Thee human condition / The nature of comedy

[Dingo Chavez]

I finally had enough time to read Jake's essay, and the posts.

As far as indie goes, I never found the "scene" itself attractive. I like obscured musicians and I know many, but I don't like them because they're obscured, I like them because they're good, I listened to many terrible indie bands and disliked them as much as I would dislike something that's popular and that I don't like.

The Beatles are my favorite group, and it doesn't get more mainstream than The Beatles, they were just that amazing that both cult and mainstream could appreciate them equally. And I also love Bob Dylan's work in the 60's and half of the 70's because which is what he's mainly known for. I talk about Nick Drake, and The Velvet Underground a lot, they weren't exactly indie (definitely not Drake) but they were very obscured in their time and still kinda are, but I mention them because I love their work and it saddens me to know that they didn't receive what they deserved (especially Drake).

But I do get upset at MTV for just selling products (or "artists" as they like to be called) to people and play what's popular instead of trying to contribute to music like they did at the early 90's with great ideas like the unplugged shows (or the fact that they nearly ruined TV for me with all those reality shows that other's imitated). And I do get upset if I can't find a certain record in a shop because it's unknown while they have colossal stacks of Eminem and things that are popular in their shelves. Where's the diveristy?

I stop blabbing about my knowledge of music and games when I was 14, it just seemed very dumb after that. I usually only talk about it if someone asks me.

If something is good by your taste then it's good, it shouldn't have anything to do with it being unknown or known, that's just dumb.

[tinylilfractures]

I do get upset if I can't find a certain record in a shop because it's unknown while they have colossal stacks of Eminem and things that are popular in their shelves. Where's the diveristy?

QUOTE]

Yeah, amm i'm not sure bout th rest of that whole long debate, frankly cuz i was too tired n cranky to pay attention to half of it, but th last comment caught my eye n i really identify with it. There aren't alot of things (or people)who accomplish th difficult feat of really getting on my nerves, but boy does this manage it with flying colours. It's like, i hear this really great song say on a non-mainstream radio program really late at night n it really grabs my attention-and im like: my god, thats savage (take for example Questions and Answers, Biffy Clyro) So i head off into town to th nearest music store, cash in hand,totally on fire bout gettin their album (preferably their debut)......and then i hit calamity. I cant find Bob Dylan, nevermind Biffy ,amongst all the new age rubbish-sorry,"Garbage"- they have clogging the shelf space, and when i tentatively broach the band name with the girl behind the counter wearing a "Fifty Cent" t-shirt she looks at me like iv got three heads, does a quick glance round n suggests i look harder!!!! i mean, its enough to drive a girl to an early grave!! *sigh* Enough ranting methinks, later x

[Metalmickey]

Good thread, all of it. Made me think about things I've stopped thinking about from lack of stimulus and depressed 'why don't people see this' apathy.

The humour coming from a sense of perspective thing rings very true to me. So many people's general perspective of the world is so self-centred (not selfish, just self-centred) and fed to them it's always refreshing to encounter people with a wider view of the world, but then again, they are often such depressed people that only by expressing it creatively through a medium like comedy does it become palatable and even attractive to a wider audience. I think that you have to have a certain laugh or cry attitude to deal with a lot of the things that the human race does to itself and the planet on a daily basis.

I was also thinking of Bill Hicks by the end of the 2nd post, and thoroughly recommend anyone not familiar with him to go buy/rent/borrow/etc recording of some of his stand-up performances.

Regarding the mainstream/indie issues, they reminded me of why I've kind of shut myself off from the media. As a young child, I grew extremely frustrated with how my young friends would always just root for the winning football team when watching a match, or rave about whoever hapenned to be at the top of the charts. It depressed me and put me off being a fan of sports in general, or pretty much liking anything that was popular. In my teens, I guess I started to notice a lot of my 'cooler' friends start to like indie stuff and generally have more obscure interests, and for a while this was good. At the same time though, many of them seemed to be doing it for the reasons you guys have already mentioned, merely to look individual, rebellious, or superior in a cliquey way, and I guess I lost some faith there too. Most people grow out of the earlier 'like whatever's popular' phase sometime in their teens, but some are still very much stuck in the second phase, which I think is what some of you have been describing. Of course there are many bands/artists/etc who are obscure and yet very deserving of praise and/or a following, but I still feel very unwelcome sometimes when I admit my ignorance of what's good in front of popculture haters.

Finally, going right back to the original posts, I'd like to think that the writers/artists/musicians who best stand the test of time will always be those who do it because they have a message to express through their medium, rather than those who do what they do because it's their most fun and/or profitable career choice.