I’m a person who has taste in music. Notice I didn’t say good taste, though my holy trinity of rock will always be the critically-approved combo of The Boss, The Band, and Bob Dylan. The majority of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums” also reside in my vinyl or CD collection. But to me part of being a true music fan is having a handful of crap-tastic albums that you realize are such but love them fiercely just the same. In fact, if one of my beloved shit songs comes on the radio and my turning it up renders a passenger smug, I can usually put together a pretty good argument as to why the song isn’t as bad as they think.
So pop into Redcat tonight to see what some fellow music junkies are defending. “Listen Again: Music You Should Change Your Mind About Right Now” will feature a panel of writers from publications such as LA Weekly and City Beat and professors from USC and UCLA extolling the virtues of their favorite songs. According to the Redcat press release the panelists will have “five minutes each to persuade the audience to reconsider a series of pop tracks — and find in them hitherto undiscovered pleasures.”
Will you come away from the event loving a song that before was merely an incentive to change radio stations? Probably not. For as many glowing reviews as I’ve read of Radiohead and U2, for as much as I appreciate that they’re influential and supremely talented, their music has always left me cold. One of the things I find most fascinating about music is the completely emotional connection between the listener and the song. There’s something totally irrational about the need to hear a tune five times in a row, and it’s a disappointing endeavor to try to articulate the song’s greatness to someone who may hear it completely differently. Still, it’s the music geeks’ lot to spread their gospel, so I’ll arrive tonight with open ears and hope to hear something new and wonderful.
I’m wishing the selected tracks won’t be the usual trotting out of fanboy favorites like Pavement and Lambchop, universally appreciated acts who never sold many albums. Instead, it would be fun to know these writers’ and scholars’ deep dark secrets and hear them gush about their guilty pleasures like Warrant and The Partridge Family. OK, those two are mine, but if I were on that panel, I’m pretty sure I’d have you convinced by the end of the night that “Cherry Pie” and “I Woke Up in Love This Morning” are no less than pop masterpieces. Or at least they’re better songs than you thought.
Event starts at 8:30 pm. Buy tickets for Art of Persuasion here.
Redcat is located at 631 W. 2nd St. in Downtown LA (Map) For more information go the www.redcat.org
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Jeff // Jan 22, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Sorry Maggie, but I hate having to go “Downtown” to find out what I’m missing, especially when it comes to music. You should drive a little south of DT LA, to the Burbs, find a couple of sweet coffee shops where bands are playing, you’ll be shocked to see four, 16 year olds rocking out to an obscure Iggy Pop number or some early Cure track. That is how I define what’s relevant, if you’ve never heard it and some kid loves it, that is Rock & Roll.
2 Titillating Tuesday: Music to Get Your Blood Pumping | La.Cityzine.com // Jan 22, 2008 at 2:30 pm
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