I will take your words for it my friends, cause I never took a single minute to watch or listen to any of both the two singers you just mentioned.


I figure my heart, mind and soul being a temple, i am not allowed to let any meaningless junk going through it.


Best regards to you my musical friend.

 

I'll listen to just about anything at least once, Stef and I try to keep an open mind.


Let me put it this way, if someone else had released the song "Womanizer" I wouldn't have had any reservations about complimenting it in some fashion. It's not my thing, but if one of my techno-leaning MySpace friends (Magdalen Graal, Tinatin, sometimes Lowvee Cole...) had done it then I would've given them the proverbial "thumbs up" and complimented them about some musical aspect or another, including the lyrics.
It makes one wonder about "baggage", you know?

- Chip
 

I see and respect your point of view.


But i know myself all too well, and my musical tastes are unfortunately being moderately narrow.


I have this ability to almost know in advance if a given artist will have something i might find interest in by listening to a limited few extracts among it's material.


And what i have previously heard from these kind of artists, is enough for me to know i am not missing much according to my own set of standards.


In other words, if one knows all too well he does not enjoy Italian food from several experiences and comparisons, why should he bother trying it further more?

I may be wrong, but I am willing to assume the risks and consequences.

 

"I have this ability to almost know in advance if a given artist will have something I might find interest in by listening to a limited few extracts..."

That's kind of my point, that the song in question is really quite good where my expectations would've led me to anticipate pure garbage otherwise (and, to an extent, vice-versa in the case of Beyoncé).

 

Well i guess there are exceptions to every rules.


There as you already know, are millions of artists out there, i prefer to concentrate on the ones i know i will enjoy every bit of songs on a given CD instead of the ones who might someday have out of an obscure miraculous miracle come up with one single decent track i may enjoy.


Also, personally, lyrics in a song are at best, a nice addition to music if they are just being another instrument in the given song, songs who emphasize on the singing part and on which the music be just a mere meaningless accompaniment being in the background do not interest me at all.


I am a musician and music is all im seeking in a song, if the singer is a great one then let it be there, but i certainly wont mind if there are none in a song you know.


Mozart and Beethoven, Bach and all the great classic composers didn't have any lyrics, but their music was appreciated because people from that Era were able to use their mind to make up their own scenery while listening to their works.


Whereas today, most people seem to have lost the ability to feel anything when listening to an instrumental track.


You see?
Im a very different individual, and when you are being a different kind of individual compared to the general mass, you cannot be successful in the music business because the record companies are not in a position to take any more chances because of the situation we have going on today with piracy and such.


Also, sorry for hijacking your blog and going on a such off subject rant about myself, i appreciate your great wits and sheer intelligence my friend.

 

I don't mind you hijacking it at all, my friend. I think my own feelings on music and lyrics as part of it have been made pretty clear throughout my writings.


- Chip QNP
 

I have always loved Beyonce too! Don't you owe me a story?
 

Owe you a story, Cindy? In what sense? LOL

For anybody reading this and unaware of her talents, Cynthia here has quite the voice and we've a bit of a musical history, she and I.
:-)
 

First I hope your wife feel better soon.


Here I am chip, tired or maybe having a post party depression after a full day of giving my daughter her "Dolce Sedici" (Sweet Sixteen) birthday party yesterday. Looking for some good music I decided to visit your page. But then my eyes caught on your blog.


Well, her party lasted 4 hours filled with "entertaining" music. Needless to say, I was pounded with undesired sounds. I do recognize Britney's and Beyonce' s talents. And they do strike me as two beautiful lovely young ladies and admire their success and their abilities as performers. I actually listen to their music when my children turn on their radio. But for me, they are just entertainers. If they were to compared to artists that actually wrote music from their hearts, I afraid we are comparing apples to oranges.

Both my children are also musicians (they are in schools of the arts and their major is music. This program includes studying music theory, voice, write composition and play piano). I thought since they listen to "entertainment" music, they are more likely to write that kind of music. But then my oldest daughter entered a contest called "Song Writers" at her school, she wrote a three pieces of modern classical music. At first I was a little bit surprised. I thought she would have written music similar like the music she usually listens to. When I asked her why she wrote the three movements of string quartets, she told me it was what she feels from her heart. She said when she wrote, it was like she was telling a story of a human spirit talking about his own "unending spiritual battle" of his life. Her work earned her first place when she entered her 9th grade at her school.

After her school orchestra finished playing her movements, people stood up and applauded her while tears streaming down their cheeks (I did too). Her story touched and moved the audience so powerfully. She did not realized it until that one day last year.


True musicians have passions behind their work, and entertainers are people that are well performed but I don't think their performances can touch our hearts the way a true musician's does.


Just my monkey thinking :0)
take care Chip
thanhtuyen
 

Chip - Et Tu Brute? Didn't you give me the "lowest common denominator" speech when I was humbled by the way American Idol can make a guy cry. Nothing wrong with listening to and (gasp) even liking the music of Britney or one of the Davids. Now, fantasizing about them, and idolizing their lifestyle - the celebrity of it all - now that's worrisome!! But I think the older you get, you don't mind bringing down your guard a little - so what if it's fluff, crap, pedestrian or obvioius.... if it moves you, it moves you... Now having said that, can someone explain why us "serious" guitar players can't live on royalty cheques alone, but the dude singing "Chocolate Rain" on youtube had 33 Million Hits. Um, on second thought, never mind... I think I know.....
 

It seems to me in my current state (extreme physical discomfort ... I've somehow dislocated a rib. I'm serious.) that everyone insists upon misreading what I'd written here therefore it's probably my fault for expressing myself poorly.


Dave, my "lowest common denominator" speech (which I stand behind) was more directed against the process of judging the contestants rather than they themselves. It says it right on my QNP profile; "Basically, I like anything that feels 'real'; I don’t care if it’s so-called pop, techno, metal, progressive, country, jazz, grunge or if it has modifiers in front of it (e.g. 'Christian rock', 'nü-metal', etc) … I care that it has some sort of harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic interest and lyrical relevance." I have to admit to a passing enjoyment of Britney's "Womanizer" though I usually detest everything about her and have often wondered at how she ever managed to convince anyone she had talent; I have to admit to an overwhelming dislike of Beyoncé’s "Single Ladies" even though I love her voice and usually enjoy her music when I hear it ... I was merely remarking upon this seeming inversion.


I assure you, all of you, that I don't care about either of these performers or their product enough to remark further upon it; the energy I've expended here merely represents my desire to be understood.


Failing that, I'm off to listen to something worthy of my time.
Care to join me? Here:

With a twist of irony, warmest regards, and a slight grimace of pain,
- Chip