Bryan: "Have you noticed that there is an inverse relationship between the quality of music people are listening to and how loud they play it in their car and/or iPod so that everyone around can hear it?"
[WS:] Yup. I cannot help but notice this. It is like people telling a bad joke and then laughing loudly as to force everyone else to laugh and conceal the fact that the joke sucked.
Mike: "but on Sydney trains, personal speakers have made a comeback among the kids."
[WS:] I take a train to work daily, but I have not noticed that too much.
Most people listen to their pods via earpieces. But I cannot understand what is "cool" about it - its seems quite pointless and annoying. I can understand "being in your face" and forcing people to hear a meaningful message that challenges their "received wisdom" - but I do not see any redeeming value in making obnoxious noises. It is like farting in the public - funny only to juveniles.
Wojtek
On Tue, Dec 7, 2010 at 6:00 PM, <wrobert at uci.edu> wrote:
> I think that the catchy melodies are really the reason why Billy Joel
> is hated so much. The nausea of Billy Joel is not only experienced at
> the moment of the song, but it has an afterlife as the hooks and
> melody keep it in your head. I was riding my bike to school, and it
> was remarkable how much of 'piano man' was accessible to memory,
> especially for a song that I have never consciously listened to.
> Crappy 'indie' music rarely has that quality to it. It's generally
> forgettable, so, in that sense, much more forgivable. (working on the
> premise of a subject that hates both of them. if you like Billy Joel,
> I suspect that these very qualities that make it so hated, are
> precisely the ones that bring pleasure.) robert wood
>
> > Ok. That's what I thought. BJ is trite. He has no wit or style, or even
> > any personality. Obviously. But jesus, it's just pop music!
> >
> > Billy Joel is better than 90% of the indie crap my friends make me
> > listen to. He comes up with harmonic progressions other people don't
> > think of, then he puts them to catchy melodies. That already puts him
> > several standard deviations above the mean. See, even Rosenbaum
> > implicitly agrees:
> >
> >>
> >> OK. But isn't there anything you like?
> >>
> >> Fair question. I've always liked "The Longest Time" and "An Innocent
> >> Man." May I get back to the contemptible crap?
> >
> > SA
> >
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> >
> >
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