deefstes wrote:
@XRBob and tentop, I can't really argue with what you're saying and I'd have to be honest that I also would like for there to be some sort of a yardstick so that wankers can stop getting away with churning out nonsensical poetry or cheesy music. I'm just not sure what that yardstick would be and, while your suggestions sound good, I can probably think of at least one counter example for each.
How, for instance, would the following three scenarios hold up against your criteria;
1. Frank Zappa taking a dump on stage (although this probably never happened)
2. Ozzy Osbourne biting off a bat's head on stage
3. Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire on stage
Is that art? None of these required any sort of craft or technical prowess. Did it evoke an emotional response? Hell yes! Was it executed proficiently? I don't
know how to answer such a question ?
Well the first didn't happen. It's a myth. I first heard it (or a variation of it) in the mid 70s.
The others did. I suppose they were attempts at introducing a theatrical element into the performance (Ozzy apparently thought the bat was a rubber one). If they both happened. There is no doubt that Hendrix doused one of his guitars with lighter fluid and set it on fire, with Ozzie, as with Zappa, shaggy dog stories abound.
It's an interesting point, though because for some artists there was a degree of theatrics within the live performance. Not all theatrics are well done theatrics. The emotional response ..... well I work next door to a university and often hear an emotional response to all sorts of things - or at least large scale shouting of approval, but it never occurs to me anyway that this means that whatever is going on (usually involving somebody and a loud hailer) is art.
So ja, thanks, I am now nicely tied up in knots ? I suppose that art can be crude too. Or maybe there is no such thing as art.
Hoo boy...
Personally I hate the image of a musician smashing his guitar on the stage or worse, setting it on fire. I don't know, it communicates to me a certain disrespect for the instrument. To me that is bad art but I'm obviously wrong because the image of Hendrix torching his guitar must be one of those iconic images in the history of Rock music.
Iconic doesn't mean "good" or "artistic". Another iconic image is Che Guevara - a murderous thug. Most people who adopt theses "iconic images" don't bother to find out what is really being portrayed. They just think it looks cool, or they think it stamps them as somebody who isn't one of the herd. There's people who think that Nazi memorabilia is cool.
