Elvis...or Michael?

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Sorry for the "me too" post, but I have to agree with CP's post above. Just because it isn't something you like, doesn't automatically mean it is crap.

I agree.

Perhaps you posted this before you read my response to CP, which clarified my position.

On the other hand, there is such a thing as crap. I'd love a thread (not this one) which discusses the notion that quality is based on taste and therefore is completely subjective. (Hint: I'd take the opposing side)

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by mousepod

Perhaps you posted this before you read my response to CP, which clarified my position.

I did - I was still composing when your post came up.

But I have to ask: are you are blaming (in this case) MJ for other similar acts that followed that are (in your opinion) crap? That doesn't seem like a reasonable possibility. Am I missing something?

[mousepod]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

I did - I was still composing when your post came up.

But I have to ask: are you are blaming (in this case) MJ for other similar acts that followed that are (in your opinion) crap? That doesn't seem like a reasonable possibility. Am I missing something?

Of course I'm not blaming Michael Jackson for the crap that he didn't do.

This is an example of a frustration I sometimes have with this kind of message board discussion.

GD said (in part) "MJ was more than a good performer that presented world-changing music and entertainment, he actually had a heavy personal hand in creating it, and in effecting the changes in the industry that followed in its wake."

I asked him for examples.

GD replied (in part) "The dominance since his career of acts like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Madonna, etc. They all draw from his style and music, in which he was a major creative component."

The conversation was (at that stage) about influence. If MJ gets assigned credit for the success of talents like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Madonna etc, then I added to SL's response in which he said " was just about to say if the question is who had more of a bad influence on music, Michael Jackson wins hands down for all the synchronized back-up dancer heavy crap he begat.".

That's all.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by mousepod

I agree.

Perhaps you posted this before you read my response to CP, which clarified my position.

On the other hand, there is such a thing as crap. I'd love a thread (not this one) which discusses the notion that quality is based on taste and therefore is completely subjective. (Hint: I'd take the opposing side)

I agree. I would add that my use of the word "crap" does not merely signal criticism of pieces of music but of a pernicious cultural phenomenon. Indeed, I would submit that most passionate criticism of art is not directed solely at the art work standing alone but at how art influences behavior.

For example, I would say that whoever convinced the women of America--and, indeed, some of the grade school girls of America--that they need to be walking around with their ass crack popping out of the top of their jeans has not merely committed an error of fashion judgment. They have done something bad.