Homages and Auteurs

Right, and you lost, got it? We weren't even talking about where it originated, right? You stated that is the US were to suddenly be taken out the equation, Rap wouldn't be a national phenomenon, which it most certainly would, Mr. straw man. back to what we were actually talking about! I can quote your post, if you have forgotten what were were talking about already. I am well aware where rap came from, as I was alive and listening to music then. Were you?

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Oh! May I recommend a tenure at Berklee College of Music, here in Boston? Plenty of other misguided young folks who think "melodic complexity" a great song, makes. WRONG ANSWER. It CAN make a good song, but for each melodically complex entry you list, I shall list ten that are overwrought, technically overpowering pieces of garbage that hit the listener over the head with "melodic complexity"

So, Beetoven's 5th. The main line, two notes, exceedingly simple. By your definition, this piece of music is bad. Would you agree?

On the flip side, all math rock must be the best music, and Dream Theater must be the best band in the world!!!!

I wouldn't know, I only have 30+ years of musical experience, playing multiple instruments. I have two full albums of original music released on an Indie label (Crusade Records, Boston, now defunct) in the mid 90s, and I have taught performance and theory off and on for over over fifteen years. Not to drop creds on you, but, I got em. So please, enlighten us in the ways of complex melody, and how it is the defining factor in "good" (once again, purely subjective) music.

Here, check these guys out:

Symphony X - Tons of "melodic complexity". Absolutely terrible music. Sort of like the crap I used to play back in the 80s, before I learned that melodic complexity isn't what defines music.

everyone in here that says Rap is crap...NEEDS to check out Sage Francis...rap on the radio is crap...rap thats underground is not widely played on the radio is where the jewels are at...

ps - fo shizzle ma nizzle

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Wait....



.....they are

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James LeBrie is such a terrible vocalist, his voice has me running for the stop button..... To think I used to listen to them! I still dig the instrumentals, sort-of.

You're a terrible vocalist.

Oh, you have heard me? Yeah, I sound like someone done stabbed a pig with dull biscuit.

Actually, I can sing pretty well, but not well enough to front a band, that's for sure... Always been the harmony vocal cat, myself...

Here, sing into this, Pyro....


*BOING*

rofl guys

Rap originated in the United States, and its emergence as a global phenomenon is inconceivable absent American cultural and economic hegemony. Artforms that originate outside of the major global powers do not achieve international prominence unless they have some sort of built in vector to a major power (for instance, reggae captured the international spotlight because the large Jamaican immigrant population exposed it to US audiences, and it spread from there to Europe, Australia and Asia).

It is instructive that no American musical or artistic form made a substantial impact internationally before the early part of the 20th century, not coincidentally coinciding with the rise of American power on a global scale.

No, ALL great pieces of music are melodically complex. Rhythm music is inherently populist. It is the music of dance and the mindless fun of the ignorant masses, which is why, historically, popular music is dominated and defined by the rhythmic element. Any monkey can enjoy (and reproduce) groove, but the eternal and intellectual component of music (melody-concept) is beyond the ken of the average listener.


Not at all. 'Melodic complexity' isn't a product of the technical construction of a given passage, but rather of the sophistication with which melody is used to construct and convey concept ('meaning') over the course of an entire piece or work. Technical virtuosity used to cover for a lack of unifying concept or meaning isn't complexity, it's pocket pool played out in notes (which why many rather minimalist artists have created works of significant genius and Yngwie Malmsteen created irrelevant crap that appeals only to dickheads).

Erm, and the emergence of technology that could share said 'vectors'.

There's no point following this line of argument, coz you're never going to be able to substantiate your initial premise that 'rap=crap coz it was created and endorsed by the US'. By this logic, aren't Jazz, the Blues, and Rock'N'Roll crap too? Etc etc.

Your just building a scanty scaffold around a a bull**** argument. Give it up.

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

Good of you to deliberately distort the actual argument being made. Rap is crap on it's own (stunning lack of) merits. It's popularity is unrelated to its quality, and is determined primarily by American cultural hegemony.

This is your opinion, yes.

When will you recognise that trying to quantify it as intellectual fact is a giant steaming waste of time tho?

The answer seems to be: Never.

I ain't got that much time to spare.

I don't hold opinions. I merely possess a superior ability to recognize facts.

It's a pity no one else here does.

Yes, yes, what a crying shame we're not all you.

Go multiply some fish.

I am unaware of just how many monkeys you've befriended, but I don't know any that can reproduce a beat of any kind.

A statement which is in and of itself an opinion. Apparently your ability to recognize facts is only rivaled by your inability to comprehend irony. Regardless, the above is exactly what you'd say if you actually possessed an inferior ability to differentiate between opinion and fact.

Stating your arguments forcefully does not actually give them force. Lending them a bit of nuance, however, would.

The irony of the missed irony.

Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?

I'm afraid Frank Oz's hand isn't the only thing up your ass, Yoda...

I am floored by the strength of your counterargument. Or, at least, I assume I would be if it existed.

You're phoning it in, so I don't feel compelled to say anything else at the moment, other than that you've argued yourself into a ridiculous tautology.

Who said an 'argument' had been advanced? If you don't recognize deliberate absurdity when you are presented with it, I don't know how to help you.

The stunning lack of perception on your part is, well, stunning.

I find it amazing how many threads there are in which people are trying to argue for a particular taste in something (music, art, film), etc., as if it were provable fact. Why do we all even bother with these threads? Different strokes for different folks when it comes to things like music, film, art, etc.

That's it: I'm starting a thread on determining which food is best. I vote for mashed potatoes! Who's with me?? Wait, wait. Which color is the best? GREEN! And I can prove it.

My husband has a button that reads: "You know you're an electrical engineer if you have no life and can prove it mathematically." Now honestly, we ought to be able to adapt that basic premise to pointless tangential discussions such as this one.

FWIW, I don't like rap. <-----opinion

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