July 1st 2007 09:15 pm
As useful as kvetching about the rain
An Open Letter to Would-be Music Recommenders:
There seems to be a common theme in any thread where the call is out for music recommendations for people to trot out their Very Top Favorite bands. This is perfectly understandable, but those doing the recommending occasionally lack the This Is/Was All Over The Radio filter. In a site like mine, which gets precisely zero commenters, this isn’t an issue. Over at Scalzi’s Whatever, it can get to be. I don’t know Scalzi’s time allotment to reading through the thread, but I’d imagine that at least a few of the recommendations made him roll his eyes at the obviousness.
In this specific instance, the latest call for music pimpage resulted in a couple people recommending Garbage songs, and a nod to Amy Winehouse, who had a video recently featured on the site. I like Garbage, and I love Shirley Manson’s voice on recordings, but shouldn’t a little voice go off in your head that they, maybe, perhaps, have gotten a little airplay and are at least a trifle famous? It’s not the same level as recommending Nirvana to anyone between the ages of 20 and 40, but it’s not an entirely unapt comparison.
I’m not suggesting that everyone turn into hipsters who scoff at anything that has more listeners than the population of Barrow, Alaska (about 4,500). Cool Points are not awarded based on obscurity, but a brief thought or two about how ubiquitous the artist’s music has been will be rewarding. Until Avril embraces a new musical sound really doesn’t need any mention; any person who’s marginally interested in pop music has heard of her, and has probably heard her repeatedly.
Also, if you’re going to recommend an artist, it might be a good idea to at least spell the name correctly. It’s Aimee Mann, not Amy Mann.
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