What the **** is up with Christmas Music?
One of the biggest abhorences in the last 50 years of music was the late 80's/early 90's because for one reason or another the managed to achieve without calling it that, post-soul.Post-punk was all the lack of talent with the absence of energy. Post-soul, is all the movements without the actual soul. This frankenstein of a movement was perpetuated by the likes of Vanessa Williams, Luther Vandross, and Babyface.This is is always overproduced and marked by two distinct features; some synthetic version of strings or a choir, and a bass guitar that likely doesn't have notation to read, its some improv jazz guy who needed a paycheck and they had him come in to "freestyle."Its a disguesting show of form over feel, but we know that. What I want to know is - who listens to this ****?
It reminds me of this book Practicing I once read and put down halfway through where they were discussing the authors experience in a class on Microtonal Elements. Where in young asipiring composers are asked to write something like a conversation. In the book he chastises them to some effect such as...
"I told you to write like conversaitons! Conversations do not go da-de da-de da-de da-de."
Supposedly students dropped out because they lost their ear for music, they been upable to keep perfect pitch and learn keys by ear. I don't think I need to tell you folks this, but music
does go da-de da-de da-de. What I read in that book, and what I heard in my youth from thesesoul-killing, one-foot-int-the-Disney-payroll abominations is the same without being the same. Kids out there, like the author himself, get a good running start, they start to spread their wings and they take off to some far and distant satelite with no relation to other people, just an eyes closed headlong charge once more into the breach. If I'm feeling my arrogant oats, I'm inclined to say its the same mentiality that leads people to believe their smarter than people they hate. Those who were never cool hide in the dark recesses of scholarly research. And while Music can mimic Math in many ways, we should pay close attention to the Nasa scientists who, with all their astronomical knowledge can't figure out how to hitch a boat to a trailor. Both employe discoveries in Math, but one is so far removed from a practicality that all their hard earned knowledge is wasted.
But Vanessa Williams will likely never be accused of being too well versed in either Math or Music theory. What she is, is an artistic vaccum. Theres no one holding the reigns on the a record like heres, theres just someone at the Record Company gates denying the world an album until they feel its worth the investment. At no point will she challenge their rejection.
What we have with these albums is a series of interested parties. Invested people who backe it financially, producers who want it to conincide with a film, and for whatever reason an endless abundane of ****ing Christmas Music which cannot be murdered to death quite a bit. For all the attack the Christians in America claim to be under you'd think they'd ask for these renditions to cease. If theres one thing thats likely going to stop east coast lefties from potentially joining the under nation under god, its a Carrie Underwood remake of a Vanessa Williams's "I"m Dreaming of a White Christmas" with some extra twang thrown in to grab some hillbillies.
But the problem with this system of creation is that it assumes people are going to fight for their piece of the pie. Everyone in this scenario likely should, except for the studio musicians who as I've surmised earlier, are likely cowering under their scales and stacato notations telling each other how their all morons. And this is where the worold suffers.
If your assertion is that the bass meandering about under the slicked up glaze of synths is irrelvent because its so low on the spectrum no one will even notice, then the jokes on the unfortunate saps, like us, who are forced to listen to this swill at the office or the mall.
Christmas music has a lot of different meaning to a lot of different people. I for one think the modern songs are best, only rivaled by older songs that were unapologetically relvelent for their time. "Holly Jolly Christmas" for example sounds like Wally Cleaver wrote it, and it should remain there forever. But this genocide towards old standards only happens here. Rare is the cover of a Cole Porter song because its good. In fact he's most often covered by the snarky fringe to show how educated they are, and of course because vintage/retro is "in."
Like so many of my posts in this second incarnation of a journal I don't really have a point to make here. I'm just rambling with the intent of debate and a goal to get people writing. I heard some ****cake of a song on the radio and was irritated enough to write like an eye tearing at the presentation of a foreign body. I'm always reaction, no solution. But I hope you found something in here to feed on. If this journal was to have one sub-line maybe its just that; If my entries are ****, the may I be read by the flies.
Merry Christmas,
Big3