THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: evilCarl on 03 Feb 2009, 14:32
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I recently found a thesis this dude named Max Heath (awesome name) wrote for his BA in Arts at Wesleyan University. He's taken a scholarly approach to the wonder and magic of Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and somehow, it just makes the album even better than before. He notes that "[t]ypically, reviewers have justified this evasion by passing off the album's lyrics as inscrutably enigmatic, and its music as too simplistic to warrant a closer look", and then just blows that kind of thinking out of the water and to the moon Just read it and be happy.
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/features/2008/transience_and_transcendence_1.php
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/features/2008/transience_and_transcendence_2.php
http://www.gloriousnoise.com/features/2008/transience_and_transcendence_3.php
EDIT: Wow, this thing got way out of hand. It might be my fault, I never really specified what I wanted to discuss here. First of all, I don't care whether you like Neutral Milk Hotel or not. Obviously, I do, but I can handle people having differing opinions and tastes. Second, I really don't care about the merits of the article. I'm sorry it has some faggy language. I can't change that, but it does not affect the content of the article in any way. The point I'm trying to make here is that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and in fact every piece of work, is influenced by many things that the artist has come across in his/her life. I guess the question I'd like to ask is, "Does knowing the influences allow us to better understand/appreciate a piece of art?" I would argue yes. Without the knowledge that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is written as a tribute to Anne Frank, the lyrics would just be vaguely interesting psychedelic drivel. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to exhaustively research a piece to enjoy it, and you shouldn't. It's just fun to do.
And for the record, all that "a compelling document that seems to bypass cognition" means is that it "affects you emotionally."
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I've read that. It pretty much sums up why people need to shut the fuck up about that album.
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Hahaha, pointless antagonization.
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I wasn't being pointlessly antagonistic, I really think that paper is a bad thing and a perfect demonstration of Doing Rock Writing Wrong.
:x :x :x :x :x :x :x
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Please elaborate.
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For starters, no album - nor anything else for that matter - should ever be referred to as "a compelling document that seems to bypass cognition".
I'm afraid it looks like the guy who wrote that paper is in the early stages of that horrible disease known as Academic Writing Syndrome.
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"a compelling document that seems to bypass cognition".
What a wank.
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Okay yeah. Definitely wank.
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Oh alright. I misunderstood. My bad.
Edit: This sounds really glib and annoying but it's not supposed to be. I apologize.
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For starters, no album - nor anything else for that matter - should ever be referred to as "a compelling document that seems to bypass cognition".
I'm afraid it looks like the guy who wrote that paper is in the early stages of that horrible disease known as Academic Writing Syndrome.
I don't know why writing for academia is automatically a bad thing. Of course, there are many pitfalls that just cause a self sustaining system of thought that has no real relevance to anything (see post-modernism), but that doesn't mean every article is invalid. This article is a perfect example of scholarly papers down right. All Heath is doing is making connections between the album and The Diary of Anne Frank to help understand it better and, hopefully, increase the enjoyment in listening. Nobody is saying this is the end all be all of interpretations of the album.
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I'm not arguing with the content of the thesis - I'm hardly in a position to do so, I could barely handle reading the first section. I'm saying that the manner in which the thesis is written - or at least the bit that I read - is unnecessarily pretentious and jargonistic, which seems to be a frequent problem in Academia.
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maybe this:
[img width= height=]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/addiocielo/cnh.jpg[/img]
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Man I forgot how good that Calvin and Hobbes strip was.
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I've read that. It pretty much sums up why people need to shut the fuck up about that album.
Mate, you just need to look in different places. I'd never fucking heard of this album - or indeed, this appallingly named band - before registering on this forum. Just stop looking, man.
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I've read that. It pretty much sums up why people need to shut the fuck up about that album.
Mate, you just need to look in different places. I'd never fucking heard of this album - or indeed, this appallingly named band - before registering on this forum. Just stop looking, man.
Erm. How the hell? It's "officially" one of the top 5 albums of the 90s. You'd have to try hard to avoid talk about this album on any music related forum.
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Indie related music forum, yes. Any other genre, no.
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I've read that. It pretty much sums up why people need to shut the fuck up about that album.
