The Big Music
New Poptimist! About Coldplay, epic rock, religion, half-remembered bits from my English A-Level, etc etc.
Another great Poptimist column, as happens about once a month!
On This Is the Sea, Mike Scott seemed to pull it back to its religious meaning, as an expression of your communion with a higher force. Not God, though: truth, meaningfulness, music itself. The Big Music rewrote rock as a kind of secular gospel music: meta-gospel, where the object of worship is all about how high the music you’re listening to dreams of being.
A while back, I was thinking/writing about something I think might be related — a habit, among indie bands, of shooting for similar feelings. Only the indie bands do it in a way that’s, well, indier: It’s more about drum-banging mysticism, making songs that feel ritualistic, maybe even “pagan.” It never crossed my mind that the urge to Epic Pop-Rock is essentially the same — looking for the sensation of transcendence and uplift and religious transport without needing such a fixed belief on the other end.
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jrichmanesq said:
animal collective as hipster-Coldplay? i like it!
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pgwp reblogged this from agrammar and added:
Really loved Tom’s column this month. The only offnote I detected was in this paragraph toward the end:
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agrammar reblogged this from tomewing and added:
Another great Poptimist column, as happens about once a month!...A while back, I was...
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katherinestasaph reblogged this from tomewing and added:
This is fantastic, as usual — there’s something more to be said about...rock where the...
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popcornnoises reblogged this from tomewing and added:
The notion of rock ‘n roll as secularized gospel music goes back to its very roots (Elvis learning to sing in church,...
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tomewing posted this
