Quote:
Originally posted by evenodds
Actually, that is precisely the point. Discovering something "new" at the same moment as everyone else makes you a sheep, lulled into something by powerful marketing forces.
Discovering it for yourself is enjoying the experience on its own merits, without the thousandth mention on Clear Channel or MTV to tell you that it's great. Media manipulate you into thinking something is good because it is familiar and comfortable -- repetition is key.
Being bowled over by something new you hear for the first time at a small, smoky club is a powerful experience, like the first time you take a drug. Subsequent dosing may never recapture that high, but you keep chasing it.
It's not about the cool factor, it's about the purity of the experience.
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I understand the high of being bowled over by a new band and I'm the first guy to go out and tell people "You've gotta fucking hear ______ - they're really great." However, in the end, the only thing that matters is that you dig whatever it is you've discovered. I notice that the people who gush the most about how they discovered _____ before it was famous are those who don't really care much about the art/music, etc. they're discussing and are really only interested in looking cool.
I learned about the Stones long after they'd sold out and become bloated media whores. Does that make my digging Can't You Hear Me Knocking somehow impure? The White Stripes are horribly overhyped and so are the Strokes, but their music is still great. Art is solely for sensual pleasure. You like some things, and dislike others. How you learn about it has nothing to do with the experience. The "purity of the experience" is a concern for those who worry about what everyone else thinks of them.
Of course, this conversation does not take into account those really stupid people who like or dislike certain bands because the band is trendy (See: Dave Matthews). I don't think anyone really likes Dave Matthews -- they just think that cool young upwardly mobile people like Dave Matthews, so they too had better like Dave Matthews. Whenever I have friends over, someone inevitably demands that I put on some Dave Matthews, and I usually oblige. I also put some Deep Purple, Dr. Dre and ancient Stones discs in the shuffler to register my scorn.