Mate, you just need to look in different places. I'd never fucking heard of this album - or indeed, this appallingly named band - before registering on this forum. Just stop looking, man.
Erm. How the hell? It's "officially" one of the top 5 albums of the 90s. You'd have to try hard to avoid talk about this album on any music related forum.
Well the 15-20 other music forusm I've been on would beg to differ. Quite apart from, 'officially?' Where are you getting that from?? Even in quotation marks I'm doubting your sources.
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Anyone with a passing familiarity of American independent music in the last thirty years has listened to In The Aeroplane Over The Sea at least four times.
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Of course that is significantly smaller than the number of people that would turn out to one Kings of Leon show.
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unnecessarily pretentious and jargonistic, which seems to be a frequent problem in Academia.
It's just a style; it's easy enough to ignore with a little practice, as the pretentious bits usual contain no meaning anyway. I found the article interesting, but enjoy the music the same as I did before reading it - but then I can't think of any music, whether Bach or Beatles, whose effect on me was changed by reading academic studies (which is not to say that those studies are not interesting or worthwhile).
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I find it pretty difficult to ignore style. Comes from writing too much myself, maybe: I'm always paying attention to how someone writes, gleaning stylistic devices for use in my own writing, being appalled by bad grammar or choice of words. Sometimes I even "correct" a sentence in my head if I don't like the way it's written. I'm sure you listen to recordings with a much more critical ear than most of the rest of us; same thing with me and the written word.
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Well the 15-20 other music forusm I've been on would beg to differ. Quite apart from, 'officially?' Where are you getting that from?? Even in quotation marks I'm doubting your sources.
'officially' was meant as 'multiple magazines say' :-)
A quick look on wikipedia:
Nude as the News U.S. The 100 Most Compelling Albums of the 90s 1999 #3
Magnet U.S. Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003 2003 #1
Pitchfork Media U.S. Top 100 Albums of the 1990s 2003 #4
"It is currently ranked as the 53rd greatest album of all time on Rate Your Music"
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Indie related music forum, yes. Any other genre, no.
Considering I've come across discussions about teh album on Fark.com of all places...
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It's just a style; it's easy enough to ignore with a little practice, as the pretentious bits usual contain no meaning anyway. I found the article interesting, but enjoy the music the same as I did before reading it - but then I can't think of any music, whether Bach or Beatles, whose effect on me was changed by reading academic studies (which is not to say that those studies are not interesting or worthwhile).
But does its prevalence in academia make clumsy writing acceptable?
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Okay yeah. Definitely wank.
i'd say that's a perfect review of the album.
seriously, i'm not the type of person who's quick to call something overrated, but ITAOTS is easily the most overrated album i've ever heard. i'd go as far as to say it's fucking terrible.
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Honestly, how many of you have read the whole thing? I only ask because that galling first sentence and the ridiculous title aside, it doesn't read too badly. It's well structured and isn't particularly obfuscatory in the way it's written. My only problem with it, and this might be because it was edited down, but it really doesn't leave you with the impression of having understood the album any better for having read it, which as I understand, is the point of this whole fancy academic writing business the kids are talking about lately. (In the arts anyway).
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But does its prevalence in academia make clumsy writing acceptable?
No; but you still learn to dissociate the style from the content, particularly when the purple prose is mainly concentrated in a beginning intended to impress.
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Well the 15-20 other music forusm I've been on would beg to differ. Quite apart from, 'officially?' Where are you getting that from?? Even in quotation marks I'm doubting your sources.
'officially' was meant as 'multiple magazines say' :-)
A quick look on wikipedia:
Nude as the News U.S. The 100 Most Compelling Albums of the 90s 1999 #3
Magnet U.S. Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003 2003 #1
Pitchfork Media U.S. Top 100 Albums of the 1990s 2003 #4
"It is currently ranked as the 53rd greatest album of all time on Rate Your Music"
This might be just because they're American, but I've never heard of either Nude or Magnet (who does a top 60 anyway? 100 or 50, yeah, maybe even 75, but 60???). And as for Pitchfork, Lord knows if you just sing out of tune and have shitty production you'll probably have a 10.0. To be fair, I've never listened to this album, but that's because I can't stand all the wank written about it on this board.
