stuffthatilikeblog

[stuffthatilikeblog]

Intro

The other day my friend Chris sent me a series of texts lamenting an HBO documentary about Woodstock ‘99. Though the documentary did a good job of covering the disaster that the festival ended up being, Chris couldn’t help being extremely frustrated by the music criticism from some of the talking heads who took the opportunity to rip the Nu-Metal centric line-up that the organizers put together. Particularly frustrating was Moby who seemed to think that some of the bands he shared the stage with were not worthy of being on the same festival lineup. His commentary would have you believe that his music lived on some other plane, separate from some of the rock music of the late 90’s, that it had some inherent value that the other musicians were either too stupid or untalented to reach. Worse than that, the documentary seemed to assume that the someone who might be excited about seeing Korn or Metallica wasn’t capable of liking the music for what it was. The film spent a lot of time exploring the idea that Nu-Metal fans had to have been there for some reason beyond liking the music, an assumption that immediately invoked a hierarchy of taste. A hierarchy that designated music as good or bad. It’s a trope that music fans and critics alike are prone to. It’s certainly the way that I’ve fallen into describing the media I consume. The things that I like are good and the things I don’t, suck. 

I’m trying to break the habit of thinking in binaries like that for a couple of reasons. Mainly, it feels cruel to do that to something that people identify with, as if their taste should in some way embarrass them. Also, I want to embrace the things that I like. I don’t want to have to worry about whether the Fuel song I’m listening to might result in an eye roll when someone sees it on the “Friend Activity” scroll on Spotify or that the Miller Lite I order at the bar might result in a scoff from the bartender. So, I’m going to use this space to write about the things that I like and maybe the things that I don’t like, but I’m going to try to explore these things from a perspective of personal taste rather than trying to decide if something is good or bad. 

My hope isn’t to say that criticism isn’t valuable. I’ll be critical of some stuff, but mostly I’ll tell some stories, defend some things that I feel haven’t gotten a fair shake, and explore why I might not connect to things that I’ve been told that I should. In an effort to keep writing consistently, something I’ve tried to do and failed a million times before, I’m going to give myself a prompt. I’ll be using the numbers 1-100, one number at a time, and writing about something that I associate with that number. As I write this, I realize that my audience is really myself and I’m trying to be okay with that. Maybe somebody will read this stuff, maybe they won’t and I think that’s alright or at least I’m convincing myself that it’s alright. So here I go, hoping I don’t peeter out after a week.