Beorn
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- Dec 10, 2008
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There have been a number of thread started here that talk about listing embarrassing songs or shows that people enjoy, but are embarrassed to admit it.
Recently Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot did a piece in the huffington post regarding this very issue:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/post_1195_b_777344.html
Recently Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot did a piece in the huffington post regarding this very issue:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/post_1195_b_777344.html
Guilty Pleasures: the phrase alone implies a form of aesthetic righteousness. Your personal preferences (unique and subjective by definition), are kept in line by a higher standard of objective good (as defined by the community). The experts have agreed upon art that is right and superior. And in spite of the warnings from the authorities you insist on listening to things like Mariah Carey or New Kids on the Block. Not to mention the Michael Bolton tattoo. You must repent, my friend, for you have chosen Boy George over Radiohead.
Your joy is shameful; your pleasures are guilty. Scandalous even. It's just the truth... the ones who are qualified to have an opinion have made it perfectly clear. Thomas Kinkade and Kenny G are artistically wrong. Any pleasure that you might have received from their respective work will be rendered shameful and regrettable. You have succumbed to your tasteless tastes: this is contraband art.
Are you having trouble fitting in at school? Do you want to feel more accepted by your coworkers or peers? Tell them you prefer Fela Kuti. Or Pavement. Or J Dilla. anything other than Justin Bieber. What's that on your iPod? Oh, you poor dear. Trust me. Compliance can do wonders for your social life. Blend in, surrender, submit.
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But beware: the opinion of the tribe is always evolving. Yes, my friend -- you have to be ready to adapt to new trends. For example, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Nirvana, and Radiohead have released records that received horrible reviews. However, the same publications that dismissed these releases have now declared these former duds to be among the most timeless records that rock and roll has to offer.
For example, Rolling Stone's review of the first Zeppelin release stated that Jimmy Page was, "a very limited producer and a writer of weak, unimaginative songs." Were you listening to that eight-track in the shame of an air-conditioned car? Well, roll the windows down and turn it up! It's not a guilty pleasure anymore -- it's sanctioned by the authorities! More recently the publication has decided to throw Page, Plant, Bonham, and Jones the full five stars instead of the original three.
Led Zeppelin's story is hardly unusual. The professionals might even say that this is a common trend in all artistic endeavors. Swan Lake's debut in 1877 was a critical flop. E.E. Cummings was widely panned by the experts. Van Gogh was so disregarded that he committed suicide in obscurity as an artistic failure. All of that to say, timing is everything: you have to jump on the bandwagon at the right moment.
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Dear reader, beware: outside those fences lies a dangerous place. Are you strong enough to form your own opinion? Can you withstand the guilt, the shame, the humiliation from the tribe? Are confident enough to defy the crowd? If not, stay where it's safe. Remain within the fences -- the experts will keep you safe, making sure that your personal preferences don't stray too far from the common consensus.
Outside the fences of convention lies an untamed wilderness awaiting the reckless souls who have the nerve to cut their own path. Are you daring enough to defy the dictatorship of the critics? Are you strong enough to wander outside the lines? To dance to your own drum? To thrill to the ecstasy of unrepentant, unabashed euphoria?
Outside the fences, the explorers ignore the experts. They call to us:
"Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!" -- Walt Whitman
***
"Only in humility can we begin to find the beauty in everything. Do you have the
barefaced wonder to drift outside the lines? If you dare, you could rise up to be
the shameless architect of the unknown, charting new ground that the critics will
never know. For the rest of the crowd, there's safety in numbers. But for you- you
and your brave soul, there are no guilty pleasures. Just pleasures." -- Jon Foreman