Dead Canon?

[amanajoe]

Bland Blonde

[RickW]

Yup, good article.

[Dub]

The idea of the best music of all time (or film or painting or …) is just stupid. It may help with marketing but not with appreciation or education.

[Russell Letson]

"Best" lists are at, um, best (sub)culturally specific and at worst parlor games or clickbait. Best how? At what? By what criteria? Measured how? By whom?

A canon makes a kind of sense in a specific context, like a school curriculum or a museum or library collection. Otherwise it's the Rolling Stone game of duelling fanboys.

[brucemacneill]

Was there any music written after 1975? OK, some of the Dire Straits stuff but beside that.

[Russell Letson]

Well, there's this.





And the score for Ragtime.

[Marshall]

Cannons are old

[millring]

There are only so many ways to express the reality that it is nearly impossible for any popular art form to register the same to a generation other than the one that produced it. If it does, it is with a doppler effect of distortion advancing ahead and trailing behind it. Even if a next generation embraces the art, it won't be for the same reasons. The art won't elicit identical feelings down the line. And it will be re and re and re interpreted if the original art said much of anything at all to begin with.

[millring]

....and I wrote that as a declarative sentence so it must be so.

[patrick]

Sept 3, 2018 15:49:07 GMT -5 millring said:

....and I wrote that as a declarative sentence so it must be so.

Well, its going on my list of best sentences of the day.

[Russell Letson]

Down the Newman rabbit hole--







I could swear he'd been listening to Nino Rota.

[sidheguitarmichael]

I guess the only counterpoint I can bring up is this: fully 50 percent of my beginning guitar classes on campus (4 sections/semester) reply with examples from the canon when asked about their favorite artist, song or riffs that made them want to learn guitar.

Kids are smart: they know that Lennon/McCartney could write rings around Beyonce, and they know that Hendrix or even John Mayer could wipe their butts with Ed Sheeran’s guitar playing.

This has been a constant since Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, and even John Mayer (guitar jocks in the old style) faded from the front burner to be replaced by Macklemore, Sheeran and Adele. When I press these kids, and ask why they are listening to parental—and grandparental—music, they uniformly respond "because it’s better than today’s music."

From the horses’ mouths, 30+ kids a semester; sample of one (occasionally 2) universities.

The band most likely to be mentioned more than once? Led Zeppelin. I shitteth thou not.

[Marshall]

Sept 3, 2018 15:47:42 GMT -5 millring said:

There are only so many ways to express the reality that it is nearly impossible for any popular art form to register the same to a generation other than the one that produced it. If it does, it is with a doppler effect of distortion advancing ahead and trailing behind it. Even if a next generation embraces the art, it won't be for the same reasons. The art won't elicit identical feelings down the line. And it will be re and re and re interpreted if the original art said much of anything at all to begin with.

<Flanger>

[TKennedy]

I kind of liked some of the tunes from La La land. Probably the only pop album I have purchased in a long time. There is still some good stuff out there that is semi mainstream.

Anyone ever watch "Score" It's great.

[Deleted]

I could have saved the author a lot of time and effort.

"Some people think rock and roll was the center of the musical universe. Others don't. Have a nice day."

[aquaduct]

Sept 3, 2018 20:55:44 GMT -5 @pauls said:

I could have saved the author a lot of time and effort.

"Some people think rock and roll was the center of the musical universe. Others don't. Have a nice day."

Dang it, you spoiled the surprise.

[sidheguitarmichael]

Sept 3, 2018 20:30:49 GMT -5 TKennedy said:

I kind of liked some of the tunes from La La land. Probably the only pop album I have purchased in a long time. There is still some good stuff out there that is semi mainstream.

The La La land soundtrack had some great music on it.

[Marshall]

Sept 3, 2018 16:45:00 GMT -5 sidheguitarmichael said:

I guess the only counterpoint I can bring up is this: fully 50 percent of my beginning guitar classes on campus (4 sections/semester) reply with examples from the canon when asked about their favorite artist, song or riffs that made them want to learn guitar.

Kids are smart: they know that Lennon/McCartney could write rings around Beyonce, and they know that Hendrix or even John Mayer could wipe their butts with Ed Sheeran’s guitar playing.

This has been a constant since Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, and even John Mayer (guitar jocks in the old style) faded from the front burner to be replaced by Macklemore, Sheeran and Adele. When I press these kids, and ask why they are listening to parental—and grandparental—music, they uniformly respond "because it’s better than today’s music."

From the horses’ mouths, 30+ kids a semester; sample of one (occasionally 2) universities.

The band most likely to be mentioned more than once? Led Zeppelin. I shitteth thou not.

I find that very interesting. I was listening to some NPR Sound Opinions show. They were interviewing somebody. What came up is nearly all the chart topping acts of today are colored. It reflects who buys music. But will all this Rap and electronica go the way of Disco? And what will the bulk of American kids remember when they grow into adulthood. Will they be longing for that good old gangsta-rap they heard as kids? I don't know.

I think (hope) there's a need for real songs. And how is anybody going to sit in their bedroom and play a song for their own enjoyment, if all they know is angry poetry.

Music hath charms.

[jdd2]

I was expecting some different content:

[Cornflake]

jdd beat me to it. I had a dead Canon after my tripod toppled into West Clear Creek.