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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: The Wall
Message-ID: <1985@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Oct-85 23:23:44 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxd.1985
Posted: Tue Oct 29 23:23:44 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Nov-85 23:58:48 EST
References: <1143@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> <5602@fortune.UUCP>
Organization: Whatever we're calling ourselves this week
Lines: 49
Keywords: self-indulgent whining, divorce

>>Not to flame you, Paul (I agree with your rebuttal to Palena wholeheartedly),
>>but although I've liked some of the music from "The Wall", I can't help but
>>think that as a whole it is a ridiculously self-indulgent egotistical
>>whining exercise on the part of Roger Waters.  [ROSEN]

> I agree that "The Wall" reflects at times the self-indulgent and egotistical 
> tendencies of the writer.  However, that's not enough for it to be called
> "ridiculous".  In fact, I think many artists (assuming Roger Waters is an 
> artist) share these same qualities and tendencies.  Eccentricities and
> obseessions often are characteristics of exceptional artists.   For example,
> John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Picasso, Beethoven, Dostoyevsky, Milton, ...
> I think to single Roger Waters out by calling "The Wall" "ridiculous" is 
> unfair. [LIPINSKI]

The difference is that the others had something worth saying about their
experiences, and didn't succumb to melodramatic whining (even Lennon's
first solo album, a real catharsis, has more real power than self-pity).

> He was clearly obsessed with (the seeming futility of) his life, 
> his mistakes, and his relationships.  I really think it is an exceptional
> thematic work.  He as a person may not be appreciable but "The Wall" as an
> expression of his feelings is. 

I disagree, but that's what makes horse races.  His message wasn't
effective to me, nothing of substance other than the whining came across.
Though there IS some great music on the album.

>>I recall reading his
>>insistence at the time of the recording of "The Wall" that HE *was* Pink
>>Floyd, that the band was his ideas, his vision, his music.  The whole theme
>>and content seemed symptomatic of the whiny "singer-songwriter" motif wherein
>>the singer talks about his incredible problems in life and blames them
>>all on the other people around him (often MOTOS's).  [ROSEN]

> Again, you may be confusing the image of the person seen through his art 
> with the art itself.  Surely, there is an inseparable relation between
> the person and the work but the  likable or admirable qualities of one aren't 
> necessarily present in the other.

But that's the content and message that this "art" transmitted to me. A
vacuous one without substance.  That particular "message" seems to permeate
a lot of rock (especially metal) music.  The "I am the center of the universe
and if you don't adhere to my wishes then you're a slime fouling up my life"
attitude.
-- 
"to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day
 to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human
 being can fight and never stop fighting."  - e. e. cummings
	Rich Rosen	ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr