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| From | "Harris, Will" <wharris1@bcharrispub.com> |
| Subject | Re: obscure critic reference points and Stewat's soapbox |
| Date | Thu, 17 Jul 2003 09:50:11 -0400 |
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>Centering myself in the sights even further....I still say that if anyone
>here who writes reviews cares about furthering the genre', they'll ratchet
>it down a notch or two and realize that 99.9% of the folks out there will
>share my cluelessness re the mention of a group of higly obscure college
>bands from 15 years ago. Maybe that's taboo...and maybe such a practice is
>somehow below some of the writers who offer these pieces to the reader, but
>I think it's somewhat necessary to offer a familiarity (that is, a
reference
>that is familiar to the average reader, not the average pop geek) *if* the
>intent of the writer is to "spread the word" to others about music in this
>genre' that is available for purchase/might be of interest beyond this
>group.
I pretty much agree with that. It's a fine line you're walking when you
want to simultaneously presume that you're addressing people who know as
much about music as you do just as you're trying to bring in people who
might not ordinarily buy pop music but would perhaps consider it if they saw
a familiar reference point. You can catch the attention of a lot more
casual readers with the phrase "harking back to Pink Floyd's more
psychedelic work" than you can with "reminiscent of Syd Barrett's
drug-addled discography." The average consumer doesn't know who Syd Barrett
is...but they might well plunk down a few bucks if you just drop the name
Pink Floyd.
Yeah, you'd like to think that the average Amplifier reader knows his/her
stuff...but you'd also like to think that Amplifier can continue to expand
its audience now that it's expanded its distribution, and going out of one's
way to cite an artist's similarities to both Anti-Pasti and the Blades of
Grass may not be the best way to do that. I'm not saying you have to dumb
things down to the simplest possible level, but mixing mainstream
comparisons up with the obscure isn't such a bad idea...
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