Discussion for article #233086
#Slatepitch.
Next up: Face It, Food Kinda Sucks.
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âBut a big chunk of the time, we were unprepared, unprofessional and generally not tryingâ.
As a musician for the last 30 years, I say YOU are the problem then, arenât you?
What a load of crap, TPM. Why donât you concentrate on linking stories about politics and stay out of areas of which your staff know little to nothing.
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Youâre not going to the right shows.
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There is no target audience for Dude In Hat Spilling An Entire Beer On You, and yet thatâs what we built this entire discipline of art upon.
Ouch. I think Iâve been Sliced up enough.
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A rebuttal
Most people I know donât really listen to music as much as they listen to songs. Songs generally contain literal ideas that give the person something conceptual to grasp. So, for example, when Bob Marley is telling me âevery little thing is gonna be alright,â there are many people who connect with that idea. Perhaps their youthful energy is also incapable of âget[ting] no satisfaction,â or they simply agree with a man who can neither sing nor play a guitar with even base proficiency that the times are in fact âa-changing.â
These are songs. The music is there to help provide a background for the words of the singer, which are where the meaning is. But more and more of what gets radio play doesnât even contain real instruments, just a bunch of beats and samples programmed into a computer with auto-tuned vocals laid on top.
Of course, there are great musicians who can play live.
These are people whose goal is not to become stars or pop sensations.
They arenât paid like the beautiful people at the Grammys whose performance was fixed in post, and whose songs and choreography were prepared for them.
They dedicate themselves to the craft of musicianship, playing songs that are often wordless and abstract, leaving to the audience the responsibility to construct meaning.
They practice alone in rooms for hours on end for years on end, perfecting their craft.
Every musician Iâve posted is alive and touring.
So if you go out and see live musicians who sound terrible, maybe thatâs not because live music sucks. Maybe itâs because we live in a culture that deifies âmusiciansâ that canât write or play music. And you bought the tickets. Of course, those people are performers and thereâs nothing wrong with a spectacle, if thatâs what youâre in for.
But if you happen to notice on an outing that your favorite musicians canât in fact play music proficiently, perhaps the fault lies not in our stars, dear Brutus.
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What a terrible waste of my time. The âwriterâ (author seems too professional a term for this twerp) comes off as a whinny, self-involved idiot.
Jeeze- your emo groups bore you to tears. Shucks. But in your case, I agree. Your taste in music really sucks. Live or recorded ainât gonna matter.
When will your unpaid internship at TPM end?
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Sounds like someone is bitter about the years she wasted trying to make a career out of a hobby and failing. I know! Iâve been there. It will pass.
Is there some sort of competition to see who can top White People Camping Are Silly Elitists for Most Ridiculous Article Ever Published By TPM?
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Maybe you should try some different live shows. I saw Phish this summer a few times and they were amazing.
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I had to check to be sure I was on TPM and not Slate. I stopped reading about halfway through, so maybe the second half of this piece salvages the first half. Otherwise, itâs a waste of time, mostly because its proposition is ridiculous.
I could recount dozens of stories from wonderful live shows, but one moment always pushes itself forward:
When the Clash played at Bondâs in Times Square, they were the most important band in the world, and the best. I got there early and squeezed up as close as I could get. They came out onto a stage bathed in a sort of pea-green light. They plugged in and burst into âLondon Calling.â
Now, usually the fans rush forward, but the sheer awesomeness of these guys and this music created a force that actually pushed the crowd back about two feet. I mean itâit was like a physical force field. It was just stunning. The collective thought was âHoly $#!#!â Iâve never experienced anything else like it.
If live music kinda sucks for you, youâre just not going to the right shows.
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One time I watched him pause between every song to yell âWHITE POWER!â which is not a terribly subversive statement in central Missouri; another time, I watched him surprise-bodyslam a female audience member. These times and others, Iâm very ashamed to admit, my only thought was: âThis guy will do anything to give a great show!â
My only thought would have been: âWhereâs the fucking exit?â Yet, somehow, this guy kept going back for more.
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âSo I know what Iâm talking about when I say: Live music is not a âfun eveningâ in any sense of the phrase.â
Given that this article is nearly 180Âș at odds with my own experience, Iâm left to conclude that the author either must have pretty shitty taste in artists and/or that the author is extrapolating way beyond what is justified based on a handful of anecdotes.
Letâs Face It, The Slice Kinda Sucks.
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art is about the relationship between work and audience. Live music endangers that relationship by introducing unstable factors: artists, and an audience that isnât just you.
Thatâs exactly what makes it interesting and fun. It appears that the author would like a world where everything is pre-determined and controlled solely by the individual. Boring, boring, boring.
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The arena concerts the author seems to exclusively go to are indeed a waste of time.
However, thereâs a whole world of live music in smaller venues that are entertaining on their musical merits if you are really in it for the music, which i donât think the author is.
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You kids get off my lawn!!
I enjoy live music intensely and agree with some of your complaints. Thatâs why I mostly do festivals of primarily modern folk and Americana music. Nice audience, better beer, and I can still hear the next day.
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Besides folk festivals, where the music is art, and they play for love, small bars/pubs occasionally book a great group, provided they keep the volume below 11.
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No kidding. It sounds like the author needs to spend some quality time in New Orleans. But, thatâs good music. The author probably wouldnât appreciate it.
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What makes live music fun is an artist/group who are still having fun. I saw Ray Charles play at the university I went to in the early 90s. He came out, played his five greatest hits exactly like they sounded on the record, the left. I paid $30 for a 25 minute show that sounded like a recording. The next weekend they had The Romantics. Their recordings were sort of pop/rock, but they were really a four piece rock band from (I think) Detroit. They played their songs like they were blasting them out of the garage.
So if youâre young, and thinking you might hate live music after this, I would give you a few tips. Donât go see a very popular act, unless you know they put on a good show. Go to a club, bar, or smaller venue. Youâll be disappointed less often. Also, put the fucking cell phones down. You may or may not enjoy the show. You wonât enjoy the shitty cell phone recording of the show after.
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No, the second half gets worse, where she admits she didnât give a crap about quality when she performed, and produced racist body-slamming performers. And its mostly head-banging âmusicâ, so no surprise the live music sucked. You chose wisely to bail.
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I believe marching bands were namechecked as actual good music. Iâm sure Channing has gone to a second line!
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