From a particular punk perspective—the importance of untying art from profit—well, hot damn, we won! And, really, hasn't it been a punk rallying cry to destroy the music industry and build something better in its place? I can appreciate the frustration, even despair, of working musicians—I'm aware that I'm speaking wholly in the abstract here and I don't want to minimize the actual lived experience—but art without the profit motive would be more honest, no? If conventional practices have proven unworkable, treat it as an opportunity to build better.
I think artists can still make honest art and even be able to pay for rent etc.
what drives an artist to create in the fordt place? surely it varies to some extent and if you dont have some economic stability, does that driving force take a back seat and perhaps never be allowed to flourish/explored.
identifying a growing "attention deficit" in listeners. Blake also describes how fans discovering songs through TikTok will often only recognize the segment of a track that's featured in viral posts;
This one quote stood out. I can recall driving my daughter and her friends around and how some of them would actively do this, well before tik tok etc. Pull up a song and just play like a select 30 seconds of it and then play that part again or do ot with another song. This was 15-20 years ago. It was an odd thing to witness.
From a particular punk perspective—the importance of untying art from profit—well, hot damn, we won! And, really, hasn't it been a punk rallying cry to destroy the music industry and build something better in its place? I can appreciate the frustration, even despair, of working musicians—I'm aware that I'm speaking wholly in the abstract here and I don't want to minimize the actual lived experience—but art without the profit motive would be more honest, no? If conventional practices have proven unworkable, treat it as an opportunity to build better.
I think artists can still make honest art and even be able to pay for rent etc.
what drives an artist to create in the fordt place? surely it varies to some extent and if you dont have some economic stability, does that driving force take a back seat and perhaps never be allowed to flourish/explored.
There's an argument that you shouldn't use your art to pay the rent. That's what a shitty job is for. If you're using your art to pay the bills, it's compromised. I'm not saying I agree with that—there's a certain "in a perfect world …" quality to it—but I think it's a principle that should be considered when figuring out how you approach life. More to the point, there are some things we should wall off from the profit motive (i.e., what we consider sacred).
identifying a growing "attention deficit" in listeners. Blake also describes how fans discovering songs through TikTok will often only recognize the segment of a track that's featured in viral posts;
This one quote stood out. I can recall driving my daughter and her friends around and how some of them would actively do this, well before tik tok etc. Pull up a song and just play like a select 30 seconds of it and then play that part again or do ot with another song. This was 15-20 years ago. It was an odd thing to witness.
Older than that, I'd say. The origins of hip hop are rooted in those aspiring dj's observing that people aren't drawn to the whole song but just certain passages—usually heavy rhythm sections—and so they built their mixes from those groovy parts.
"Ain't no party like an S Club party!'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
After my initial interest in KISS as a kid, The Cars were my favourite band until I discovered punk.
You mean The Cars were not punk? Stupid categorisations.
The Cars were definitely New Wave. Even with the blurring in the US regarding punk and New Wave, there was never any doubt what side of the line the Cars were on. Archetypal New Wave, really.
"Ain't no party like an S Club party!'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
After my initial interest in KISS as a kid, The Cars were my favourite band until I discovered punk.
You mean The Cars were not punk? Stupid categorisations.
The Cars were definitely New Wave. Even with the blurring in the US regarding punk and New Wave, there was never any doubt what side of the line the Cars were on. Archetypal New Wave, really.
You mean New Wave isn't Punk?
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
After my initial interest in KISS as a kid, The Cars were my favourite band until I discovered punk.
You mean The Cars were not punk? Stupid categorisations.
The Cars were definitely New Wave. Even with the blurring in the US regarding punk and New Wave, there was never any doubt what side of the line the Cars were on. Archetypal New Wave, really.
You mean New Wave isn't Punk?
There's certainly blurring in places, but, no, I think there are meaningful differences. New Wave was shaped by the industry to be commercial in ways that punk wasn't, but, more so, it mattered whether a band wanted to pursue commercial success. It's that relationship to the conventional pursuit of a mass audience that marks the distinction.
"Ain't no party like an S Club party!'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
And also, I love Ric Ocasek but Benjamin Orr was seriously underrated.
A cool thing about Ocasek was that he was cool with sharing the limelight. He was the band's sole songwriter, but he gave Orr some really great tracks to take the lead on, including some monster hits. They were indeed a great band. Candy-O is one of my favorite albums of all time. Even as they slid from New Wave to pop, they remained interesting. Heartbeat City was a major hit, complete with glitzy videos, but it was also full of really good songs. Door to Door was maybe the only letdown in their catalog, but by that point it felt like everyone had already moved on to the next thing.
"They don't think it be like it is, but it do." - Oscar Gamble
And also, I love Ric Ocasek but Benjamin Orr was seriously underrated.
A cool thing about Ocasek was that he was cool with sharing the limelight. He was the band's sole songwriter, but he gave Orr some really great tracks to take the lead on, including some monster hits. They were indeed a great band. Candy-O is one of my favorite albums of all time. Even as they slid from New Wave to pop, they remained interesting. Heartbeat City was a major hit, complete with glitzy videos, but it was also full of really good songs. Door to Door was maybe the only letdown in their catalog, but by that point it felt like everyone had already moved on to the next thing.
