[NewMusic] breathtakingly bad

[Phillip Greenlief]

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of barry threw
Subject: Re: [NewMusic] breathtakingly bad

> Mostly I didn't enjoy reading Hadju's piece because it was so  
> painful to
> read it. Painful in that it was clear this guy was writing about
> something he hated - despite his attempts at objectivity, there's  
> venom
> floating in the most innocent of his sentences in this article...

Is it even possible to be a music writer with objectivity?  Would you  
want it even if it could happen? Imagine if there was one columnist  
out there that could tell you for certain, beyond all doubt, that you  
sucked...heavy prospect...Its not like this guy was out gathering a  
lot of empirical data with lasers and abacuses here..

So the guy is all fired up.  Good.  Be a crappy article if he wasn't.

But I also like REO and hate Phil Collins, so what the hell do I know?

b

PG:
I'm all in favor of writers with passion who get fired up. The majority
of books on my bookshelves are filled with such writings. 

I don't tend to like reading any kind of prose where a writer has so
much contempt for his/her subject. I didn't enjoy reading this article.
There's no reason why I should enjoy reading everything, but I don't
tend to finish reading things I don't enjoy. 

When I try to write about things - music in particular - I try to find a
way to understand the composer or performer's intentions in any given
piece or performance. Otherwise, it's a matter of my personal opinion,
which can lack substance if it isn't "informed".

OK, I'm not a professional writer. But personally, I don't tend to write
about things unless I enjoy them. I don't see the point in joining the
ranks of critics who jeer things just because it isn't their cup of tea.
Why write merely to throw mud at others? 

My "aesthetic" makes for another kind of one-sided journalism; I am the
first to admit that. But there have been volumes of criticism that have
erupted from uninformed writers who are merely shooting from the hip.
The writings that come out of that particular school of journalism don't
tend to stand the test of time. They don't tend to be terribly accurate,
as far as getting down to really describing the work. I don't tend to
enjoy reading them, regardless of who or what they are criticizing.

As far as Phil Collins is concerned: who the fuck cares? I don't like
the guy today, or rather, I don't think about him, and haven't thought
about him much since I heard his first attempts at making pop records.
End of story...on this end.