-Tyler

-Tyler

a discussion about any genre has to be lengthier than 2 sentences. and saying that any particular group of people created any genre (whether it was an act of appropriation or not) is similar to saying, i don't know, WILLIAM PAINTER invented the novel. it wasn't like early practitioners weren't aware of musical categories, whether they used the term genre, category, or were simply aware of specific locations and the KINDS of sounds coming out of those places. the creation your talking about is more accurately termed reification.

anyway, i don't really have use for the term “authentic” except as a value judgment, like saying something is really FUCKING AWESOME–the REAL DEAL!!!! it's a cliche, which is why it's sometimes difficult to know what someone means when he uses it. people usually don't mean anything at all. so i was wondering what jake meant, or thought he meant.

whatever. blues, black culture, white capitalism, academia, cultural ISA's, western colonialism, différance blah blah blah, yahtzee.

chris, i was only teasing, hence my self-depricating armchair psychology reference. i'm sure you like lots of shitty music. it'd be a big mistake to take anything i ever say on this site personally or seriously. most of my comments don't even make that much sense to me.

My favorite shows there were always the Cowboy Mouth shows. Front and center, sweaty and screaming…it was like audio therapy.

First of all, I posted my ticket to a Drivin' and Cryin' concert (which my wife immediately mocked me for). There is nothing redeemingly hip about Drivin' n Cryin'. I also saw 311 at 5 points music hall.

2ndly, thinking the Black Crowes kinda suck does not indicate I am a hipster.
The Black Crowes, as far as I know, produced one decent album in the early to mid nineties and have since repeated that sound until today.
That is my impression of them. I could be wrong, but will probably never take the time to find out unless I am really, really bored.

I just don't want the list of bands to be “like the black crowes”. That's not a good prospect. I want them to not be afraid to go after bands that are actually making interesting music…in this decade.

as for authenticity, i figure the black crowes would scoff (or at least laugh) at the idea that their music is somehow authentic. they're just glad they play competent blues-based rock, and would like to thank the rolling stones for listening to early american “blues” artists. or were they “folk” artists? were they even “artists” at all?

personally, i tend to trust people's tastes more when they dislike what's hip. yet there's that new trend, which is to talk up what's popular–like top 40 popular–to show that “this hipster can appreciate the pop artifact and the artist's [his/her] influence on the culture.” like, on society, man. if we lived in the 60's, MAILER's philosophy of hip would require me to say something right here like: “you dig, jake-man.”

black crowes are an easy target. still, authentic blues? yeah, that's a question. “authentic.” authentic blues? what is authentic? what does that mean. it's not that i disapprove of the term, but i think that people don't think it through before they use it when it comes to music, especially BLUES. you'd be amazed at the influence of record companies and marketing when it comes to even early blues musicians.

the delta is not as “authentic” as we assume, nor is the hill country. though that's not to say the music isn't INCREDIBLE. it's just time to set the record straight: “authentic” is usually a much more subjective value judgment than users of the term realize. “authentic” usually mean something like, “this is what I (I, I, I, I) always felt the blues sounded like.” or else it's just something you read in a review. it's like people calling lyrics “poetic.” most people, even most music lovers, don't really read poetry. it's just that someone's lyrics remind some people of what they imagine poetry to be.

but still, it's a question. authentic? what do you mean by it? because i believe your usage is subjective, and not 'subjective' in that intro-to-philosophy-and-oh-yeah-i-was-an-english-major sense where we think “all language is so subjective, man.” because, yeah, gotcha, let's move on and have a conversation, mr.-don't-act-like-you-don't-use-language-as-if-each-word-you-use-on-a-day-to-day-basis-doesn't-have-some-shared-meaning-that-helps-you-get-by. not that i think you're that person.

anyway, chris acts like the black crowes suck because it helps him justify his own music tastes through a process called self-differentiation. in other words, he sees himself as more of an individual if he can adopt “indie” tastes and disregard acts that have had mainstream success (yeah, this is arm chair shit, and i don't even know him). but still, the term indie is so marketable right now, and people buy it, literally. it's indie rock, like beyond mainstream. haHA.

it's the same way record companies used the term “alternative” to make teens and 20-somethings in the nineties feel that they were breaking away from the corporate american mold. all it took was corporate america selling the right term. hence, chris doesn't like black crowes. it probably has little to do with the music. he's probably never listened to an album all the way through. certainly, he's never tried to like the black crowes as much as the hipster tries to like john cage. (but it's cool to like john cage, so we have to try.)

the best concert i ever saw at 5-points music hall was MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD–hands down. And i saw many, many concerts there. someone will and has written MMW off as a jamband. a) you're an idiot, someone. b) really, for reasons i won't go into, you're an idiot. c) and dumb, someone.

and, jake, i like black crowes, too.