Music (rant)

[Deadman Walkin]

Okay, so I was sitting in class today and we were talking about the very interesting topic of Globalization. We started to talk about music because it is a major type of the subject. We then watched a short clip on Australian/England rappers, which I actually quite liked (I live in Canada.) Then, the three people sitting behind me started to outburst about how these rappers sucked balls because they weren't rapping about how awful there life is and how awesome they are (like it seems most rap is now adays in North America.)

I respect that they can have their own opinions, but disrespecting other cultures music just... isn't cool. Then they went on, and it got quite a lot worse. They went on how The Beatles were an AWFUL band, as well as there are only three genres of music.

1. Rap (in there opinion rap = god.)
2. Trance/ Techno/ House
3. Everything else (emo kids and anarchy and really bad music.)

I could not believe my ears. I have never gotten so angry over bullshit like that. They took it too far and continued to dis all of the music I grew up with/ have gotten to love. Robert Johnson, The Doors everything. It drove me mad to hear music being thrown out the window just like that! I had to just write that down.

 

[Lord_Of_Plum]

I agree. Many people, especially teenagers and the like, seem to deliberately try to make crude stereotypical comments on things they have never experienced.

 

[mokes310]

The best way to deal with them is to ignore them. If no one pays attention to them, they'll realize just how stupid they sound and eventually stop.

 

[JRCB]

Didn't I make a thread like this on Thursday?

On topic: I totally agree with you.

 

[djpuppylove789]

trust me, i know how that is. i took a rock n' roll history class last year and everyone in there kept talking about how shitty the music was in the class while im sitting there enjoying listening to some zeppelin and floyd. its such a disgrace that an entire generation has gone on without any good music (music died in the mid 90's, around the same time Blink 182 was founded...)

 

[Hyoscine]

While I agree wholeheartedly about The Beatles sucking (sorry), confusing gangsta rap with hip hop in general is fairly dumb and just goes to show how little they know about what they claim to be into. Like Dan Le Sac says "Thou shalt remember that guns, bitches and bling were never part of the four elements and never will be.". End of, really.

Basically, you know these kids are idiots. We know these kids are idiots. I'm way to childish to know how you could sensibly go about ignoring them though. Sorry.

 

[wordsmith]

Gangsta Rap =/= Rap

Gangsta Rap=/= half the shit rap you hear now days. Lil Wayne is not "gangsta". 50 Cent is not "gangsta". Both are raping the culture... The only thing 50's done right in the past 15 years is played the keys on the beats for "how we do" and "hate it or love it". On both, however, his verses were shit.

If you were listening to aussie rap, PLEASE tell me you were listening to Hilltop Hoods? Their music is the best and most consistant rap I've heard in ages. I agree with you that the old stuff is dismissed too easily, but I can't listen to screamo or whatever it's called. We all have our dislikes.

edit: on the topic of Hilltop Hoods, and seeing the guy above me: "Isn't it ironic? But not the sort that makes you laugh, these "MC's" are making futures by raping the past" -1979. Great song in general, I'd give it a look on youtube.

 

[GyroCaptain]

I had a cousin claim that all music from before 2000 sucked. No, really. These people are immune to logic, your options are pretty much to either point and laugh, walking away; or to go the passive-aggressive route (emphasis on aggressive) and blast the Acca-Dacca at them until they yield.

Edit: What would destroy these people utterly, if they were susceptible to logic, would be reference to precisely where samples come from. Most samples come from either classic funk, soul or psychedelic rock.

 

[Chickenlittle]

Most teenagers these days are absolute assholes. They live in their own worlds, and anything outside of their own interests is irrelevant or wrong.

 

[Kadamon]

The music of yesterday is gone unfortunately, even in my age I can see how all of this new music is just a load of *ahem* CRAP and completely unoriginal.

