Being an unbearably intense person, I'm sure if there was a club of dilletantes I would immediately be refused entry. I would be told to "take it easy", that they'd get back to me. What's referred to here as dilletante-ism, means for most people racing around the whole field of music attempting to catch up with EVERYTHING, being unable to commit to one genre wholeheartedly simply because of the volume of music. There doesn't seem to be anything disingeneous about that. Unless, that is, if you are indeed a foppish cherry-picking trendy, in which case get orf my laand!
Was worried posting the Heavy Metal thing beneath (straight after the hip-hop spiel) that I would be pegged as someone with "eclectic" tastes. I don't like the idea of that one bit, mainly because I view the field of music as one entity (I told you I was intense). To start saying, as you do when your aunt asks you what music you listen to: "...well I like Jazz and Rock and blah and blah....." always strikes me as fundamentally misleading if you're lost deep within the continuum of music.
I'm glad Reynolds made the distinction between the "dilletante-as-consumer" and the "dilletante-as-creator". For me this is the hinge of the argument. He scans the lexicon of garage for phrases expressing the seriousness and authenticity of the matter in hand, "for real", "life is not a game to play" etc. In my opinion, with regards to what he's referring to as "culture-warriors" it's more appropriate to look for the metaphors of BELIEF. Your "culture-warrior" is a believer, he's "keeping the faith" to hi-jack a term we're all familar with.
For sure The Mover, changeless monolith that he is, has more in common with other single-minded visionaries like Sun Ra, La Monte Young than your average UK Bouncer, but the same effect is present. Brian Eno, oft-quoted egg-head, spoke somewhere about music revolving fundamentally around belief. If you believe in it, it works for you. Very cynical on one hand, and possibly what prompted him to make "a believer's music for non-believers" (thats my idea, and it's patented). Ever enthusiastically bought a record to find someone's slagged it off? What do you do? You either loose faith in it, or cling to the doctrine.
I'd go further and say the "dynamics of belief" is the great reality force-field which impels us into music. The artist believes with an intensity and therefore we believe in what they are doing. Obviously at the more manic end this spirals off into kookiness even quasi-religiousity. You've got to wonder about a figure like La Monte Young, who I find fascinating more as a phenomenon than a musician. The original "Johnny-One-Note", I'm always pondering whether the "emperor has any clothes". It cracks me up that you can even pay to be a member of the MELA board, a certain fee guarantees you an audience with La Monte himself (the dude has style no?), the original Ambient Con-Man?
Posted by Woebot at March 9, 2003 10:54 AM