Since it appears the fight is over after one round, I was thinking further about why rock ‘n’ roll discussion always has to include discussion of music that isn’t rock ‘n’ roll.
If this was Country Remnants, we wouldn’t be discussing disco. If this was Disco Remnants, we wouldn’t be discussing Black Sabbath.
What are Donna Summer and Miles Davis doing in the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame? Does the Jazz Hall Of Fame feel obligated to induct The Beatles? Surely there were bits and pieces of jazz in Beatles’ music. (The Miles Davis Wiki listing says, “In 2006, he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, which recognized him as ‘one of the key figures in the history of jazz.'” Huh? It ain’t “The All Kinds Of Music Hall Of Fame”, boys and girls.)
What is rock ‘n’ roll? It works like the porn test, when I hear it, I’ll tell you.
Was also thinking we should change the name of this blog to “Rock ‘n’ Roll Remnants – And Disco.”
Hooray!
I don’t give a shit who considers what “rocknroll.” I don’t care who’s in the R&R HOF. I get your point, going off on tangents, but if it’s a catchy tune with a beat that’s enough. I’m not sure if I’ve posted this before but it should be right up your alley, Steve.
well…
i think a lot of the answer to this question, Steve, if answerable is how we interpret both art and genres.
to get technical, Guns and Roses have nothing in common with Big Joe Turner, yet Turner was among the first to identify rock’n’roll as a euphemism and then vehicle. so, strictly speaking, but, Big Joe evolved into Elvis (is he rock’n’roll, and if so, does “Devil in Disquise” count as rock, but “Can’t Help Falling Love” not?) which evolved into the Beatles and so on, and all of this as we all know was rock, but also pop, and other genres (if Elvis counts, does Hank Williams “Move it on Over” and if so, is the answer “yes” when George Thorogood plays it, but not when Williams does?).
to me, music is certainly an art form, but it is also an art, and its tentacles touch everything making that fair game.
to me, rock’n’roll is also an attitude, which is why Joni Mitchell, whose songs have been electrified if that is what counts, and has literally given the finger to lots of acceptance in deference to following her own brilliant path and muse, is a total rocker.
further, i know you love the album standard of the art of the cover and sleeve that go with an album. certainly that artwork is inexorably linked to the music on the CD or vinyl, so how does one separate the two?
ultimately, though, it is all art to me, which might be general, but it is simply how i view life (that it is all a form of art one way or another).
i remember arguing (with an art student, even) with someone once about a chair that was ugly. i asked the person if it was a work of art, and she said “no.”
i asked if there were likely design drawings made of the chair before production and she said “yes.”
wouldn’t those drawings qualify as art if rendered, and wouldn’t the end result of those renderings also be art? she thought about it, and gave a sort of guarded “no,” and then i asked “what if frank lloyd wright had designed the chair and done the drawings?” and suddenly the answer was “yes.”
same with the music man. it can all be rock, depending upon a confluence of things. and, well, if beethoven lived today he would have green spiked hair and play out of a marshall stack. or, conversely, the second movement of the 7th is rock of the highest order from another age.
I feel like I’ve heard Half Acre Gun Room before, but that doesn’t matter much. If it wasn’t them it was someone else going for something simlar.
For me the music is about the truth and the heart and the gut, the anger and the affection. Plus a million other things. The genres help us sort out where we identify, and there is virtue in digging deep into a sliver, but I’m interested in the way the many different sounds talks to the same ideas and emotions.
Also, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is lame. Why are you even talking about it?
This is a conversation that begs for withdrawal of words.
Now I’m going to post more disco.
I agree with Peter about the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.
Where’s Dee Ramone when we need him?
Dee Ramone?