Spike
Rock & Soul Archaelogist
I've been pondering this thread, not quite sure how to respond. So here's stream of consciousness...
...As a music consumer, what's important to me is emotion and authenticity. To make a lasting impact, the music has to touch me deeply. It has to convey feelings that are happy, sad, whimsical, angry, sublime or an infinite variety of other emotions. These feelings can emerge from the music, the lyrics, the vocal or some combination of all of the above. And to make a close and lasting emotional connection, the music and the musicians must be authentic -- there can be no hint of artifice. I much prefer simple but powerful music that touches me emotionally, rather than pretentious music that seeks to make a dramatic artistic statement but falls short of the mark. For example, I much prefer Otis Redding to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Or I'd rather listen to Live at Leeds than Tommy. But -- and this is important -- emotional connection can be greatly complicated by the distance between me and the musicians. For me, as someone who grew up in the sixties in middle America, there was little distance to bridge between me and rock musicians -- we were from the same time and the same culture. But as a young white boy from an almost entirely white suburb, the soul music on Detroit radio presented a challenge. When I first heard "Respect" by Aretha, I went "Whoa!!!" I had never heard anything like it. Some of my friends threw up barriers and refused to embrace this "spade music." I warily gave it a chance. And as I opened myself up, I grew to love it. To this day I stubbornly refuse to endorse the concept of "classic rock" that doesn't include soul music. For me, it's gotta be rock & soul music if you wanna dance with me... Looking back, it's funny how it was so easy to get the Beatles -- even though they were across the ocean -- while Aretha was only 40 miles away. Distance isn't always measured in miles...But at 17, my love of soul opened me up to the blues. It was an even greater leap to embrace a music that was not only reflected a different racial culture, but also from a different time. But I became fascinated by Muddy & Wolf & Sonny Boy & Little Walter and all these black dudes who made such powerful music in Chicago in the 50s. I saw all the major blues acts live in the early 70s. That music became as important to me as rock & soul... With time, I kept exploring. One day I stumbled upon Little Willie John and it changed my life. This cat cut some of the most amazing music of the 50s and nobody today even knows who he is today. The realization that something so good could be so hidden, lead me on a journey of 10 years to explore every form of 20th century American music I could find. I've now expanded beyond rock, soul, blues, and R&B to embrace gospel, folk, jazz, Cajun, pop, country and numerous subgenres going back to 1920 -- totalling 15,000 songs on ITunes. And here's what I've learned: If you open yourself up to the music, you will find wondrous things that will touch you across genre, across culture, across time, across geography by conveying authentic messages celebrating our common humanity. That's my philosophy of music.
Spike
...As a music consumer, what's important to me is emotion and authenticity. To make a lasting impact, the music has to touch me deeply. It has to convey feelings that are happy, sad, whimsical, angry, sublime or an infinite variety of other emotions. These feelings can emerge from the music, the lyrics, the vocal or some combination of all of the above. And to make a close and lasting emotional connection, the music and the musicians must be authentic -- there can be no hint of artifice. I much prefer simple but powerful music that touches me emotionally, rather than pretentious music that seeks to make a dramatic artistic statement but falls short of the mark. For example, I much prefer Otis Redding to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Or I'd rather listen to Live at Leeds than Tommy. But -- and this is important -- emotional connection can be greatly complicated by the distance between me and the musicians. For me, as someone who grew up in the sixties in middle America, there was little distance to bridge between me and rock musicians -- we were from the same time and the same culture. But as a young white boy from an almost entirely white suburb, the soul music on Detroit radio presented a challenge. When I first heard "Respect" by Aretha, I went "Whoa!!!" I had never heard anything like it. Some of my friends threw up barriers and refused to embrace this "spade music." I warily gave it a chance. And as I opened myself up, I grew to love it. To this day I stubbornly refuse to endorse the concept of "classic rock" that doesn't include soul music. For me, it's gotta be rock & soul music if you wanna dance with me... Looking back, it's funny how it was so easy to get the Beatles -- even though they were across the ocean -- while Aretha was only 40 miles away. Distance isn't always measured in miles...But at 17, my love of soul opened me up to the blues. It was an even greater leap to embrace a music that was not only reflected a different racial culture, but also from a different time. But I became fascinated by Muddy & Wolf & Sonny Boy & Little Walter and all these black dudes who made such powerful music in Chicago in the 50s. I saw all the major blues acts live in the early 70s. That music became as important to me as rock & soul... With time, I kept exploring. One day I stumbled upon Little Willie John and it changed my life. This cat cut some of the most amazing music of the 50s and nobody today even knows who he is today. The realization that something so good could be so hidden, lead me on a journey of 10 years to explore every form of 20th century American music I could find. I've now expanded beyond rock, soul, blues, and R&B to embrace gospel, folk, jazz, Cajun, pop, country and numerous subgenres going back to 1920 -- totalling 15,000 songs on ITunes. And here's what I've learned: If you open yourself up to the music, you will find wondrous things that will touch you across genre, across culture, across time, across geography by conveying authentic messages celebrating our common humanity. That's my philosophy of music.
Spike
