World

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The most important attribute, by far, which an artist MUST provide to enter my 'hall of fame' is the compulsion for me, as a listener to 'ENTER THEIR WORLD'. Their world may be initially forbidding and strange, but once discovered and explored is endlessly fascinating. There's no set configuration - the constituent parts can be 'sound', lyrics, vocals, context, style, image, atmosphere and ALWAYS many intangibles. For me good examples would be ; Kraftwerk, Joy Division, The Kinks, Vic Godard, The Beatles, Magazine, The Smiths, Young Marble Giants, VU, The Human League, Neu,The Clash and The Magnetic Fields.

Examples of artists who nearly make it are Radiohead, some Bowie, Portishead and early Roxy. The Who narrowly fail to make the cut because from The Who Sell-Out onwards the concepts are just too precisely defined to leave enough mystery. Pulp were on the cusp with This is Hardcore, and maybe the new album will do the trick. We'll see, I haven't heard it yet.

To create this 'world' you mustn't try too hard - Stereolab's mix of kraut, stereo-test recordings, political manifestos and (latterly) bossa n' bleeps - doesn't cut it because it's all too studied - from the album cover designs to the song titles to the music it's all 'just what you expected it to be' so there's nothing to discover.

Likewise the 'big myth' artists don't cut it for me. No matter how unfair I'm being, I don't want to discover Dylan any further than the two or three token albums I already have, because the world of Dylanology repels me. Similarly The Doors - some great songs, but the myth of Morrison is too powerful.

So, does anyone else think a similar way? What makes YOU enter an artist's world? Who creates worlds for you?

― Dr. C, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I completely see what you're getting at here, Dr C - but for me it happens on a record-by-record or song-by-song basis more than it happens on an artist-by-artist one. An artist's 'world' and how well it is expressed in an individual record by them is a factor for me in liking that record, in other words.

― Tom, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I love this concept. I like the idea of artists with a fully developed but self-contained logic about them - Young Marble Giants are a good example, I think. The Vaselines too. Some obvious examples would be Springsteen, Tom Waits, The Ramones, Nick Cave or T. Rex but maybe the mythology angle is too literal with them (or maybe more external [based on existing mythos/"worlds"] than the personal worlds of Young Marble Giants or, say, The Vaselines.

― fritz, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i almost completely agree with the good doctor here, mixed with a little bit of what tom's saying. i think this is why - at the beginning of my infatuation and still to some extent now - dance music was so exciting for me. it was such tabula rasa, so overlooked by the rock-centrist u.s. music media, that the sense of exploration and discovery was palpable. all those bizarre artist names and aliases upon aliases and remixes and attendant cultures and secret histories and intersections with other areas of music culture...::swoon::...now that the histories are somewhat more defined for me, the connections mapped out, the aliases drawn up with names and (sometimes even) faces...it's not quite such a thrill...it's different from what the doctor is saying somewhat, however, because it's not only entering into the world of that particular artist but the millieu they inhabit...

― jess, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This happens to me too, Tom, I just wanted to call out some artists who over several releases have created a world of sorts. Single-song worlds would make a good thread too.

I should point out that I'm selective - my 'Human League World' consists of "Reproduction", "Dare", all the singles and "Secrets". I've never heard "Crash" or "Hysteria" (apart from the singles. My Magnetic Fields world only includes "69.."

Also, I'm not saying that EVERYTHING on the albums I've selected as part of the artist's world is totally consistent with (my view of) their world. Just the opposite - challenges and contradictions are essential!

― Dr. C, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The answer to this question for me (especially if some of the key names the Good Doctor mentions above are disallowed) is Dexy's. More than any other artist I can think of, Kevin Rowland seems to exist in a world of his own making, only slightly different from mine, but different enough... Finding your way through his various twists and provocations is one of the primary pleasures in pop's history.

Incidentally, Kevin Rowland is a name which I had kind of hoped to see in Tom's article on vocals.

― Tim, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I wanted to focus on the performances that had moved me in this year's crop, Tim. As it happens, though, the piece I started this morning centres on Dexy's.

― Tom, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

A sincere musician compelled to make simple music but can't help making soundscapes instead. Any album that can best best appreciated through headphones at 3am with the lights out all over town.

― Lord Custos, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Following on from what Jess was saying, music is only one factor in entering the world of an artist. Speculation about a musician's life is often an entry point(stories of madness,suicide,addiction,murder). Or the social milieu in which the music was recorded can draw us in (my dreams revolve around the New York of the Velvet Underground,tiny recording studios in 1970s Jamaica,Punk London + a thousand other times + places). Sometimes we are attracted by a manifesto or a particular vision of the world(e.g. Morrissey's nostalgia for the Northern working-class). One extreme example:I entered the world of the Subway Sect by reading Caroline Coon's punk book "1988". I loved their stark image + their anti-rock stance. They had an immediate impact on the way I thought about music. But another ten years passed before I managed to actually find one of their records. I wasn't disappointed when I did get to hear "Nobody's Scared" but it didn't have the same impact on me that the book did.

― Mark Dixon, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

three years pass...

I love this concept.

I love this concept too. To rephrase the question what elements would help create a world you'd be interested in?

There are many worlds I like, which I drift in and out of. Great thing is you don't have to live in them, they're just spaces for playing with ideas of identity and desire. I'd guess my perennial favourite involves city over country, sonic experimentation, detachment, nightclubs, sexual ambiguity a healthy dose of pretension.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 4 October 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

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