Well I'll offer a counterpoint. I don't think that having a job or even
rearing a (gasp!) suit makes you soulless or a drone or an asshole. And I
don't really expect other people to share my passion for music. Some of my
favorite people have some seriously horrible and limited music tastes (just
as they might say of me and my taste for opera or visual art or cuisine or
whatever else I'm less devoted to).

I think the essay would have been much more effective in getting me to check
out the TSOOL record if he had focused on why he loves it rather than
focusing on why people that don't like it or don't know about it as losers
or worse.

The whole sellout concept is a tough one. I think that if I turn my back on
something that's important to me (for the brass ring or whatever), then I'm
selling out.  And I have to face myself in the mirror.  But if I turn my
back on something that's important to you (or anyone else), then that's very
different.

To bring it back to the pop, Nick Lowe's "I Knew the Bride" is a pretty
interesting song (plus it rocks).  When I was young, I saw it as a harsh
indictment of the bride -- she's turned her back on all that hopping and
bopping with the street corner boys in favor of wearing her mom's wedding
dress. But now I see it differently.  The bride has grown up and the
narrarator hasn't (or is jealous).  Has the bride traded in something that's
"real" for something that's artificial?  The narrator may think so, but that
doesn't make the bride a sell out.  The bride seems pretty ok with it to me.

Dave Eggers wrote a really interesting rant about selling out.  In it, he
uses the examples of himself as a writer and The Flaming Lips as a band (the
album referenced is The Soft Bulletin).  It's a pretty god read and it's
here:
http://www.pookie.tv/rant.html


----- Original Message -----
From: "brynneandscott" <brynneandscott@cox.net>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2003 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: Lefsetz rant online


> Excellent. Thanks for putting that up. I've passed the link on to quite a
> few people. Many of them fit the description.
>
> Scott S
>
>
>
>
> >
> > A few days back there was that marvelous TSOOL rant by Bob Lefsetz.
Turns
> > out it wasn't posted anywhere online, so with the author's permission,
it
> > is now archived at:
> >
> > http://www.lullabypit.com/blog.html
> >
> > Enjoy.
> >
> >
>
>