--
Music makes people better human beings. NOT pop music , not commercial
music. Serious art music. Not your crap Madonnas, Michael Jacksons,
Stings, Eminems, Smarties, House, Garbage, Paul Ankas, Frank Sinatras, Perry
Comos, I could go on and offend a lot of people. What I'm talking about is
what many (most) people call "snobbish" "elitist" music. Mozart, Beethoven,
Mahler, Bach, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Shosta... Chajkovskj,
etc. etc. Most are dead anyway.
--
While I do not enjoy any of the artists you mentioned (except a little
Sinatra now and then, and Sting's lackluster performance in Dune) I think
your sweeping indictment of the first-world population is quite ignorant. It
is impossible for anyone to logically declare that any piece of
pop/commercial music has not added something appreciable to either society
as a whole or to an individual. What about the self-destructive junkie who
later finds comfort and inspiration (possibly artistic!) in mass-produced
christian music? Given the population of the world, I would wager to say it
has happened at least once. What about the stressed college student
(possibly a classical music major) that lifts their spirits by listening to
a poppy, upbeat, cookie-cutter SoCal ska band? Are either of these examples
'bad' or 'worthless' because they do not occur with your musical preference?
Why should every piece of music have to have a profound
mental/psychological/spiritual effect on the listener anyway? I would assert
that music of any genre that has a non-destructive effect on the listener is
a positive thing. And no, music that maintains the status quo is not
destructive. The status quo, us 'greedy, selfish, and totally normal human
beings' make it possible for people such as yourself to lounge around
expressing your brand of art and music by supplying the economies of the
world with goods and services.
--
I have been a professional musician for it seems very many years now. I
have not become a sell-out (in both meanings!) like Vanessa May, Bond, Nigel
Kennedy, etc. etc. etc. I have been true to my discipline, true to my art.
I have never gone after MONEY. Not like the likes of Richard Stolzman and
others who chase the rich and powerful win competitions and prizes and kiss
the arses of those who would give them money to perform. No, not me.
--
Yay. Every dollar you do not have is one I can get. Why does not 'selling
out' make your music any more important? Why does not pursuing commercial
success heighten your positive effect on society? Einstein did incredible
work as a patent clerk and then went on to get paid for similar work. Did
this somehow invalidate his previous work? Did it make his theory of
relativity less influential to the world of physics because later he made
money? I think not.
--
I have nothing but contempt and pity for the rich and famous celebrities.
They have nothing to offer. They are always in the press and the media.
But why? There's nothing to tell, nothing to learn.
--
Now I am going to make a broad generalization based upon my experiences. I
know your kind. You and many like you are the same. Once, perhaps years ago
during your youth, you enjoyed having your peers and authority figures
(teachers, parents, etc...) applaud your musical efforts. As you matured you
found yourself struggling to compete with other musicians of your age and
eventually found comfort in the delusion that you were superior because of
your relatively obscure taste in music. That then matured into a mental
shell as you found yourself unable to succeed against your peers. You
continue it to this day because it is your defense. It is a defense against
any sort of criticism about your absolute failure as a true benefit to
society. It is a defense against the general view of society that you are an
arrogant, eccentric prick who does not have enough talent to succeed
commercially so you go around claiming to be 'fucking the system because it
sucks!."
--
Jnr. gets paid for destroying the shakey flimsy reputation of the USA by
screwing Kyoto and the world just so he can pay back the people he owes.
--
Hate to bust your bubble there chief, but the only people who give a flying
fuck about this are environmentalist wackos and crazy musicians in Sweden.
The 70's brought us environmental lunatics raving about global warming,
global cooling, and the complete end of all the world's oil supplies. Guess
what! None of this has happened. We are obviously not out of oil as we just
keep finding more. Global warming? Not quite. Satellite-based temperature
measurements between the years of 1979 and 1997 demonstrate a decrease in
average global temperature of .1 Celsius. Balloon-based measurements during
these years correspond, showing a decrease in global temperature of .2
Celsius. Most 'global warming' fanatics rely purely on computer-driven
models and temperature measurements taken in or near cities. Such
ground-based measurements are faulty due to the 'urban island' effect. No
one in the USA really gives a damn about what other nations think of them.
