Paul Christensen's Blog - Posts Tagged "skrewdriver"

Listen to This by Alex Ross

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The description of the mausoleum-like atmosphere of a typical classical concert (on pp.20-21) is very funny. What Alex Ross doesn’t consider, however, is that (mainly white) audiences listen in silence because it’s their ancestral heritage, like going to a local museum in an old, old building.

They don’t want noisy cheering every time a catchy melody appears (a la Parisian opera in the early 1800s), which the author seems to think would ‘liven it up’, nor do they want it mixed with jazz, or the orchestra playing Radiohead covers.

The ‘classical concert’ is an elegy for a certain mode of whiteness, a grand whiteness that no longer exists. That isn’t to say the music isn’t brilliant in its own right, but Ross doesn’t consider the unconscious motive of average 2000s concertgoers, who don’t go to hear living composers, not even beautiful ones like Arvo Pärt (which they can buy recordings of if so inclined).

What Ross calls a ‘cold marble facade’ is actually a much-venerated tombstone.

Ross’ broad knowledge of musical history leads him to make many interesting observations, but his taste in contemporary music is pretty mundane (though bonus points for mentioning Skrewdriver(!)).

The chapter on Radiohead is revealing: the band are as airheaded as their music is boring!

References to Kurt Cobain’s ‘suicide’ make the book appear a bit dated, as since ‘Soaked in Bleach’ (2014) everyone knows he was bumped off.



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