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From: Love-Hounds-request@EDDIE.MIT.EDU
Newsgroups: mod.music.gaffa
Subject: Re: SO - another view.
Message-ID: <8701160445.AA02172@tybalt.caltech.edu>
Date: Thu, 15-Jan-87 23:45:58 EST
Article-I.D.: tybalt.8701160445.AA02172
Posted: Thu Jan 15 23:45:58 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Jan-87 02:16:41 EST
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Reply-To: Love-Hounds
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Really-From: sho@tybalt.caltech.edu (Sho Kuwamoto)

In article <2094@watdragon.UUCP> Love-Hounds writes:
>Really-From: tcjones@watdragon.UUCP (Crocodile Dundee)
>
>and i finally broke down and bought SO (2nd hand) just to confirm that
>PG really had sold out and after assuring myself that he had i rang
>andrew and he suggested that perhaps SO really stood for Sold Out
>love terry

Well.  First time I heard "Sledgehammer", I said:
"Ach! What is this which Peter Gabriel has done?
Another good artiste gone to sh*t!"  But then, 
I reconsidered.  Not after multiple listenings,
but after going to his *concert*.  Within the context
of the concert, the mixture of his ominous, dark
music (Family and the Fishing Net, etc.), and his just plain
serious music (Biko, etc.) was well balanced by his more 
light-hearted music, which came almost exclusively from
*So*.  

In *my* opinion, one of the main problem with many
bands, especially less popular bands, is that they
take themselves too seriously.  For example, when
I'm in the right mood, I like listening to Joy Division,
but when I'm not chronically depressed, the music
seems almost silly.  It seems to say "Look at me!
I'm soooo depressed.  I'm such a depressed kind
of serious guy.  Oooh oooh, I want to die.  I'm
in so much pain.  Oooh."  (This, more than Bono's
whining, is my main problem with U2.)  Of course,
we can't expect bands to write songs about everyday
events like buying onions, or standing next to the
office water cooler, but if a band's music is entirely
composed of one extreme or another, it tends to lose
its impact.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that what normally
serious bands need to provide during 2 1/2 hour concerts
is O O O O that Shakespeherian comic relief; light or
even comical songs can add to the effect of more serious
songs.  I don't think that a Skinny Puppy concert would
work with even one lighthearted song, but I think
that many bands could use a little flippancy now and
then.  Goonight Bill.  Goonight Lou.  Goonight May. Goonight.
Ta ta.  Goonight. Goonight.
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.

					-Sho