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Successful bands that you dont like
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Nov 15, 2008, 10:53
Re: Successful bands that you dont like
Nov 14, 2008, 19:43
keith a wrote:
IanB wrote:


Where prog had it right was that there is merit in applying yourself to your art.
...


You didn't/don't have to be prog to that. Did Gentle Giant (who I like) apply themselves to their 'art' any more than Bolan (who I also like but wouldn't pretend he's as good a 'musician' as anyone in GG)?

I honestly don't think they did. They just knew more notes!

IanB wrote:

Of course the results were often risible
...


So why try and justify it?

IanB wrote:

ps I think you are wrong about Marr - he comes across to me a talented imitiator of many styles, a magpie of motifs. The John Paul Jones of post punk if you will. Always the sideman etc ...


Surely he was a songwriter first and foremost?



Was Marr a songwriter first and formost? I don't know you're the fan not me. John Paul Jones was never a songwriter first and foremost. An arranger primarily and latterly a knob twiddler and film composer of variable output.

As for Prog. Why do I justify it? Because adults who live in abject fear of a visit from the discography police inspecting their collections amuse me. And nothing gets them in a tizzy quite like Gentle Giant or Magma.

Yes and Gentle Giant were veritable Paganinis of piffle and at times beyond defending but at least they wanted to be Paganinis.

Anyone can make a record so why does so much post punk conform to just as narrow a palette as metal or skiffle? Why does post punk make a virtue of such a myopic view of musical history? And why does post punk get away with it when metal can't?

All rock n roll is ridiculous and almost beyond serious criticism because of the paucity of real creative application invovled. So be ridiculous. Push the limits. Apply yourself with vigour and strain at the leash. Take the piss, do whatever you fancy, take it to the limits but never ever take it so very seriously that one might mistake it for something like art. Art requires a dedication of the entire being to the process. A Blake-like abandonment to the muse. Most rock n rollers simply don't have the discipline or, if they do, it lasts for three to five years before thet get fat , smug, solipsistic, lazy and wasted.

Bolan was wonderful and a case in point.
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