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True Fact: I have not listened to the entire album. I listened to a couple songs (including Two-Headed Carrot Sister or whatever), decided "this probably could've been on the Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack" and haven't listened to it since.
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To be fair, I've never listened to this album, but that's because I can't stand all the wank written about it on this board.
To be fair, that's an attitude that will close you off to a lot of good music. People actually praise things that are worthwhile quite often, believe it or not. Even hipsters. Either way, if you haven't listened to it, it's not really fair to complain about it, or even complain about the praise it is given. how would you know if any of us should praise it profusely or not? Quite honestly, none of us should; it's good, but not anywhere near that good, but that's beside the point. Green Eggs and Ham, man.
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^this fella is right, generally speaking, but seriously, don't waste your time on this album.
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Or! Waste your time however you like.
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To be fair, I've never listened to this album, but that's because I can't stand all the wank written about it on this board.
To be fair, that's an attitude that will close you off to a lot of good music. People actually praise things that are worthwhile quite often, believe it or not. Even hipsters. Either way, if you haven't listened to it, it's not really fair to complain about it, or even complain about the praise it is given. how would you know if any of us should praise it profusely or not? Quite honestly, none of us should; it's good, but not anywhere near that good, but that's beside the point. Green Eggs and Ham, man.
I don't just ignore all music that gets praised, it's this specific album, because I never hear about it anywhere else, only on here, and it's incessant. Loads of my favourite bands - Pink Floyd for one - are hilariously overpraised. I don't close myself off to other things due to overpraise, it's just this record, this forum.
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Anyone with a passing familiarity of American independent music in the last thirty years has listened to In The Aeroplane Over The Sea at least four times.
ah ha!
i've only listened to it once! it was pretty uninteresting.
however, some of my favorite bands contain members of NMH so it's not like they're bad at music. i just wasn't excited by that album.
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Every time NMH is brought up I get a good few minutes' entertainment, specifically because of the ITAOTS fanboys that seem to consider it the Most. Important. Album. Ever. Now, notice I am not debating the claims of "Best Album Ever" - that's subjective - but "Most Important" is entirely laughable. Even "one of the most important albums ever" is a laughable claim.
As already discussed, this album is insanely tiny in the scheme of influential albums. To be important, it needs to have cultural saturation and, even more importantly, have an influence on a broad cross-section of culture (or at least a significant demographic)
ITAOTS has none of this. It is an album whose primary demographic is music critics and extreme record nerds. In fact, I know a *lot* of record nerds with a fairly in-depth knowledge of music and they know little or nothing about this album.
Now, this isn't to say your appreciation of this record is invalid. But geesh guys, this album is really not that big a deal in terms of who it has affected. It's had a major influence on only the smallest slice of the music buying population.
And far out, if an album *can't* break beyond an audience of music critics and extreme record nerds then that, in and of itself, is a flaw.
I am not a person to judge music by sales - far from it - but this is one of those albums that has been blown out of proportion.
All IMHO, of course.
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And far out, if an album *can't* break beyond an audience of music critics and extreme record nerds then that, in and of itself, is a flaw.
Everything you said is reasonable except for this, which is rather absurd.
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I don't just ignore all music that gets praised, it's this specific album, because I never hear about it anywhere else, only on here, and it's incessant. Loads of my favourite bands - Pink Floyd for one - are hilariously overpraised. I don't close myself off to other things due to overpraise, it's just this record, this forum.
So, because "we" like it, and "nobody else"(ha.) does, it must suck? Do you really think the rest of the forum has such bad taste? Also, if this thread makes anything clear, it's that this forum does not actually jump on Mangum's nuts like you say. Even if that were the case, there are still plenty of voices claiming this to be a good album that are not, in fact, quite so vehement, prone to exaggeration, or talking out of their ass.
It's painfully obvious this album has been talked about too much anyways. So I'm gonna stop now.
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Dudes it's a pretty good album. To refuse to try it out is probably more pretentious than talking about it too much.
@DK: Where the hell have you been living, man? In my social circles a good deal of people who've never even seen this forum have known about and generally like ITAOTS a lot more than I do. I'm constantly meeting people who are big NMH fans. From music nerds to attractive college girls to the odd, average Joe Blow.
