More about Gina Arnold

Gina likes major labels and their Lollapaloozas more than she needs to. So what. Her premise - that music is to share with everyone, however uncool - is a good one. Unfortunately, her execution of it is pretty skewed. Why, for example, focus on live shows? My desire to see Dog Faced Hermans in a small crowd has little to do with the fact that I don't want people to like them and everything to do with the fact that I want to be able to see the band up close. Selfish, yeah, but mostly claustrophobic.

More important, though, Gina buys into the very attitude she opposes. If she really despises the elitism of "we only like obscure bands" and "you aren't good enough to like my band," shouldn't she also despise the attitude that goes "my music is better than yours and you're just too dumb to realize it?" Yet Gina has no qualms with outwardly dismissing Riot Grrrl bands, and in her book, repeatedly bemoans the poor, clueless Deadhead/Skynard fans. (Not that Deadheads are above ridicule, but knocking their music tastes isn't the best way to go about it.) She doesn't seem to realize that part of the whole attitude problem is failing to see the relativity of one's own aesthetic standards; standards which, in Gina's case, are already suspect given that they would lead us to believe there are no groundbreaking bands around anymore.

Gina seems to think there's a right and a wrong kind of music to like; and that what's right is what she likes. But wouldn't her argument that music is to share be better served by concentrating not on a person's aesthetic preferences, but on the way s/he, uses music or what s/he gets out of it? Personally, I'm more inclined to appreciate a person who actively seeks out music irrespective of others' opinions, than someone who shares my taste but, say, uses it to belittle others.

-- Carrie McLaren

Go to a review of Gina Arnold's book, Route 666: The Road to Nirvana, by Gus Stadler

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