An attempt at a conclusion

I hope that THIS time as I broach this subject, I will not be misinterpreted anew.

Of course, a lot of that will depend on me, since I'm writing it! But my hope is that whoever reads this will do so with an open mind, and will not do so with any assumptions about what I'll say, or whatever conclusions I may arrive at(if any).

The idea for this entry came to me as I was listening to the afternoon talk show on the radio station I work at. He had just had the mayor of Fresno(Alan Autry...yes, Bubba is our mayor!)on yesterday discussing the subject of illegal immigration, which for you readers outside of California is a very hotly contested subject out this way!

It is impossible to talk about that topic on a radio talk show without getting bitterly polarized, emotional dialogue going back and forth in almost no time! And this will go on for the entire two hours of the show...and what gets decided at the end?

Nothing. People still go on feeling exactly the way they did when they first called in.

Maybe it's therapeutic for those callers to call and vent over the radio, but as far as advancing the debate forward and shedding much-needed light on a subject that SORELY needs it, instead only a lot of heat is shed instead.

Our host then posed the question, "What topic(s) would you like to NOT hear anymore on talk shows?"

Well, surely, immigration is one for radio talk shows. But then I began to think about the things I see discussed regularly on gospel music message boards, and then I wondered what things I would be very happy NOT to read about any longer on those sites.

I'm sure you can think of ones yourself...and you can even share those with me in the comment space below when you get through reading this!:-)

For me, first and most basically, I would love to no longer see topics involving who is the best/most favorite/highest/lowest/best-looking/most or least spiritual/ singer(s) in gospel music!

Everyone has his/her own choices in those categories, and invariably those discussions degenerate into how much better/worse/nicer/unfriendly/good-looking/ugly one artist is than another...and it gets very tedious to read, REALLY quick!

Another is how people should dress on stage...those discussions sometimes start out calmly, but sooner or later descend into angry invective about what singers SHOULD look like, and why it doesn't matter what singers wear as long as they sing well to what kind of witnesses singers are if they look a certain way...and...well, if you've seen one of those discussions, you've seen them all.

Finally, one topic I think has become tiresome(and that I inadvertently got involved with myself in the last week or so)is...is music better today, or in the so-called "good ol' days"?

Those kinds of discussions arise when someone starts talking about how one era has all the "best" music...then, someone who doesn't like THAT era comes back and argues why the era THEY like is better...and then it can go off in a number of different directions, all of them unprofitable, and all of them not enjoyable to read at all.

I posted a couple of times about a book I read that talked about the origin of Music Row in Nashville, and I admit to having been fascinated about how all that music in that period came together. And further noting the first-hand recollections by the people in the book, I made the mistake of asking why the reaction to some of today's music is not the same as the reaction to the music then was when IT was being made.

Wouldn't you know, I was accused of "constantly lamenting" the loss of the "good ol' days"(on 2 entries? How "constant" is twice?)and challenged to better appreciate the fine product that is being produced today(such a distinction can only apply to the beholder)and "smell the roses"!

Now I don't want to rehash THAT discussion again...so please suspend your reactions(pro OR con)on that. All I'll say now and always on that is that I DO enjoy some music of today, and I certainly live NOW(well, I lived during part of then, too...but anyway)!

But my own preference...if I had to choose between eras...is the one that I first learned to appreciate music in...which in my case, is in the 1960s, and includes the current music of that day, and some of the music 10-15 years prior(the "oldies")for what THAT'S worth.

Having said that, I do NOT say, and WILL not say, that one era musically is necessarily better than another!

For when I broke into radio 22 years ago, I was a midday disc jockey at a nostalgia-styled radio station. We DID emphasize music of the 1940s and 1950s, but only because no one else was playing it at all. And we knew there were a lot of people in our audience who still enjoyed that music at that time.

However, our philosophy was that good music was ALWAYS good music, regardless of when it was made, or what genre it was a part of. So since we had the freedom to choose our own songs when doing our shows(which a LOT of disc jockeys would kill for today!), we ended up playing as eclectic a mix of music as has probably ever been heard on the radio...we played big band swing, pop, jazz, old-time country, blues, dixieland, even some rock n' roll, and yes, even some gospel quartet music from time to time(I snuck that in, if you hadn't guessed!:-))!

In other words, we were a "good music" station...as much as that could have been done reasonably, anyway!

We didn't care about genres, or eras...what difference did it make if the song we played was recorded in 1948..or 1968...or even 1988?? Good music is always good music, no matter what it is, or when it's made!...so we thought, anyway...and our ratings were always good, so a good number of people agreed with us, at least!

How does that apply to gospel music message board threads? Well, when it comes to good gospel music, the best of it will be good now...and be good 20 years from now as well! So I, for one, appreciate groups like the Booth Brothers, the Liberty Quartet, Legacy Five, and the current Gold City lineup now...and I will in years to come as well.

And similarly, I will never stop loving the music of artists such as the Couriers, the Blackwood Brothers, the Statesmen, the Rebels, the Inspirations, the Harvesters, the Speers, and yes, even the Chuck Wagon Gang! Their music got me interested in gospel music long before I became a Christian, and helped to give me peace and strength long after I became a Christian as well! And since I continue to enjoy THAT music even today(thanks to records and CDs), it is still "contemporary" music for me!:-)

Given my inclination to respect my ancestry, and learn from my history, I do hold the latter group of artists in a special place, because without them, the former group of artists I cited would not be making the music they make today! So understandably, I give them reverence.

But arguments over genres of music, like arguments over illegal immigration and politics, are ultimately fruitless...because more heat than light is spread when engaging in such discussions.

And history continues to be made each day we live...so I'm perfectly willing to enjoy the history being made today, along with the history that already HAS been made. Care to join me? You're all invited!

Page 1 of 1 pages

Comments

Add Comments

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

* Note: Members of Southern Gospel News.com who are logged in do not have to fill in the above information each time they post

By posting you agree to our Comments Policy

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?