Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39863 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

One thought on “Random music news for Saturday, July 23, 2022

  • Computer algorithms like Google’s ad’s services based on what you search for and things that you ‘like’ on social media should NEVER be a determination for who a person is personality-wise, taste-wise, etc. because they all pander to the lowest common denominator and they have no ability to account for random factors OR unique variables.

    Once upon a time, Netflix et al would give you a five point scale to judge things. Now you have a 0 or 1 variable. Dislike or Like in this case. There is no other ground – no middle ground, no shades of grey, no not applicable (unless you don’t pick anything).

    Our tastes in everything colour our personalities. One couldn’t possibly say that my taste in clothes don’t define who I am. That would be laughable beyond belief. I believe the same holds true for books, music and art (art for me includes art as a medium and the arts as in theatre etc. It’s my entertainment trifecta for life.)

    In a search engine, you might be searching for yourself, your grandmother, your next door neighboor, your boss, your sister’s second cousins best friend’s neighbor from across the street and the search engine’s algorithm wouldn’t know that any of these weren’t *YOU*.

    And the analogy of people walking down the street and walking past ‘art’ and not looking at it. Geez louise. Most people (and yes, I am covering this one with very broad strokes in several directions):

    (1) don’t have the time to look past their phones and or their busy lives
    (2) don’t pay much attention to the world around them period
    (3) go to museums and other artsy places for their art but don’t need to be told it’s ART to like it – they can dislike/hate it too (it’s not necessarily a sheeple thing) and
    (4) see (3) on the don’t need to be led by the nose and told something is Art with a capital ‘A’ and will fall all over themselves to worship at the altar of said Art in the name of Art because someone said so. Some will. But not all. I don’t have *that* much of a dim view of humanity; cynic that I am.

    Haven’t we all gone to people’s houses and the first thing we did was to look at their book and record collection while they were off getting us coffee or tea or whatnot? I know that was always the first thing I did. It’s one of the first questions I ask someone when I meet them: Who are your favorite authors? What are your top five bands of all time?

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