Oh, the spotify monthly listeners...I must admit, I too check spotify monthly listeners to get a general sense of a band's current popularity, especially if I am not familiar with them. But goodness, there is so much more to a band's impact than that. There's definitely people who say, "hey, this music really impacted me," but there are also so many who hold something dear to their hearts and never express out loud what it means to them. You never know just how many people are impacted by something. That's not even accounting for bands that were pivotal in cultural movements, regardless of current popularity. I think it is totally fine if someone decides that they want to create music for the sake of expression with no thought towards a legacy, but I'm firmly on the side of music being important and valuable and having a lasting impact. Sure there will always be individuals who are like "that was my hair metal phase" or "that was my scene kid era" but look at us as subscribers to anti matter! We care! I read every one of these articles and there are definitely bands that I am not familiar with but through reading about them I am able to discover the impact they have. Not just the articles but the comments people leave too. I've now written a giant paragraph, so I should probably wrap it up, but I guess I'm just here to say that I care :)
Patrick is one of my favorite lyricists and frontpeople in hardcore (broadly construed). He's evocative and incisive, and songs like "Unlicensed Hall Monitor" and "Detective Lieutenant" get right at the nastier end of cultural discourse, one that denies sinners their future and chains saints to their past. But I think he's selling what he does short.
I understand the frustration of not having something you can hold and call your own from your work, but...that's pretty much teaching in a nutshell. You put the information out there and hope it makes a difference. You hope that treating your students well will give them something they need to grow. But you rarely know for certain if you've been successful or not. One lesson, one phrase, one interaction, one song, one record, one show...you put something out into the world without knowing who it's going to land for and how they'll be changed by it. But if you think about all the moments (and songs, and shows, etc....) that have changed you, that's what they were. Maybe Threadbare only have 410 monthly listeners, but those 410 people are different from who they would have been if they hadn't heard them. That's not nothing.
I would have gladly read a 45 minute ramble between yourself and Patrick, IMO, two of the most interesting perspectives in hardcore. You are both incredibly thoughtful in completely different ways, from the way I see it.
I knew that End Of A Year was a not subtle tip to Embrace, but now I'm wondering if there's a double meaning to it when he discusses letting go of his anger at people after a year. Or maybe I'm just reading too far into it.
Oh, the spotify monthly listeners...I must admit, I too check spotify monthly listeners to get a general sense of a band's current popularity, especially if I am not familiar with them. But goodness, there is so much more to a band's impact than that. There's definitely people who say, "hey, this music really impacted me," but there are also so many who hold something dear to their hearts and never express out loud what it means to them. You never know just how many people are impacted by something. That's not even accounting for bands that were pivotal in cultural movements, regardless of current popularity. I think it is totally fine if someone decides that they want to create music for the sake of expression with no thought towards a legacy, but I'm firmly on the side of music being important and valuable and having a lasting impact. Sure there will always be individuals who are like "that was my hair metal phase" or "that was my scene kid era" but look at us as subscribers to anti matter! We care! I read every one of these articles and there are definitely bands that I am not familiar with but through reading about them I am able to discover the impact they have. Not just the articles but the comments people leave too. I've now written a giant paragraph, so I should probably wrap it up, but I guess I'm just here to say that I care :)
Patrick is one of my favorite lyricists and frontpeople in hardcore (broadly construed). He's evocative and incisive, and songs like "Unlicensed Hall Monitor" and "Detective Lieutenant" get right at the nastier end of cultural discourse, one that denies sinners their future and chains saints to their past. But I think he's selling what he does short.
I understand the frustration of not having something you can hold and call your own from your work, but...that's pretty much teaching in a nutshell. You put the information out there and hope it makes a difference. You hope that treating your students well will give them something they need to grow. But you rarely know for certain if you've been successful or not. One lesson, one phrase, one interaction, one song, one record, one show...you put something out into the world without knowing who it's going to land for and how they'll be changed by it. But if you think about all the moments (and songs, and shows, etc....) that have changed you, that's what they were. Maybe Threadbare only have 410 monthly listeners, but those 410 people are different from who they would have been if they hadn't heard them. That's not nothing.
I would have gladly read a 45 minute ramble between yourself and Patrick, IMO, two of the most interesting perspectives in hardcore. You are both incredibly thoughtful in completely different ways, from the way I see it.
I knew that End Of A Year was a not subtle tip to Embrace, but now I'm wondering if there's a double meaning to it when he discusses letting go of his anger at people after a year. Or maybe I'm just reading too far into it.