Seriously if you think people don't really know and praise this album all the time outside of this forum then I wouldn't really trust your appraisal on the importance or popularity of any album.
Edit: Yeah that essay is pretty bad.
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I'm not arguing with the content of the thesis - I'm hardly in a position to do so, I could barely handle reading the first section. I'm saying that the manner in which the thesis is written - or at least the bit that I read - is unnecessarily pretentious and jargonistic, which seems to be a frequent problem in Academia.
Fact: when you hit that stage and start using superfluous language, it doesn't make you special, it makes you look like you have a chronic case of explosive logorrhoea.
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Yes the album is highly overrated, but the people hating on it because of that are, frankly, being stupid. Hell, I like the album. It's in my top ten favorites, even. But people, it's just a pop album. Some people are going to like it, some are going to hate it, and some people are going to write shitty papers on it. Hating it for its popularity, though, is just one of the biggest damn fallacies I can imagine.
I'm really starting to hate this whole arguing over it thing. Can we not?
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I would love to see this guy write a paper on the Decemberists.
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I heard Neutral Milk Hotel once and it sucked.
So there's my argument.
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This might be just because they're American, but I've never heard of either Nude or Magnet (who does a top 60 anyway? 100 or 50, yeah, maybe even 75, but 60???). And as for Pitchfork, Lord knows if you just sing out of tune and have shitty production you'll probably have a 10.0. To be fair, I've never listened to this album, but that's because I can't stand all the wank written about it on this board.
Sounds like your mind is pretty set without any first-person experience of this album.
*snip*
It is an album whose primary demographic is music critics and extreme record nerds. In fact, I know a *lot* of record nerds with a fairly in-depth knowledge of music and they know little or nothing about this album.
*snip*
Well then their knowledge is not that in-depth. I know people that *don't* have in-depth knowledge and they're quite aware of this album's existance.
Yes the album is highly overrated, but the people hating on it because of that are, frankly, being stupid. Hell, I like the album. It's in my top ten favorites, even. But people, it's just a pop album. Some people are going to like it, some are going to hate it, and some people are going to write shitty papers on it. Hating it for its popularity, though, is just one of the biggest damn fallacies I can imagine.
I'm mostly amused that the detractors of this album come from the "noone knows about this, it's irrelevant" and the "it's too popular to be any good" groups. :-D
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I would love to see this guy write a paper on the Decemberists.
I would like to see Colin Meloy write a paper on Jeff Mangum
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So, because "we" like it, and "nobody else"(ha.) does, it must suck? Do you really think the rest of the forum has such bad taste? Also, if this thread makes anything clear, it's that this forum does not actually jump on Mangum's nuts like you say. Even if that were the case, there are still plenty of voices claiming this to be a good album that are not, in fact, quite so vehement, prone to exaggeration, or talking out of their ass.
I don't recall saying I thought it was a bad album. I just have no interest in becoming one of this gibbering mass.
Sounds like your mind is pretty set without any first-person experience of this album.
That's 'cause it is.
@DK: Where the hell have you been living, man? In my social circles a good deal of people who've never even seen this forum have known about and generally like ITAOTS a lot more than I do. I'm constantly meeting people who are big NMH fans. From music nerds to attractive college girls to the odd, average Joe Blow.
And what social circles do you frequent?
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Hey, here's an idea: how about instead of turning this into yet another tedious thread about whether In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is any good, how about we go back to discussing whether the article about it is any good?
Or you lovers and haters can continue smacking your head against the brick wall of opposing opinion, your choice.
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I'll just leave this here:
Yeah, this thread will have outlived whatever usefulness as soon as somebody comes in and says "rap music".
Not to say what's been said in just about every other thread remotely like this, but I think it's mostly a matter of taste. I mean, there are lots of bands that people have eargasms over. Around here it's stuff like Explosions in the Sky, DFA 1979, BSS and its satellites, Okkervil River, whatever. People even go so far as to call them "life-changing", and even if I can see the appeal of these acts I can't really say that I like them at all. Thing is, when you hear so much about how great something is and you don't get the same reaction as other people you get the urge to say that no, they really aren't that great. And that's where I think a lot of talk of bands being overrated comes from. But I like to believe that most artists put as much work into their material as anybody else, and that my ear is not an impeccable instrument for discerning quality. I don't think it's fair to shit all over a band because I can't enjoy them the way others can.
