| Subject: Re: Eminem |
Author:
Connie
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 20:42:27 01/21/03 Tue
In reply to:
Sweetpea
's message, "Re: Eminem" on 12:13:37 01/18/03 Sat
Sweetpea- my question is have you listened to a complete album by eminem and if so how has it affected your views toward him.
While I have never listened to a "full album" as in each tune back to back, what I have heard is not all that creative, musically or lyrically. However, to be fair, music is in the ear of the beholder so to speak.
My personal critique would be that he talks too much (no pun intended) and does not allow the listener to fill in the blanks.
Whenever there is a popular song, some idiot reporter asks the artist what it means.
Which, in a way is asking someone who likes chocolate what it tastes like.
A song means whatever the listener gets from it.
My favorite example of this is an old song by The Police called every breath you take.
It is a good song, no doubt about it.
And it topped the charts because everyone, and I mean everyone got something different from it.
Sample:
Every move you make
Every step you take
Every claim you stake
Every heart you break
I'll be watching you
Oh can't you see
You belong to me
How my fool heart breaks
With every step you take
Women loved it because it seemed so romantic.
He'll be guarding over me, he thinks I'm a heartbreaker...Oh, I must be so beautiful!
But, they only heard what they wanted to.
They missed a few verses like:
Every vow you break
Every tear you fake
ETC!
I liked it because it seemed to be a condemnation, as though, I will never forgive you or forget you as long as there is still life in me....and I'll have my revenge if it takes eighty years!
But one day, the question was asked, because it had become a popular love theme in movies and on tv.
Sting at first was smart about it, and said, "Hey, it means whatever you want it to mean."
Damn good answer.
But as the song faded and the questions persisted he finally gave in.
The song was about a stalker who was planning to murder his prey!
The subject of the song had never even met his future victim!
Needless to say, many women were not happy.
And I wasn't either!
If the pain was not on a personal level, fully justifiable and downright earned.....well, the song was never the same!
So, the best songs, the ones that will last, allows the listener to fill in the blanks.
Eminem's songs however, are too self inclusive.
They are not about the listener but about the singer, or directly about the subject.
Which brings us to why his songs sell so well with a certain age group:
Because of the politically correct environment of the last twenty years, and its expected conclusion, we have raised a generation that relies on empathy to live life vicariously through others.
Now, I do not want to upset our poster with the idea that I am singling him/her (but I suspect that it's her) out, because I am not, but the following post pretty much sums it up...
Which brings us to the respect given to Eminem.
His mother sued him for a number of reasons.
One is because she is a greedy beeotch!
The other is because he lied, and she had proof that he lied.
Which is one reason why the suits about his "background" were settled out of court!
We can not really hold this against him as an artist, because, after all, all artists lie, it is what they do!
And Eminem has established a personna that has gained him a market, we can not cite him for that.
Eminem deserves his props, as much as anyone else, but, the act is an act, and it sells because of it!
PS: Peggy Sue was not really Buddy Holley's girlfreind, I know it hurts, but it's true!
Eric Clapton did not really shoot the Sheriff, and neither did Bob Marley (though he might have come close on occasion!).
Guns and Roses did not really live in the Jungle, but they had heard about it from freinds.
And, I know it's hard to believe but, Johnny Cash didn't really shoot a man in Reno, "Just to watch him die."
I know this because it was actually my dad, and he left me holding a mop..but that's a whole other story!
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 
