The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Well, there's nothing wrong with making a living. Sometimes that's the only way to squeeze in a few good songs for the real fans.

Making radio-friendly pap is probably never the only way to give real fans good songs, and I would wager that its a pretty awful way regardless.

After all, Songfight (e.g.) is an alternative to radio-friendly shit. You can always make a living someotherhow.

In my opinion, if a good old band puts out a new album with a couple radio friendly songs, it's to feed their financial beast so that they can continue making "good" tunes for their real fans, while getting air play and selling cd's to new fans. I just don't have a problem with that I guess.

or if they still had souls they could get a fucking job, write amazing stuff and bollocks to all those who only listen to the radio. Like me.

A bit hardline, maybe, but take SF as an example, when has trying write according to the artistic recommendations of reviewers EVER worked? By the time you get round to giving people what they want the dj will have told them to move on, plus somebody else will have written a tune just like yours but better thus making your 'radio-friendly-tune' both old and crap.

The hardline view doesn't pay the bills, but neither does trying to second guess popular opinion unless you have a humungous promo budget, and that's not exactly second-guessing. If you actually care about music writing for popularity is worse than a day job.

IMHO

Alias & Tarsier - Brookland & Oaklyn
I just got this in't post, it's warm and fuzzy.

Billy's Little Trip wrote:In my opinion, if a good old band puts out a new album with a couple radio friendly songs, it's to feed their financial beast so that they can continue making "good" tunes for their real fans, while getting air play and selling cd's to new fans. I just don't have a problem with that I guess.

Really this method actually deprives the real fans. Those radio-friendly songs could have been more good tunes for the real fans if the band hadn't decided that airplay and broadening their target market were more important.

You know, I typed a bunch of stuff, but then I deleted it all, figuring that I would not change any minds here.

There seems to be a sort of presumption here that good tunes and radio-friendly are mutually exclusive.

I think this conversation is only concerned with/relevant in situations where that is true.

Spud wrote:You know, I typed a bunch of stuff, but then I deleted it all, figuring that I would not change any minds here.

You better give the gist of what you were going to say, because I won't be able to think of anything else and I'll just sit here focusing on on it and go crazy, and........*looks out window* Hey, I see a birdie in the tree *runs out the door yelling birdie birdie*

So anyway, lately I've been listening to Terror Twilight again and I think it's my favorite Pavement album.

It's like this.

I knew an artist who just painted all the time. He never bothered to sell his stuff, or look for shows, because he just wanted to concentrate on his art, and he thought all that selling stuff was just, you know, selling out. Fuck if he wasn't broke and starving most of the time, and not only that, even though he was doing great stuff, NO ONE KNEW ABOUT IT. I used to buy a painting of his every once in a while, half because I liked the painting and half because I wanted him to be able to keep doing it and not have to go and get a job at McDonalds.

A while later, he met a girl, got married, and she owned a gallery in a small town. He painted in the back room, and the tourists loved his stuff. After a while he was just making the same painting over and over again as fast as she could sell them. A few years into this, he came back to Seattle and had a private showing for his collectors here. We raked him over the coals because he had not progressed one bit as an artist, and we didn't buy a single painting.

I am just saying, I think there is somewhere in between.

Spud: I know there's a bunch of wisdom or a moral or something in that story, but damned if I can figure it out.

What Spud is saying is don't get married because bitches will ruin your shit.

Spud, I totally get what you're saying...... Never work at McDonald's.

But this reminds of what happened to Rancid. They were rock'n hard and really coming up. At the time their Indie was Epitaph Records (Bad Religion) and they got picked up by a major label. Now they are going to go big time and get out to the world. The next thing you know they are being called a sell out yada yada. Next thing you know, they get out of their contract and go back with Epitaph. They basically died on the vine because of it. Epitaph is now much bigger, but still small compared to the majors. I saw Rancid at the Orange County Fair a couple years ago. They didn't look like they wanted to be there.
For any of you that say "Rancid"? I say "exactly" 8)

All I am saying is do what you gotta do, but find time for the art.

Rancid didn't sell out, they just got worse than they already were.

I think spud's on the money with that story.
I also listened to Tim & Mike Kinsella being interviewed on Chicagocore and a lot of what they say is relevant too, whether you like 'em or not.

Blind Mime.


I dont' know what it is.. but everytime his tracks come up on shuffle... I instantly know who it is...and I love it. Moody...dark... and strangely sensual...


Current track: She's on My Mind

WeaselSlayer wrote:So anyway, lately I've been listening to Terror Twilight again and I think it's my favorite Pavement album.

That's something you don't hear said every day, but I'm glad to hear it now. Personally I've been gradually discovering the hidden charms of Wowee Zowee and wondering why they kept the best track 'til so late on the cd (Best Friends Arm - the number of time's I've nearly crashed driving to this tune, it's amazing). Terror Twilight was what introduced me to them though and so will always have a special place in my heart, as well as teaching me for the first time that some tracks are really worth perservering with (The Hexx in particular). but man, Carrot Rope, best happy song ever. Major Leagues, absolutely beautiful. Spit on a Stranger, joy on a stick, and I'm so proud that me and Tomsk (c-burn guit) covered it on one of our acoustic nights, how I wish I could go back there sigh...

Leaf wrote:Blind Mime.


I dont' know what it is.. but everytime his tracks come up on shuffle... I instantly know who it is...and I love it. Moody...dark... and strangely sensual...

That's Bryan Baker, his website can be found here and his music also at Tapegerm here.
I like his voice a lot!
If you haven't heard it I really like his uicmm.
-bill