Originally posted by foxdvd
You are taking extreme examples and trying to relate this to song length. Of course, if someone burps into the microphone they cant expect the music to sell. I love patience and quality in my music. When a group wants to tell a story with their songs, length is important. You can not shorten your music to make it more radio friendly just to sell albums. (well you can, but I am not going to buy it) Does anyone really feel the song Crimson should be any less then 40 minutes long? It is one of the greatest songs ever written, and flows much better then some of the 3 minute long songs on the radio.
i apologize for not knowing the song you mentioned: i suppose it's by opeth, and i never really liked the band (
not for their songs' length), so i can't really say if it should be shorter at all. i even admit of being biased against a 40' song: that's the time-length of a decent album, and i think that the band would have been better off splitting up the different themes, maybe picking them up again in different songs. but with a 40' song this becomes a matter of practicality vs. clumsiness more than a question of boredom.
the point is, in my mind syntheticity is - to a point - a virtue. if i say in 300 words what could as well be said in 150, i feel i could have done better. same goes for music: 8' songs should have food for thoughts and feelings as a double number of 4' songs.
besides, i said before i was not referring to getting more airplay or selling more albums by the thousands. i do appreciate when some fine-tuning is made to sell otherwise over-lengthy products to a larger number of sincere fans, though.
[/B][/QUOTE] So lets get back to the point you raised in your first post. I am not saying a band should only write songs they understand, or only burp or fart into the microphone. I am saying that when a band is as talented as Lilitu writes a 9 minute long song, no one should tell them to shorten it. Now you as a customer has a right to say Well I just dont have the patience for 9 minutes, and feel they are just stretching it
so I will not buy it and I have a right to say I love that 9 minute masterpiece, and feel it takes you on a journey that a 3 minute long song never could
so I AM going to buy it [/B][/QUOTE]
i don't agree with your definition of what i (anyone) has the right to say. i'm pretty sure i didn't tell lilitu to shorten their songs, but i'm pretty sure i should feel free to suggest to a band that they better be careful when dealing with 7'+ tunes, too. i don't see why it all should be reduced to the sterile buying/not buying decision. couldn't it be that the chance to actually communicate with the musicians we like is also something that sets this music apart from the real sellouts?
[/B][/QUOTE] Lilitu is never going to sell 12 million copies of an album in America. That being said, I would rather listen to their music then a sell-out any day. [/B][/QUOTE]
me too. i don't think i ever questioned that point.
[/B][/QUOTE] You are a sell-out the moment your music is compromised in an attempt to sell more albums. There is a small area that can be played with that allows the group to make their music more mainstream without selling out, but this area is very thin, and easy to cross. I feel that shortening a song from 9 to 4 minutes is definitely selling out. [/B][/QUOTE]
well, shortening it because you want it to be played on radio stations, yes. shortening it because 3' songs are what's more appealing to the market, yes. shortening it because you think that everybody's going to find it uselessly repetitive just after minute 4, sorry, no.
and your definition of sellout seems to leave shades of gray all over the place. why do i write songs in the first place? to please my ego? to pass some feelings through? and to whom? my boy/girlfriend? don't i "compromise" the way i talk when i tell a story to that same boy/girlfriend?
[/B][/QUOTE] Of course, I am a huge Opeth fan (who have albums with every song over 10 minutes long) so you know where I am coming from. [/B][/QUOTE]
i should probably admit now to being a huge punk music fan, so you know where i'm coming from, too.
but i really do listen to a lot of different styles and bands, some of them concocting every day lots of lengthy songs. and i really, really wouldn't want any death/gothic/electro/heavy metal band to play too many short songs.
rahvin.
