I am a huge music geek. My tastes are wide and varied - pretty much as long as a song has music and lyrics and everybody stays on tune most of the time I'll like it. I do have my favorites, though. Guaranteed listens that mellow me out if I'm stressed, pep me up if I'm feeling sluggish, make me happy if I'm down. The one song that does all these things for me is Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney and Wings. Not the edgiest or most independant of songs, I know, but it's happy! It's unabashedly un-selfconscious and it sticks its tongue out at music that takes itself too seriously.
I always think of the song when I hear someone reference the "genre ghetto." Or when an author talks about her frustration when someone asks when she'll start writing "real books." According to pop culture lore, McCartney wrote Silly Love Songs after years of listening to critics, including his own former bandmate John Lennon, debase his post-Beatles work.
""I listened to him for a few years," said Paul, "and used to think, 'I can't write another of those soppy love songs. We've got to get hard and rocky now.' In the end, though, I realized that I just had to be myself. It's bolder, you know, to say, 'What's the difference? I like it.'"
I've found a real inspiration over the years, watching genre writers meet similar criticism head on. It seems like the anti-genre critics defeated its own purpose in criticizing commercial fiction. Instead of bringing the genre community down, they pissed it off. It regularly speaks out. Recently, after a reader called her a "hack," Lilith Saintcrow responded by penning her Hack Manifesto. Ursula K. LeGuin wrote a hysterical article in response to a "real books" reviewer who called genre fiction a decaying corpse that writers of serious literature had abandoned in a shallow grave. In a Romancing the Blog post, erotic romance author Sylvia Day said, "Write “real” books? I do! And I’m proud of it." And Jennifer Cruisie writes some really empowering articles about the romance genre on her website. If you ever want to feel smart about your reading and writing tastes, go there. Actually, go there right now. I'll wait.
There's lots more out there. Much more than I can fit in one blog post. You know, if everyone wrote "real" books, we'd be living in a depressing Oprah List world where love brings no joy, lives have no adventure, and where readers have no escape, however brief, from their stressful jobs, family troubles, and the 6:00 news. How tragic.
In the 3-17-01 issue of Billboard, Paul McCartney said this about his post-Beatles work: "But over the years people have said, "Aw, he sings love songs, he writes love songs, he's so soppy at times." I thought, Well, I know what they mean, but, people have been doing love songs forever. I like 'em, other people like 'em, and there's a lot of people I love--I'm lucky enough to have that in my life. So the idea was that "you" may call them silly, but what's wrong with that?"
I always think of the song when I hear someone reference the "genre ghetto." Or when an author talks about her frustration when someone asks when she'll start writing "real books." According to pop culture lore, McCartney wrote Silly Love Songs after years of listening to critics, including his own former bandmate John Lennon, debase his post-Beatles work.
""I listened to him for a few years," said Paul, "and used to think, 'I can't write another of those soppy love songs. We've got to get hard and rocky now.' In the end, though, I realized that I just had to be myself. It's bolder, you know, to say, 'What's the difference? I like it.'"
I've found a real inspiration over the years, watching genre writers meet similar criticism head on. It seems like the anti-genre critics defeated its own purpose in criticizing commercial fiction. Instead of bringing the genre community down, they pissed it off. It regularly speaks out. Recently, after a reader called her a "hack," Lilith Saintcrow responded by penning her Hack Manifesto. Ursula K. LeGuin wrote a hysterical article in response to a "real books" reviewer who called genre fiction a decaying corpse that writers of serious literature had abandoned in a shallow grave. In a Romancing the Blog post, erotic romance author Sylvia Day said, "Write “real” books? I do! And I’m proud of it." And Jennifer Cruisie writes some really empowering articles about the romance genre on her website. If you ever want to feel smart about your reading and writing tastes, go there. Actually, go there right now. I'll wait.
There's lots more out there. Much more than I can fit in one blog post. You know, if everyone wrote "real" books, we'd be living in a depressing Oprah List world where love brings no joy, lives have no adventure, and where readers have no escape, however brief, from their stressful jobs, family troubles, and the 6:00 news. How tragic.
In the 3-17-01 issue of Billboard, Paul McCartney said this about his post-Beatles work: "But over the years people have said, "Aw, he sings love songs, he writes love songs, he's so soppy at times." I thought, Well, I know what they mean, but, people have been doing love songs forever. I like 'em, other people like 'em, and there's a lot of people I love--I'm lucky enough to have that in my life. So the idea was that "you" may call them silly, but what's wrong with that?"
I think that's an excellent question! So, to those who scoff at the abundance of love stories, tales of magic, and spacefaring adventures, I issue this challenge: What's wrong with that? (I'd like to know!)
6 comments:
Hi Mel! I love that song! As soon as I read your title it popped right into my head and sparked right me up. :)
I have wide musical and book tastes. I think there is a place for everything--think how boring this world would be if everyone read or listened to the same thing? BOOORRRIINNNGG!
Variety it what makes the world interesting. What's wrong with that? Not a damn thing. :)
Mel, I love that song too. I always have. And it does just what you say.
However, kudos, major kudos. This is an outstanding blog. And I couldn't agree more.
Hey Mel, can I steal your blog for reprint on my Kougar Kisses blog -- with all due credit, of course -- and with my own added commentary?
Or, if you have a better suggestion let me know. If I'd had time I would have posted about it on the Loops. Although, that doesn't always work either for getting noticed.
Hey Mel, can I steal your blog for reprint on my Kougar Kisses blog -- with all due credit, of course -- and with my own added commentary?
Or, if you have a better suggestion let me know. If I'd had time I would have posted about it on the Loops. Although, that doesn't always work either for getting noticed.
Mel,
It's funny--the song popped right into my head, too. Interesting, but I have somewhat narrow book and song tastes...I don't like rap, hard rock, opera, or a lot of jazz. I'm a country, bluegrass, and new age music fan--but I see myself as someone who loves variety. Just variety within my limits:)
Lexie
Hey, Sav! Sorry, I didn't see your comments 'till today. I'd gone home to see my folks this weekend and we hit the road right after I posted this one! What you did was great, but if you ever want to use one of my posts in the way you described, you're more than welcome! :-)
"Just variety within my limits." That makes a lot of sense, Lexie!
"What's wrong with that? Not a damn thing." Woot! :-P
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