80s hair bands are the highest form of music.
Thursday by Caitlin
What is the "best" kind of art? What is the "highest" form of music, or literature, or film? Off the top of my head, I would say that classical music is the highest form of music, the "classics" (which we talked about in class today) are the highest forms of literature, and maybe independent films or intellectual films are the highest form of film. Why do I say this? I guess because it's been ingrained into my head that smart people read/watch/listen to those genres, so I assume it means those are the high genres of art. Is that because "the gatekeeper" told me that? Made me believe that? Is that because my teachers have always exemplified those art forms as being the highest? Probably it's a combination of all of the above.
I definitely don't think that all the books on the NY Times Bestseller List are worth reading, and I absolutely don't think that the videos MTV plays and the songs the radio plays ten times a day are worth listening to. I don't think most of the things in popular culture are, so why are they popular? I can name a few songs that I think are the best songs of all time, because of the way they make me feel: Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", Billy Joel's "Piano Man", anything by Pink Floyd, anything by John Coltrane...the list goes on. Don't laugh at my Journey reference, either. But, anyway, I know that the feelings "Piano Man" evokes in me don't necessarily mean that it's a good song, but can't I be the determiner of what's "good"?
I can't? Wait, why not? Is it because I'm not "educated" enough? I have five years of college under my belt, and will have a bachelor's degree in my hand in a few months. Didn't the ruling, elite class of society brainwash me enough to love a Verdi opera more than "Comfortably Numb"? I guess not. But I digress. By the way, my friend Kristen also thinks "Don't Stop Believin'" could be our national anthem. That's how good it is.
Anyway, those were just rambling, incoherent thoughts, that in no way belong in the world of academia. I have more I want to say about this, because I am definitely perplexed. Why does the ruling class get to determine what we should like? Because they have the money to do it. That's where the money in the agents, the publication, and the promotion of modern literature is. I think. I don't know, it's just a hunch. OK, I'll add on to this later...
Here's the best song in the world. Ever. Better than Mozart or anything else. I'm exaggerating, but I wanted you all to feel the power of Journey.
I definitely don't think that all the books on the NY Times Bestseller List are worth reading, and I absolutely don't think that the videos MTV plays and the songs the radio plays ten times a day are worth listening to. I don't think most of the things in popular culture are, so why are they popular? I can name a few songs that I think are the best songs of all time, because of the way they make me feel: Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", Billy Joel's "Piano Man", anything by Pink Floyd, anything by John Coltrane...the list goes on. Don't laugh at my Journey reference, either. But, anyway, I know that the feelings "Piano Man" evokes in me don't necessarily mean that it's a good song, but can't I be the determiner of what's "good"?
I can't? Wait, why not? Is it because I'm not "educated" enough? I have five years of college under my belt, and will have a bachelor's degree in my hand in a few months. Didn't the ruling, elite class of society brainwash me enough to love a Verdi opera more than "Comfortably Numb"? I guess not. But I digress. By the way, my friend Kristen also thinks "Don't Stop Believin'" could be our national anthem. That's how good it is.
Anyway, those were just rambling, incoherent thoughts, that in no way belong in the world of academia. I have more I want to say about this, because I am definitely perplexed. Why does the ruling class get to determine what we should like? Because they have the money to do it. That's where the money in the agents, the publication, and the promotion of modern literature is. I think. I don't know, it's just a hunch. OK, I'll add on to this later...
Here's the best song in the world. Ever. Better than Mozart or anything else. I'm exaggerating, but I wanted you all to feel the power of Journey.
