionary continuum contains masterpieces of this magical artform. Friend didn't show any appreciation for this fact so I went on a step further. I tried to get Friend to realize that his cherished rock wiped out some other genre to gain popularity just like rock will one day be wiped out. I pointed out to Friend that the type of drummer he is (one man sitting down playing the kick, snare, toms, cymbals) replaced for example, the orchestral rhythm section in which 4 seperate people played those same rhythm components. That change took place because it made sense at the time. Well..with that same logic, why not get rid of the 1-man drum machine and replace him with a zero-man drum machine a.k.a. computer?
Now, for the record (no pun intended), I 'm not advocating a mass ditching of live instrumentation. I'm just saying that Mother Music is large enough for all of us. There should be space (and respect) for orchestral rhythm sections, 1-man octopus-like drummers, robot drummers...beat boxing..kitchen pan banging.. whatever! As long as what comes out is balanced and entertaining/pleasing to the ear.. I'm cool with it.
Looking back, the fact that I couldn't get Friend to see these things was quite unsettling. For me, these thoughts about music and music technology's evolution that I shared with him was truth. My truth. I will go as far and say THE truth. Cos it remains so today. It will be true in the future as well. Universal truth. Call me strange. Call me self-conceited but I still think that when you look at music in its full historic context, there is no other sensible conclusion to be made. Locking oneself in on one tiny point on music's evolution curve and disregarding/disrespecting all points before and after one's chosen lock point is absurd. It's not even like seeing the trees instead of the forest. It's more like picking up a single leaf in a jungle and thinking that the leaf is the universe.
But hey.. that's just MY opinion. What's yours?
Gotta go.. Gotta go..
Peace out!
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