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Hey, here's an idea: how about instead of turning this into yet another tedious thread about whether In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is any good, how about we go back to discussing whether the article about it is any good?
Or you lovers and haters can continue smacking your head against the brick wall of opposing opinion, your choice.
Article seemed well researched and thought out. Couldn't make it all the way through though.
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Hey, here's an idea: how about instead of turning this into yet another tedious thread about whether In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is any good, how about we go back to discussing whether the article about it is any good?
Or you lovers and haters can continue smacking your head against the brick wall of opposing opinion, your choice.
Don't be ridiculous :wink:
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here is a very good illustration of why the article is retarded:
"The chord progression consists of E major alternating with C major, but the melody of the first section superimposes E natural minor over the E major chord. Here Mangum's loud, deep voice dominates the guitar's tonality, which buries its major thirds by emphasizing the low fifth. Though the major tonality is clear during the instrumental breaks, as he sings the minor vocal melody all but obliterates the major key. This domination reflects the song's subject matter, which laments the imposition of one force upon another, the invasion of suffering where it does not belong."
yes, right, of course. it has nothing to do with jeff mangum having very limited guitar and singing ability.
i mean that paragraph makes LOST fan theories look downright sensible.
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If you're suggesting that the major/minor clash is anything other than deliberate, why should we take you more seriously than the article?
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Well, as a musician I find the level of deliberation that is presented in that paragraph to be utterly laughable in the sense of being something that was done on purpose, especially in the context of the musician involved.
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Yes the album is highly overrated, but the people hating on it because of that are, frankly, being stupid. Hell, I like the album. It's in my top ten favorites, even. But people, it's just a pop album. Some people are going to like it, some are going to hate it, and some people are going to write shitty papers on it. Hating it for its popularity, though, is just one of the biggest damn fallacies I can imagine.
I'm really starting to hate this whole arguing over it thing. Can we not?
My sentiments exactly, I love the album but it is not "the greatest album ever", there is no such thing.
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actually the best album ever is clearly jadiohead
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Seconded.
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Aside from Unknown Pleasures, Kind of Blue, Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper's, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Blue, and Bridge Over Troubled Water, of course.
Dang it kid, aside from Pet Sounds and Kind of Blue, all the artists you mentioned have far better albums
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'Round About Midnight is a better Miles Davis album than Kind of Blue, and there's absolutely nothing anybody can say to change my mind on that.
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I can see it go both ways but neither is far better than the other.
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Ha, so am I! I'm pretty sure it's my favourite album of any genre, of any era. If there is a perfect album this is it, I've no doubt of that.
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Emilio are you arguing Fear of a Black Planet is better than It Takes a Nation of Millions, or are we stlll friends?
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Indie related music forum, yes. Any other genre, no.
Sorry to dig this up.
But I just saw a poll on an ICEHOCKEY forum putting ITAOTS up against OK Computer. It managed to get over a third of the votes too.
So. Erm. Yeah.
It's even more well known than I thought. O_O
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I don't feel the article added anything at all, and in many instances was forcefully assumptive of the inspiration and intentions of the artists. It's a pretty bollocks article since it reminds me of the crap I used to write in college.
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'Round About Midnight is a better Miles Davis album than Kind of Blue, and there's absolutely nothing anybody can say to change my mind on that.
On the Corner
Emilio are you arguing Fear of a Black Planet is better than It Takes a Nation of Millions, or are we stlll friends?
I have long ago decided to give up deciding which is a better album. They are a perfect tie.
That being said, I prefer It Takes a Nation of Millions.
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#1: old topic is old
#2: slow down, mate
Brother, it's at the top of the pile, apologies if you have a problem with that.
If you have nothing to say, please don't say it, if you have something to say, I don't particularly care how old the topic is.
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Oh boy, you are going to make so many friends here.
