Lady Gaga?

[Strike For The South]

Stewart Copeland is the Drummer for the band 'Police'.

that was the joke

Sometimes this mans genuis is lost on yall

[Samurai Waki]

I like Ruining Jokes.

[scottishranger]

Isnt she a hermaphrodite?

ewwww

[Louis VI the Fat]

Now I feel like Andres. I can't keep up anymore with all this modern music. Who's the Police?

[Lemur]

Well, The Police happened a long time ago, so I just named him, figuring people like Strike haven't heard of anything before Britney. Just trying to, you know, relate to these darn kids.

[Azathoth]

Anti-intellectualism at its finest! I would point out that music theory is several layers of abstraction away from wavelength and intensity. So your statement is comparable to, "Architecture is a crock, it's all just masses and gravity anyway." Or, "There's no such thing as filmmaking technique, it's just photons being reflected off a surface."

I would also argue that there are common musical elements that make up "catchy" songs, and the majority of musicians would agree. As I said, all of the music you like conforms to music theory in one way or another. To argue that the theory is irrelevant is like saying math is irrelevant to the computer games you like.

A more concrete example: I was interviewing a drummer named Stewart Copeland some years ago, and he said something along the lines of, "Nobody's going to listen to my work and say, 'The syncopation of the hi-hat really drives the beat.' But they're going to know a great beat when they hear it. It's up to me to know the theory and sweat the details."


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro
Snobby people often describe pop music as trash and complain about it being stuck in their head, that's because they associate that kind of music with certain things and think of themselves as being better than that.

Ah yes, the "some people say" assertion. I would appreciate it if you would respond to what is actually said in thread, rather than these theoretical "some people." If you think I'm being snobby by saying that music theory is real and has relevance to what kinds of music we like, grow a pair and say so.

You just ruined music for me. Thanks. :/

[Lemur]

You just ruined music for me. Thanks. :/

Nonsense, if you really want music ruined for yourself, you need to read (and attempt to understand) the complete works of Walter Piston: Harmony, Counterpoint and Orchestration. Them books will make your brain bleed.

[Subotan]

Snobby people often describe pop music as trash and complain about it being stuck in their head, that's because they associate that kind of music with certain things and think of themselves as being better than that. They are like priests denying a woman's beauty because they are intent on their own celibacy. It's a barren, uptight existence.

Fortunately, most people know better

Simple people often describe jazz or classical music as too complex and complain about getting confused by all the various kinds of tunes, melodies, counter-melodies, bass lines, off-beats, canons, scales, key changes, changes in dynamic, tempos, accent, staccatos, time signatures, that's because they associate that kind of music with certain things and think of themselves as being worse than that. They are like priests denying a woman's beauty because they are intent on their own celibacy. It's a barren, downtrodden existence.

Your argument is so preposterous that it can merely be reversed to give exactly the opposite outcome, just as logically. The popularity of music has no impact whatsoever on my enjoyment of it. I enjoy bands no-one has heard of (Battles, The La's, Egotrippi) and others which loads of people enjoy (Muse, Metallica, Pink Floyd) and others in between (ZZ Top, Frank Zappa, Beck).

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Simple people often describe jazz or classical music as too complex and complain about getting confused by all the various kinds of tunes, melodies, counter-melodies, bass lines, off-beats, canons, scales, key changes, changes in dynamic, tempos, accent, staccatos, time signatures, that's because they associate that kind of music with certain things and think of themselves as being worse than that. They are like priests denying a woman's beauty because they are intent on their own celibacy. It's a barren, downtrodden existence.

Your argument is so preposterous that it can merely be reversed to give exactly the opposite outcome, just as logically.

You didn't reverse it, you repeated it. So of course it's logical...you know the phrase "it works both ways"?

It's like I argued that republicans are biased against democrats and you counter with "that's so preposterous, I can use that argument to show that democrats are biased against republicans".

There is lots of catchy classical music btw. Jazz not so much, which is why it sucks and no one listens to it

[Lemur]

Jazz not so much, which is why it sucks and no one listens to it.

There's plenty of catchy jazz, if you know where to look. Trust me, any art form that started out as whorehouse music knows how to shake booty. Just because some folks wandered off into atonal, arhythmic weirdness doesn't mean you get to dismiss the entire genre with impunity.

Another ordinance which helped Jazz flourish in New Orleans was the establishment, in 1897, of Storyville, the Crescent City's legendary red-light district. From Basin Street to Robertson Street and from Perdido to Gravier, 2000 registered prostitutes plied their wares in dozens of sporting houses. The area was teeming with jazz bands who usually played not in the bordellos but in the dance halls and dives which dotted the district, places with names like Funky Butt Hall, Come Clean Dance Hall and Mahogany Hall. The sporting houses usually employed a solo piano player, respectfully referred to by the girls as the "Professor". Jelly Roll Morton was once a Professor, much to the consternation of his family who promptly disowned him.

Sheesh, in the last 24 hours you've declared that you hate dogs, dismiss people who study how music works as "snobs", and now the entire world of jazz. Somebody needs to slip you some sunshine happy-happy rays of unicorn magic sparkle dust.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

There's plenty of catchy jazz

Nah, that's kind of annoying really

Sheesh, in the last 24 hours you've declared that you hate dogs, dismiss people who study how music works as "snobs", and now the entire world of jazz. Somebody needs to slip you some sunshine happy-happy rays of unicorn magic sparkle dust.

I haven't really done any of that. We just express things differently

Really I'm just disputing the idea of "high" and "low" culture. It came up in a previous music thread as well, LW and I had a nice chat I remember.

[Reverend Joe]

Nah, that's kind of annoying really

Well, you may call it annoying, but I absolutely guarantee you that you already knew that tune. In fact, by your standards it's one of the best songs ever made, because it's so ubiquitously associated with the Jazz era, and either is or was so popular, that everyone knows the tune, even while far fewer people actually know its name or who performed it. It's the same with a song like Born to be Wild: everyone knows the song, and has heard it in movies, and chances are you have seen it in "Easy Rider" and figure, "oh, yeah, it was in that crazy hippie/biker movie"; but ask anyone listening to it if they like Steppenwolf and they give you a dumb stare (which, by the way, really irritates me because Steppenwolf is a righteous goddamn band.) Much like "Sing Sing Sing With a Swing" (the jazz song, and no, I had no idea what it was called) it has been repeated in American culture ad nauseam until people are slightly annoyed at hearing it, because it's just "that song," the song that everyone seems to want to use in a certain context, because it either is or was incredibly popular to the point that it spreads faster than the artist's name and becomes disassociated with the original artist. It's such a good song that it transcends the scene that originally made it popular and keeps being catchy and sticking in your head into you want to blow it out with a bullet.

And maybe there's an objective reason why songs like that are so well known, and it's not just a gigantic plot to drive you insane.

[Vuk]

Gosh I despise that woman. :P