Schleuse, I think we listen to music in different ways. Am I right that you were thought more about lyrics than music when you talked about different masks? I, on the other hand, tend to think almost single-handedly of the music when I discuss things like artists' reinventions.
For me the vocal is an instrument that can express feelings like no other, but only now and then I really pay attention to the lyrics. I don't know if this sounds stupid, but there's even a large portion of the songs I have included in my lists that I have never listened closely to the lyrics. However, I have recently realized that I much prefer artists that sing the lyrics clearly (this feels almost like a paradox but perhaps it isn't). I love Radiohead, but I would love them even more if I heard the lyrics better. Same with early R.E.M..
I have forgotten what I really wanted to say...I'm too tired and it's time to go to bed. I might continue tomorrow...
The Beatles
Whether they are my favorite artist of all time or not, the Beatles are probably the greatest. Their achievements do not need to be repeated, they changed the face of popular music more than once.
The Beatles also grew considerably during their careers, where each album was noticeably different than the one before without surrendering any of the quality of their incredible pop craftsmanship. This is the true mark of genius; to grow, create and expand the form while still sounding great doing it.
While I do really like Radiohead (I've seen them live, OK Computer is one of my top 30 albums of all time and Kid A is nearly top 100), I'm a little baffled by their intense popularity on this forum, and despite being deserving of many kudos, I find them a little overrated.
All of their albums since Kid A (except the last one, which I'll get to in a moment) aren't really that different than what they've done before. Not that they haven't continued to make great music, but everything since is a hybrid of what they have already done and not true innovation.
Their last album is an attempt to come up with something new, but sounds like an experiment gone wrong and a band out of good ideas. If any other band had released it, it would have gone unnoticed.
Doing something different for the sake of it doesn't make an artist great. If the Beatles had released an album of them trying to make melodies by burping, it would have been different, and even experimental, doesn't mean it would have been good.
R.E.M.
A very close matchup, and I'm really going with a personal choice here rather than an objective one because over long careers of achievement, they are extremely close.
Schleuse, I think we listen to music in different ways. Am I right that you were thought more about lyrics than music when you talked about different masks? I, on the other hand, tend to think almost single-handedly of the music when I discuss things like artists' reinventions.
Henrik, it’s funny. Before I posted my last message, I thought to myself, “Gawd, it sounds like I’m just talking about the lyrics…”
Anyway, no, I’m far more interested in the music than the words, whether the subject is range, or reinvention, or the progress of an artist’s career. If I gave the opposite impression, chalk that up to my inept writing. I used the image of masks in response to nicolas.
Let’s be honest: nobody gets into pop music because of the lyrics (for that matter, nobody gets into opera because of the words). It’s inevitably the music, and how it stirs us, first (Alex Ross has a great line about music: it’s something that shakes the air to cause curious sensations).
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On another note, let me second Moonbeam: music, like the arts generally, is fundamentally entertainment. Entertainment has very negative connotations, mostly having to do with escapism, but what is art about if not taking us out of ourselves, and the messy, often frustrating welter of our everyday lives?
Michael Chabon wrote a fantastic essay on just this subject of art and entertainment; I think it’s called “Trickster in a Suit of Lights.” Moonbeam, you would enjoy it, and in fact I recommend it to anyone who’s interested in the subject. It appears in a book called Maps and Legends (and I confess that title alone was enough to make me buy it).
