Music elitism sucks.

You know, the Diamanda Galas mailing list is starting to irritate me. I'm getting that taste in my mouth like I got when I was on the Samurai History ML. (And let me tell you, I despised it there after a while. Historian-elitists using the ML as sport to make ignorant people look bad. *shudder*)

It's mostly because since Guilty Guilty Guilty came out there's been this progression of: 1) people gushing about the album being awesome, 2) people complaining about little nitpicks of the album (like the siren in "Heaven Have Mercy" and "I don't like her singing Piaf" and "why didn't she remove the crowd from the recording?"), 3) people calling the Diamanda admirerers brainless because they don't seem to have anything "critical" to say about her album/performances.

Oh god do I hate elitists in music. I REALLY DO HATE 'EM!

As soon as music stops being something people enjoy by feel and preference, and becomes something in which they criticize every little choice of self-expression, it becomes intolerable to me. Some guy who just oh so haughtily left the ML (which in itself is an netiquette faux pas if you will, because it just makes you look like a self-important, attention seeking drama queen) actually said something like "I came here looking for Diamanda fans but all I found was worshippers". So you can't actually have a legitimate critique unless you nitpick EVERYTHING, right?

I kind of wish Diamanda would actually ream people like that just for thinking too damned hard. For her, music is a vehicle for what she wishes to express about the state of the world and society and the causes she stands for. For her, music is an aural experiment (and you really need to hear some of that multi-mic delay stuff she does in "8 Men and 4 Women", it's just... spectacular, she sounds like a whole host of Diamandas howling all at once) and her passion in life. I just can't see her actually ENJOYING the idea of so-called art connoisseurs poking at her creations and totally missing the point of what she's doing it for.

I've never once seen her be a braggart about her work. I was reading the Terrorizer article and she had some pretty mean words to say about people who make a big deal about her octave range. Hah! She despises critics. In The Shit of God she writes this whole long passage about her desire to ass-rape them, to be blunt. She dislikes pretty much anyone who presumes to know what she's about without asking her directly. Look at some of her interviews sometimes. She is articulate and intelligent, she can even be personable, but if you get on her bad side... look out. She hasn't cultivated that intimidating, vitriolic, unforgiving image for nothing.

(Oooh and "Interlude (Time)" just came on -- I've been playing Guilty Guilty Guilty while writing this. It's a gorgeous song and actually quite gentle in its yearning.)

I would be the last one to say I know what she's all about. I just enjoy her music, for my own reasons, and I don't know if I want to be on a ML that will endlessly pick at her work like it's some specimen on a dining table. People are entitled to their opinions, of course -- and I usually just ignore the ones I can't find a point to agree with. Except that NOW they're criticizing the opinions themselves for not being objective enough, and that's just plain ridiculous. *slaps forehead*

I much prefer when the ML concentrates on things like: links to video interviews and magazine articles, announcements about tour dates and projects Diamanda is working on, and posts pertaining to the themes her music has concentrated on (AIDS, Armenian suicides, Aileen Wuornos, etc.) I don't want a damned music critique ML, I want to read about Diamanda herself, her opinions and attitudes she wants to express to the world.

Most of all it just makes me sad to see her ML degenerate like this. I get the impression some of these people just buy Diamanda's albums because it makes them look like a music snob. "Ooo, look at my taste in the avant garde! I am a REAL music enthusiast!" You know, kind of like those people who listen to Led Zeppelin and decide that makes them a "classic rock fan"? Geez. How embarrassing.

I suppose I'll hang around a little longer to see if the ML will calm down into its previous state once everyone's bought and heard the new album, though. Oh, by the way -- I read in that same Diamanda article I mentioned that she is going to release *another* album later in the year! Well, there we go, makes up for people who whined that Guilty Guilty Guilty was too short. Sigh...