To Swear or not to Swear

It's impossible to listen to new music, certain rap/hip-hop, but also pop, without hearing what was once referred to as foul or vulgar language. Certainly with Rap, it seems to be a part of the landscape, and obviously, that's a bit of a generalization, but most of what I hear has its fair share of F-bombs and the like.

I assume, this has been a means to shock, give it its own identity, and to separate it from other more tame genres. F-bomb love songs, anyone?

Still...

One of the reasons profanity was little tolerated in yonder olden days was the idea that it coarsened social norms and was bad manners which an enlightened type did not engage in. Like tattoos.

But like tattoos, profanity is, for the most part, accepted as a norm in general conversation, and like tattoos, is no longer particularly shocking. That doesn't mean it doesn't coarsen the general mood; I think it does, and perversely, without the ability of profanity to shock, what then is its purpose?

As far as music goes, I'm a less is better type. If you want to genuinely use the words to amplify the anger, because that's what they were created to do, then do so with care and within limits (I f**king love you just doesn't sound as loving with the F-bomb, does it?). That and it kicks you into the whole "explicit" category when it comes to marketing and I like to think the few people who listen to me do so for reasons having nothing to do with a propensity for profanity.

Which is a fancy way of saying I don't care for it.

Which is saying something coming from a former sailor who could spew quite a blue streak, but time and place.

Same with lyrics.

©2019 David William Pearce

What's Next... With What's New...

I'm patting myself on the back for finishing Winter, the album I've been working on for the last year or so.
That's all well and good, but you can't just sit back and rest on your laurels, right? There's doings a transpiring!
It's what those doings are that might, or might not, keep one up at night.

However, in my case, what's keeping me up at night is the irrational fear of the "new", even though the "new" is simply an upgrade of what I already have.

I probably need to explain that.

This is where my recording life began. This is the Tascam 244 Portastudio, a 4-track cassette recorder.

It was pretty basic and fairly easy to use once you got it figured out. Unlike today's Portastudios (I'd say modern, but it's only been 30 years, which dates me, but hopefully, not that much), the 244 had no built-in effects and all the inherent limitations of cassette tape. It did have Dolby noise reduction. Consequently, I had to buy my own outboard gear for things like reverb, chorus, flange; stuff like that.
And I made a lot of recordings, 8 albums worth. But like all things analog and tape derived, it ran out of gas. As this coincided with my running out of musical ideas and the presence of children, I put it away and took a break.

The break lasted 25 years. So when I got back into recording, I got what was the latest iteration of the Portastudio, the 2488neo.

This what I've been using for the past 5 years, though I've had it 10, but That's another story.

It's worked really well, but with all things computerish that contain mechanical devices, which in this case includes the hard-drives and the CD player/recorder, 10 years is a long time and ominous signs like noise and noticeable heat coming off the machine are not good indicators of many more productive years. Consequently, I decided to buy a new one: the DP-32sd Portastudio

Now a fair number of you may be wondering why I didn't just go all computer, with Pro Tools, or something similar?
Excellent question!
2 reasons: I'm cheap and I'm lazy.
I'll explain.
If I went to a straight up computer system, I'd need the computer, the software, the monitor, the interfaces, and probably, because I'm a tactile kind of guy-musically speaking-a mixer. That a lot of money, a couple grand easy. And, you have the learning curve that goes with migrating to the new system.
At least with the Portastudio, I know what I'm getting into, and, hopefully, learning what they've changed in 10 years won't be too bad. Plus, at $600, and given everything it does, that's a steal, a total bargain.

Now I just have to get off my dead butt and get to it.

Maybe tomorrow.
©2019 David William Pearce

What About Michael Jackson?

Like just about everyone my age, I knew of and listened to Michael Jackson, both as a member of the Jackson 5 and as a solo performer. I grew up with him as we were about the same age. I learned and became good at falsetto by trying to sing along with him on the radio. I liked his songs, for the most part, and had a minor fascination with how mega-fame basically destroyed him. Not actually knowing him makes that last statement a matter of conjecture.

With the latest allegations swirling around him, as they had with Bill Cosby, Louie CK, and the excesses of rock throughout its history, but mostly the 60's through the 90's, the question-and the demand from some-is whether to stop listening to his creative output.

Some of this is how twisted and tight a knot you wish to put yourself in. The other is that while there are those who will disavow and those who will demand total renunciation of him, there are those who will not-and most of this will be played out for our entertainment/schadenfreude by the people who did know and worked with Michael Jackson.

Whether I continue to listen to Thriller or Off The Wall, the only albums of his I own, is up to me.

I don't know that the value of the songs or the albums is necessarily harmed by the allegations. I say that for two reasons, one they weren't meant, as far as I know, to be a part of Jackson's alleged actions with children, and two, the man is dead. This matters far more than most are willing to concede.

For his family and his legacy, it's a very big deal, perhaps to the point of his having nothing left beyond the allegations, but for the rest of us, especially those of us who grew up with the music, I think it's more nuanced. The music is what I was drawn to, as it was with all the people I've listened to over the years, and with a few exceptions, I don't personally know any of them. So whatever behavior they're acclaimed or criticised for, has always come to me through the filter of the media and all the entities that inform it. If Jackson's attraction to boys is there in the music, I don't hear it.

I won't deny that I thought his transformations after Thriller were odd, but again, I wasn't privy to any of it other than what I saw and heard through the media. I thought the subsequent albums and songs were good, but I didn't think they were any better than Thriller and Off The Wall.

The bigger question is whether it makes me a bad person or complicite is his actions simply because I liked a couple of his albums, and for the record, I thought Off The Wall was better than Thriller over all. I don't see how it could. I already own the albums, and even if I replaced them, Jackson himself would not personally profit. Nor do I see how that denotes anything other than I liked his music. Too often we internalize that which we actually have no control over. If Jackson was indeed a pedophile, the onus of that falls on him and the people who knew rather than the casual fan or even the fanatical who other than through his music or merchandize had nothing to do with him.

Whether I still listen to Billie Jean isn't and won't be a tacit acceptance by me of Jackson's personal behavior; it just means I like the song.

©2019 David William Pearce