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Greg said:
>>If you people want to see all of the manufacturers run and create
>loopers I
>>will tell you what it will take: Not the esoteric kinds of things that
>we
>>all love to create and listen to because we know what is good, but
>something
>>that the great unwashed masses can enjoy as well.
I'm not sure that's encessarily fair. Just because a market is small,
doesn't mean it has to die. Out of interest, how many JamMen were sold
compared to hour high-end reverbs? The market for those must be tiny (What
do you think, dear - change the car or buy a Lex 300?).
What we need is a new Brian May! No, not Nuno Battencourt.
Mickey, in reply to Greg:
>I posit that, despite fantastic technological advances, we live in an
>era of mediocrity and sameness, perhaps even shallowness. I think
>there is a great hunger for depth and quality, but I think the pace
>of late 20th century life makes the search for meaning very costly,
>perhaps even frivolous. Very often there is not enough time to
>search beyond the obvious cookie-cutter solutions, so we grab for
>the salient stimuli that are easily within our grasp. Life seems to
>work if only we can keep up with the maddening pace of progress, if
>only we can swim with the pack. Very often this can feel like a no win
>game. In the face of enormous challenges and enormous potential, the
>lowest common denominators often rise to the top.
I think this has always been thus. A century ago, in Britain, the chief
form of entertainment for "the masses" was the music hall - simple,
throwaway songs with lewd lyrics and singalong choruses. Serious music
existed of course - what we now term "classical" - but it was only listened
to by a small minority. Today's music hall stars are Oasis and Bush, but
nothing much has changed except for the visibility and earnings of those
stars. I would expect that the lot of the "serious" professional musician
has changed little in that time.
>I know about this phenomenon, having a 12 year old son who pounds this
>stuff out on his white stratocaster, exclusively. While respecting his
>individuality and accepting his taste as his own, it is hard not to wish
>more for him.
With luck, as he grows he will shift into more demanding music - he is only
12, and much of the music we discuss here is quite "mature". I revealed my
own deepseated prejudices when I was astounded to find in GP that our Andre
is "only" 21.
>Although we speak here about music and the almost magical technology that
>becomes our artist's palette, I cannot help but to be drawn to the bigger
>picture of the times in which we create. Is it historical "business as
>usual"
>that substance gives way to fashion? The 60's did not feel that way to
>me,
>but no doubt I am myopic and biased by my own experience. I feel that the
>US, and perhaps much of the world, has become more conservative since
>those
>times.
I don't really follow what you're saying here, not having experienced the
60s for more than a month, and then only as an embryo. Could you
elaborate?
>I'd like to hear the thoughts of others. Do we just detach ourselves
>from the mainstream, and just do what we do? Perhaps this is best. Or
>do we have a *responsibility* to do more.
I don't think we _can_ do more. Public taste will always be with the less
demanding musics. And as one controvercial PR officer once put, "remember
that 50% of the population have below average intelligence, by definition".
>Some years ago, I studied with a very talented jazz guitarist and soulful
>human being, Ted Dunbar, at Rutgers University. He used to say that
>"music
>will save the world". And he was never speaking figuratively.
Yeah - but who's going to save music?
Michael
Dr Michael Pycraft Hughes Bioelectronic Research Centre, Rankine Bldg,
Tel: (+44) 141 330 5979 University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K.
"Wha's like us? Damn few, and they're a' deid!" - Scottish proverb