[Jandek] let's shake a hornet's nest

[Mark Greenberg]

Well stated and I agree with most of it... but it can be applied at a  
wider scale than just Jandek.  Duchampe... Harry Partch... the  
Beatles.... Daniel Johnston... All unique originals that inspired  
those to follow in their footsteps stylistically.  And just as there  
is 99% worthless art out there, it is the 1% that makes digging thru  
all the other crap worth it. So same is with those who take  
inspiration of an artist and run with it.... it can certainly go  
either way. I think Dylan trying to be Woody Guthry worked out just  
fine.... I think Bowie trying to be Scott Walker also yielded a great  
body of work. Guston from Piccaso....The Feelies from the Velvet  
Underground, Nico trying to be Bob Dylan, etc, etc. I think the  
artists that make it work bring something to the table and retain  
self while the others just try and tread water in 'the style of'...  
as a homage or just taking cover in it... which too often is not very  
interesting on its own... or I guess 'interesting' in a whole other  
level..

More people being exposed to Jandek is a good thing in my opinion.  
That doesn't effect my listening to his work. It can be the  
anesthetic to our way too thin, surface-y poop we call pop music for  
some who care to listen and try to understand. For many it will be  
just noise and that's ok too. It's good for people to hear noise.


-Mark Greenberg





On Sep 1, 2008, at 9:12 AM, Kneel wrote:

> "I tell ya... Calvin Johnson might have ruined music for an entire  
> generation fifteen (or so) years ago, but this time 'round, it's  
> the digitization of Jandek and Jackson C. Frank that's done it."
>
> from Tony Rettman's liner notes to the (very good) new King Darves  
> record.
>
> i have 2 or 3 friends that are trying to make records "inspired by  
> jandek," and while that's great i'm starting to feel like jandek's  
> name has earned this weird sort of cult cred capital that let's  
> people play the same slight-of-hand tricks that, say, Pavement did  
> back in the day; you know, "it's supposed to sound shitty/atonal/ 
> repelling." why try? it's easy to sound (superficially) like  
> jandek, plus you can play both ends against the middle-- i'm hip  
> enough to know jandek, i can dribble into this stream of artistic  
> continuity, but i can also play it as an inside joke. jandek's  
> emotional nudity (brilliant as often as banal, haunting as often as  
> completely unlistenable, poetic as often as tedious) is still HIS.  
> jandek, by no fault of his own, is starting to inspire the opposite  
> of what most people praise in his music, the starkness and honesty.  
> there are a lot of obfuscators paying "tribute."
>
> kurt cobain said that while jandek isn't pretentious only  
> pretentious people listen to jandek. i disagree, but i think the  
> sentiment may apply to people citing jandek as an influence on  
> their myspace page.
>
> d'ya think?
>
> --KNEEL
> http://www.myspace.com/fryd_wyrm_mynd
>
>
>
>
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> http://mylist.net/listinfo/jandek

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