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Post by mightyjack on Apr 26, 2007 2:37:48 GMT -5
Oh go ahead... That, "I'm a sad hipster", tag is your true feeling and you have the right to express it. I'm of the school of thought that feels the guy who wrote those songs was likely not trying to be anything -hip or otherwise- but was simply being real and true to his own voice. I'm propably projecting, because if I'd written that "Dark" song, I'd have felt good about it and not have felt like I was putting on the sad hipster mask at all. I just feel for songwriters. They pour a hell of a lot of their souls into a song and I hate, hate seeing that laughed off. If it's not your style or cup o' tea, that's one thing. To outright dismiss/laugh at/trivialize a songwriter, when they've opened up like that, I find painful. But, I have to deal with it.
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Post by doctorz on Apr 26, 2007 8:09:06 GMT -5
...but Phantom actually coined the phrase when me and the other hunters had hesitated on jumping onto this mammoth we'd just rolled a huge rock on top of and was thrashing about pretty much. Phanty grabbed his Clovis point spear... It was actually a Folsom point... I'm sorry, I forgot you were back there with the young ones. Correct. Folsom Point. I still have it. (May bring it to Denver with me. )
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Post by Hugh Beaumont on Apr 26, 2007 16:17:22 GMT -5
Oh go ahead... That, "I'm a sad hipster", tag is your true feeling and you have the right to express it. I'm of the school of thought that feels the guy who wrote those songs was likely not trying to be anything -hip or otherwise- but was simply being real and true to his own voice. I'm propably projecting, because if I'd written that "Dark" song, I'd have felt good about it and not have felt like I was putting on the sad hipster mask at all. I just feel for songwriters. They pour a hell of a lot of their souls into a song and I hate, hate seeing that laughed off. If it's not your style or cup o' tea, that's one thing. To outright dismiss/laugh at/trivialize a songwriter, when they've opened up like that, I find painful. But, I have to deal with it. I understand your point and can feel for it. I just think that a lot of "popular" bands and songwriters, while they may be being "true to themselves" and honest, might just need a good kick in the face. Especially the ones who are constantly writing emo ballads and whiny, screaming, overdramatic songs about... well, whatever My Chemical Romance's last album was about. That's not to say that I've never written sad songs myself, but I have a problem when people are constantly wallowing in it, or are over-indulgent about it. They have some of my sympathy, but not much. I mostly just shake my head at them and roll my eyes. And don't even get me started with bands like the Decemberists, who take their literary, historical, and musical knowledge and then bludgeon you to death with it. Different page, same playbook. Pretentiousness is a thin line to walk, in its various forms. Heartfelt or not, quality control has to step in sometime. As for the thread topic, I can't think of any songs that make me outright cry. Some songs by Dylan, Cat Power, Radiohead, U2, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and Wilco tend to tug at the heartstrings a little, though. Weezer's "Butterfly" does it a bit.
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Apr 26, 2007 23:46:23 GMT -5
I just feel for songwriters. They pour a hell of a lot of their souls into a song and I hate, hate seeing that laughed off. I know what you're saying, and of course it takes a crapload of courage and pain to actually create something. At the same time, I've always felt that making art is one thing. But when you expose it for public viewing, it no longer belongs to the artist. At that point, the artist has to be even more courageous and be completely open to the risk that they're taking. And being ridiculed is part of that risk. I have a friend who edits a small magazine but who is also a struggling writer. When I asked her how she could reconcile being someone both writing and criticizing at the same time, she put it this way (or something like this...I'm reconstructing from memory, of course): "As a fellow writer, I have nothing but admiration for all of the people who sweat over a story, often falling in love with it, and even making something sacred out of it. But as someone who is also an audience, critic, and money-maker, I have to respond to it honestly. And if honesty means crushing someone's soul who's been spending a year working on a story which looks exactly like the last 20 I also rejected, then so be it. I utterly respect their labor, but as an audience, I'm interested in the art as a piece of art, not how the artist feels about it." Besides, if people are going to be happy when they get good feedback, they have to learn to just ignore the negative feedback. They can't say that the audience has no right to judge because, if so, they have no right to accept praise, either.
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Post by Hugh Beaumont on Apr 27, 2007 2:13:48 GMT -5
Thank you, mummi, for justifying my being an arsehole. ;D
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Post by eliservo2 on Apr 27, 2007 11:43:08 GMT -5
"Born Free" made me cry when I was little. Also, "Baby Mine" from Dumbo (again, when I was little) and Death Cab's "Title and Registration" was the most recent song to make me tear up.
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Post by mightyjack on Apr 27, 2007 13:46:58 GMT -5
Hugh, you would HATE my music then. I pour a lot of pain in to my songs. It's my cathartic release, I tend to keep things bottled up (despite what I do here) - releasing it like that kept me somewhat sane.
P.S - I loved My Chemical Romances last CD.
