6 ms·

HN types think they're the smartest of the smart, yet judging from these comments and from other music-related posts I've seen here, most of you listen to popul

by DEbCB 9y ago

HN types think they're the smartest of the smart, yet judging from these comments and from other music-related posts I've seen here, most of you listen to popular music (including rock and rap) near exclusively. The comments seriously offering up pop stars as equals of Bach are just sad. Go on a pop diet. Cut back on it the way you might sugar or processed foods. Try to spend a year listening to classical music only. These resources will help you get started: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/music https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/music https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNezhx8YiGIV8I22ICSuzslja https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNezhx8YiGIV8...

maxerickson 9y ago
I'm curious, are you hating on Beethoven and Mozart or did you just not read the comments that you presume to summarize?
- DEbCB 9y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556033
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    Most?
    - DEbCB 9y ago
      Yes, most. Most HNers have zero appreciation for serious music. This post announcing the death of David Bowie got 1484 upvotes and 301 comments (and the brave few who criticized it as off-topic got flagged): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10879262 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10879262 By contrast, the death of Boulez, love him or hate him, got two upvotes and zero comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10850214 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10850214 And the deaths of Claudio Abbado and Alexis Weissenberg, as additional examples, were ignored completely.
      - archagon 9y ago
        Well, maybe Boulez should have written music that was actually listenable!
      - _emacsomancer_ 9y ago
        In terms of fame, Bowie is more comparable to Bach than is Boulez, so this seems unsurprising to me.
plandis 9y ago
> The comments seriously offering up pop stars as equals of Bach are just sad. Why is that sad? People have different musical preferences. You appear to be implying they are all wrong for liking other genres of music. Perhaps it is you who is being close minded in this particular instance?
coliveira 9y ago
I did that and it seriously changes your perspective of music. It is very hard to go back to listen to pop music after you get the taste of classical.
- DEbCB 9y ago
  Good for you!
archagon 9y ago
Pop music might be compositionally simple, but the exquisite rhythms, melodies, and timbral experimentation will indeed live on for centuries. Beethoven would have killed to write something as catchy as "Yesterday". Cutting off paths of emotional resonance from your life will only damage you as a music listener and a musician.
- danieldk 9y ago
  I was raised to dislike The Beatles, since they "just wrote stupid love songs". I really changed my opinion at a later age. I think most songwriters and composers would die for having written three Lennon-Mccartney compositions. And Lennon-Mccartney wrote at least two dozens of stunningly great compositions. I think it is pointless to debate who was the best composer, or whether any composer can equal Bach, since it is largely a matter of taste and unclear what criteria apply (complexity? emotion?). But in terms of impact, music history is partitioned in 'before The Beatles' and 'after The Beatles', just as it is partitioned 'before Bach' and 'after Bach'.
_emacsomancer_ 9y ago
And what of people who appreciate both 'classical' (in the broad sense, rather than the specific period) and modern forms of music? Sure, there's plenty of sugary pop music, but there is plenty of serious and meaningful modern music as well.
paulcole 9y ago
>Go on a pop diet. Cut back on it the way you might sugar or processed foods. Try to spend a year listening to classical music only. Why would anyone do any of these things? Besides the nebulous benefits of realizing how wrong we were for enjoying rap?
- DEbCB 9y ago
  Why would anyone read a serious novel, like Crime and Punishment, instead of a comic book? Mozart's Jupiter Symphony will still be performed and appreciated fifty years from now. Can the same be said for your cherished rap/pop songs?
  - compiler-guy 9y ago
    Fifty years ago, the number one song was “Hey Jude”. Number four was “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay”—both regularly performed, enjoyed and reinterpreted today. There are half a dozen others in the top twenty that you could say the same thing about. Yes. Some of the pop songs today will be around in fifty years. Are they as good as Bach? No. But then again neither is most classical music written today.
    - DEbCB 9y ago
      > Fifty years ago, the number one song was “Hey Jude”. Number four was “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay”—both regularly performed, enjoyed and reinterpreted today Largely because the Boomers and Gen-Xers are still alive and kicking, and still refusing to grow up, still hanging onto the music of their adolescence. When the last of them passes away, I predict they'll take rock and roll, including its so-called "classics," along with them. In fact, rock is already fast dying: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-s... https://newrepublic.com/article/139572/happened-rock-music https://newrepublic.com/article/139572/happened-rock-music https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2017/03/20/rock-n-roll-is-dead-no-really-this-time/#71bad5694ded https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2017/03/20/rock-n-ro...
ianai 9y ago
I listen to many things. I would liken popular music to your 30 minute sitcom. Whereas a concerto or a symphony i would liken to the entire Star Wars movie series or similar. It can take a composer 10 minutes to set up a “scene” and pop songs are lucky to be 4 minutes long and sometimes as short as 2.
- freyir 9y ago
  Pop music short, classical music long. Got it.

by DEbCB 9y ago

maxerickson 9y ago

I'm curious, are you hating on Beethoven and Mozart or did you just not read the comments that you presume to summarize?

