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Ways of Hearing: A User's Guide to the Pop Psyche, from Elvis to Eminem
Someone once said that “pop music is an argument anyone can join in on.” Ways of Hearing turns that argument into a bar-room brawl, as a frontier town of unruly pop pioneers and DJs—Brian Eno, John Peel, Neil Young, the Chemical Brothers, and Mercury Rev, to name but a few—punch it out. Part hall of fame, part self-help manual, part visionary manifesto, Ways of Hearing examines the pop psyche from all of its glorious sides.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2000
23 people want to read
About the author
Ben Thompson
7 books2 followersBen Thompson is one of Britain's most respected cultural critics. He currently contributes to the FT, Mojo and the Sunday Telegraph.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 23, 2020
(I wrote this review for 3RRR's subscriber magazine The Trip in early 2001.)
The quality of Australian writing on popular music culture is generally pretty ordinary. There seems to be a yawning gap between the closed circle Uni highbrow studies and the erratic street press, with neither really meeting the needs of the discerning and passionate pop aficionado.
Then there are the monthlies Juice and Rolling Stone, slogging it out in the glossy corporate sector, playing it cool by continuously resurrecting the ghost of Kurt Cobain - the last 'cool' pop music icon
that sold CDs and magazines in the millions.
On the newspaper front, it's a sad indictment on the revamped Age pullout EG that it's uptight popular music coverage is still lagging behind the Herald Sun's supplement Hit.
When it comes to comment on pop music what's missing is not criticism but passion. Hanging shit on Nikki Webster is like (to quote Homer) shooting fish in a barrel. Which is about the level of comment you hear on Triple Js national breakfast program with the great bandwagon jumper
Adam Spencer.
But this we know.
What I'm suggesting is that it's too easy (and lazy) for us to be cynical about pop music. And ultimately it's not very rewarding. What is rewarding is to find a voice who is as creative and passionate with his writing as our pop stars are with their art. Or their pop.
One such voice is UK journalist Ben Thompson. His first book, Seven Years Of Plenty: A Handbook of Irrefutable Pop Greatness 1991-1998, focussed on "a specific time frame in the hope of giving the recent past a bit of well-earned mythic resonance," according to the author. It was refreshing to see great writing about great bands. Not just surface stuff either, his writing digs a little deeper - it makes an effort - like the musicians and producers did who made the music in the first
place.
When Thompson talks pop his broad definition is: "music of general appeal, esp. among young people." After an entertaining analysis of the conduits we receive pop music through - radio, TV, film, video, books - he moves onto an eclectic analysis of his pop choir. To mention a few:
Air, Blixa Bargeld, The Beta Band, Eminem, Meatloaf. Missy Elliot, Bernard Sumner, Mercury Rev, Isaac Hayes, Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Neil Young.
Oscar Wilde said "the cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." English writer Ben Thompson knows the price as well as the value of all things pop. "What is the nature of the connection between the people who make music and the people who listen to it?", he asks.
And why, when scientology claims to open up the hidden chambers of the intellect, does pop offer instant access to areas of the mind L. Ron Hubbard could only dream about?"
Great pop music has access into our innermost in a way that is astounding. It informs and transforms. Thompson writes, "On hearing particular music at particular times, the listener does not just feel like a better person, the listener is a better person. This transformative power is an article of faith which, like all articles of faith, demands thorough investigation."
Writing about pop music can't be just about the music. We all know there's more to pop than songs - it's impossible to ignore the hyped machine pushing it out into the noisy world.
"Just as electrical feedback adds character to guitar playing, so the distortions and compromises implicit in the business of mass mediation add depth and intrigue to the pop personas they impact upon. When we listen to someone's music we hear these things as clearly - sometimes more clearly - than the song itself. And it's in seeking to unravel the intricacies of the performer's identity that we often find out most upon our own."
Thompson offers us an affirmation of the joy and healing properties of music and it's performers. His book has the best qualities of our favourite broadcasters and fanzine writers - passion, enthusiasm and a genuine love of music. This passion informs all 'criticism' making it constructive. Criticism certainly has it's place, but when it becomes a dark cloud, overshadowing all comment, a burst of sunshine highlighting why we love music in the first place, is a precious gift.
The quality of Australian writing on popular music culture is generally pretty ordinary. There seems to be a yawning gap between the closed circle Uni highbrow studies and the erratic street press, with neither really meeting the needs of the discerning and passionate pop aficionado.
Then there are the monthlies Juice and Rolling Stone, slogging it out in the glossy corporate sector, playing it cool by continuously resurrecting the ghost of Kurt Cobain - the last 'cool' pop music icon
that sold CDs and magazines in the millions.
On the newspaper front, it's a sad indictment on the revamped Age pullout EG that it's uptight popular music coverage is still lagging behind the Herald Sun's supplement Hit.
When it comes to comment on pop music what's missing is not criticism but passion. Hanging shit on Nikki Webster is like (to quote Homer) shooting fish in a barrel. Which is about the level of comment you hear on Triple Js national breakfast program with the great bandwagon jumper
Adam Spencer.
But this we know.
What I'm suggesting is that it's too easy (and lazy) for us to be cynical about pop music. And ultimately it's not very rewarding. What is rewarding is to find a voice who is as creative and passionate with his writing as our pop stars are with their art. Or their pop.
One such voice is UK journalist Ben Thompson. His first book, Seven Years Of Plenty: A Handbook of Irrefutable Pop Greatness 1991-1998, focussed on "a specific time frame in the hope of giving the recent past a bit of well-earned mythic resonance," according to the author. It was refreshing to see great writing about great bands. Not just surface stuff either, his writing digs a little deeper - it makes an effort - like the musicians and producers did who made the music in the first
place.
When Thompson talks pop his broad definition is: "music of general appeal, esp. among young people." After an entertaining analysis of the conduits we receive pop music through - radio, TV, film, video, books - he moves onto an eclectic analysis of his pop choir. To mention a few:
Air, Blixa Bargeld, The Beta Band, Eminem, Meatloaf. Missy Elliot, Bernard Sumner, Mercury Rev, Isaac Hayes, Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Neil Young.
Oscar Wilde said "the cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." English writer Ben Thompson knows the price as well as the value of all things pop. "What is the nature of the connection between the people who make music and the people who listen to it?", he asks.
And why, when scientology claims to open up the hidden chambers of the intellect, does pop offer instant access to areas of the mind L. Ron Hubbard could only dream about?"
Great pop music has access into our innermost in a way that is astounding. It informs and transforms. Thompson writes, "On hearing particular music at particular times, the listener does not just feel like a better person, the listener is a better person. This transformative power is an article of faith which, like all articles of faith, demands thorough investigation."
Writing about pop music can't be just about the music. We all know there's more to pop than songs - it's impossible to ignore the hyped machine pushing it out into the noisy world.
"Just as electrical feedback adds character to guitar playing, so the distortions and compromises implicit in the business of mass mediation add depth and intrigue to the pop personas they impact upon. When we listen to someone's music we hear these things as clearly - sometimes more clearly - than the song itself. And it's in seeking to unravel the intricacies of the performer's identity that we often find out most upon our own."
Thompson offers us an affirmation of the joy and healing properties of music and it's performers. His book has the best qualities of our favourite broadcasters and fanzine writers - passion, enthusiasm and a genuine love of music. This passion informs all 'criticism' making it constructive. Criticism certainly has it's place, but when it becomes a dark cloud, overshadowing all comment, a burst of sunshine highlighting why we love music in the first place, is a precious gift.
Displaying 1 of 1 review