Posted on - July 7, 2006 [at] 10:16 am by Brad
Tagged in - rant
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At first I thought The Garden State effect was going to be a ranty anti-mainstream essay — and while it is indeed that, it turns into more of a self-examination near the end which made it worth reading.
There’s a sizeable portion of the population that listens to the music they listen to because it’s there and they don’t know any betterâ€â€a reality that actually predicates the existence of mainstream music. Here’s what I mean: nobody thinks long and hard about music and what it means to them and then ultimately decides to listen to Toby Keith.
The main problem I have with this attitude is that it dismisses the opinions and tastes of anyone who isn’t an insular Pitchfork-reading hipster. That seems more than a little self-important to me, but I have a hard time giving middle class twenty-somethings credit for anything.
A related story: I was at an Apples in Stereo show a couple years ago and afterwards I stood behind some young girls to talk to Robert Schneider. When they were done, I moved up and went on about how much their album Tone Soul Evolution meant to me in my middle class twenty-something way. My eyes might have gotten a little misty as I tried to put my intangible feelings for that album into words.
While we talked, he told me that the girls before me were disappointed that the Apples didn’t play their song from the Powerpuff Girls Movie soundtrack. Robert said they “don’t play that shit” but said he was disappointed they didn’t play more songs off of Tone Soul Evolution for me.
I guess I should have felt like a true fan, that my interest in them was “pure” and that he and I shared some sort of special musical connection. But mostly I wished the Apples in Stereo had more teenage girl fans so they could have played a better venue with decent sound.
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2 Comments on this post
Dylan on The Garden State effect
July 8, 2006 at 2:47 pm
I see the guy’s point, but not being able to go to a Shins concert, because he doesn’t want to look like “one of those indie kids” is pretty stupid. When given the opportunity, I’ll go to a concert of a band I like. Just because of Green Day’s overwhelming popularity over American Idiot (unworthy popularity) didn’t stop ME from going to their concert. I honestly could not give a rat’s ass what someone thinks of me, because I went to a concert.
Henry Emrich on The Garden State effect
July 16, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Don’t worry, Brad: I’m busilly kicking his teeth back down his throat where they belong, over on his blog. (Having a helluva lot of fun doing it, as well!)
The guy’s “point” is that he’s a pretentious twenty-something whacknuts who thinks he’s “3l33t” and everybody else is a “lamer”.
(Yeah, he DID kinda piss me off, now that you mention it.)