This came up when Ocasek died, but I was amazed to find out the dude was relatively old (early 30s) when the Cars emerged. He was only a couple years younger than George Harrison, just out of high school when the Beatles broke in America. And yet he was also tied into the underground scene of the 70s and 80s, producing and playing with guys from Bad Brains and Suicide. Can you imagine Harrison doing that?
"Ain't no party like an S Club party!'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
After my initial interest in KISS as a kid, The Cars were my favourite band until I discovered punk.
You mean The Cars were not punk? Stupid categorisations.
The Cars were definitely New Wave. Even with the blurring in the US regarding punk and New Wave, there was never any doubt what side of the line the Cars were on. Archetypal New Wave, really.
You mean New Wave isn't Punk?
There's certainly blurring in places, but, no, I think there are meaningful differences. New Wave was shaped by the industry to be commercial in ways that punk wasn't, but, more so, it mattered whether a band wanted to pursue commercial success. It's that relationship to the conventional pursuit of a mass audience that marks the distinction.
So The Clash are Punk/New Wave/Post Punk/Rock n Roll?
Of course I'm teasing as I don't think any of these distinctions are helpful. Are the Sex Pistols punk? To me they are just a great Rock n Roll band with attitude. Just like the New York Dolls before them. Attitude and a certain swagger but then the same can be said for the Stones.
The Cars are a great pop band. Really strong melodies that are sugar coated. Those blurred lines are weird in as much as they seem to define image as much as musicality and era.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
And also, I love Ric Ocasek but Benjamin Orr was seriously underrated.
A cool thing about Ocasek was that he was cool with sharing the limelight. He was the band's sole songwriter, but he gave Orr some really great tracks to take the lead on, including some monster hits. They were indeed a great band. Candy-O is one of my favorite albums of all time. Even as they slid from New Wave to pop, they remained interesting. Heartbeat City was a major hit, complete with glitzy videos, but it was also full of really good songs. Door to Door was maybe the only letdown in their catalog, but by that point it felt like everyone had already moved on to the next thing.
This came up when Ocasek died, but I was amazed to find out the dude was relatively old (early 30s) when the Cars emerged. He was only a couple years younger than George Harrison, just out of high school when the Beatles broke in America. And yet he was also tied into the underground scene of the 70s and 80s, producing and playing with guys from Bad Brains and Suicide. Can you imagine Harrison doing that?
Yeah, that's interesting. I think he was only a year younger than Harrison. He continued to produce until at least 2015/2016? He did the excellent For All My Sisters for The Cribs.
"They don't think it be like it is, but it do." - Oscar Gamble
You mean The Cars were not punk? Stupid categorisations.
The Cars were definitely New Wave. Even with the blurring in the US regarding punk and New Wave, there was never any doubt what side of the line the Cars were on. Archetypal New Wave, really.
You mean New Wave isn't Punk?
There's certainly blurring in places, but, no, I think there are meaningful differences. New Wave was shaped by the industry to be commercial in ways that punk wasn't, but, more so, it mattered whether a band wanted to pursue commercial success. It's that relationship to the conventional pursuit of a mass audience that marks the distinction.
So The Clash are Punk/New Wave/Post Punk/Rock n Roll?
Of course I'm teasing as I don't think any of these distinctions are helpful. Are the Sex Pistols punk? To me they are just a great Rock n Roll band with attitude. Just like the New York Dolls before them. Attitude and a certain swagger but then the same can be said for the Stones.
The Cars are a great pop band. Really strong melodies that are sugar coated. Those blurred lines are weird in as much as they seem to define image as much as musicality and era.
Good point. I think it's common for people to want to put things in categories, but that's not always an accurate way of doing things. Your description of the Pistols is spot on. We call them "punk" but what is punk? What is New Wave? The blurriness makes it interesting.
"They don't think it be like it is, but it do." - Oscar Gamble
The Cars were definitely New Wave. Even with the blurring in the US regarding punk and New Wave, there was never any doubt what side of the line the Cars were on. Archetypal New Wave, really.
You mean New Wave isn't Punk?
There's certainly blurring in places, but, no, I think there are meaningful differences. New Wave was shaped by the industry to be commercial in ways that punk wasn't, but, more so, it mattered whether a band wanted to pursue commercial success. It's that relationship to the conventional pursuit of a mass audience that marks the distinction.
So The Clash are Punk/New Wave/Post Punk/Rock n Roll?
Of course I'm teasing as I don't think any of these distinctions are helpful. Are the Sex Pistols punk? To me they are just a great Rock n Roll band with attitude. Just like the New York Dolls before them. Attitude and a certain swagger but then the same can be said for the Stones.
The Cars are a great pop band. Really strong melodies that are sugar coated. Those blurred lines are weird in as much as they seem to define image as much as musicality and era.
Good point. I think it's common for people to want to put things in categories, but that's not always an accurate way of doing things. Your description of the Pistols is spot on. We call them "punk" but what is punk? What is New Wave? The blurriness makes it interesting.
Yep and of course John Rotten famously said "we never called ourselves punk. The press did that so it's their problem".
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
