> I just never seem to be in the mood to put myself > through the heavy-as-hell-art-grinder any more.
That's the principal reason I don't wish to explore Emimem and similiar music. The mood music puts you in I think is something to take into consideration when you're deciding what music you wish to listen to. I mean if I wanted to explore what it's like to be heroin addict, I could shoot myself up several times but I know I'm definately not interested in becoming one so its simply not worth it. I feel the same way about music and think that how it makes people feel is something that is often taken for granted I remember seeing "Henry, Portrait of Serial Killer" when I was in college and found it so chilling simply because it was so realistic. At this point in my life though, I find I am not as interested in being disturbed, I'm just not really in the mood and would rather focus on brighter more positive things. This is not to say I am not concerned about *actual* problems and heartaches in the real world but perhaps place a greater value now on time and quality of life and just don't feel a need or desire to explore or experience a darker side. This has nothing to do with any moral or ethical debates but is just a pure feeling. I have enough trials and tribulations in my own life so why would I want to listen to someone else singing about their pain. I think that the media has propogated this for years and years, this desire to share in other people pain, loss, and misery. I still find myself getting sucked into it from time to time but am grateful when I can clear my mind of it all, perhaps walking in the woods across the street, surrounded by nature, something that is all to often neglected. Jazz is difficult to listen to. When I went to my first jazz concert, Chick Corea Electrik Band II, I could only stay for the first half as it was so overwhelming...it took awhile for me to learn to listen to jazz and gradually developed a great love for many wonderful artists. Joni's music I have grown to love in a way I never would have imagined three years ago, and that took some real effort, more than I had put into it prior to joining this list anyway. Anway, that statement "brilliant, but not easy to listen to" I can apply to the examples above with no problem. This is music I have grown to love over a period of time and my passion for it continues to grow deeper and deeper even now. However, if I were to listen to Emimem, I don't think I could say the same thing, and certainly don't imagine it is music I would grow to love. In that sense, the fact that it is "not easy to listen to" in my opinion, detracts from his music and discourages me from wanting to listen to it. If I were a fan of his but found myself not wanting to listen to his album, that would indicate something to me. And it puzzles me still why he's considered brilliant when so much of the attention is focused on the subject matter and ethical issues rather than the music itself. Just hypothetically, can you picture him performing when he is eighty? I wonder how he will view his own music when he is much older. And can he put out music that is not so controversial, does not deal with hatred and violence, and still be just as successful? To me, that's more of a measure of whether I would consider someone brilliant or not. Some people are more sensitive than others and perhaps I'm on the more sensitive side but I'm glad to be that way and consider it an admiral quality rather than a handicap. Why run myself through a grinder when even today I am dealing with difficult descisions that will affect me the rest of my life, decisions I'm not even sure I'm able to make Victor NP: Neil Young "Midnight on the Bay" Victor Johnson http://www.cdbaby.com/victorjohnson "Velveteen rabbits and moonbeams, Come when you lay down your head. While you are sleeping, they kiss you and tell you, That you are the reason the sun lights the sky." Scarlet-V. Johnson
