|
|
|
Home
View Inventory
"Do You Buy?"
About/FAQ
Show Schedule
Links
|
06-21-2011 Anyone who watches much of MythBusters knows that sometimes Jamie and Adam (or their B-team) go into an experiment almost positive that they will know the result... only to be proven incorrect. Sometimes, the same thing happens to me. Often, when I want to write a column to make a certain point or to persuade people to take action, I do a bit of research to back up my viewpoint - maybe grab some stats to throw in for fun, find more examples if I'm trying to make a point, etc. I'm usually OK using my own perspective to explain why I like something or want to promote it. However, if I'm making a case against something, I want to find some backing to hammer that point home. Well, in this case, my research led to me changing my viewpoint all together. The point I was hell-bent on making was that Lady GaGa's most recent single, "The Edge of Glory," sucks. But I didn't want my column to consist of just a few sentences. I wanted to be a hater, but a hater with plenty of ammo to back up my point. The internet is full of putdowns, but frequently these end up being little more than one sentence, mindless, jealous, misspelled mini-rants by people who lack the brain power to be anything except contrarian. These barbs are so prevalent and so transparent; I want to be better than that...and of course, more convincing. You see, there are things in this world that piss me off more than they piss off the average person. A couple of those things: bad drivers and bad music. My tastes on music have previously been chronicled here. Bad music angers me, usually in proportion to how popular it becomes or how heavily it is played in radio rotations. And "The Edge of Glory" is all over the place right now. The bad: Music: On the first handful of listens to this song, I couldn't get over the fact that it sounded like a hopped up version of some Pointer Sisters from back in the day. I didn't find that part to be very creative. Lyrics: I had an even bigger problem with the words to this song. First of all, musicians have a way of taking ordinary events in life and making them ultra-dramatic. Every hip-hop song doesn't have to be about a DJ turning an average night at a club into the greatest night in the history of the world, and every country song doesn't have to be about losing the love of your life. So when Lady signs about being 'on the edge of glory,' I wondered what made this edge so glorious, and also was on the other side. And if one did not cross over to the side of glory, then what was the alternative - being a receptionist for a dentist's office? Being a salesperson for a struggling mid-level East Coast paper company? Working at McDonald's? Being a member of Pink Floyd? And she's 'hanging on a moment'? Really? Listen to Lifehouse much? You can't just gank a huge lyric from a mere 5-6 years ago and expect no one to notice. That's not cool. For good measure, let me just say that when she sings, "I'm on the edge, the edge, the edge..." It sounds a little too much like "I'm on the H...GH, the H...GH..." and that's a bad message for young athletes, especially Roger Clemens' kids. Chuck Klosterman has given me what is thus far my favorite definition of art: something that makes you change the way you view the world. I like that. Pefectly explanatory while still allowing room for all the individual subjectivity in the world. That allows me to say that the Mona Lisa, along with 99.99% of the paintings and sculptures in the world, do jack squat for me. However, Led Zeppelin ... their music moves me. It makes me happy. It inspires me (mostly to draw, in my mind, videos to accompany their music, largely consisting of crayon-ish runaway locomotives that have little regard for their Crayola-constructed tracks, but that's just me). Music, to me, is art. Songs are just little 2:30-26:00 (for anyone who has ever listened to a bootleg live version of "Dazed and Confused" from the early 70s) pieces of art for our ears and hearts that take us on a miniature journey. They stand the test of time, or not. They strike us in different ways on different days. As Eddie Vedder said once, rambling to a crowd, "Music is great...for parties...for sex...for depression..." (Not to stray too far from the topic, but I found in interesting that each of those things received equal cheers from the crowd.) In general, I don't dislike Lady GaGa. I don't think she's great, but I don't think she's without talent either. However, I was so mad at this particular Lady GaGa offering that I had to consult Google to see if she had spoken to the meaning behind these lyrics that I felt were overly dramatic. Luckily, she had. Just check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge_of_Glory If you don't care to read the entry, I'll summarize by saying "the edge" she refers to is the threshhold between life and death, and this song was conceived when her grandfather was in the hospital and she was going in to say goodbye to him. Soooo, color me impressed. Let's switch gears to... The Good: This time, the meaning isn't just some overly-dramatized moment in a relationship or during a night out drinking and dancing with your friends and random sweaty strangers; it's literally supposed to mean "that moment right before you leave the Earth." Well-played, Lady GaGa. I'm still not giving a full pass for stealing recently-popular lyrics, but her meaning kinda trumps the meaning of Lifehouse's version, so I'm reaching an uncomfortable comfort level with them. But what about the music? Well, again, she explains that the sound was designed as a supercharged version of Springsteen's sound. In addition, she recruited the late Clarence Clemons (of E Street Band fame) to sax up this song of hers. Such an intentional usage of a sax-a-ma-phoooone legend wins points with me. And let's give a little hand to her for originality with that idea. Ask me to develop an entire song and you'll likely get a slow ballad that only wins points for rhyming really really well. That's all I'm good at. This creation of hers? It definitely stands out - Let's just say I'm not hearing a lot of saxophone on the radio these days unless I happen upon a retro hour playing Huey Lewis or Billy Joel. So what is it about learning the artist's intentions that brings a piece of art to not just be seen from a different perspective, but to be appreciated instead of despised? Great question. Maybe another piece of art can somehow, someday lead me to the answer. After all, "sometimes I wonder how much there is to know." Have fun! -T You can now find me all over the web:  Like Monster Cards on Facebook
 Twitter: http://twitter.com/monstercards |
Inside My Brain