Tako wrote:
> This illustrates my point. The "virtuosi' have much better raw chops than
> Clapton, but Clapton is a better *musician*. He writes much better songs,
> connects to his audience, and is actually not a bad guitar player to boot
> (esp. for his generation). Listening to Malmsteen is like listening to the
> metal version of sledgehammers - no subtlety. The guitar "connoisseur"
> clings to Malmsteen because it make him feel elite (not necessarily
> talking about your friend, here).
I see what you mean, but your assumption, including those from your previous
posts, does not convince me, although I agree with some of its consequences
( Socrates is a door. All doors are Greek. Therefore, Socrates is Greek ). I
think you're wrong when you equate quality ( " much better songs") to
popularity ( "connects to his audience"), as when you said in a previous
post: "In this sense, Brightman (and Crawford, for that matter) fit the bill
perfectly. It mirrors the celebration of individuality in contemporary
Western society."
What does expressing contemporary society have to do with having quality?
That's transfering sociological categories ( a sociological phenomenon's
value is determined by its influence on that society ) to aesthetic
categories. Malmsteen, for instance, is musically better than Clapton for
objective reasons: what he does with the guitar is far more complex than
what Clapton does. Popularity, that is, social recognition, has nothing to
do with that. Also, the fact that guitar connoisseurs or opera lovers are
choosy may surely cause a feeling of superiority, but that's not necessarily
bad, unless it's used to belittle others. And if you know more, be that
about guitars, singing, dancing, playing chess, cinema, warfare, crime, etc,
you are superior in that area. I think you know much more than I do about
singing and music in general, therefore you're 'musically superior', but
you've never used that to shove anyone off a discussion here. The same is
true about Lloyd, Mike and many others here on the list. Superiority is
determined by facts, not by ovation.
Bye,
Caio Rossi
|
|
|  |
