Can We Appreciate Music?

I had a long argument last night with Adam about the following statement:

"Soundgarden is better than Nirvana."

How you feel about that doesn't really matter.  Well, it matters a little bit, but the point is that Adam insisted that no one could appreciate Nirvana unless you were alive and a music fan during the height of their popularity.  Side note: he stole this argument from a book, but that doesn't make it any less valid.

So take a second to think about that. We can't truly appreciate the music unless we were there to take in all the outside factors.  For me, that's a depressing thought.  I really truly think that music can be great on its own.  That yes, outside forces can help you to understand music.  But at its core, at it's most basic, there is good music.  That you can tell, that you feel something.  Adam took the negative to that argument, and we spoke about this the majority of the night.

I hope he's not right, because this what I've been doing the past two years on this blog, appreciating the music that I wasn't alive to fully appreciate.  I hope he's not right because it means that the only music I CAN appreciate is the music being made right now, and I'm not sure I want to appreciate this music.

Thoughts?

2010 Grammys

Hey all,
No CD review.  As I said in my last post, I'm gonna try and do those correctly, and that means doing them when I have time to reflect and soak up an album.  So tonight I'm gonna blog about the Grammys!
Oh also, sorry about not writing this month, the cold really just zaps all the energy out of me  But at least I got one in for January.

OK, so my original idea was to liveblog the Grammys, but two things got in the way: 1- i hate commercials. 2- I went out to dinner
So here's thoughts as they come, let's call it DVRBlogging...

• Wow Lady Gaga....As usual the outfit was awesome, and I loved the duet with Sir Elton.  I'm a bit biased becuase I think she's good, but a great way to start.
• How old is Colbert's daughter?  
• Great, the Beyonce love fest has begun.  Well at least she's backstage and can't accept the award
• Nice to see Taylor Swift win, you kinda figured she was a shoe-in though.  Both acceptance speeches have been pretty damn boring
• It's Miley!  And she's pimping cbs.com!
• This song is terrible, Imma Be the worst song they could have done on the stage.  The only two redeeming things are those red chicks from Star Wars, and the dude playing a lighting bolt guitar.
• Pink definitely just blew the doors off the place with that.  Great song, and she did it while spinning 60 rpm. 
  
• While they're talking about the county music trustee's award, I feel like I should mention:  We've had 4 performances so far, and only 1 duet.  And even the duet, was kind of a thrown-in at the end of Gaga's song.
• The Zach Brown Band looks like dudes I could hang with.
• Not sure I'm loving this "vote for which crappy song Bon Jovi will play"  There's no way it's anything except Livin' on a Prayer
• Seeing the Brothers' Jonas, reminds me that I saw Nick's solo band.  not terrible.  Also not terrible, this country band.  But then again, they're the first group to actually treat this like a musical performance, and not the MTV Music Video Awards...
• Love Ringo: "And thank you Nora, for being shorter than me".  I hope Kings of Leon win...but I'm sure it'll be Beyonce...
• Oh Hell yeah, maybe tonight won't be a Beyonce love fest. There is hope in this world..."I'm not gona lie, we're a little drunk, but we're happy drunk"  Now THAT is how you accept an award.
• I was gonna rip on Jamie Foxx, but if George Clinton thinks you're good, then you must be doing something right.   And any performance that ends with Slash is pretty good.
• Is Dave Matthew's Rock?  Green Day was the obvious choice though, although it makes you realize how little there was in Rock this year if THOSE were the nominees.  I know what you're thinking, why weren't Kings of Leon nominated?  They were.  Last year.  So yeah, they won record of the year in a year when they didn't make any new music.  Stupid Grammy's
• Zach Brown band looks great.  Actually all the county acts have looks pretty damn good tonight.
• Only Seacrest could introduce Taylor Swift and make it sound like Patsy Cline.  
• Glad to see Stevie Nicks learned the tenor part for You Belong With Me.  How did they possibly convince her to sing this dopey song?  
• I had no idea I was supposed to get 3D glasses, good to know Michael loved trees.  This is actually a pretty interesting idea, they pulled it off well.  Nice collaboration, a good song too.
• The drummer for Bon Jovi has two bass drums, really?  Also, this performance is terible.  Worst of the night.  
• Big suprise, Livin' a Prayer was picked...wish I had the odds on that one, oh great, they didn't even play the whole song.  
• Please be On A Boat....meh, ok Run This Town isn't terible, where's Kayne???  I love that Jay Z stayed on the stage to chat up Placido Domingo and Mos Def, he's such a bad ass
• Andrea Bochelli is great, he could sing the phone book and win Grammys
• Boring speech about not downloading music, here ya go 
• DMB, solid.
• Is Beyonce's dress made from pop tabs?
• Finishing up hour 3 and I think the 3rd lifetime achievement award?  Hmmm
• No Mic for Jeff Beck!  Well, it looked like he was playing well...
• Nice shirt Quentin...oh yah, another lifetime acheivement award...
• I like the Lil Wayne/Eminem/Drake number, probably becuase there was a live band behind them.
• Finally, album of the night.  Here we go, I hope Gaga wins purely to see her give a speech in that outfit.
• Congrats to Taylor, guess this means I should buy her album.  You know the worst part about this?  It means that Becky was right.  Well, if you read this you're either bored or a good friend.  Thank you, good night!