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@ Valley
Oh, I'm sure. I'm already being stalked across the board by hecklers. This is a good omen :P
#2: slow down, mate
Name: Jeans
Posts: 6412 (7.196 per day)
:lol:
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And you've posted 14 today so far.
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Yeah, Senor Norway has been around here for quite a while. He may have an up there daily postcount, but he makes some startlingly good posts.
See also: the time in the photothread he wore a dress.
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And you've posted 14 today so far.
I don't think you quite grasp the concept of averages.
Then again, perhaps you are literally on here every day posting exactly 1.901 times, in which case I both salute you for being about to make a .901th of a post, and suggest you get out more :wink:
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This place is a bit like real life, in that it's worth spending time getting to know about the people here before stepping in*, and the people like to get to know you a bit to get a handle on where you're coming from (the Hi I'm New forum is about that).
* or stepping on toes
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Isn't there a thread for album cults?
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Man, not only did you necro a thread, you necro-ed one that bugged the hell out of me. :x
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Add to that the fact that you took it upon yourself to dictate how the mediaf!re thread is supposed to work, and maybe you'll see why people find it slightly annoying..
Wow. This is honestly ridiculous.
"Dictate how the med!afire thread is supposed to work"?
What the hell, man? Did I fuck your mother or something? Why the fuck are you giving me this bullshit?
Not once did I "dictate" how the thread is "supposed to go."
Every post I made concerning the discussion in the med!afire thread was in defense of the people you've been badmouthing for posting good albums, simply because you can't fathom the idea of posting an album without a shitty generic description of the band posted.
My entire point has always been that people should be welcomed and accepted no matter how much or how little they want to say about the albums they're posting.
I'm not "dictating" anything, all I'm asking is for people to chill out and not get so uptight because people don't choose to post generic two-line bullshit on every single album they post.
Guess who's dictating? YOU, for dogmatically DEMANDING that EVERYONE post something about the artist on EVERY album they post. YOU are the one DEMANDING things be done in a certain way. I couldn't care less "how things should be done", it's up to individual posters to decide how they like to post.
I've been nothing but civil when discussing in the med!afire thread, but I'm not about to take shit sitting down from you, stalking me just to heckle all of my posts because I dared have an opinion that differed from yours.
If you can't listen respectfully to opinions that differ from your own without characterizing them as "dictating", I feel deeply sorry for you, you have a lot of growing up to do.
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I'll also note here that you claim the music forum "moves slowly" and AT THE SAME TIME complain that I posted in a thread less than a month old. If you're going to unreasonably heckle me because I dared differ with your opinion in the med!afire thread, at least pretend to have a consistent reason for it.
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Did I fuck your mother or something?
This is the internet. You might have. You can't know.
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I'm not "dictating" anything, all I'm asking is for people to chill out and not get so uptight because people don't choose to post generic two-line bullshit on every single album they post.
Here is an example of a very simple yet effective description of a band.
proto-punk glam rock
One line, 3 words. Probably took about 5 seconds to type. If you feel that an album needs a longer description to be justified then thats up to you but there is no problem with making a post like this.
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I'm not "dictating" anything, all I'm asking is for people to chill out and not get so uptight because people don't choose to post generic two-line bullshit on every single album they post.
Here is an example of a very simple yet effective description of a band.
proto-punk glam rock
One line, 3 words. Probably took about 5 seconds to type. If you feel that an album needs a longer description to be justified then thats up to you but there is no problem with making a post like this.
Useful to someone trying to collect every proto-punk glam rock album ever released, perhaps.
Though one would hope if you have such an intent, you'd have already heard of the album being posted, in which case it would be just as useful to you as if the three words weren't there at all.
I fit in the latter category.
Once again, there's nothing WRONG with posting a three-word description, and if you want, knock yourself out. I AM COMPLETELY ACCEPTING. I simply don't DEMAND dogmatically that people do so. If they want: good, great! If they don't: I'm not going to demand and dictate that they do so.
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I'll also note here that you claim the music forum "moves slowly" and AT THE SAME TIME complain that I posted in a thread less than a month old. If you're going to unreasonably heckle me because I dared differ with your opinion in the med!afire thread, at least pretend to have a consistent reason for it.
