Without Me (Eminem), and a vigorous Facebook forum (thank you, Ben James).
Like most people, I usually just think of Eminem's Without Me as being a really catchy, pro-self esteem hippetyhoppeting dance anthem, but surprisingly, I discovered earlier today, as Becca and I were doing our Sunday morning dance off, that it is actually the greatest song of all time.
Eminem
Without Me
The Eminem Show
2002
Collection of paper dolls drawn, cut and colored by me and my daughter. They’re partial to Mos Def.
FACEBOOK COMMENT THREAD:
Jodi H
Sounds like a fabulous tradition:-)
Ben James
That is a scary thought that you correlate eminem with the word good! Lol
Beth P-C
It ousted "the rose" from the throne??? Wow!
Walter C
I'm glad I'm not the only person who enjoys truly terrible music!
Joseph Long (me)
WARNING: I JUST ACCIDENTALLY, sort of, TURNED THIS INTO A MINI-MANIFESTO.
I don't believe in good music or bad music. I believe in music that makes you Feel, Think, or Move, and does so with unique voice and execution. I could care less about Genre.
How many times have you heard someone say. "Oh, I listen to everything. Seriously, I like EVERYTHING -
(beat)
- except Rap and Country."
(those are the big ones that people often want to disassociate themselves from)
For the rest of your lives, please remember this post every time someone responds with a variant of the above, and chuckle softly to yourself.
Generally, 'everything' means "everything that is played on Top 40 radio," or whatever slick-voiced, dapper-dressing, acne-free adolescent is getting Autotuned by one-named superproducers to become the next 'big thing.' Which is fine, and represents a small percentage of contemporary music, but is vastly and disproportionately represented in terms of aggressive marketing, airplay, and ubiquitous media exposure.
So that becomes 'everything.'
Which leads to the next common response. "I like alternative / indie music...you know like, stuff that's different." Then comes the agonizing stretch to think of an artist or band that is appropriately 'uncommercial,' to properly earn that 'indie badge of honor.'
Like what you like, challenge yourself a little, and forget about genre, about mainstream, underground, and everything in between.
There is music being created today that is ever bit as unique, creative, innovative, powerful, and beautiful as anything made in the last 50 years. Just gotta look and listen a little :)
Make some preferences. Have an opinion. Be specific. Don't apologise for what you like. I don't.
There.
Time to go crank some Daniel Johnston and Milli Vanilli :)
Jeremy Long
I used to like Coldplay, they were a really small band. I mean, they were playing Austin City Limits and had a huge hit single named "Yellow", but they were still pretty indie and underground.
Lucy A C-R
Aww, we do that except we have dance off pants off every night, so as to facilitate the wee ones into there undesirable jammies and thus is the intro into "don't fall into the lava momma" and then it's bed time. So I guess I ♥ ur style ;) and my very white hubby ♥ ♥'s 3 6 mafia, oh and the biebs , just cuz we like to keep it real w/ "everything" ;) tonight is Marley night. Thanks for the rant it made me smile. You know how I know your deep . . . . . .
David H
Huck is happy to know that your 'greatest song of all time" will be replaced with an actual "song" tomorrow :)
Joseph Long (me)
Thank you David. You know, at one time, cinema wasn't considered a true art form, jazz wasn't an accepted genre, and Andy Warhol just got laughed at. Respect is a long time comin' sometimes. But Chuck D and you megaphone voiced melodymakers who are still fighting for respect from a few holdouts :) ... You got it from me.
All respect, D. I enjoy our banter :)
Hip hop is music. Rap is music.
@Lucy - thanks! Sounds like you have a delightful time with your family. Music just makes everything better :) your hubby sounds like a cool cat too. Hope our kids can meet up one of these days - giant dance party!
David H
Rap is MUSIC... they aren't SONGS... songs require SINGING, not merely spoken poetry with a beat
Jeremy Long
I disagree, David. Songs originated from ballads, which were stories being chanted over drums. Occasionally, there would be a harpist providing background instrumentation. So really, in my mind, rappers were the first singer-songwriters!
Jonny Long
Ouch, Sir David. Ouch.
Joseph Long (me)
Oh, I'm sorry, do birds not sing songs, because their warblings are not (human) speech? Did Mendelssohn not write songs? (see: Songs Without Words). At its core, yes, a song implies singing. But singing and song are are also elastic terms, just as English is a flexible language and culture is an ongoing evolution. A song can consist of vocals that are heavily stylised, even unrecognizable. Do words need to be understood in order to be a song? Charlie Parker's vocal-less compositions are still songs in my book, with their implied vocalizations.
Voice as musical instrument is a flexible designation. Rap and hip hop are (often) songs with elements of spoken word, poetry, and yes, traditional SINGING, coupled with live and sampled instrumentation. Hip hop is post-jazz, post-blues; a largely Americanized, narrative mishmash of styles reflecting centuries and countries worth of musical history. There are innumerable combinations of vocal experimentations (see: Bjork, aboriginal for a start) coupled with instrumentation...which is what makes a song.
So uhh, yeah. Stand by me. Hip hop is music and Missy Elliott is songbird.
——
Joseph Long (me)
Okay, so there might be some faulty analogies in the above :) ah well.
David H
I find it hard to agree that chants equate to rap.. I'll have to check with the Vatican for clarification :)
Angie F
I love everything about this entire thread. Well said Joseph and brothers long. All of it.
Jeremy Long
I find it hard to believe that there is any difference between the two! Let's look at the elements of both: Poetry driven, they both tell a story, driven by a beat. You don't have to enjoy it, but I do think rap/hip hop should be given the same amount of respect as big band, jazz, blues, rock, etc. Music is about FEELING, that's why it exists... and everybody responds to it in a different way, but every reaction is based off of an emotion given from the music. I would actually encourage you to contact the Vatican for clarification:) No disrespect intended, but you got yourself into this, so I would enjoy hearing some more factual based responses rather than narrow minded slanderous remarks towards a genre you don't care for. @Marshall Mathers, what do you think?
David H
first.. there was no slanderous remark, nor is it a genre I don't listen to, albeit in a narrow spectrum (I much prefer 80's rap than today's rap), and in looking up definitions for 'song' and 'music' the definitions are so broad it basically encompasses anything that makes noise. So I'll satisfy this all as a matter of opinion, narrow minded or broad minded it matters not.. it's all just opinion.
Joseph Long (me)
Preference. Preference, not opinion. There are certain unassailable basic facts that are not opinion. But I can respect your preference :) Opinion implies that each one is equally valid; that is not the case because some opinions have been studied, researched, debated, and gone through a degree of analysis more rigorous than 'I like this and don't like that.' Of course I am speaking in generalities, dear David :) I can respect your personal preference.
80s rap, eh? Am I mistaken in guessing that you're probably referring to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince as opposed to Public Enemy?
Thanks for the convo :)
David H
quite mistaken although Parents Just Don't Understand ;)... 2LiveCrew, HeavyD, IceCube, Dr. Drey, Humpty, Sir-Mix-a-Lot,and some Eminem... I'm not really into the 'disrespectful gangsta stuff'(although I wouldn't call much of 2LiveCrew's stuff "respectful")...
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