Brief 35: ...the music you swore by, it was nothing, it was terrible

 This is one of my favourite lines from one of my favourite songs, 'When the Haar Rolls In' by James Yorkston.

It's kind of grumpy and old-mannish, but there's so much weighted in it. A relationship is by definition meaningful if someone is swearing by the quality of a piece of music to someone. There is hope, expectation and disappointment in the air.

This isn't just throwaway meanness.

We've all been there, on both sides of that, whether it's music, a TV, a film, a joke, a news story ... "Get this, this is really great/hilarious/important" and the underwhelming reaction. 

At our best, we see the positive "oh yeah cool, interesting, I like the drums", or we can't conceal our disappointment but try "right, very good", or sometimes we recognise the tension of the situation and say "I'll have to give it a proper listen later", or sometimes we just can't and we wince and grimace.

It can be a generational thing that goes both way. It can be an older person thinking "that's just noise" or a younger person thinking "that's so boring" (I know, cliched ideas of the old and the young), but it can really happen between any two people trying to find something in common, but, in this case, failing.

Generally, especially as I've got older, I'm anti-cynicism, anti-excessive criticism, especially when it comes to films and books. When people furiously slag off essentially well-made pieces which I myself am fond of, I often think "couldn't you just have ... you know ... chosen to like it a bit more?"

But, with music, that hint of angry cynic still lingers in me. I have very much opened up my taste in music and try to give most things a chance, but, sometimes, I just don't really get it, and the music they swear by, it's nothing, it's terrible.

I am comfortable enough that most people in the world would feel this way about most of the music I love - I wouldn't expect stunned silence and wonder if I play people "Bryte Side" by The Pernice Brothers or, I don't know, 'Jesus Etc' by Wilco.

Anyway, long story short, this is about Prince. I don't like to kick up too much of a fuss, and everyone's entitled to go on revering Prince, and it's my problem honestly, and 'Rolling Stone' had their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and I was perfectly expecting Prince to be high up, and I didn't object to seeing 'Purple Rain' at Number 8, because, you know, fine ... it was only at the last paragraph of the write-up:

"The title track was one of several songs recorded live at his hometown club, First Avenue, in Minneapolis (strings and overdubs were added later in the studio). It was inspired by Bob Seger, of all people — when Prince was touring behind 1999 in 1983, Seger was playing many of the same markets. Prince didn’t understand the Midwestern rocker’s appeal, but decided to try a ballad in the Seger mode — the result may be the greatest rock ballad of all time."

that I could take no more and I imagined myself being a curious alien, hearing about this rock music, and asking someone to play me the very best the genre had to offer and if they played me this, nodding along awkwardly, and just thinking 

"the music you swear by, it's nothing, it's terrible".

'Purple Rain' is not the greatest rock ballad of all time. OK?