Ranting, (W)riting and Reaction
After too long I turned my hand to writing a review the other night. If you are following me on Twitter then you will have seen that I mentioned that it turned in to something of a rant. I’m not sure what forced me to vent my spleen on this particular record (it will remain nameless for the time being) but even though the resultant rant was, well… ranty, it was entertaining.
It reminded me of something that I said a while ago that writing bad reviews (and by that I mean giving something a bad review rather than writing the review badly) was pretty easy; turning a review into something that was even-handed is hard. It is not big or clever to tear into someones art due to laziness. Someone has sweat blood and tears over it. In the case of Axl Rose, someone has spent a large portion of their life working on it. That said, slagging the crap out of the record in question was pretty cathartic. It is not finished yet but here is an excerpt:
The band has taken a template forged in the sixties and slavishly recreated it with little imagination. Guitars swirl, distort, and of course reverse. Vocals sound like a very pissed Phil Spector recorded them from the other end of an exceptionally long tunnel. There is even the conceit that there are two sides to the record like the compact disc that the recording is burned onto was never invented. There are not two sides. In reality, there is barely one song.
…and so it goes on. I asked on Twitter whether ranting was still considered writing, one of my friends responded with the helpful advice:
No. Ranting is vitriolic unfiltered garbage that emerges from the deep dark cesspit inside you.
Writing is self-indulgent edited garbage that emerges from the creative side of your brain.
I didn’t get around to thanking him. I think he was trying to help and he has a point. Self-indulgent edited garbage that emerges from the creative side of your brain cuts both ways. All art to a greater or lesser extent is garbage. Someone, somewhere will hate it with such passion that you will wonder why you bothered. The artist presumably bothers because s/he wanted to provoke an emotional response from someone, anyone. In that event then vitriol should also be an acceptable reaction. People like the above, nameless band or Axl Rose or Tracey Emin or anyone that puts something out into the public domain sets themselves up for such criticism. Furthermore, I argue that they do it on purpose. They open themselves up for attack from without, from people like me. Moreover, by writing reviews, ranty or otherwise I open myself up for similar attack. I guess we all just want to have our opinions heard and even recognition that someone can’t stand what you did might be recognition enough. I guess what my less than scholarly deductions are pointing to is the conclusion that tearing into a peice of art is fine because the creator would want that. Thus, giving me carte blanche to be mean in print to some poor deluded fool (or fools) who thought that they had produced a good record.
Or I could be looking for an excuse to write more rants …because it was fun.
To view more of my bile on follow me on Twitter @marcaprice
James is discussing. 
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James 11:32 am on September 19, 2008 Permalink |
Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James.