Music journalists thrive on labels -- the easier to separate "ska-punk" act
No Doubt from "Brit-pop" band Oasis and "trip-hop" outfit Portishead.
Musicians, on the other hand, seem constantly befuddled by the music
writer's desire to put a tag on everything.
"It's pretty much music journalism that cares about genres," said David
Lowery, frontman for Cracker -- make that "eclectic pop-rock bandî Cracker.
Singer-songwriter Lowery contends that most people pay little or no
attention to genre differences. "They certainly cross the genres in their
listening," he said.
Not only do most musicians not care about labels, they don't keep their
listening confined to the cozy cubbyholes chosen for them by journalists
and critics. Consider what's on the jukebox in the kitchen of guitarist
Tony Iommi, from the original heavy-metal group Black Sabbath:
brother/sister easy-listening duo the Carpenters, '70s new-wavers the
Pretenders, classic crooner Frank Sinatra...
Iommi himself is no fan of the heavy-metal tag, applied to Sabbath since
they came to prominence in the early 1970s.
"I don't, quite honestly, listen to one sort of music," Iommi said.
"Heavy-metal -- I hate that term. Always have. [We're] always classed as
heavy-metal. We're a heavy rock band, basically."
Still, despite the considered objections of musicians, adjectives, handles
and labels are necessary if anyone is going to write about music. At some
point, pedal steel guitar equals "country," a fistful of power chords
becomes "punk" and a generous combination of horns over the on-beat adds up
to "ska."
It's not a rigid formula, and it ain't always right, but it serves as a
guide or a map. Saying a band plays ska does not doom them to a lifetime of
playing only that. It just means they've got enough of the elements of what
one guy considers "ska" to be labeled as such.
Labels might not be necessary at all if everyone was open-minded and eager
to plunge into all kinds of music, with no agenda but a desire for quality.
Young people are more inclined to be that open. If you're like me, once
you've gotten out of school and into the workaday grind, you're not real
anxious to go out and see a band you know nothing about.
Although labeling is a flawed science, it's one way of relating bands to
each other. Hearing that the Old 97's are in the same general vein as Uncle
Tupelo can help you decide if you want to check them out or not.
In my experience, most musicians clam up at the prospect of having to
pigeonhole what they do. It's possible that they fear having to parade
under that banner for the rest of their careers. But some don't mind
talking about their music in very specific terms. Take the response from
John Hill of the lo-fi pop act Apples in Stereo when asked to describe the
sound of his side band, Dressy Bessy.
"We're just trying to get something that's kind of upbeat" Hill said. "We
want it to be a little rocking, a little groovy, a little catchy -- all
that stuff. We're not afraid to rock."
"Rock is not a dirty word," chimed in bandmate Tammy Ealom.
Nor, I suppose, is "catchy-groove-rock."