a rant against the river

I recently found myself in a discussion about bob dylan on a blog. It made me think a bit... but the fueling fire really limited my ability to respond much more than with some insights about the novelty of the post as opposed to the integrity of the discussion.

I must say, Joe Carter, in a previous post, made a compelling point, 'Because the stakes are so low and passions run so high, music is one of my favorite things to argue about.' To me this is frustrating because it is like playing poker for 'fun' where there is no money on the line. If the stakes are that low no one feels the need to actually defend their chips they just play on luck. In this discussion they just like to take their few moments to rant and interpret however they please. Especially the least credible.

Its not an offense to music, because music doesn't care much for reason, but to reason itself. There are forces in music not to be reckoned with, Mozart, Bach and now the beatles. Its rather embarrassing that the beatles are set upon the plateau with the other two, not because the beatles were not great, but because they were not nearly as great as Mozart or Bach. But all three of the aforementioned entities sit outside the realm of discussion. They are all respected, they are all heralded with a level of genius that cannot be argued with, we no longer have the right to hate them.

Typically there are mediums where this is expected: pitchfork media is my favorite example of 'a bad review makes me want to buy the album'... but also music critics in all too many news syndicates. I was astonished that it appeared on first things but also appreciate the appreciation of art and history and faith in this particular entity. I'm not mad, i'm happy actually! Usually i can appreciate whatever is being said in first things, but rarely feel qualified to offer my insight, however, on a joe carter vs. bob dylan, i had a lot of fun. I don't think ill of any of the participants, i have enjoyed the discussion and also carter's humility. its good to have fun with low stakes, just as long as we keep that fun off the poker table.