Crack Wise With The Four Or Five Guys!© Dept. - Psychfan Blows His Mind

Collect th' set! Impress dames!

Psychfan's credentials are exemplary. Graduating from the Bowery Correspondence Academy Of Pool with a swell diploma suitable for framing, he soon made his fortune winning rake fights at Amish hootenannies! Here he cracks wise about a subject dear to his heart - rutabaga husbandry. Take it away, Mr. Fan!

The Manilow Syndrome

In the late fifties and early sixties my neighborhood movie theater did a Saturday matinee that consisted of a kid movie paired with whatever was being shown to the general audience at night. This made for some odd pairings that no doubt contributed to the eclectic, post modern world view of even the dumbest kids as, for instance, Tarzan Goes To India collided with something starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

One consequence of this, however, was that I ended up seeing some musicals there. I had an intense dislike for musicals, having seen plenty of older ones on TV. Being mesmerized by the tube meant that I watched at least parts of them anyway but I was unhappy to have them intrude on my Saturday in the dark.
Some of them actually weren't bad though. In 1958 I liked Damn Yankees for it's sly humor even though some of it went over my seven year old head. In 1961 I was blown away by West Side Story even though I knew that it's lack of Rock and Roll made it completely inauthentic. I never did develop any love for the form itself, though, and still haven't.
 
Those experiences made me realize that there was a difference between stuff that was inconsistent with my own taste and stuff that sucks. There are many that never grasp that distinction, though.
 
I think about this a lot in relation to music, especially pop music which nearly everyone seems to experience through a time specific lens. My own taste in pop predictably fades in around 1955 and fades out around 1985 (Madonna helped to chase me away). It's not that I don't like anything newer than that; I just lost interest in keeping up in any systematic way and have no patience for listening to too much stuff I just don't like.
 
What kept me from tuning out entirely was the understanding that my reaction was partly subjective and that skill and even imagination were still at work, even in stuff I didn't necessarily like.
 
Take Barry Manilow, for instance [Please - Ed.]. Many would say that he has no talent. I disagree. The truth is that he's very capable and even talented. It's just that I have no use for what he does. Millions of other people do, however.
Does this mean that there are no objective standards and that nothing truly sucks (or is truly great)? Of course not! The 1960's and 1970's were the greatest time for music for a few easily indentified reasons. First and foremost, BABY BOOM. If there are X number of musical geniuses per thousand births there were more then than ever before. This also meant that the market was huge which emboldened record companies to reach beyond the lowest common denominator and actually market more adventurous music.
 
Combine that with much greater access to education, more media choices than ever before, huge advances in technology along with a restless rejection of the conformity that had followed the worldwide trauma of WWII and you have exceptionally fertile ground for artistic advancement. This took the form of mutated versions of various kinds of American folk music and, ultimately, jazz (the first 20th century musical form).
 
Back to Manilow (and Madonna). Their stuff is competently done but has little artistic vision as far as I can see (a key phrase here). Manilow would likely protest that his inspiration comes from Broadway and other traditional pop and Madonna that hers comes from disco but those seem to me to be impoverished and long exhausted sources that are, none the less, loved by many people.
 
The same is true of Country "Hat" acts, Top 40 rap acts, Taylor Swift etc. I don't like their stuff but is that a failure of perspective on my part? If I sound confused it's because I am.
 
I still hate musicals.