Officially the stupidest thing in the Music world.

[Rologton]

This.

Genius? Innovative? My ass. Try pretentious, artsy hipster bullshit.

For those to lazy to read, the recording artist Beck, who up to this point was the only person that remembered he existed, has decided to release an "album" of 20 unrecorded songs.

That's right, 20 songs, all on sheet music. This isn't brilliant, this isn't innovative, Beck isn't some great artist, this is fucking stupid. Who here knows how to read sheet music? Well, I do, but I've been playing guitar for over 14 years now. I don't, though, know how to read bass music, drum sheet music, piano sheet music, or whatever other instraments he probably shoved in there because it made him seem artsy ($20 says there's a cello involved). Now how about everybody else that hasn't played an instrument almost their entire life? Would any of you guys have a clue what it means to have a dotted half note on the third line in a trebble cleft? No, and you're not expected to know it, because the artist is supposed to know it, record it, and create it for you to enjoy. The average person no longer knows how to read sheet music because they no longer have to. There was a time when the only way to enjoy music at home was to buy sheet music and play it yourself, but we're not in 1765 any more.

All this is is being different for the sake of looking edgy. This isn't new, this isn't avant garde, it's a waste of time. I hope this is a massive flop and Beck's shitty music career dies in burning flames because of it, but it won't. It's going to get some big underground following of hipsters and douche bags who simply love how different it is, because anything different is immediately great. You know what was different? When Jethro Tull spent more money on an 8 page fake newspaper print out to go in their record sleeves with their Thick as a Brick album, a single 40+ minute song telling one story. That was artistic. That was avant garde. How about Coheed and Cambria who, for 5 albums and even a comic book, have told one continuing story and created a huge sci-fi universe with their music. That's fucking awesome.

Releasing and "album" of sheet music is just pretentious shit, simply being different for the sake of looking edgy, because the "artist" is so tallentless that he can't sell music on his own. This has become such a huge issue lately. Lady GaGa can go fuck herself, and all of her fans who think she's so great because she prances about in rediculous outfits should google the name Ziggy Stardust. At least that was great music and the rediculous outfits came secondary to the music and were worn to apropriate the characters created by it. This was the same thing done by Kiss, Alice Cooper and (even though I hate her music) Madonna.

Am I getting overly pissed about this? Yeah, probably, but music is my thing. I have played guitar and sang almost my entire life, I listen to a huge veriety of genres and artists and I appreaciate artists who appreciate their music, not use it to be elevated to some higher avant garde status or as an ATM. Is this the worst thing to happen to music? God no, Justin Beiber, Katie Perry and other pop star shit like that making the same song 15 times and being able to sell albums because the common music listener has been forced by recording lables to think that shit is good for the last decade are by by far the worst thing to happen. But there is no denying that Beck has officially graced us with the stupidest thing to happen to music in a long, long time.


/ellitestrage

[Maringue]

I saw this and thought, "Too indie Beck, you've just gone too indie."

[Saber]

That's lazy as hell. It's like, "I don't wanna play it."

[Spyder]

[Patrid]

ITT-
Moaning about an artist's expressive works.

Rolo, keep in mind that you're not the only musician who frequents CSn

Failhorse is the VP of some Guitar Distributor (I'm probably a bit off)
Schwartz has been singing and playing guitar for as long as I've known him (quite a while)
Hell, I've been to Choral tours to Sweden, Italy, sang at the IMC convention at Miami of Ohio, ACDA Eastern division in Philly, ICCA quarterfinals (A Cappella) TWICE.

You don't see any of us complaining, at least not enough to make a thread, about what these musicians do and how they do it.

TLDR:
WHO CARES

[Rologton]

ITT-
Moaning about an artist's expressive works.

