[atlantaprog] Re: Whew! Alrighty then...

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> Alex, I hope you weren't taking offense by my comments about 
> "shallowness."  You responded in great detail, so I'll just 
> add a little bit more comment, then I surrender the floor. 

No offense taken.  See my "kiddie Poll" comment below :-)


> Alex, are you saying that you are never, ever shallow when it 
> comes to liking bands? :-)

I probably am.  I find myself contradicting ... myself (umm, this feels
like an "Austim Powers" moment) every now and then, but I *try* to
remain consistant.  I also *try* to remain open minded.


> >I don't like or dislike any band on the basis of cape-wearing!  :-)

I still don't do that.  I may thingk someone looks like an idiot, but I
try not to judge their music by their looks if I can help it.  :-)

> You really did make a blanket statement about the general 
> public being as "shallow as a a kiddie pool."  If you were 
> instead talking about Blender, it wasn't clear in what you 
> actually said.

My "Kiddie Pool" comment was directed directly at the Blender writers.
I think you said something about analyzing why they chose what they did,
or something like that.  Sorry if it didn't come across that way, but it
was directed towards the writers of the columns and their reasons for
putting the bands in the list.


> Every era of "popular music" has been one of short attention 
> spans. Nothing much has changed since recorded music began.  
> Popular songs have always been generally short, 3 minutes, no 
> matter what genre.  It's only been since the era of Stairway 

Actually the reason for the 3 minute single had nothing to do with
attention spans, and everything to do with the technology available back
then.  I can't remember exactly, but it was either a tape limitation
during record, or a vinyl limitation during production or something
along those lines that created the 3 minute single.  Then it became
tradition, and then music business people decided that that was all the
public could handle.  Songs like Stairway, BH, etc. have only served to
prove those people who adhere to the 3 minute single as gospel wrong.  I
think that the attention span thing is somewhat of a misnomer.  If
people LIKE something, they will sit and listen.  It's just that there
is so much garbage, coupled with so much choice, that if people don't
like something rightaway, and all the way through, they will seek
something else out.  You always hear about people saying that the public
can barely sit through a 30 minute sitcom, yet they will go see a 2.5
hour movie.

> and 8 minute songs regularly.  Even now the average Metallica 
> radio song is about 5 minutes, Tool is almost 6 minutes, many 

That was a descision made by Metallica.  Their first BIG hit was "One"
and it was almost 7.5 minutes long!  Metallica decided to move away from
the whole changing grooves and time signatures, and keeping songs
shorter.  Why I don't know.  I haven't really liked them since they made
the change.  They could have kept doing longer songs (shoot, their songs
on the black album were fairly long anyway - "The Unforgiven" is almost
6.5 minutes, & Nothing alse Matters is the same). And still been played
on the radio and still sold as much.

Think about it... Bohemian Rhapsody is just under 6 minutes.  A good
deal of Metallicas bigger hits are well over that.  I think that
"people's attention spans" are a misnomer to a certain extent.

> rock radio staples are anywhere between 4 1/2 and 8 minutes 
> long, so in all honestly, "this time of short attention span" 
> doesn't really apply.  BTW, am I an idiot if I like Blink 
> 182? :-) - VH
> 

No, it was a phrase.  You see someone doing something silly and you say
"look at that idiot".  That doesn't mean that you really think that he
or she is an idiot.  It's a figure of speech.  Besides, there was a
flip-side of that statement, and I could very well be that idiot that
likes Led Zeppelin. :-)

Alex F/Brain21

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