Glenn Branca, What Are You Even Talking About
For more than half a century we’ve seen incredible advances in sound technology but very little if any advance in the quality of music.
- Glenn Branca, The End of Music
That any active musician can say with a straight face that there’s been no good music since WWII is pretty mind-boggling.
I mean it’s one thing when Wynton Marsalis laments the loss of his precious Jazz Music. OK, he’s a preservationist. It’s his job. Whatever. But Glenn, come on man, you’re writing these, like, symphonies for 100 guitars or whatever, playing this new shit, right, and now you’re busting out with no-good-music-in-the-last-fifty-years? Seriously, what are you listening for? There is so much out there. A bulleted list of interesting post-war musics would be beyond the scope of this blog post.
An “advance in the quality of music.” What the hell does that even mean.
Now look what you’ve done, see, I’m all riled up.