Are you fucking kidding me?!Bill Drummond, former KLF Drummer, is promoting a day dedicated to the absence of our omnipresent best friend- the first thing we hear when we wake up, the person we confide in during times of misery, the one we live vicariously through in an attempt to 'live the dream.'
But no, today is a day where music should be banned, according to this bloke.
Bill says that by abstaining from listening to music today, only two days away from St Cecilia's day, we can cleanse our musical palette in a world where, apparently, music has "run its course." Now I'm all for trying new things, so in an attempt to try to understand what he means, I'm writing this post without my usual musical buzz in the background. I tell you what, it's bloody hard to write cohesively without music. Maybe it's because I've conditioned myself to work at optimum efficiency when there is a faint hum of electro in the air, but I genuinely am struggling to put into words, well, anything. Studies into the correlation between listening to music and work have showed that those listening to calming music like Classical music have achieved better exam grades than those who have sat the same test in silence.
And they say silence is golden?
And whose to say music has run out of steam anyway, to me it's still got the same cosmic grip on me like it's always had.
Yes, I know I published a post ranting about the state of music in the charts the other day, but surely that's better than nothing? And, to be fair, that seems to be the music that is making people happy (why I'll never know). So, according to Mr. Bill, we now need to decide what we want from music. That's easy. People listen to chart rubbish because it has the same impact on them as to the first time an angst ridden 13 year old puts on Slipknot, the same effect that a church goer has when listening to the heavenly voices of the choir; it's relateable and invokes emotion. Or maybe I've got it wrong and people only listen to music these days for something to do; if that is the case then, begrudgingly, I will have to agree with Bill. Although I find the idea of no music atrocious, I find the lack of musical appreciation a more horrifying prospect.
Although we're living in a time where music is only a click away, it couldn't be more of an exciting time for music. Yes, the basics of music have been done, but you only need to listen to bands like Vampire Weekend, Glasvegas, Lightspeed Champion, et al to know that times are a-changin' and music has turned into a party that everyone's invited to, music styles have been shaken up and reworked to create fresh, exciting new sounds. We shouldn't be mourning music, we should be having a kick ass wake if anything!
What do you think? Should we go without music for one whole day? Does any of it really matter?
'A day without music is like a day without sunshine.'
But no, today is a day where music should be banned, according to this bloke.
Bill says that by abstaining from listening to music today, only two days away from St Cecilia's day, we can cleanse our musical palette in a world where, apparently, music has "run its course." Now I'm all for trying new things, so in an attempt to try to understand what he means, I'm writing this post without my usual musical buzz in the background. I tell you what, it's bloody hard to write cohesively without music. Maybe it's because I've conditioned myself to work at optimum efficiency when there is a faint hum of electro in the air, but I genuinely am struggling to put into words, well, anything. Studies into the correlation between listening to music and work have showed that those listening to calming music like Classical music have achieved better exam grades than those who have sat the same test in silence.
And they say silence is golden?
And whose to say music has run out of steam anyway, to me it's still got the same cosmic grip on me like it's always had.
Yes, I know I published a post ranting about the state of music in the charts the other day, but surely that's better than nothing? And, to be fair, that seems to be the music that is making people happy (why I'll never know). So, according to Mr. Bill, we now need to decide what we want from music. That's easy. People listen to chart rubbish because it has the same impact on them as to the first time an angst ridden 13 year old puts on Slipknot, the same effect that a church goer has when listening to the heavenly voices of the choir; it's relateable and invokes emotion. Or maybe I've got it wrong and people only listen to music these days for something to do; if that is the case then, begrudgingly, I will have to agree with Bill. Although I find the idea of no music atrocious, I find the lack of musical appreciation a more horrifying prospect.
Although we're living in a time where music is only a click away, it couldn't be more of an exciting time for music. Yes, the basics of music have been done, but you only need to listen to bands like Vampire Weekend, Glasvegas, Lightspeed Champion, et al to know that times are a-changin' and music has turned into a party that everyone's invited to, music styles have been shaken up and reworked to create fresh, exciting new sounds. We shouldn't be mourning music, we should be having a kick ass wake if anything!
What do you think? Should we go without music for one whole day? Does any of it really matter?
'A day without music is like a day without sunshine.'
What an attention-seeking ass. Seriously, people have been saying the same thing for hundreds of years, and it hasn't been true once. They're just not trying hard enough to find something good.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...Interesting. Does this mean I get a day off from working on my music blog? No? I didn't think so.
ReplyDeleteLeg- I know, I think people are being a bit lazy really, they should make it their perogative (sp?) to find some exciting music if they're bored.
ReplyDeleteWho? KLF?
ReplyDeleteUm, since when does a one hit wonder band from the world's worst musical decade who were instrumental in starting the world's worst musical genres (actually make that fashion genres because they know nothing about music) get to have a valid opinion on the state of music?
Of course sampling other people's tunes and doing the whole anarchic manifestations thing was a great idea to divert attention away from the fact that you can't actually play music.
Only, it wasn't KLF's idea and it already ran its course on the seventies after Genesis P-Orridge beat that dead horse to death. Again.
Plus let us not forget that this bloke is a drummer. Since when do drummers know anything about music?
Still, if someone like Gary Chester, Terry Bozzio, Vincent Colaiuta, Nick Barker, Steve Asheim (hey, as far as drummers go, even Phil Collins or anyone else who can actually read music notation..) called for a No Music Day, I'd give it a second thought. I'd ignore it, but at least I'd consider it.