What happened to the days of Led Zeppelin? Metallica (still around, which is good)? And Rolling Stones? Even if the topic WAS sex in their songs they sung it in a way that actually SOUNDED good... not this sexist jargon that is called "rap"...

 

[RufusMcLaser]

I spent far too much of my youth surrounded by people who thought music broke down into three types:
Country,
Western,
and Everything Else. Everything Else was held at arms length, and sometimes suspected of being the work of Satan.
Some time in the early 90s, they noticed rap, and added a fourth category: [racial slur] music.
To think, some of these people now hold degrees from accredited universities...

 

[Siuss]

Well, I will admit, I can't say I hate any genre for being the genre it is. I will however state that there has never been a consistent stream of hip-hop or country that I have enjoyed.

Also, I know this probably renders my point moot. I do not like the beatles, just isn't what I like.

 

[Taizan]

It really annoys me how people can be so ignorant about music...

 

[DeusFps]

Idiots. Most music these days is just pointless annoying sounds repeated constantly.

 

[Rock Avich]

PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC HELL YEAH!

Go Shpongle!

 

[CIA]

I agree. Many people, especially teenagers and the like, seem to deliberately try to make crude stereotypical comments on things they have never experienced.

Aren't you being slightly stereotypical? I get what you're saying though, and I agree that ignorance leads to stereotypes.

 

[Hippobatman]

Strap'em up in chairs and blast'em with some good old fashioned Slayer!!

Or lamp them one.

Suit yourself.

 

[mnimmny]

humm...
sooo...

after you got over their outburst did you manage to ask them why they had the hierarchy? What was it about their music that spoke to them? I'm really curious as to what they saw in rap & hip-hop that they didn't see in other places with similar themes like the blues or folk and country or Springsteen. Similar to pop-music and trance/techno, if the point is you can move to it fine, what elevates one over the other in their eyes?

While I entirely disagree with them, I also disagree with most of the previous posters that music is dead or the Beatles sucked or that it died in then 90's and all that hooh-hah (upto and including the generalization that most teenagers are self-centered asshats).

Generalizations generally suck and reveal that someone hasn't investigated subject in on any meaningful level. Plus, as you can see, they come off as arrogant and condescending. In any event, art speaks to people in different ways and draws them for different reasons. I'd like to argue that art is art because it speaks of the human condition in some way and address a human yearning. People live the different facets of the human life and part of the draw of art is that there is some promise of unifying or showing people the myriad facets of humanity that exist whether it be a raw beat or a sentiment of unrequited love or deep-seated anger at society or bright catchy tunes that make you move. You see a glimpse of it in games with the whole casual gamer controversy.

Anyways, my huge point is simply that music, other art, other things that aspire to be art, they're all something that have value primarily in how the individual experiences it. Part of their value is in the eye of the beholder, an indictment against the three behind y'all, but that another part of value is in understanding what the beholder values and why they don't get it from other places as well. If its the trivial case of ignorance or peer pressure fine. its trivial it doesn't help. However, if its more deep rooted and actually derived from other preferences, I think it'd teach us about that other person and more about what we as humans want from life. To react with anger initially is understandable, but to hide behind the anger instead of trying to understand their side limits the art.

Sorry for being so preachy. I'll at least half-heartedly back up my statements if i've offended any or all of you.

 

[Grand_Poohbah]

trust me, i know how that is. i took a rock n' roll history class last year and everyone in there kept talking about how shitty the music was in the class while im sitting there enjoying listening to some zeppelin and floyd. its such a disgrace that an entire generation has gone on without any good music (music died in the mid 90's, around the same time Blink 182 was founded...)

You take that back!

 

[Rock Avich]

trust me, i know how that is. i took a rock n' roll history class last year and everyone in there kept talking about how shitty the music was in the class while im sitting there enjoying listening to some zeppelin and floyd. its such a disgrace that an entire generation has gone on without any good music (music died in the mid 90's, around the same time Blink 182 was founded...)

You take that back!

Why? Blink 182 sucks.