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RE: (TV) Maybe OT: Is music less precious?



From: stephen wilson <schlepworld@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: tv@obbard.com
To: Marqueemoonlist <tv@obbard.com>
Subject: (TV) Maybe OT:  Is music less precious?
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 04:39:20 -0700 (PDT)

"U.S. Teens Are Spoiled Bums"


I went to an outdoor show at a local college this weekend (University of Richmond - Va); Deerhoof, with three support bands (including the weird and wonderful Billy Naylor Show). The weather was beautiful, the show was free for students ($ 6 for non-students and olde fartes) - and, - - hardly anyone showed up! Maybe, 200-300 very, very passive young people, who didn't dance or even bob their heads very much; Deerhoof played a storming set but a short one - there was a smattering of whooping and applause but not enough to warrant an encore. The crowd filed out, no doubt relieved to get back to their cable TV and high speed internet connections again....well, kudos to the college radio kids who put the show on in the first place. On the other hand, last year at a local chili cook-off, William Hung, the tragically untalented 'American Idol' sensation, was performing - and students paid $15 for tickets, and turned out in droves for that shit. Anyway, obviously music doesn't mean as much as it used to, to most folks - just another form of 'content'. Check out Deerhoof though, music lovers - they're like Captain Beefheart with rocket shoes.

When in the last few decades would Deerhoof have attracted more than a few hundred people? Teenage Jesus and The Jerks weren't doing stadium shows in the late 70s. Fringe music is just that, music that only attracts a small audience. Deerhoof, who I like, play a type of music that never attracted a large audience.

As for William Hung, I have no interest in camp or in "so bad, it's good," but it' s hardly a new thing in pop culture.

Music has always been aural wallpaer (Frank Zappa's phrase, the first time I heard it was in the early 80s) for most people. I don't dispute that, I just wonder why people are acting as though it's something new.
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