Posted by Nolol on 3/20/2012, 9:49 am, in reply to "Re: I'm talking about the "classical" definition of a hipster, I guess"
71.50.170.154
Tom may be putting on acts and personas but they are convincing. They don't sound fake, and that's the important thing. I've known from almost the beginning that Tom is basically an actor, but he's one of the best actors in the music business. And how can someone say that acting can't be a sincere artistic expression?
--Previous Message--
: Obviously, what matters is wether the music
: feels "fake" or not, which
: naturally is largely subjective. I'm not
: gonna sit around listening to
: "Alice" and say, you know, these
: songs are pretty good, but I feel I would
: enjoy them a lot more if I had documented
: proof that Tom Waits was an alcoholic.
: I mean, if you go down that road, what's
: next. Chastising Muddy Waters because he
: wasn't actually born the seventh son on the
: seventh day, despite his phony and
: hipster-baiting claims to the contrary?
:
: I do admit though, that Tom isn't exactly
: (or doesn't feel like one, I don't know much
: about his private life) a
: "confessional" artist, but trying
: on different personas and impersonations.
: Which is fine by me, as long as it's
: convincing and emotional (and really, what
: is this idea that an artist can only be
: truly emotional as long as he's singing
: about himself? Are we that narcissistic and
: introverted a culture? Isn't one of the
: primary functions of the artist to emphasise
: with other people's feelings?
:
: And anyway, what kind of person would like
: every album in the world to be like
: "Here My Dear" or "John
: Lennon/Plastic Ono Band"?
:
: --Previous Message--
:
:
: Tom Waits' whole thing is an act -- the
: whole late-night, boozy, loungey,
: down-on-your luck jazzbo urban beatnick act.
: NOTHING he writes about or sings about is
: sincere, nor is the manner in which it is
: performed or sung. It's all a put-on. His
: voice, for example, doesn't actually sound
: like that. He's not really a drunk or a
: depressed night owl. There isn't a shred of
: artistic integrity to anything that he does.
: He is as genuine as a show-tune. If you
: like that kind of theatrics in your music,
: then I guess you'll like Tom Waits. But I
: don't give a lot of credibility to costumes,
: personas, and the like.
:
: I'm not saying that his music is horrible,
: just that it isn't worth the time to even
: make that evaluation, because it is not
: honest. Kind of like Alice Cooper.
:
:
:
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