The meaning of Stuart Adamson

December 23, 2001 10:49 AM

The meaning of Stuart Adamson Glenn McDonald: “Supernatural is death music to me now, in a year when the last thing I need is more contemplation of death. The gift the end of a record gives us, and so too the end of a career or a life, is the opportunity to go back to the beginning again... All my grandparents are dead. The leader of my favorite band is dead. Two of my favorite writers are dead, and one of the others hasn't published a book since 1963. We too will vanish, whether in flames or our sleep or capitulation.... Mean what you are. Do nothing that can be undone, and live or die with the consequences. Live in such a way that if you tell people to stay alive, and then die nevertheless, they will know that what you and they believed together was stronger and truer than anything that merely happened”
posted by joeclark (5 comments total)

They were the best rock band ever, and if you don't agree with me, I don't want to hear about it. AS IF.
posted by Mack Twain at 4:20 PM on December 23, 2001

What's your problem with that? It's obvious that on some literal level, such a statement doesn't make sense. But Glenn's not talking about the literal truth here, he's talking about his feelings. Your misquoting takes out all the self-awareness that's evident if you read the actual article. Read a bit of the site: there are few writers on music who are more sensitive to the complexities and the contradictions inherent in loving pop music. And Glenn has devoted years to exploring that territory, and to Big Country. If that's the way he wants to express his grief, I'm with him.
posted by rodii at 9:42 PM on December 23, 2001

Well rodii, since I copy & pasted I didn't exactly misquote Glenn McDonald, I do not comment on things I do not first read, and I am familiar with his expertise. I was speaking literally. Sorry...
posted by Mack Twain at 10:20 PM on December 23, 2001

Yes, well, given that "best" is subjective (a term usually deployed as a weasely defense but sufficient on its own in this case), "They were the best rock band ever, and if you don't agree with me, I don't want to hear about it" sounds pretty consistent to me, i.e., "This is my opinion and I don't need to hear yours."

It's not at all like saying "The Beatles are the top-selling rock band ever," which one could presumably prove.
posted by joeclark at 6:06 AM on December 24, 2001

since I copy & pasted I didn't exactly misquote Glenn McDonald

Here's Glenn's original:

They were the best rock band there has ever been, and normally I say that with caveats and apologies, but tonight I'm not in the mood. They were the best rock band ever, and if you don't agree with me, I don't want to hear about it. [my emphasis]

Regardless of your cutting and pasting, by leaving out that first sentence, you distorted what he was saying, wouldn't you say? It's not some simpleminded fanboy blurb about BIG COUNTRY R0X0RED.

I guess I read the AS IF as a contemptuous dismissal, and I didn't think it was warranted. Was I wrong?
posted by rodii at 10:00 AM on December 24, 2001