24th
shameless quote
pretty interesting post directly lifted from a TL thread
*quote*
OK world time to read a post that you will regard as hideous. Fans of Lady Gaga wont like what im about to say, but its really not an insult, there are just some things that average people dont know about, because it isnt the focal point of their lives. There is no shame in not knowing there is no Wizard of Oz when all you ever see is the Wizard, not the little man behind the curtain.
“Music” is no different than a sentence or paragraph. The only difference is that instead of words and punctuation, music uses intervals and frequencies etc to communicate emotional response. I have said this before, but it is a fact, and if you are one of those people who like to go around in life thinking that you understand everything and you know the truth about everything then listen up. Music is math. Forget the cultural implications. Forget the fashion. Forget everything you think you know about what music is for just a moment so that you can let it sink into your head what “music” actually is at its core. It is a language of pitch based elements that unfold in time. There are rules in music. There are strict strict rules. Almost no humans on earth are immune to the effects of intervals and beat prediction within the human brain. 99.9 percent of the population responds IDENTICALLY to the fundamental elements of music. Even a baby. This is scientific fact proven over and over.
The common response to this concept is that there are no rules, or music is about breaking rules. This mentality and belief is the equivalent of thinking the earth is flat or believing in intelligent design. You might ask why does it seem that everyone believes music is about rule breaking and being original? Thats the effect of an identity based culture imposing its ideas onto something else. Human beings have made music about rebellion, or identity, or charisma, but all those things are cultural, not musical. If you still cannot understand how there is no true rebellion or originality in the fundamental elements of music then let me try one last time to explain: if you were to believe that music advances as mankind advances, you are basically claiming that the human brain is evolving faster than scientifically possible. The human brain is the same as it has always been. Evolution in the human brain moves at a glacial pace. Why do young teenagers think that new music is better and more complex and advanced? Its cultural. Nothing more nothing less argument over till the end of time. Music cannot progress. The human brain is the receptor, and it works just as it has for thousands of years. These concepts are considered as proven as the earth being round in the scientific community.
That being said, culture plays a huge role in what music becomes popular. And the mass general public is so snowed on what music really is and how music really works. It is one of the least understood elements of culture that has ever existed. Almost everyone, even the guy who spent 10 years playing metal shred riffs is probably completely in the dark about how music functions within the brain at the binary level. In fact, ive found that even the best bedroom “music is my lifers” still know almost nothing about binary structure in music and how it effects the human brain in music. They are skilled performers only, no different than juggling, or making a wicker basket. It may be impressive, but a juggler doesnt know the fundamentals of gravity, he just learned how to not drop the ball.
There are many reasons why the general public doesnt and does not care to understand the reality of how music works and what it really is. Most of which are that the public perceives music as something magical and identity based. Sound familiar? Lets try to think of some other instances in history where a concept was so advanced and unexplainable that human beings resorted to just believing in “magic” or “voodoo” or “god” to explain it… its pretty much consistent. In all cultures across all eras, races, time periods… when something is too complex to understand how it works humans regard it is “magic”. So i dont blame the average person for listening to their emotional investment rather than their logical one. The general public is being assaulted on all fronts that have nothing whatsoever to do with the mathematical fundamentals of music. They are shown music as a vehicle for ego, sexuality, identity, society structure, generational divide, progress, etc etc. No wonder no one cares why chords work the way they do. No wonder teenagers dont give a shit about anything they cant wear on their sleeve. No wonder almost everyone looks exactly like the kind of music they listen to. The cultural implications of music got humanity by the balls. No one wants to care about the math of it. And honestly i guess its understandable. Only an asshole would hold against the public what they have almost no understanding of. I dont expect my mom to know that the people on american idol are horrible musicians. Its a fun show for people. People pretty much see what they want to see if you havent noticed.
BUT, even though the tendency is there to ignore truth, lets not be blind to the facts. Tons of musicians, in fact, most musicians who are famous are terrible and it shows in their actual work. Not in the hype or the sonic characteristics (heavy guitars or trippy beats), but in their actual application of binary manipulation to lead and deceive the listener skillfully at intended cleverly placed intervals. These are things you can see if you understand binary form. Its no longer a matter of opinion when you look at music in that way. Does this mean that if someone likes Lady Gaga they are “wrong” or “dumb”? No. But its unwise to never stop to think about what we are really seeing in front of us in culture, art etc. I see alot of people these days proud as fuck about how smart society is getting but man there are a billion things we are just as dumb about since the caveman days that almost no effort is being put forth to educate the public on. How music really works is one of the great hidden mysteries of mankind. Sounds like an exaggeration for dramas sake huh? Its not.
