{"id":380,"date":"2010-09-09T23:40:09","date_gmt":"2010-09-10T03:40:09","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2010-09-09T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2010-09-09T23:40:09","slug":"a-common-link-in-much-of-what-i-don-t-li","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/a-common-link-in-much-of-what-i-don-t-li\/","title":{"rendered":"A Common Link in Much of What I Don&#8217;t Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"image_block\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><object type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" data=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/flashback425x150.swf\" width=\"425\" height=\"150\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/flashback425x150.swf\" \/><\/object><\/div>\n<p><em>I&#8217;d completely forgotten about this post and the interesting discussion it spurred! For all the topics we kick around I especially like when we find a way into this sort of discussion. A lot of the participants on this topic have been quiet over the last months &#8211; or longer. A lot of you weren&#8217;t here when we first kicked this around. Maybe you&#8217;ve got something new to add, maybe not. If nothing else I hope this is a worthwhile trip down memory lane.<\/em> <\/p>\n<p><code>This post initially appeared 3\/14\/07.<\/code><\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gmKwxYrWNSM?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nIn checking out some Sonic Youth tracks recently, I think I came across the common link in much of what I don&#8217;t like in rock music: an, at least, perceived lack of musical lack of hierarchy. I like hearing musicians come to the fore. I like knowing who&#8217;s the <strong>Alpha Dog<\/strong>. Too many singers, too many soloists, too many <em>anythings<\/em> doing their thing simultaneously and democratically is almost always a kiss of death for my ears.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nSonic Youth has 3 singers, none of whom distinguishes him- or herself. All 3 stringed musicians hammer away without great regard for foreground and background. No one&#8217;s in charge. It&#8217;s like that scene in <em>Apocalypse Now<\/em>, when Sheen and company arrive at a wild, tripped out base, with fireworks and gunfire going off indiscriminately. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Who&#8217;s in charge around here?&#8221; or some such thing Sheen asks a stoned soldier listening to the guitar solos of <strong>Randy Hansen<\/strong>. &#8220;I am,&#8221; comes his chilling answer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Grateful Dead<\/strong> play way too nice with each other. <strong>The Byrds<\/strong> all sing and play together, not really caring who&#8217;s out front. Wire&#8217;s <em>Pink Flag<\/em> glides along at a narrow, fairly flat plane.<\/p>\n<p>It would follow that I don&#8217;t like <strong>Ornette Coleman<\/strong>&#8216;s music, but I do. When his mess of democratic musicians mix it up, they do so with a competitive edge. &#8220;You think you can noodle, Bern?&#8221; I can sense <strong>Jamaldeen Tacuma<\/strong> yelling over to guitarist <strong>Bern Nix<\/strong>, &#8220;I&#8217;ll show you some noodlin&#8217;&#8230;let me move up to the upper reaches of my bass and riff off <em>your<\/em> riff!&#8221;<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uzJoraw2eIo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I tend to like bands that live up to <strong>Colonel Kurtz&#8217; view<\/strong> of the world. You know who&#8217;s in charge. You know who plays what role. When someone else does need to step forward, others step aside. There&#8217;s a brutal purpose to every song, solo, and so forth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;d completely forgotten about this post and the interesting discussion it spurred! For all the topics we kick around I especially like when we find a way into this sort of discussion. A lot of the participants on this topic have been quiet over the last months &#8211; or longer. A lot of you weren&#8217;t <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/a-common-link-in-much-of-what-i-don-t-li\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}