I feel somewhat inclined to agree with Marc on this point concerning labels
for music. I don't want to start up a whole new debate on this term (the
last one seemed to go on for eons), but there is an amount of practical use
for terms concerning musical genres. Being that I work for a magazine you
may well point to me as being part and parcel of the purveyors of the crime
of applying labels, though I personally do not come up with cool and new
labels for music. I spend most of my time just tryin to describe my
opinions of the essence of what I hear.
But in the case of a consumer like Marc, who may not be a member of the
class of people who are surrounded by peers interested in whatever
particular music we might be talking about, or who may not be a creator of
the music, terms like "trip hop," "jungle," "acid jazz," etc, can play a
good part in helping them choose where their hard-earned money will go.
On top of that, at the bottom level of it all, they are just names. If your
name is John does that mean you are typical of all the John's in the world?
Music lives and breathes in our world much like human beings do.
Individually, uniquely, expressively, sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly.
What's in a name?
I don't think music becomes commercialized or exploited by applying names
to it. It gets that way by gargantuan record companies who wave a dollar in
the face of an unsuspecting artist, by bad management, by irresonsible
journalism, by "trend-setting" media like television commercials, MTV, and
the million-and-one "hip" magazines on the stands now.
I don't know, I guess there is an intrinsic problem with labels and terms,
but I think the key is to not take them so seriously. Perhaps do what it
seems like those in the UK do, and just barrage the atmosphere with term
after term. Make them far less of a rare commodity and people will realize
it's just a silly name. And do it with a sense of humor....
These are just my thoughts
Gordon
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