Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Does Kristin Hersh really hate music?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 5:33 PM
Kristin Hersh is in Europe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to promote her memoir Paradoxical Undressing, and gave an interview to the UK newspaper The Guardian which resulted in a rather tabloid-ish headline. Does the sometime-New Orleanian really "hate music"? Let's check the story and see:
There's a line in the book, spoken by Hersh's stepsister and Throwing Muses bandmate Tanya Donelly. Kristin, she says, doesn't even like music.Hersh grins. "Yeah, I hate music. Everyone knows that about me. Even my kids hate music. When they're watching a kids' show on TV, as soon as a song comes on, the TV is muted." She reconsiders. "Maybe hate is the wrong word. We can't bear it. The intensity of good music is too much to bear. And bad music is so offensive that that's also too much to bear. I'm in heaven when it's good, but that doesn't happen very often. And anyway, you don't want to be crying over the breakfast table. I don't want that life."
Well, that's better — considering her website calendar has her in a Los Angeles recording studio next month.
Comments (2)
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Seems perfectly clear to me, but then I feel much the same way. Music isn't just something tinkling in the background. If it's worth listening to it's very intense, and if it's insipid, it's offensive to hear.
The intense music that I couldn't live without isn't what I want playing all the time. Certain music at certain times, and often none at all. Who wants that intensity all the time? It's an emotional experience that isn't appropriate at all times.
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Plus, the music I love plays back in my head a lot, so I don't need to always be listening to an external source.
There's too much noise pollution. I mute commericials when watching TV...that's not so weird, is it? I don't listen to commercial radio, so that's not a problem. Those radio ads could really scramble your brain.
