I Really Do Wonder Sometimes…
What do I wonder? I wonder if collectively we only have one bloody brain between us, and it’s spread so damn thin each of us only gets the slenderest of slices to make use of at any one time, that’s what I wonder.
I remember when Mrs. Toad used to subscribe to Wallpaper or Living Etc. or whatever the hell it was. We’d just moved in together and were still furnishing our flat at the time, and most of our furniture came from second hand shops and eBay. Actually, that’s pretty much still the case, but I digress; what I meant to say was that we weren’t going into showrooms or watching home improvement shows, or any telly much at all for that matter. So I don’t know how it happened but every damn time we bought something we were really excited about, the damn thing showed up in Living Etc. the next month.
We bought a vaulting horse instead of a sofa, because we saw one in Crawford’s Sale Rooms in Leith (highly recommended, by the way) and the same bastarding thing appeared in next month’s issue. I bought a gorgeous old bentwood Captain’s chair for the desk, because Mrs. Toad and I grew up in Vienna where those things were absolutely everywhere, so it was a bit of a nostaligic purchase, and what happened..? Yes, exactly. The bastards.
It was kind of the same with music. I went for years listening to the kind of music which not one single other person I knew was into. I genuinely thought my taste was just a bit off the wall… until I discovered the blogosphere. That was when Tapes ‘n’ Tapes, The Decemberists, Beirut, Sufjan Stevens and so on were just getting really bloggy and I suddenly realised that not only were my tastes not all that unique, but actually they were part of a readily identifiable target market, nicely marked out and writing blogs to showcase their herd behaviour. I really had no idea – no-one I had ever spoken to had ever heard of these bands.
I mention this, not because I have ever particularly strived to be unique or idiosyncratic, but because I was stunned at just how easily all my tastes were pigeonholed. I presume we are all roughly built the same, so if we are all subject to the same cultural stimuli then a fairly predictable number of us will react in a particular way and so on and so forth, but I don’t know where I was picking up these influences, particularly musically. It really was a slap in the face for all this individuality pish we try and insist upon half the time. I’ve never felt so much like an automaton in my life. Fair enough though, it doesn’t mean I like the music any the less, it was just an odd experience.
And what brought all this on? Well I just discovered this blog, rather by accident. Look at the name: Toad’s Music Corner. Then look at the albums of the decade which Todd has chosen! Bloody hell, what the fuck is it with Toads and indie music, for crying out loud? Mind you, they are really good choices, so do go and have a read of his blog – I’ve got some important cud to chew – not too far from the herd though, not too far, that would MADNESS!
I remember having a conversation with someone at work – just generally about music or gigs or something and, almost out of the blue, they asked “hey, do you like Fugazi?”
Suddenly my eyes lit up and I thought “Woah! Finally – someone at work with good taste in music! Someone who understands me! Someone who I can relate to!..”
In an excited panic, my mouth kicked in to gear: “are you kidding? Fugazi, woah… they’re probably my favorite band of all time. My friend lent me the Instrument documentary a few years ago and it was a total revelation. I just love their whole approach to the industry, their reluctance to compromise on any level, their…. their…. ”
I soon realised the person was staring back at me blankly, so I quickly finished “… yeah, um – I really like them. Do you?”
She replied “No, not really. But I know a guy who does, and you really remind me of them.”
Bart that little story really is far better than the original post!
I play relatively bland stuff here at work and it usually attracts the most perplexed of looks (except for my friend Andy, bless him!) but oddly enough I played the first Clap Your Hands album, and all that wailing went down really well, surprisingly.
it sounds to me like a classic case of twin tadpoles, seperated at hatch…only to find themselves, years later, sharing the same lily pad…
i currently have a Queen Mother statuette taped to a mop pole decorating my living room – up yours Living Magazine.
But no, my musical taste is just the tastes of people i know all mixed up, to be honest!
To be fair, that story was from my previous job.
At my current work, there’s quite a few people that play in bands, but none of them seem to operate in the same miserable/alt folky circles.
However, there’s one guy that has what’s mostly a recording project called ‘Minimal Disturbance Factor’, who is really rather brilliant.
What I imagine to be one of the many truly undiscovered gems in Edinburgh. He’s on something like his fifth album of really beautiful, delicate minimalist pieces. All home recorded and self released.
http://www.virb.com/minimaldisturbancefactor
I think he’s only ever played one live show, which I missed, and I’ve always wanted to have him play again if I could find a suitable bill.
Shonagh – that’s the bit I don’t get. I thought I’d get all my music from my mates as well, but absolutely none of my mates back then were into even remotely the same stuff. So I don’t know I ended up as such an indie clone.
It’s an interesting story, but whether you intended to be part of the herd or not, there will always be an ‘in’ group and an ‘out’ group. Not only that, but ‘out’ groups tend to create an identity for themselves just to show how ‘out’ of the group they are. But by breaking the same rules, and changing the same norms they end up wearing a uniform, sharing music and even language with each other and before anyone has a chance to chew any cud, they’ve created another herd, but this herd is for milk, not beef!
I know what you mean, aydubzz, but I had always assumed that you ended up in these packs because of somehow noramilising your tastes with the people around you who you like and admire. Seems not though – more like reacting to stuff around you in the same way as a bunch of other people and then gravitating towards that group, even if you don’t initially realise where to find them.
In other words, you can’t escape the Zeitgeist. It’s a bit like a poltergeist in that respect.
Or possibly your awareness of something is raised due to your ownership / involvement, after that its just a numbers game.
or maybe black magic, actually that’s far more likely and less scary than the marketing stuff.
Beards.
Beards used to be strictly for the alternative lifestyle community, now they’re every-bloody-where. They’ve gone mainstream.
BBC News reporters, Sting, everywhere.
My boss, Porsche driver and probable millionaire has a beard. Sorry boys, time for a shave.
If it keeps up like this, it will be “alternative’ to sport a three piece pinstripe suit, bowler and spats.
Actually, do you think if we all collude in wearing bowler hats we could deliberately make them fashionable? Not me obviously, I’m a square.
We’ve talked about that as bloggers, actually – if we could all start writing about some amaaaaazing new band who actually didn’t exist and see how much buzz we could drum up before people realised.
As a bit of a caveat/buzzkill, I think the above may actually have been done quite recently, albeit not en masse. But I forget the details.
Beards? next to none in London….made me feel like a fucking terrorist
The Phoenix festival, Stratford, 1993…..my musical enlightenment!
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