History SeriousBusiness / Music

* The LoudnessWar, while it ''is'' a legitimately serious issue, can garner some particularly extreme reactions from audiophiles. While most listeners tend to reserve their spite for the more JustForFun/{{egregious}} cases (''[[Music/TheStooges Raw Power]]'', ''[[Music/RedHotChiliPeppers Californication]]'', ''[[Music/{{Rush}} Vapor Trails]]'', ''[[Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge Songs for the Deaf]]'', ''[[Music/{{Skillet}} Comatose]]'', ''[[Music/DepecheMode Playing the Angel]]'' etc.), there are a lot of people who will freak out if a piece of audio hits full scale more than a handful of times, even if the end result is almost completely indistinguishable from its pre-gain state. If it's too loud, they won't listen, period, and will more than likely delete the album from their computer and/or sell/throw away the CD. One of the first articles about this phenomenon in a 1999 issue of ''Stereophile'' magazine had a veteran engineer say that he had "not heard a good sounding CD since 1993" and that "I can't listen... it's the compression that ruins it for me".

*** Either that or whether or not something is [[NoTrueScotsman "real metal" or "true metal"]] (although '''Music/{{Manowar}}''' [[IfItsYouItsOkay does get a pass]]). And '''God fucking help you''' if you dare mention ''[[AcceptableTargets anything]]'' that can possibly be classified as NuMetal, AlternativeMetal, {{Metalcore}} or HairMetal, unless it's in as [[AccentuateTheNegative negative a light as humanly possible]]. '''''Especially the first one.'''''

* After getting over his drug addiction and healing a lot of his mental health damage, Music/{{Eminem}} has been rather infamously fixated on a quest [[ToBeAMaster to be the best rapper]] which has driven his [[TechnicianVersusPerformer technical virtuosity to heights so absurd]] that critics tend to view it as a detriment to his art.

-->-- '''Music/John Mellencamp''', "Serious Business"

--->John Mellencamp, "Serious Business"

* 'Tis a brave soul who ventures onto the Muse messageboards and asks the wrong question. If you're lucky, you'll be told to get lost. If not, you'll experience the online equivalent of a public flogging.

* Series/EurovisionSongContest in Sweden. Each year, the Swedish State Television holds a six-episode national contest in six different cities (who struggle to host the event). It does not only crown Sweden's contestant, but also decides who is in, or out of, the Swedish music industry (which is the world's most successful second to the US and UK), and fills the tabloids and morning papers for six weeks. Viewer ratings are comparable to international sport events and Royal weddings. Not to mention the Eurovision Song Contest ''itself'', which is a quasi-national holiday in Sweden.

** This proves to the whole world what Music/JohnLennon was trying to point out with his "more popular than Jesus" quote. It wasn't meant to prop up the Beatles or be anti-religious or blasphemous, but to point out the Serrrrrrrious Importance the media and their fanbase were placing on the "four lads of Liverpool" and every move they made in the eyes of the public. [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories Very likely as a deliberate distraction from discussing the issues of the day]] and the {{Unwinnable}} war of the day. It also gives entertainment journalism its own facade of profundity.

* How about just the simple question-- what is music? You hardly have to go far to see people denouncing 'experimental' music as not music at all. It doesn't even need to be as extreme as free jazz or contemporary classical music; people who frequently say this about music they just "don't enjoy" (hip hop being a frequent victim of this---- though more pretentious music fans will toss this at radio pop). HipHop is the most frequent target of this accusation. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of said accusers are either admitted or [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial effectively affirmed]] racists. The one's who ''aren't'' usually have reasons that are almost as absurd.

* How about just the simple question---- what is music? You hardly have to go far to see people denouncing 'experimental' music as not music at all. It doesn't even need to be as extreme as free jazz or contemporary classical music; people who frequently say this about music they just "don't enjoy" (hip hop being a frequent victim of this---- though more pretentious music fans will toss this at radio pop). HipHop is the most frequent target of this accusation. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of said accusers are either admitted or [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial effectively affirmed]] racists. The one's who ''aren't'' usually have reasons that are almost as absurd.

* Many music reviews like to draw a line in the sand over whether or not a popular music artist, piece of music and/or style is (or was) [[WereStillRelevantDammit relevant]] in the "age of punk", "age of grunge" or "age of gangsta rap", regardless of the quality of music, or whether the artist/genre in question even ''needs'' to acknowledge those musical movements. This is even in spite of [[FanMyopia whether the general public themselves]] [[CriticalDissonance take an active interest]] in whatever the next big musical revolution happens to be.

* A parodic in-universe example is Music/PearlJam's [[StylisticSuck deliberately cheesy]] "Olympic Platinum", where the narrator is very embroided in his pursuit of victory. To the point that "The gold's just not good enough (...) I'm living my life for olympic [[UpToEleven platinum]]".

*** Though a positive mention of a HairMetal band ''may'' somewhat get a pass from any or all of the following: the NostalgiaFilter (depending on the band), IfItsYouItsOkay (for a talented band that went through it as a phase, such as Music/MotleyCrue or Music/{{Loudness}}), because it's a parody or near-parody band (Music/SteelPanther or Music/TnT), or because there are some actual fans - whether of the niche fandom it still has or who are younger, new, and reevaluated a specific band as being "cool" ({{Music/WASP}} and {{Music/Cinderella}} are a couple of bands that happened to...)