Sir Mustapha
Group: Musicians
Posts: 2802
Joined: April 2003 |
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Posted: Feb. 03 2010, 09:55 |
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| Quote (Drealm @ Feb. 01 2010, 23:27) | | I my little world, I imagined that everybody understood his music like I did and that every fan loved every album. So after this reality check, I understood that an artist, whoever he may be, can really be comprehended only by a few minority. |
I actualy wonder whether an artist can truly be "comprehended" at all. You can only comprehend an artist according to the music he puts out, and most of the time, the music that gets put out is what the artist himself, or in some cases the record company, decides to put out. So you'll always have a partial view. Besides, due to our human nature, we never manage to have a complete view of anything, therefore that partial view becomes even more partial. And to make matters worse, the artist doesn't even comprehend himself completely (does anyone?), so we're dealing not only with the partial view of the "essence" itself, but with the artist's struggles and doubts which interfere with that "essence".
Anyway, whatever we gather from the artist himself ends up going through the filters of our own interpretations and biases. So, you can't help but get a mish-mash of stuff in your head, and no matter how good that makes you feel, there's absolutely no guarantee that the music is making any kind of direct connection with the artist, or even that you're interpreting exactly what the artist intended.
Does that matter? It depends. To each his own: each one knows the best way for enjoying music, and whatever works best for each one is valid. However, it becomes dangerous when you use your personal listening methods to discredit other people's opinions. So, one person dislikes a certain group of Mike Oldfield's works. Does that make him any less of a fan? I wouldn't say so; if anything, that only shows he is selective and confident of his tastes, and probably shows that he has very good reasons for liking the rest of Mike Oldfield works, not simply because it is Mike. I think you'd have a better case if you said it made him more of a fan, but I don't think you can measure that, not in absolute terms.
To be very, very honest, I don't think there is any merit in liking all of Mike's works. I have the opinion that there is a clear variation in quality in Mike's output through the years (not a constant decline, mind), so if I were to say, liking all of Mike's works is either due to lack of selectivity, or a need to adapt and enjoy anything Mike produces. See, that's why I personally don't see any merit in it, but that only matters to me. I just think it's very unfair for people to come here and imply that I'm not a "real" fan because I have a distinct view. To put it in other terms, it's the True Scotsman Fallacy all over again. Even though I don't take it to heart, it's actually a little bit insulting. If I were to say that anyone who dislikes Heaven's Open and likes Tubular Bells II (you'd find a lot of those here) is not a true fan, people would be pissed off with me, and they'd be damn right.
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Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds.
Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com
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En regardant ton profil , je sais maintenant pourquoi tu parles de Celine Dion ! ...tu aurais pû parler plutôt de Shania ou Bryan ou Boards of Canada qui sont , à mon avis , plus proche de la musique de Mike et cela même s'ils ne sont pas Francophones !
Dear ! I simply agree with you ! 
.Mike's music was the first to speak to me and the first to really fire my imagination.
