The polish of experience
I have been ever perplexed by the stigma of the “sellout” or changing artist in the context of the music industry. I do not deny that there are hordes of cookie-cutter bands whose sole purposes are to rely on the producer’s injection of popular spunk into their otherwise talentless existences. But what about the artists who enjoy some fame or less-than-mainstream acclaim, only to make it big in the more popular sectors and immediately be accused as traitors by the once loyal throngs of pseudo-underground listeners? Do these individuals even care what is happening to the music?
Point in case: Dashboard Confessional. In my mind, they were never the most talented band. I have acquired older albums from roommates, have listened to them, and outside their more popular hits (Screaming Infidelities, basically) I’ve not been impressed. The singing is sub-par, the instrumentals are not particularly inventive, et al. However, with their most recent album, Dusk & Summer, I feel as if the band has matured somewhat. The singer has come more into himself, and while the songs are by no means revolutionary they provide for an enjoyable listen nonetheless.
Still, I’ve heard a number of accounts of people intensely disliking the new album, almost entirely due to a comparative perspective provided by the group’s previous albums. I don’t understand it! The sound is more polished, the production values are higher, and this is a turn off for many people. They tell me the rawness of emotion that was in previous albums isn’t there, things like that, but this completely ignores the aesthetic. Sure, the sound is a little fuller and vocal sparseness of prior records has been spun into a fuller sound, but why is this a bad thing? I still feel plenty of emotion behind the music; it’s just that it is no longer accompanied by a nagging lack of refinement.
Albeit, I find I tend to place a greater premium on the aesthetic than many listeners (which explains my general de-emphasis of lyrical ingenuity when evaluating music). Still, that the musicianship is better in these later albums I find undeniable, and people’s inability to overcome their somewhat non-musical affinities for a group’s older or “undiluted” work bothers me.
I suppose the moral of the story is that music is perhaps one of the most subjective sources of experience we have in this world, and no one has to listen to anything they don’t want to. I don’t even feel particularly attached to the example band, Dashboard Confessional, but I’ve listened because, well, I’ll listen to most anything at least a couple times to try and develop an appreciation. This is the reason my current music library exceeds the maximum capacity of Apple’s high-end iPod at present (come on 120GB micro-drives!).
But that doesn’t mean I can’t bitch about it.
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