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From: gulley@stolaf.UUCP (William T. Gulley)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: They dont write em like that anymore
Message-ID: <1327@stolaf.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 22-Jan-84 21:12:46 EST
Article-I.D.: stolaf.1327
Posted: Sun Jan 22 21:12:46 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Jan-84 01:23:59 EST
Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
Lines: 63

net.music, because basically it's a flame on much of what is known
as "popular" music today.  By "popular", I mean the stuff that usually
exudes from my radio speaker everytime I, usually in an attempt to
brighten my day, decide to tune into what is commonly termed as a
"top-ten radio station". (Many of which abound and flourish in all
sectors of my radio dial.)  The re-emergence of the group Yes kind
of cued me in on this train of thought, but many genres of music 
exemplify this almost inate sense to gravitate towards the catchy-
klitch formulaic gimmickry that seems to pervade much of the music
business.  In a nutshell, my question is, "Why?".  Why in the world
do musicians have to resort to such eccentricities such as gooking
facial makeup on themselves, growing and braiding their hair, and purpose-
fully giving the impression that they are of a gender that they act-
ually aren't, just to be heard and make a living? (How do you even 
KNOW he's a boy?)  Even speaking on a strictly musical level, I kind
of wonder why it's necessary to listen to a modern day Bill Haley clone,
ranting and raving and rolling in the dough, when I can break out my
old 45-s and listen to the man himself doing it before anyone else,
and better.  Better because he created the style, and it was his, not
because he wanted to capitalize on someone else's good taste, just to
make a buck.  I don't particularly care for regurgitated anything, much
less guitar licks, but that's basically what you're in for with The 
Almighty "Top Ten".  For you that listen to it, what motivates you?
(This is not an attack on your taste, but an honest question.) Is it
the "beat", as in "We've got the-"?  Why then bother with chordal pro-
gressions, just go to your local Kimball dealer, put your ear on the
speaker of a "Fun Swinger", push all the presets down simultaneously,
crank it up to ten, and blow your ears out! (A Linn drum machine and
a Marshall stack would have a similar effect-) Or, is it the noise,
as in "C'mon feel the-"?  Richard Strauss used it well once, but 
Pratt-and-Whitney (airliner engines) has a corner on the market also,
and speaking from a Physics standpoint, there isn't much difference
between that and Quiet Riot at 210 db. .  Granted, I'm sure there are
many people reading this who can honestly say, "It's makes me feel 
good".  But are they creating noise for the sake of creating noise,
or for the sake of creating music, which ARE two different things. (Or
they'd have the same name) Then what defines "good" for The Almighty
"Top Ten"?  (Yes, I am razzing the subjectivity of that certain usage
of the word, "top")   Why did Kansas make it, and not The Dregs?
Why hasn't Mannheim Steamroller, as opposed to Chris Cross, or Rick
Wakeman, as opposed to Elton John?  (I personally enjoy all of the above
mentioned, with the exception of E. John.)  And, with all of this
electronic dweeping and dwooping going on, why haven't we heard more
of Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Oldfield (who also have leaned toward the "pop"
formulae), and Jean-Michel Jarre?  It seems the "losers" mentioned above
of the race for the "Top Ten" were not "losers" at all, they simply
didn't run, and THAT'S why they "lost".  It seems to me that professional
musicians, like all of us, have to make the choice every day of whether
to be an individual or a conformist, them in the making of their music,
and us in whether to listen to it or not.  What we accept in our listening
to a music does have a direct bearing on what we accept, or at least
want to be shown, in ourselves.  There is plenty of good, honest music
in all genres around, like good, honest people, it just takes a little  
more effort to find it/them, and you can't just blindly trust the "Top Ten"
to find it/them, the motivation has to exist to go out and find it/them
yourself.  And, on the musician's part, to be honest in what they put
out.  Why, if none of us are Xerox copies of each other, do we have to
listen to the eternally Xeroxed "Top Ten" klitsch?

Man, that felt great!

				William Gulley
				!stolaf!gulley