We have money and missiles. It is just lovey-dovey nice-nice chittity-chat
'love me for who I am' rhetoric after that.
--
I'll tell you something. If I were a terrorist, I would bomb the recording
industry.
--
You would have to have money first to do that. At least enough for the bomb
+ FedEx.
--
I would Nuke Columbia Artists and all those phoney worthless parasites - the
artist agents and managers.
--
Thank god you are not going to target Sony first. I just could not live
without the next Mandy Moore release. Besides, I thought you respected all
human life? "Believed in the brotherhood of man and woman who was ideal
enough to respect all people," or did I misinterpret that?
--
I would feed Ex Lax to Pavarotti and set the world's opera houses on fire
for destroying music.
--
Cool. Now all the world's free spirit artists, freed from the oppression of
some major American music labels, can not even perform in the great halls
because of your Kaczinski-wannabe efforts.
--
I will never buy pay for a record, CD, tape recording. And I make my own
recordings. People are invited to buy it from me, but if they bootleg it or
"steal" it , I say "Great! Keep it up!" I'm all for it.
--
I think it would be hilarious if someone stole your music and/or lyrics and
used them for commercial gain. I cannot imagine how you would not feel a
little pissed about this, even if just for a second. What else do you create
that people can steal from you? I could really use some modern art to spruce
up this capitalist stronghold I live in.
--
Now, you might say that I am cutting my own throat. Well, well, well. What
difference does it make?
--
Fame. Fortune. Stardom. Recognition for your accomplishment. Fair pay for
work. The ability to provide well, even after your death, for a wife.
Clothing. Food.
--
No recording company, agent, etc. has ever done anything for me. I know.
I have given ALL OF THEM many chances to take me on. All have refused.
Fuck them all.
--
I had a discussion with a local radio DJ about local music once. She
insisted that I should support local artists. They were apparently worthy of
my support just because they were local and had no steady contract. My
reply? If they were worthy of my financial support, they would not be local
anymore.
--
If I want a recording I go out and get it. I don't pay for it. I refuse.
--
Cool. Theft! I think it is so pure of you to COMPLETELY SCREW an artist you
appreciate out of ANY reimbursement they might get by your legal purchase. I
know that I view anyone who steals one of my products as the driven snow,
purest of the pure, plying their illegal trade because they do not like the
system and want to bring love, happiness, and joy joy joy to the world.
--
The Beatles got 1 penny an album.
--
So?
--
Who got all the rest of the loot?
--
The people who flew them around playing concerts. Their families. The
people who assembled their stages and sets. Their families. The people who
made their instruments. Their families. The people who promoted them to
radio stations. Their families. The people who produces/mastered/edited
their albums. Their families. The people who employed all of these people.
Their families. The governments. All the people who lived in the countries
where they performed or sold albums. Damn. The record company did horde all
that money!
--
Sure, Paul is/was the richest man in the business. What was it, �26
million a year 15 years ago.
--
I guess those pennies really do add up. I should clean out my sofa.
--
He can't even read music!
--
So?
--
He's been on an ego trip for decades. Good for him. He's no great artist
either. But as for myself, I don's care anymore. I satisfy my own high
standards and serve the muse.
--
Yep. Thievery, elitism, arrogance, malice, violent tendencies, ignorance,
disrespect. Quite the lofty goals there, St. Bennett!
--
Fuck the rest. If the world rejects me, fine. I refuse to stop. I
refuse to give up. I know that what I do is sincere. If it's any good or
not, that's none of my business. I just do it.
--
Good! That's the way people achieve greatness is by not letting themselves
get taken down by those who would stop them. But eventually great people
must accept that the world operates the way it does and no one man is going
to change it tomorrow.
--
And I refuse to be beaten and destroyed by the world and his brother.
