At 02:41 PM 2/24/99 -0500, Jon wrote:
>Yes, thinking about how to sell records shapes the making of them,
>but it generally does so in a more imprecise way; when you get in the
>studio, you want to make the best record you can given existing constraints,
>whether that's the lack of a piece of equipment you'd like to use, or the
>recognition that if you don't come up with something that's going to sell,
>you're not going to get another chance.
Back in the day this last item was especially powerful, I'd guess. You
know, this whole contemporary ability for an artist to deliberately make an
uncommericial record (I don't WANT lots of people to hear my records, and I
sure as hell don't want a lot of people to LIKE them!) is, in the main, a
pretty recent option. Punk? Post punk? Whatever. Bobby Bare, for all
practical purposes, even assuming that he didn't like Atkins' production
(and I have no reason to believe anything other than that he liked the
records he made very much), couldn't have chosen a less radio friendly
approach if he'd wanted. Not if he wanted to keep making records or, like,
pay his rent.
Of course, even with that decision out of the way, there were still an
infinite number of artistic choices left to be decided.... --david cantwell