Lady Gaga is just one in a long line of pop stars that is marketed to the public and dazzles them with cultural influence. They have come before, they will come again. Icons like Lady Gaga, Madonna, Britney Spears serve the needs of the ego of the listener more than they actually create brilliant art. What hilarious is that most of the solid writing behind these stars is made by people who are hideously ugly and tragically unhip. I dont know about you but i think its very interesting that an ugly older person has to be called upon to use their talent in writing to create music for people who actually ARE young, beautiful and hip. Shouldnt they just be able to crank out the hits effortlessly? There is hilarious irony in that. If only all these 15 year old girls knew how many gross old mens lifes work it took to create the illusion of talent in their good looking young idols. But, as i said before, you cant really blame the public for their blind ignorance because genes hold culture on a very short leash. Reproduction and identity will always rape truth and honesty. Taylor Swift wins awards and fans for being a brilliant artist and yet the woman who wrote the songs for her is a middle aged overweight woman.
If mankind could get over itself and wrap its brain around why these types of illusions exist maybe we could move on to bigger and better things other than just being born, making money, fucking, spending money, then dying. Maybe then we could actually make some genuine progress.
*quote*
Pretty interesting. I’ve never heard of binary structure… brb wikipedia. Ok that seems logical and plausible. I mean humans are pretty easy to crack anyway… males are attracted to female breasts because it reminds them of the view of the ass from behind and it has been seared into our minds to associate that with sexual arousal, that’s just how we function. Females are attracted to alpha males because that is how she can confirm that her genes will be passed on - obviously all the females that were attracted to beta males had children which have not had as good upbringing and protection *coughdiedcough* as alpha males have been able to provide, therefore an abundance of alpha male attracted females - simple evolution.
However, music has always been considered the most abstract of the arts: visual and performance dropping in at 2 and 3… so can it really be that simple? Has music been hacked as well? Did I really have no say myself in what kind of music I like? I’ve always wondered a lot why I like EDM/IDM and most people my age like top40 and usually EDM/IDM listeners are much older. I do realize that modern day music has been disgustingly changed into this branded, marketed product which is really no less different from “Bacardi”, “Ferrari”, or “Levi’s”. Music videos have changed the playing field a lot. It gives people a reference point if you will to that kind of music. The most obvious one being “The club scene” which is what I call it: some guy dressed in expensive clothing walking towards a camera rolling backwards, behind him are his homies, CFL white lights reflecting off his shades (the inside of a club is apparently very very sunny), girls wearing nothing strolling around, a lot of ethanol and a lot of cash and jewelry. I think these videos work somewhat like B2B (business to business) advertisements. UPS is very good at B2B marketing in that they aren’t really advertising to us individual consumers but to big companies that make business related deliveries everyday. The same way these videos are saying “hey look how cool the guy that listens to this music is” and then the guy listening to the music is thinking “shit man I’m so damn cool everyone has seen the music video for this song”. I used to think music was about culture, something like one of those old folky sing-song fairy tales that would catch on and get spread around because they are sung. Then I thought well not really it’s become more about people listening to a poem that speaks to them in some way, which is often the criticism I get about trance “where are the lyrics?”. It seems people cannot relate or enjoy music without someone talking (singing if you will) about his great love life or his terrible ex girlfriend or his fight against white oppression. People seem to be looking more for confirmation and reassurance in their own values and identity than they are actually looking for pure enjoyable music.
It’s very interesting that someone mentions that something as abstract as music has been “cracked” and that most people react exactly the same to a pattern of different notes and sounds; (OH MY GOD SEMICOLON DID I USE IT CORRECTLY) that people listen for more of an identity than anything else now. To some extent I agree and then I think there’s something else. I think people listen to a certain genre and their ears get accustomed to a certain pattern or wavelength or range. Rock music listeners are used to guitars, bass, drums and then a vocal part. Let them listen to something like trance and they will always try to look for the guitars and bass and vocals and feel that the beat is too overpowering and distracting, while someone like me is used to the constant thump of a beat, it feels very natural to me like a heartbeat pumping. I am also used to the different melodies and wide range of sounds and tinkles in electronic music, and so I find guitars very very bland and boring, while most rock listeners can distinguish between the same riff played by two different guitars. They can make that distinction and appreciate it but I can’t. I think that has a lot to do with what kind of music one likes and not.
