h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not at all. How can someone with any kind of indepth knowledge of creativity and the purpose of placement in writing/plays/art etc, not know the purpose of a soliliquy is?

I just question your true insight into it all, that is all. I don't think it would harm you to learn more than you already profess to know.

Of course, I could be entirely wrong. That's always possible.

The soliloquy question was rhetorical.

To me, sampling is simply taking noises and putting them together. It doesn't matter what the noises are.

I remember reading years ago that Portishead would record something original, press it onto vinyl and then sample that to use in the final song! Stticking in that genre, Massive Attack would record any interesting noise they could find to use... sampling doesn't mean "nicking someone else's tune". {But M.A. did sample "I found a reason" by the Velvet Underground... and did it so well, that you don't even notice it's there.}

There's good sampling and there's bad sampling. There's good guitar playing and bad guitar playing. Good songwriting and bad. Don't blame the technique, blame those who are bad at it.

deemikay

how can anyone say music is improveing...both boy and girl bands sound so much alike that when you hear them on the radio you can't tell the difference...also don't get me started on that drum and bass sound,they've only got to record the toilet being flushed then run it through some decks and hey presto we have a new million pound number 1 and people go out and buy it thinking its the greatest sound ever....

...and for them, it is.

There has always been good music around. You just have to go and find it. If you can't, you're not trying hard enough.

Simple answer : a lot of pop music sounds the same because it's written by the same people.

I mean :

When is someone going to attack boy bands fro not playing their own instruments?

Yes BLATHERS the record that sampled Mister Misters "broken wings" was awful and everyone involved should be ashamed of them selves. It was a run of the mill Puff Daddy style record. Obviously using elements of "broken wings" didnt help as that was itself a plodding, over blown, power chord drenched, rock ballad of the worst kind.

In the same way that you shouldnt make toilet roll out of tracing paper you shouldnt make rock ballads, rap operas or suede undewear.

I would add 'country epics' to that list.

All country epics are terrible. Apart from 'Hurricane' by Bob Dylan.

B

Elvis, Sinatra, Tom Jones (none of them my cup of tea) never played instruments on their songs. Neither did lots of lots of singers. Why does playing an instrument make you better?

There's a big problem with people not recognising that the voice is an instrument in itself. Give me a great singer over a great instrumentalist any day.

{And I'm *not* being an apologist for boybands)

deemikay

Good singers tend to be a lot more common than good instrumentalists, though.

You try listing good bass players or good drummers, and see what I mean (and no, I don't need people to post long and arcane lists just to prove how much they know about music).

B

Don't worry... no more arcane lists from me Well, not for another few posts anyway...

I am a musician, but I hate all the "technique is the most important thing" attitude. Musician's support the singer who sings the song... the song is much more important than the parts that make it up.

And this is where people accuse me of not being a good musician and being jealous of those who are better than me... not true at all.

deemikay

But following your argument, Celine Dion plays better music than Bob Dylan. Mariah Carey plays better music than Mark Knopfler. Whitney Houston plays better music than Gomez.

There's more to music than a nice voice.

B

Yeah, like I said: the song is more important.

deemikay

Yeah, like I said: the song is more important. And I prefer Bob Dylan's voice to Celine Dion's.

deemikay

And who came out with a list there? Not that arcane... but still...

deemikay

My point was that the vocalist is no more or less expressive or important than the rest of the group. That's the jazz philosophy at heart, but equally applicable to other music.

B

It depends what sort of music your listening to.

Gustav Holst used voices on his Planets Suite, but not using actual words, for example.

Music can convey far more emotion that a voice will ever be capable of. Music is one of the true universal languages which can speak to us all - lyrics are restricted by language. I like opera, but since my German is rusty, my Italian non-existant the lyrics become just another instrument (which is probably just as well when you see how banal some of the opera lyrics really are!).

A great singer can understand music, even if he/she cannot explain why, because it is something they are born with. The same for a musician (I can play several instruments but can't sing a note - absolutely awful voice). There are very few "great" singers or musicians but an awful lot of good ones. It still comes down to personal preference though.

someone likes bob dylan

I didn't say I liked him... I said I preferred his voice to Celine Dion's.

But I think I was misunderstood somewhere along the line. I was talking about musician's technique. And I don't think it matters.

As a (not very arcane) example: The Velvet Underground. Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison weren't the best guitarists in the world, Mo Tucker was hardly a good drummer, John Cale (though a clasically trained viola player) chose to play simple bass, piano and ear-shredding noise. Sorry, organ.

But add all this together with a great songwriter and you get two of the greatest albums of the 60's (their second and third ones. And I know Cale wasn't on their third before anyone says).

Being able to play your own instruments, or even just playing them well, doesn't make you good. The song does. Think of all the fantastic Motown songs written by Holland, Holland and Dozier but sung by others and performed by the Motown house band. Playing instruments doesn't matter.

Anyway, that was all... I'll stop now.

deemikay