--
No one is out to get you. You are more of an obstacle to yourself than
anyone could ever be. Your deep-seated hatred for so many things mundane
will damage you, your art, and your psyche beyond the dreams of any
hell-fueled record company and their demonic pawns.
--
The human species is extinct anyway.
--
I apparently did not get this memo. Please fax it again so I can be advised
of my extinction.
--
But I rejoice because homo sapiens will never be allowed to destroy life and
the universe. Evolution and Mother Nature forbids it.
--
Actually, I think physics forbids it. We cannot create a great enough force
to destroy all matter, at this time. Gaia, Mother Nature, and the Goddess
all take a back seat to force.
--
You slammed the door in my face. You refused to even give me half a chance.
--
You met Bill? Cool!
--
Enough of this rant. Fuck you all for having no respect for art, for
artists, for musicians, for poets, for painters, for actors, for writers,
for humanity. Fuck you all for not respecting the teacher. Fuck you all
for not respecting the nurse. Fuck you all for being greedy, selfish, and
totally normal human beings. And fuck you for getting us extinct.
--
Damn right. Fuck you for not respecting humanity, the human condition, and
our predispositions. Fuck you for not respecting the cooks, programmers,
tire changers, sales clerks, musicians, video game designers, presidents,
janitors, engineers, hairdressers, and doctors who are doing the best they
know how to. Fuck you for thinking that you are better somehow because you
have decided to not even attempt to better society. Fuck you for deciding to
play your pathetic music no matter what effect it has on anyone. And fuck
you for even thinking anyone gives a fuck about your pointless, hateful,
non-constructive rant.
--
The arts may be dead, but I fight on.
--
Go perform your bullshit music. I am the person you hate. An _American
Capitalist_, born and bred. I am greedy. I didn't even finish college
because I couldn't wait to earn money. I do not even donate to organized
charities! I run my own business so I can get the lion's share of the
profits. I pay private industry as little as possible for the parts I buy
and charge the municipalities of America as much as possible for my
products. I maximize my tax gains. I listen to mass-market talk radio. I
watch mass-market television. I listen to mass-market music. Want to know
what is in my paid-for CD player right now? Chemlab, Nine Inch Nails,
Birmingham 6, KMFDM, Sisters of Mercy, and Aphex Twin. I paid cash money for
every one of these CDs. Why? Because I enjoy them and feel like I should buy
the artists behind these bands a $.03 piece of bubblegum or however much
they get for all they have endured to make this music. I read popular
authors, not classics. I can not tell the difference between works by any of
the authors you mentioned earlier. So I am contributing to the downfall of
society and the extinction of the human race, right?
Wrong. You want to know what I do? I design equipment to clean water. My
business and my employees build them and sell them. That is right, a
business actually dedicated to cleaning the environment that you and I live
in. My products remove all manner of waste, industrial, municipal, hazmat,
lowrad, biosolids, fecal materials, etc... from the water that will be in
your shower and kitchen faucet two months from now. I so wish I could sit
around on my ass all day and write music, but instead I am out busting my
buns to make cash money while convincing my customers that they should not
be introducing so much waste into the environment. I feel ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY
FABULOUS about getting paid for it. I've purchased three cars, a motorcycle,
and two boats with my hard-earned American dollars! It's the height of
self-indulgence. My computer is a home-based godbox. I take my girlfriend
out to $150 dinners. I lend my friends money to buy all manner of consumer
goods from all over the world. And every last penny of all this money
eventually finds its way to hard working people who deserve to be paid for
what they do. Japanese engineers at Honda built a motorcycle to do 186mph
and I paid them for it. Taiwanese technicians maintained the robots that
made my motherboard and I paid them for it. American machinists ground the
crank in my Buick GN and I paid them for it. Trent Reznor makes one helluva
CD and I paid him for it. And every last one of these people I dealt with
and their families ate off the money that myself and others like me gave
them.
So fuck you.
--
W. Eric C. Ferguson
Owner, PressTech
Belt Press Design and Manufacture
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