See my post earlier - anyone who tries to tell you that one music is 'better' than another for a reasons as stupid as 'modernity' and ever more 'relevance' doesn't actually get what makes music so wonderful. It doesn't have to bloody well mean anything - it just, well, Bob said it best didn't he?
One good thing about music: When it hits you you feel ok.
THATS the key - if it hits you, it hits you. It's not about trying to be clever, or prove that you know your history, or any of the pathetic reasons he gives in that used bog-roll of an article. That's clearly what he's missing with his 'friends' too (I put that in inverted commas because if he talks to people like he writes, I suspect they're more people who put up with him than actual friends): The Beatles are their faves, and they remain so, not because of 'importance' or 'relevance' or 'meaning', but purely and simply because, all these years later, The Beatles still 'hit' them more than any other band - as they did for so many at the time, so many since, and will for so many in the future.
Damn. I keep coming back to that like picking a scab - but is he seriously telling me that I'm some kind of pretentious pseud, because I happen to like Mark Rothko's paintings more than I like Tracy Emin? Because I think Robinson Crusoe is a great novel, Jonathan Swift is one of the greatest satirists who ever lived, while Martin Amis is an over-rated tosspot? What about Mozart? Where does he come into that argument? Elgar's better because he's more recent? Not even Elgar's biggest fan, or indeed Elgar himself, would make such a stupid, stupid claim.
Indeed, he denies the whole wonder of how something like 'A day in the life', or 'Maroon on Red' (by Rothko - which is exactly how I got into him, didn't know anything about who he was or when he painted, just saw a picture and liked it, then saw it 'live' at the Tate Modern and loved it) or 'The Marriage of Figaro' or whatever, can still look as new and fresh, can still suck in whole new generations of people with no prior contact whatsoever (note how The Beatles are popular again now - even though the people getting into them now, unlike me at 28, are not people who grew up with them through parents etc).
And this guy complains on one hand that people should think for themselves and on the other that those who don’t come round to his point of view are idiots? What a knob.
Yup - that's the kind of thing that really pissed me off too. By all means, don't like the Beatles - fine. It might even be interesting to read why not, but don't tell me that we all have opinions and then state as fact that yours is the right one you arrogant twit. Grrrrr.
Anyway -
Thanks for the tip Connie - I'll be sure not to wait too long, but just want to give it a chance for some 3rd party retailers to get in on the act, which should hopefully make the price drop a little.
