EDITORIAL: I GUESS THAT’S WHY THEY CALL YOU A DILETTANTE

When you say that you love Robert Johnson and that the blues are really just the only moving form of music, do you mean that? Do you firmly believe that you are beyond everyone because you heard “Electric Mud” in your dad’s car? Nice try, bucko. This universal hipster blues-worship is a really sad trend in modern music. Disclaimer: I love the blues. I absolutely worship “Layla,” I can get down with some J.J. Cale, and “King of the Delta Blues Singers” is an eternal classic. The blues has a long-standing influence will forever be seen in music, but why must we pretend that blues music is the only influential style in modern music, especially rock and roll? The blues has just become trendy to enjoy, like it’s some musical rite of passage for teenager to enjoy it. And the thing is, these people that claim this standpoint don’t even look in the right places! I mean really, can any of us really say that “Electric Mud” is a good album? No, it isn’t, but it’s easy to stand behind for musically hungry teenagers because it sounds like something that it isn’t. Exploring the blues is easy; start at Robert Johnson, listen to a little Canned Heat, and throw in a healthy dose of Professor Longhair, and BOOM!, you have yourself a perfect introduction to the blues that covers a lot of cultural and musical ground. I think a big part of the trend that makes the blues seem trendy is its focus on the more tender side of human emotion, another overrated societal trend. People seem to think that sadness and despair makes them a more interesting person, but that just isn’t true. It makes people seem tired and uninteresting, which are never characteristics of good blues music. Good blues music is passionate, not emo. The words are simple and the music is daringly complex, something dilettante music listeners can’t grasp. Without being bitter, the point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t pretend to enjoy something for status or attention. Love it for what it is.