The impetus for this post really came from considering my process for writing about music. I've been considering metaphor, simile and something approaching but not exactly a sense of dialectic. I suppose what I refer to is background and choice of assumptions. There are some obvious examples of this, like popularity--you can write about artists as waves: charting their bearing in the public conciousness through time until they crest and break, lost in the undertow. My colloquialism for this is "what's up, what's down?" This is chart or more recently 'buzz' or 'viral' based writing. That said, one mustn't discount the artist's need for good press, particularly when it comes from influential outlets.
Thoughts on the background and assumptions behind "what's up, what's down" and other modes of music writing after the jump. Also, the thing that brought on this blog post: the second edition of
The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music (2002) by Nick Kent.