DEbCB 9y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556892 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556192 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16556033
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Most?
  - DEbCB 9y ago
    Yes, most. Most HNers have zero appreciation for serious music. This post announcing the death of David Bowie got 1484 upvotes and 301 comments (and the brave few who criticized it as off-topic got flagged): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10879262 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10879262 By contrast, the death of Boulez, love him or hate him, got two upvotes and zero comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10850214 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10850214 And the deaths of Claudio Abbado and Alexis Weissenberg, as additional examples, were ignored completely.
    - archagon 9y ago
      Well, maybe Boulez should have written music that was actually listenable!
    - _emacsomancer_ 9y ago
      In terms of fame, Bowie is more comparable to Bach than is Boulez, so this seems unsurprising to me.

plandis 9y ago

> The comments seriously offering up pop stars as equals of Bach are just sad. Why is that sad? People have different musical preferences. You appear to be implying they are all wrong for liking other genres of music. Perhaps it is you who is being close minded in this particular instance?

coliveira 9y ago

I did that and it seriously changes your perspective of music. It is very hard to go back to listen to pop music after you get the taste of classical.

DEbCB 9y ago
Good for you!

archagon 9y ago

Pop music might be compositionally simple, but the exquisite rhythms, melodies, and timbral experimentation will indeed live on for centuries. Beethoven would have killed to write something as catchy as "Yesterday". Cutting off paths of emotional resonance from your life will only damage you as a music listener and a musician.

danieldk 9y ago
I was raised to dislike The Beatles, since they "just wrote stupid love songs". I really changed my opinion at a later age. I think most songwriters and composers would die for having written three Lennon-Mccartney compositions. And Lennon-Mccartney wrote at least two dozens of stunningly great compositions. I think it is pointless to debate who was the best composer, or whether any composer can equal Bach, since it is largely a matter of taste and unclear what criteria apply (complexity? emotion?). But in terms of impact, music history is partitioned in 'before The Beatles' and 'after The Beatles', just as it is partitioned 'before Bach' and 'after Bach'.

_emacsomancer_ 9y ago

And what of people who appreciate both 'classical' (in the broad sense, rather than the specific period) and modern forms of music? Sure, there's plenty of sugary pop music, but there is plenty of serious and meaningful modern music as well.

paulcole 9y ago

>Go on a pop diet. Cut back on it the way you might sugar or processed foods. Try to spend a year listening to classical music only. Why would anyone do any of these things? Besides the nebulous benefits of realizing how wrong we were for enjoying rap?

DEbCB 9y ago
Why would anyone read a serious novel, like Crime and Punishment, instead of a comic book? Mozart's Jupiter Symphony will still be performed and appreciated fifty years from now. Can the same be said for your cherished rap/pop songs?
- compiler-guy 9y ago
  Fifty years ago, the number one song was “Hey Jude”. Number four was “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay”—both regularly performed, enjoyed and reinterpreted today. There are half a dozen others in the top twenty that you could say the same thing about. Yes. Some of the pop songs today will be around in fifty years. Are they as good as Bach? No. But then again neither is most classical music written today.
  - DEbCB 9y ago
    > Fifty years ago, the number one song was “Hey Jude”. Number four was “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay”—both regularly performed, enjoyed and reinterpreted today Largely because the Boomers and Gen-Xers are still alive and kicking, and still refusing to grow up, still hanging onto the music of their adolescence. When the last of them passes away, I predict they'll take rock and roll, including its so-called "classics," along with them. In fact, rock is already fast dying: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-s... https://newrepublic.com/article/139572/happened-rock-music https://newrepublic.com/article/139572/happened-rock-music https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2017/03/20/rock-n-roll-is-dead-no-really-this-time/#71bad5694ded https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2017/03/20/rock-n-ro...

ianai 9y ago

I listen to many things. I would liken popular music to your 30 minute sitcom. Whereas a concerto or a symphony i would liken to the entire Star Wars movie series or similar. It can take a composer 10 minutes to set up a “scene” and pop songs are lucky to be 4 minutes long and sometimes as short as 2.

freyir 9y ago
Pop music short, classical music long. Got it.