#1 It was not less than a month old.
#2 Sure this forum moves slowly, but this thread was probably on the third or fourth page and had obviously run it's course. Granted, it was linked in a recent and popular thread, but that was just to prove a point. There was pretty much nothing you could've posted that would have warranted reviving this thread.
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Useful to someone trying to collect every proto-punk glam rock album ever released, perhaps.
No, the point was that if you don't post a description of the album then how are people going to know what it is about? Whether you just post a genre like i showed or whether you post similar bands it doesn't matter, just give people a fighting chance of knowing something about the album so that they don't blindly download it, delete it and feel that they have just wasted bandwidth to do so.
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#2 Sure this forum moves slowly, but this thread was probably on the third or fourth page and had obviously run it's course.
It was on the first page.
It was the fourth thread down.
Had I known it was over a month old, I wouldn't have posted. My apologies. If the music forum moves so slowly a thread over a month old is the fourth thread down, I don't see why people are complaining about my posting more.
Useful to someone trying to collect every proto-punk glam rock album ever released, perhaps.
No, the point was that if you don't post a description of the album then how are people going to know what it is about? Whether you just post a genre like i showed or whether you post similar bands it doesn't matter, just give people a fighting chance of knowing something about the album so that they don't blindly download it, delete it and feel that they have just wasted bandwidth to do so.
http://www.google.com/
And the name of the artist is far more information to go on than a shitty genre tag.
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#2 Sure this forum moves slowly, but this thread was probably on the third or fourth page and had obviously run it's course.
It was on the first page.
It was the fourth thread down.
Had I known it was over a month old, I wouldn't have posted.
Every message has its date - the date of the previous message to your first one in this thread was Feb 18th, so I really can't believe that it was the fourth thread in the forum. Fourth on the second page, perhaps. This board takes a rather severe view of bringing back dead threads. Whether or not this is logical, it is how it is, and if you hang around a bit longer before getting stuck in, this, and many other things, will become readily apparent.
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It is not my right to say, but it isn't just that you revived a dead thread. It is also that you had literally nothing to provide to it. There is a social code to this forum. You've broken many of it's unwritten rules. Thanks for posting.
PS. You've also been a dick to a few of this forum's most highly regarded members. That's not really a good idea if you plan on sticking around. Just check out dalconnsuch's (http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php?action=profile;u=15632) profile. He isn't around anymore because not many people liked him very much.
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So, I think too much has been made of this particular article as a representation of academic writing in general; this guy is not a professional (though clearly he has intentions of becoming one). Sure, some of it is impenetrable, but sometimes - especially at higher levels of academia - to be impenetrable is simply to express an insight that requires a certain amount of linguistic footwork, in the interest of economy. Sometimes parodies and criticisms of it are just and proper, but to write it off because it does not conform to your preferred mode of dialogue (vernacular) is unfair. It seems like the least that this paper can do is encourage broadening the discussion of a music that generally is considered "pop culture" and tagged as only-to-be-reviewed. If there is something substantial to be said about the album's expression, further than it is "good," "bad," or "well-made," - well, there are quality discussions to be had most everywhere.
re this page: nobody cares about your tiff; please take it somewhere else.
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someone trying to collect every proto-punk glam rock album ever released, perhaps.
I am trying to wrap my head around this idea brought up earlier of an individual 'belonging' to an internet community and trying to figure out if it would be helped or hindered if you were this kind of person. Tragically difficult problem.
Guys can I just get really meta and say the only thing I don't like about this place is how when people come into this forum and act like a dick everyone goes "OH NO YOU CAN'T ACT LIKE A COCK ON THIS PART OF THE INTERNET GET OUT" instead of doing the right thing which is basically anything except that.
Also read the first part of this essay again and I am just so used to academic arts wank because its a perfectly cromulent piece of academic writing. It's just that he is writing about something with little cultural context like it has had the time to develop a fully fledged impact on a society, if it was even capable of such a thing (MY OPINION IS THAT IT IS NOT)
Writing academic papers on rock music is like trying to describe Faulker by throwing the horns.*
Which gives me a fucking excellent idea for something to draw on my new bookshelf
*I have not done this