Six annoyingly overused phrases
Jul. 28th, 2004 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatMy original thought was to do a humorous rant about phrases that are overused in music reviews and on band discussion forums. I figured an all-out rant might come across as stupid and not very funny, though, so here's a not-so-funny semi-rant about the subject.
So, without further ado, the Annoyingly Overused Phrases:
"You'll either love them or hate them."
Why is it that, when I hear this phrase used to describe a band or whatever, I often end up finding them to be average?
"This is too smart for you."
It's no secret that I listen to a lot of nerdy music, and I think a lot of fans of music like that will often propose that the reason it's not insanely popular is that it's just too darned smart for the unwashed masses. I agree to an extent, BUT I think the use of the word "smart" comes off as somewhat mean and elitist. I recently called someone on this on a Camper Van Beethoven discussion list, and said that perhaps a better word to use would be "intellectual." No one replied to my post, so I don't know whether anyone agreed with me. My general take, however, is that bands like CVB and They Might Be Giants aren't necessarily more intelligent than mainstream bands (I could get into the whole "definition of intelligence" thing here, but I think I'll save that for another day, if ever), but they're probably more likely to make songs that you have to think about before "getting" them. In summary, I guess I agree with the concept, but not with the word choice.
"This is music for [insert type of person here]."
You know, something like "Dave Matthews is music for lame white kids who wear Abercrombie & Fitch and Birkenstocks," or "Ani DiFranco is music for angry lesbians," or "TMBG is music for nerds" (okay, I guess I fit that last one {g}). This stereotyping is something I'll do myself from time to time, but I'm never entirely serious about it. There's usually some degree of truth to stereotypes, and they can be used for comic effect. To take a stereotype too seriously never really works, though. With any band, I'm sure you can find plenty of fans who DON'T fit the stereotypes. Of course, the young people who actually DO define themselves by their favorite genre of music (punk, emo, gangsta, etc.) don't help matters here. Lousy young people, with their foul mouths and baggy pants and backwards baseball caps! Back in my day...Wait, where was I?
"They're ahead of their time."
I've seen so many bands said to be unappreciated by the general public because they're so far ahead of their time. Hey, maybe it's true. It seems to be desperately overused, though.
"This is honest music."
Is this really something that matters? Some songs are based on reality, while others are just made up. I hardly think whether or not a song is true has any real effect on how good it is. As I think I've mentioned before, though, I think a lot of music critics associate honesty, emotion, and artistic merit, even when it's not really appropriate. A song can be emotionally powerful without being true, and a song can be good without being either of those things.
"Support the band!"
Something I see show up quite often on TMBG discussion groups, especially. I'm certainly not saying that you SHOULDN'T support bands you like, by, say, actually paying money for their albums whenever possible. The thing that annoys me is when people say you should buy releases you don't really want, because it supports the band. I mean, you can go ahead and do that if you want to, but I have to question the motivation. A band is not a charity. If you're that desperate to give them your money, why not just send a check to their management or something?
So, without further ado, the Annoyingly Overused Phrases:
"You'll either love them or hate them."
Why is it that, when I hear this phrase used to describe a band or whatever, I often end up finding them to be average?
"This is too smart for you."
It's no secret that I listen to a lot of nerdy music, and I think a lot of fans of music like that will often propose that the reason it's not insanely popular is that it's just too darned smart for the unwashed masses. I agree to an extent, BUT I think the use of the word "smart" comes off as somewhat mean and elitist. I recently called someone on this on a Camper Van Beethoven discussion list, and said that perhaps a better word to use would be "intellectual." No one replied to my post, so I don't know whether anyone agreed with me. My general take, however, is that bands like CVB and They Might Be Giants aren't necessarily more intelligent than mainstream bands (I could get into the whole "definition of intelligence" thing here, but I think I'll save that for another day, if ever), but they're probably more likely to make songs that you have to think about before "getting" them. In summary, I guess I agree with the concept, but not with the word choice.
"This is music for [insert type of person here]."
You know, something like "Dave Matthews is music for lame white kids who wear Abercrombie & Fitch and Birkenstocks," or "Ani DiFranco is music for angry lesbians," or "TMBG is music for nerds" (okay, I guess I fit that last one {g}). This stereotyping is something I'll do myself from time to time, but I'm never entirely serious about it. There's usually some degree of truth to stereotypes, and they can be used for comic effect. To take a stereotype too seriously never really works, though. With any band, I'm sure you can find plenty of fans who DON'T fit the stereotypes. Of course, the young people who actually DO define themselves by their favorite genre of music (punk, emo, gangsta, etc.) don't help matters here. Lousy young people, with their foul mouths and baggy pants and backwards baseball caps! Back in my day...Wait, where was I?
"They're ahead of their time."
I've seen so many bands said to be unappreciated by the general public because they're so far ahead of their time. Hey, maybe it's true. It seems to be desperately overused, though.
"This is honest music."
Is this really something that matters? Some songs are based on reality, while others are just made up. I hardly think whether or not a song is true has any real effect on how good it is. As I think I've mentioned before, though, I think a lot of music critics associate honesty, emotion, and artistic merit, even when it's not really appropriate. A song can be emotionally powerful without being true, and a song can be good without being either of those things.
"Support the band!"
Something I see show up quite often on TMBG discussion groups, especially. I'm certainly not saying that you SHOULDN'T support bands you like, by, say, actually paying money for their albums whenever possible. The thing that annoys me is when people say you should buy releases you don't really want, because it supports the band. I mean, you can go ahead and do that if you want to, but I have to question the motivation. A band is not a charity. If you're that desperate to give them your money, why not just send a check to their management or something?
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-28 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-28 03:34 pm (UTC)Support the band
Date: 2004-07-28 06:03 pm (UTC)Re: Support the band
Date: 2004-07-28 08:41 pm (UTC)One question I have about your position, though, deals with the issue of compilations. For instance, if TMBG contributes a track to a compilation you don't care about otherwise, and there's no other way to buy the track, would you think it's wrong to download it?
Re: Support the band
Date: 2004-07-28 09:01 pm (UTC)Re: Support the band
Date: 2004-07-28 09:36 pm (UTC)On the other hand, i'm going to pick up the Future Soundtrack Of America (or whatever it's called, the MoveOn one) just because it's got a _lot_ of cool stuff on it, so that's OK. Sometimes compilations rock. Like the PPG "Heroes and Villains" CD. That one is _wall to wall good_. So I was totally cool to pick that one up without downloading anything (well, I did buy it the day it came out, so...). But there's a lot of CDs that'll be "Here's a bunch of crap no one with ears could possibly care about, and oh yeah, here's a song by your favorite band", and those ones, those are what downloading was invented for.
But if I have reason to believe the entire comp will be at least reasonably cool? I'll buy it. Or at least test drive a couple of other songs before I make a decision.