I read a interesting though slightly foolish article yesterday. Under the headline The Big Idea, Guardian journalist Rebecca Nicholson asked Are We All Beginning to Have The Same Taste? The sub-heading Music May Be At The Forefront Of A Rush To Conformity was similarly gloomy and generalist in tone and seemed to base its premise on the admittedly slightly disorientating phenomenon of Taylor Swift but frankly was not remotely persuasive in any way and certainly didn't strike me as .a Big Idea,Just a crap one.
Frankly Rebecca Nicholson no we're not Beginning to Have The Same Taste! I get tired of this Glass Half Empty theorising posing as profundity. Algorithmically generated playlists may offer us endless sad songs about rivers if we want them to but ultimately personal choice is greater than it's ever been and we shouldn't succumb to numb post-millenial gloominess and resignation. It's not smart on any level frankly. Life is the truly great adventure and it's up to us to reap it's great harvest and harness its possibilities and opportunities profer.
So instead of giving Taylor Swift's latest TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (note the portentious CAPITALISATION) another listen in an attempt to either finally like or understand it you might prefer to listen to Myles Cochran's latest You Are Here instead.. It's not spectacular or groundbreaking but it may take you into a dream and onto a journey. It's a disarming Americana style instrumental album.
Somewhere between Brian Eno and Ry Cooder. It'll paint landscapes in your head. And despite what the cynics say, those landscapes will be entirely of your own making. just as your fingerprints and record collections are not the same as anyone else's. Why should your tastes or opinions be any different ? Technology shouldn't shape us unless we choose to allow it too. You're unique unless you choose not to be. And don't let Rebecca Nicholson or anyone else tell you otherwise.
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