And Mums, honest criticism and opinion is one thing, I was directing my concern about the idea of "laughing" at a persons work. I find that disturbing. "Who Wants To Live Forever" doesn't deserve that reaction. And it pains me to read that.
I personally don't read very many reviews, don't give a flip what others think (odd, that I've filled up a website with reviews though. Whatta hypocrite)
*MJ slinks away to do more wallowing* ;D
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Post by mummifiedstalin on Apr 27, 2007 13:53:17 GMT -5
And Mums, honest criticism and opinion is one thing, I was directing my concern about the idea of "laughing" at a persons work. I find that disturbing. "Who Wants To Live Forever" doesn't deserve that reaction. And it pains me to read that. And yet...Mystery Science Theater 3000? heh. I take your meaning. Criticism vs. simple ridicule.
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Post by mightyjack on Apr 27, 2007 13:54:49 GMT -5
Like I said, I'm a bloody hypocrite. Poor Coleman Francis. worked his tail off and all we do is laugh at the poor man. Bastards! Thank you, mummi, for justifying my being an arsehole. ;D Hugh, your not an arsehole. Seriously Man, that's what you feel and you have the right to express it. Besides, it's your money, it's your ears. You gotta listen to what you enjoy. It's just that as a guy who writes a lot of sad songs, I know why they do it and feel empathy for them. It's probably the same for painters, the same reason Francis Bacon explored the same nightmarish themes of isolation. You do it over and over at different angles. Ceaselessly exploring, trying to understand and to express it from all angles.
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Post by Hugh Beaumont on Apr 29, 2007 3:04:52 GMT -5
Hugh, you would HATE my music then. I pour a lot of pain in to my songs. It's my cathartic release, I tend to keep things bottled up (despite what I do here) - releasing it like that kept me somewhat sane. Not necessarily. I'm really picky and it's hard to tell what I'm going to like, or not like. Typically, when I write music, it's also a bit of a release for me. I try not to get too emotional with it, though. I end up tossing out most of the emotional work, usually. But I, too, use it as a form of journalling, since I never really journal. But I wouldn't write your music off yet, at least not for that reason. (I did listen to some of your music a looong time ago, and I didn't like it only because it wasn't my musical taste. However, for what it was, I thought you did well with it, personally.) I know. Hence the wink. Forgive me, but MCR is one of a number of bands that I absolutely loathe. I'm cut more from the "indie kid" cloth than the "mainstream radio" cloth, I'm afraid. I can understand where you're coming from, but I still believe that an artist needs to be able to laugh even at his most personal work. Otherwise, that's where pretentiousness threatens to come in. I've gone back to some of my most emotional writings, and I can't help but cringe and roll my eyes at most of them. I think it's a beautiful thing, when a person can do that. There's a sense in which I do try to be respectful of people's work, and on a smaller scale I am, but these big-name bands who make their money by wallowing in the same over-indulgent... stuff... I have slightly less tolerance. You and me both. I think most reviewers, professional ones especially, are idiots. And yet, I wish I was one. (I think I just want to get paid to shoot my mouth off.) Go for it, dude.
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Post by Hugh Beaumont on Apr 29, 2007 3:12:42 GMT -5
Like I said, I'm a bloody hypocrite. Poor Coleman Francis. worked his tail off and all we do is laugh at the poor man. Bastards! Oh, come now. He was a big, creepy man and you know it! ;D Well, I am an arsehole. But thanks for kind words. As I said before, I've written a lot of sad songs. Some, I think, hold up artistically. Most of them? I cringe and laugh. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. (I don't write so much anymore, though. I reached a point where, after over 800 songs, I felt I didn't have anything original or interesting to say... Like, it was all just the same bunch of emotions repeating over and over.)
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Post by wilson on Feb 12, 2008 4:19:58 GMT -5
Ppl are going to think this is stupid, but the Rainbow Connection makes me teary eyed. Well then , I'm stupid too. ( Stoopid also ) That one's always gotten me "lumped up". But then , the songs ( or movies ) that choke me up are those with the accent on hopeful conviction, or a righteous breakthrough. I've never found quite the right words for it , but that moment of "embracing Yes !" or the sharing of . . . ah, I still can't quite capture it. Probably break myself down if I did. BTW , "The Rainbow Connection" sequeways in or out of "Imagine" very nicely ! P.S. - sorry to bump an oldie , I followed a trail and forgot how far back I was !
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Post by angilasman on Feb 12, 2008 11:56:14 GMT -5
I know what you're saying, and of course it takes a crapload of courage and pain to actually create something. Quoted for truth.
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Post by Krista on Feb 12, 2008 12:57:05 GMT -5
"I Can See Now" and "American Dreaming" both by Dead Can Dance.
Hearing those destroy my day. They're beautiful songs and I'm pissed off I can't listen to them without becoming a total wreck.
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Post by terry on Feb 12, 2008 13:01:21 GMT -5
I can't really explain it but, "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong gets me misty-eyed. Sue me.
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