I recently heard a newer female recording artist make the following statement:
“I’m not afraid of computer-generated music…”
My wife and I like a couple of this woman’s songs, but after seeing her perform live on a late night television show, we both agreed that neither of us would accept tickets to see her in concert – even if the tickets were free. Why? Well for starters, I do not consider someone who creates music using software, to be a musician. Sorry.
If you create music with an instrument and you mess with it using electronics (like an amplifier – LOL), then I still consider you to be a musician. After all, you are at least playing the instrument. But if you create music sitting in front of a Mac using software such as GarageBand, and there are no instruments in sight (other than the keyboard, mouse, and monitor), that’s VERY different. I am not saying it’s not art, just that it’s not the art of a musician, just a recording artist. Oh sure, folks will debate this, but they are wrong.
The recording artist to whom I refer made that statement as if to challenge those who feel as do I. Thankfully, most of the folks who have heard this woman repeat her “I’m not afraid of…” statement have pretty much written off her “music.”
OKAY…
This blog post isn’t really about music. It’s about framing, and how certain types of framing can BACKFIRE. This recording “artist” tried to twist things around by putting perfume on poop. She attempted to “reverse the heat,” and put the onus on everyone else to explain why they were “stuck in the dark ages of music.”
Here’s the deal: There are lots of folks out there who want to take a Ferrari and turn it into a minivan. Perhaps they like minivans more than they do Ferraris, OR, as is TRULY the case – they lack the ability to truly handle and/or appreciate a Ferrari (i.e. real musical instruments) and like the comfort and overall “safe” feeling they get with a minivan (i.e. software-generated music).
I see the “I’m not afraid of…” mentality applied in a wide variety of professions and a wide variety of environments. For example, an acquaintance of mine who always wanted to be a badass motorcycle guy, called me up and asked me what I thought about some of the new electric motorcycles with automatic transmissions. I told him that I could never see myself riding around on a motorcycle where I wasn’t in control of shifting gears. He responded with, “Hey dude, I’m not afraid of electronic transmission.” The reason he chose to frame his feelings with the “I’m not afraid…” is BECAUSE he is attempting to rationalize a weakness.
When I see a “I’m not afraid of…” type of move, I am VERY QUICK to call the person out on their bullish_t. These individuals have one or more core headspace weaknesses that must be corrected. A recording artist who has a desire to retain the title of musician while still creating a sound with a computer, needs to call herself something other than a musician. A person who as a desire to retain the title of motorcyclist while still riding around on two wheels, needs to call himself something other than a motorcyclist.
It’s OKAY to create music on a computer, and it’s okay to ride around on an electronic scooter. What’s NOT okay is an attempt to be something you’re not, or to attempt to morph what IS…to something that suits your desire. Can you add pork and shellfish to a kosher diet and still call it kosher? NO, NO, NO! You can’t even call it “New Kosher” for the simple reason that you have changed something at its very core.
To NOT want to change the definition of something that is clearly DIFFERENT from its roots, is being dishonest (especially with yourself). It is a picture of weak character. It’s a morph, rather than a change – especially when a change is what it should be.
When SUVs first hit the road, automobile manufacturers didn’t call them pick-ups with covers. They created a new class of vehicle. That took ingenuity and guts. To morph a category would have been foolish. Creating a NEW category was brilliance.
Regardless of your profession or industry, there is a spectrum on which one end is a Ferrari, and the other end – a minivan. Somewhere on that spectrum, the Ferrari stops looking like a sports car and starts to look like something else. THAT is the point where true innovators STOP, step back, and take things in an entirely new direction.
You can also extrapolate this concept to other areas of life – even relationships. When a relationship starts out as X, and then becomes X+ or X++, it may very well be better, but it’s still built on a foundation of X. If a relationship starts out as X, but then becomes Y (with Y being “less good” than X), most people would simply chalk that up to “the inevitable.” In other words, a marriage that starts out with both partners sleeping closely in the same bed, holding hands, making love (FREQUENTLY), enjoying all their time with each other, is X. When those things change, then it is no longer X. Some people live a life calling Y “an X that has developed over time,” rather than being honest, calling it a Y (even if Y kinda sucks), and then deciding if a Y is what they want.
Is your head spinning?
Yes, I know some of this is a little deep, but the point I want to get across to you today is that if you are going to do something or be something, DO IT and/or BE IT. If you are going to morph, don’t take your desire to change out on the folks who are purists in your field. Instead, have the guts to CHANGE, and then call what you’re doing something NEW. It’s okay. There’s always plenty of space in the world for something new and different.
Have A GREAT Day!
…Dr. Marc (the DARK LORD) and The Mind Virus Team