Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I agree, but this is a harder problem than it sounds. What's satisfying to the musician and what's satisfying to the listener are often different. Many musicians are interested in things that are hard or unusual to play. But most great music is simple or at least has an emotionally accessible, simple core. To have both an intellectual/technical engagement with the instrument and an emotional engagement with the listener is not always easy. The intellectual side is seductive, especially for the hacker type of musician.

The greatness of punk rock was that it swept aside (or more precisely pissed all over) bombastic competence in favor of immediate vitality, which is much closer to what music is all about. But something like that inevitably becomes a formula and then you have the worst of both worlds: stupid and boring.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: