http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockism
If "rockism" never gets brought up again I will be only too happy. In fact, if no stupid made-up word gets brought up again I'll be only too happy.
For the sake of everyone involved who didn't bother clicking on the link, the idea behind "rockism" is that it's a perjorative term used to describe an attitude which places additional value in bands deemed "authentic" - write their own music, play their own music, release their own music, do their own booking or touring, etcetera, etcetera, with the emphasis placed on the first two things I listed there.
Of course, there are people who do take part in "rockism." We call them "Nickelback Fans."
For the most part, however, saying that someone is "rockist" is a lazy way of defending your like for odious plastic shit like, say, "Rich Girl" or "Luxurious" or "Cool." Or Mariah Carey. Or Britney Spears. Or The Pussycat Dolls. Or Girls Aloud. Or t.A.t.U., which puzzled the absolute shit out of me when I wrote for Stylus and was the only person who hated them.
The people that use the term "rockist" refer to themselves mostly as "popists" or, God help me, "poptimists," which is the idea that the hook prevails. Unfortunately, having been
a singles reviewer for a website where the bulk of my fellow reviewers considered themselves as such, I can assure you that "poptimists" fall into their own special set of traps. The distinction between "hooky" and "obnoxious," unless it's something truly and genuinely grating to 90% of the world's population (e.g. Crazy Frog), becomes blurred to a point of irrelevance. Because something gets stuck in your head doesn't mean it's a great hook! The hook to Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" is in my head right now, but in reality it's a shit song - unimaginative, bland and featuring lyrics so stupid they border on offensive.
There's a lot more, but what I'm trying to say is
this is an absurdly stupid debate. Both "poptimism" and "rockism," which you'll note that I've put in quotations the whole time because I don't buy them as neologisms, don't take into account, as Khar pointed out, the actual diversity of all recorded and performed music. It also attempts to place every band, song and record on the exact same value scale, which just doesn't work - I'm going to approach a record by Okkervil River differently than I'm going to approach Gwen Stefani. They're different records with different approaches and different goals, and it is completely ridiculous to judge them by the exact same standards.
Both terms are essentially defining the same narrow-minded nature in each barely-extistent camp, i.e. one which really just likes a particular genre of music and will rate anything that doesn't resemble that genre as crap.
Now can we please never have this discussion again? I'm remembering what thread this is in so that the next time "rockism" or "poptimism" are brought up I can kerble the fuck out of whoever does so.
