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Music / Re: Which songs are you currently obsessed with?

« on: October 18, 2009, 18:54 »

The "objective fact" bit was definitely tongue-in-cheek, although I can see how it would look like that was my serious opinion. However, my general opinion is pretty close to that.

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Music / Re: Which songs are you currently obsessed with?

« on: October 18, 2009, 18:12 »

^ It doesn't matter if you have more knowledge on something; sure, it could help towards it, but it doesn't make an opinion or post better. I was brought up listening to a variety of music, hence why I listen to a variety of music. That doesn't mean that I have a better opinion on music though. Backing up an opinion is fine, but implying that yours is better isn't. I know you've said that you aren't saying it, but that's how it came across.

So you agree with me.

I used to think that having deep knowledge of Classical music terms and Opera music skills made me any better than the average Pop listener, but how wrong I was. It is, as Webbz says, what helps you to understand music better, and the skills, history, and whatnot behind it, but after all, it is an opinion, and not fact in any way.

Oh God, please don't think I'm taking that stance. I really can't stand the holier-than-thou, tasteless, virtuoso, close-minded people who think that understanding the methodology and technical skills (barf) improves their taste to a higher realm. These people, usually limiting themselves to just classical, metal, and/or prog rock genres, definitely do have a superiority complex. Ugh, please don't mistake me with a Dream Theater fan or something. That is the exact opposite of where I stand, that the technical complexity of music makes it better rather than the songwriting qualities or the emotional response. I really can't stand these guys at all.

It is just like food. It may be an expert making a dish compared to a street seller making simple fare, and the gourmet will probably like the expert, and the average citizen the street seller, but they both most likely won't like the other because they are just enjoying what they like in the end, and neither of their tastes and opinions on the dishes are more or less valid, regardless of how "experienced" or "in-depth understood" the gourmet is, or how "shallow" and "thoughtless" the average citizen is.

The problem with this analogy is you make the same assumptions as you do about musical taste. You're not comparing anything, you're literally just picking up your opinion as regards the appreciation of one kind of artistry and dropping it right into another kind of artistry. But, if the Gourmet guys can't appreciate the local foods, and the average citizen can't at least consider Gourmet, then both are shallow. I'm not taking the Gourmet guy's stance, as I explained above, because I don't think that the perceived "high class" or refinement of something automatically makes it better. I think that someone who actually understands food can be an equal appreciator of both fine and common food, the important thing is broad-mindedness and curiosity.

The problem is that most of the people here aren't listening to the local guy or the Gourmet guy (again, arbitrary, flawed comparisons for music), but are actually just listening to mass-produced, soulless, corporate McDonald's.

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Music / Re: Which songs are you currently obsessed with?

« on: October 18, 2009, 17:31 »

Although you're not the "wise". If you were truely wise you wouldn't of said anything (; .

Teehee. You meant "truly" and "wouldn't have".

If the best thing you can defend your taste in any kind of art with is "well, everyone has a different opinion and you have to respect that" rather than any of the actual qualities of the music, you know it's bad. For the record, I don't think my opinion is intrinsically "better" than that of anyone else, but it's certainly backed up with a greater knowledge of musical history than most. And, contrary to what you guys might be thinking, I don't automatically decry any opinion that's not exactly the same as my own. For example, Dane hates Radiohead intensely, while I think they're one of the greatest bands of all time in any genre. However, I think his opinion is justified because he has tried listening to them with seriousness, is at least somewhat knowledgeable about them, and has legitimate reasons for disliking them pertaining to their actual sound. I respect that he doesn't like them because of that, and although we have differing taste in general we both have a curiosity to seek out new music that is characteristic of actual fans of music, rather than those who just thoughtlessly listening to the same old gunga. And before anyone says that I'm automatically dismissing their music without seriously considering it, I'm going to have to assure you that I spend a comparable amount of time time looking into new music I think I will like as I do to music I know I won't. I'm as knowledgeable about the new Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus or T-Pain release as I am about the latest Radiohead or Animal Collective, just because I like to actually back up my opinions of something, negative or positive, with the actual time and consideration that should be spent to assess it. I don't think I or any other person are automatically the "wise" and others automatically the "unwise"; it comes from a continual intellectual curiosity and seeking of knowledge about a wide variety of music, one which many here clearly lack.

"Convinced of the Hex" by the Flaming Lips.

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Music / Re: Which songs are you currently obsessed with?

« on: October 17, 2009, 23:17 »

Just because you don't like a song doesn't automatically make it terrible. Other people just have different music tastes to you.

Oh damn now I sound like Alex...

Nope. Allow me to quote Roger Ebert, quoting someone else:

So let's focus on those who seriously believe "Transformers" is one of the year's best films. Are these people wrong? Yes. They are wrong. I am fond of the story I tell about Gene Siskel. When a so-called film critic defended a questionable review by saying, "after all, it's opinion," Gene told him: "There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of fact. When you say 'The Valachi Papers' is a better film than 'The Godfather,' you are wrong." Quite true. We should respect differing opinions up to certain point, and then it's time for the wise to blow the whistle.

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Music / Re: Which songs are you currently obsessed with?

« on: October 17, 2009, 21:49 »

This thread is chock full of terrible. This is objective fact.

Also, uh, "Straight Street" by The Fiery Furnaces and "Excerpt from 6,000,000,000,000 Miles Before the First, or, the Revisitation of the Blue Ghost" by maudlin of the Well, just to be on topic.

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Music / Re: Which songs are you currently obsessed with?

« on: March 09, 2008, 02:23 »

"Gyroscope" by The Dismemberment Plan. Best pop song of the past 10 years.