Rolo, keep in mind that you're not the only musician who frequents CSn

Failhorse is the VP of some Guitar Distributor (I'm probably a bit off)
Schwartz has been singing and playing guitar for as long as I've known him (quite a while)
Hell, I've been to Choral tours to Sweden, Italy, sang at the IMC convention at Miami of Ohio, ACDA Eastern division in Philly, ICCA quarterfinals (A Cappella) TWICE.

You don't see any of us complaining, at least not enough to make a thread, about what these musicians do and how they do it.

TLDR:
WHO CARES

This isn't expressive work, this is pretentiousness. This is avant garde for the sake of looking cool because it's avant garde, not for a love of the music. I just absolutely hate seeing things like this. Honestly, I feel like I can shit on a CD and tell people it's artistic and innovative and I'll be called a genious for it. I'm well aware that I'm not the only musician here.

This really doesn't bother you? Not only is he saying "fuck you" to, well, everybody that doesn't play every major instrament/can't read sheet music/is the average music fan, he's getting called an innovator for it.

[Lime_Flavored_Dragon]

At least he can write music

[Beartato]

Is bumping two week old threads edgy? Yokes, aside...

First off, I will say that Beck annoys me and represents a subculture of which I don't think too highly. "Loser" used to get played at some parties I went to three or four times in a row. That was typically my cue to go outside and piss on the side of the garage, both as an expressive and expulsive action.

That said, this release did make me think a bit about music today and I did find it a bit neat. He is in a way marketing this towards people who like to make covers and remixes, which are popular thanks to YouTube. Just recall all of those "Somebody I Used To Know" parodies that found a way to be more annoying and popular than the original song this past year. This release is in a way saying that he made this music for them. It's almost like giving somebody your source code rather than compiling it and give them an executable. While it seems worthless to many, others may greatly enjoy what is being presented to them.

I'm also surprised at your outrage for how some contemporary artists chose to portray themselves. I don't think Lady Gaga means any disrespect to Bowie or Madonna, especially because those artists directly influenced her. She's simply creating music shaped by the music of her childhood. She's no different than Coheed and Cambria, who were influenced by different music of the same time period. Is Lady Gaga worse off because she looked toward glam rock instead of prog and metal? Perhaps unsurprisingly, both groups were heavily influenced by Queen, but simply took different parts from them. I'm defending her because, for what it's worth, she seems to me to be a very sincere performer. She not only makes music, but she creates a persona and costumes and shows for it all. When I realized this, I felt a bit more accepting of some of the pop music today, which is a combination of sincere art and profit-driven drivel.

And unfortunately, the days of getting a record with extras are slowly fading. A lot of music today is just a matter of singles. People don't have too much interest for entire albums now that they can more easily queue a playlist of their favorite singles. Personally I love seeing how else an artist decides to express themselves with their release (F#A# ∞ is one of my favorite records for this reason), but it's simply something that people seem less disinterested in today.

If anything, you ought to be mad at the culture that is complacent with these kind of releases. It is the customers who are creating the demand for music of seemingly lesser quality. As long as people keep Maroon 5 and Flo Rida at the top of the charts, this kind of stuff isn't going to stop. But at the same time, how can you really shame someone for their musical taste?

[Altius]

I found reading the article funny, as the author was naive enough to think people wouldn't pirate pieces of paper and wouldn't want a pdf version. Geez, go look up a book online and try to convince me of that again.

As for the actual content, I really don't care what he's doing. I've played piano for 10 years now, know how to read sheet music and tabs, and still don't give a fuck. If he wants to release his next album this way and in this format, there are no "Laws of Music" to stop him from doing it or to say it is wrong. Just like there was nothing to stop Radiohead deciding to let people pay what they want for "In Rainbows". And if a band for some reason decides to release their album in the form of expensive and exotic singing birds one must purchase from specially designated pet stores, they can do that as well. People will decide what they are willing to pay for, so listen to the music you enjoy, don't get too mad about what other people like, and support the goddamned performers you like.

Tl;dr, No one is forcing you to buy this.