Britney Spears: Classic or Dud?

You could say that about at least 50 percent of rock musicians though, even the ones that rockist critics adore.

Not when the market owns the market. And this is pretty much why I have problems with her music and her peers. It's like embracing Philip Morris or something. But I guess rooting for the underdog = rockism now too.

Some things I don't like about what I perceive as the anti-rockist approach:

1) That it tends to lead to judgments like the one I just described.

2) That it seems to over-emphasize top 40-type stuff (of which there is very little that I enjoy right now, no matter how hard I try).

3) That it seems to imply that I ought to spend more of my time listening to top 40 radio in order to avoid making rash generalizations, when I have enough other music I'm interested in pursuing to occupy all of my spare time. I don't feel the need to hear every new single to generalize that I don't like most of today's pop music. Granted there are occasionally new singles I like -- usually R&B or hip-hop. Admittedly, one or two of Britney's songs at least have beats I like, but I can't stand the singing.

4) That it seems to absolve its proponents of their own prejudices, which may include, as I have said before, actually liking pop music more than they would because it helps them prove to themselves that they are open-minded free thinkers.

5) That it seems to do away with the idea that any music can be truly "great" or "important" or more than just a matter of taste.

That said, I agree with many anti-rockist ideas, i.e. that albums are not necessarily better than songs, that it's delusional to think one can avoid commercial influence, that rock is not better than other genres, that "authenticity" is a foolish thing to prize in music.

But I would like to add that I think certain types of music are more complex or have more to digest or more to offer than others. Standing up to more repeated listenings doesn't necessarily make something objectively better, but I'll always have a deeper love for music that I find more engaging and complex, as opposed to fun songs with hot beats, even though I do like the latter.

And it can be yours too for the low price of $14.95.

As far as the absolution from prejudice bit, well I can't actually see inside anyone's mind and tell you the process behind their likes and dislikes. But I have been confronted numerous times with the argument (from anti-rockists) that anti-rockism is about "being more aware of one's (rockist) prejudices, (rockist) reasons for liking or disliking something, etc." So if you're an anti-rockist, you have super-awareness of musical prejudices that makes you, ultimately, a less tainted listener.

I could certainly tell you what I don't like about this song -- the cliched lyrics, the rhyming couplets that sound like they came from an internet love song generator "since you've been gone"/"carry on," "give you my world"/"be your girl", "you and me/way our life should be," etc.

The only thing I do find interesting at all is the subtle creepiness of her saying "I was born to make you happy."

I'm fascinated by popular culture which attempts to describe the experience of adolescence because we all live our adolescence via a constant negotiation between our own personal experience and the cultural stereotypes which surround us - 2 and a half years on from being a teenager, I find it difficult to tease apart the reality and the myths in my own memories of the period. The importance of these myths to me as I was growing up (despite their strong differences to my own experiences) renders a lot of this stuff somehow very personal-feeling to me.

As far as the second paragraph, I feel like you're more getting into Britney's music as an object of cultural inquiry than as songcraft, music, or whatever. There's nothing wrong with doing this, but it could just as easily be done with a song you don't like. I don't think it's valid to say that a song is good because it's a good starting point for exploring adolescence in our culture.

Seriously, if you connect with the song on an emotional level, more power to you.

I believe there's these things called 'turning off the radio' and 'iPods' and the like which can help you in this regard.

-- Ned Raggett

Ned I'd have to go one step further there and suggest we experiment with not turning the radio on in the first place.

ihttp://www.popcultureshock.com/reviews/2820/2820_2.jpg

Why is it that repeatedly, time and time again, people can't seem to understand that 'engaging and complex' is not mutually exclusive with 'a fun song with hot beats'? I mean Tim linked to that Born To Make You Happy article which is one of the best examples of disproving that, but noooo, the rockists must insist on sticking their heads in the sand.

I don't hate her, but I don't like her much either, it's just a general shoulder-shrugging indifference. I don't have any profound non-subjective reasons for my indifference. Off the top of my head, I'd say: her personality as I perceive it doesn't attract me much; she has a very bland California-type beauty that doesn't appeal to me; the song structures are predictable; the lyrics are pretty banal, and even if they weren't, they're talking about things that don't interest me; the songs don't fuck with the genre, they smoothly go along with the genre; the whole ambience of the songs/image etc smacks of an unimaginative narrow minded vision of the world/America/adolescence/sexual relationships, etc.; I don't like that she's such a big Bush supporter; her voice doesn't sound particularly bad to me, merely ordinary and uninteresting; I'm not much interested in the gossip mag celebrity culture she's part of and typifies; she's a photofit celeb of the late nineties... etc., etc.

I'm fully aware that some of those judgement criteria can be labelled as "rockist", and I don't much care, I don't see them as anything higher than personal preference and I'm certainly not claiming Spears is less authentic than the people I like, merely less interesting to me.

the songs don't fuck with the genre, they smoothly go along with the genre

So I take it you've never heard the one with the Ying Yang Twins and the banjos?

otm