Has No Music Day Run Its Course
November 21, 2007 12:02 PM   Subscribe

It's No Music Day again (previously), and this year, Bill Drummond has convinced BBC Radio Scotland to take part. His Guardian article discusses changes in his view of it since last year, as does his article on the BBC site. More on the fast from the New York Times.
posted by motty (41 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Apologies if this consitutes a dupe, which on one level it obviously is, though I have tried to add as much as possible that was not previously posted. Then again, I find this more interesting than Talk Like A Pirate Day, which has been posted about annually since 2003.
posted by motty at 12:03 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm glad I don't live in England, since you can have my Super Mario Bros. ringtone when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
posted by shmegegge at 12:18 PM on November 21, 2007


So. What in the hell am I supposed to do with the non-stop soundtrack that exists only in my head?

Even if I could, I'm not in any hurry to turn it off. It's really quite good. I've tried sharing it before, but only lesser fragments and bits and pieces come out.

Eh, screw it. Even a day without music is a day not worth living.
posted by loquacious at 12:20 PM on November 21, 2007


I listened to music all day today. Might put some on now in fact. Ha!
posted by brautigan at 12:27 PM on November 21, 2007


With so many films I feel that the soundtrack music just gets in the way. It is used to lend drama and emotion but so often it just cheapens and allows for lazy film-making.

Agree.
posted by Slothrup at 12:29 PM on November 21, 2007


loquacious: What in the hell am I supposed to do with the non-stop soundtrack that exists only in my head?

I find it kind of goes away after a while.

Music is better if you go for quality over quantity and increase the silence. There's too much availability nowadays.

I like this idea.
posted by koeselitz at 12:33 PM on November 21, 2007


Part of me wonders what purpose this ultimately serves, but since Doctoring on the TARDIS by the Timelords was my first introduction to both electronic dance music and the Doctor Who franchise, I'm willing to give Bill Drummond a free pass at least one day out of the year. No music for me today!

Also, never forget that Bill and Jimmy left the music industry for our sins.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:35 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Music is better if you go for quality over quantity and increase the silence. There's too much availability nowadays.

I strongly agree. Except for the fact that my head will never, ever shut the fuck up.

Oh, Christ. It just slipped into Herb Alpert mode. BRB. Nothing that a strong cup of black coffee and a spliff won't fix. I'll have it back humming mashups of John Zorn, Boards of Canada, Coil and the Beach Boys in no time at all.
posted by loquacious at 12:40 PM on November 21, 2007


I find it kind of goes away after a while
I don't. Mine stopped for about half an hour a year ago, and I was SO HAPPY. Wandering about thinking big thoughts. Then I thought about divorce and was off with Tammy.

Right now I've got It's A Kind of Magic, which is an improvement on Radio 4 Theme Sailing By, which was right since lunch.

It's like some kind of fucking pop tinnitus.
posted by bonaldi at 12:49 PM on November 21, 2007


AUGH EARWORM GET IT OUT GET IT OUT
posted by loquacious at 12:52 PM on November 21, 2007


Einstein on the Beach mixed with Musique Concrete and distorted, glitched clips of the musical "Oklahoma", as rendered by Townes Van Zandt?

Help me. Oh, please, help me.
posted by loquacious at 12:57 PM on November 21, 2007


WELL THAT'S "SAILING BY" BACK IN BUSIN-- OH, WAIT, NOW IT'S BACK IN BLACK
posted by bonaldi at 1:08 PM on November 21, 2007


Will it help, loquacious, if I point out that the interesting thing to me about No Music Day is that it puts the question 'what is music for?' What is music for?

Sorry if the answer is 'no that doesn't help.'
posted by motty at 1:09 PM on November 21, 2007


Also, never forget that Bill and Jimmy left the music industry for our sins.

Yes, and Tiesto != trance.

Well, not to my mind anyway, but I tend to goa and psy, not progressive-pop-trance.

I'm at work right now, but I'll be listening to Slug in my car when I get off work. I like the idea of no music day, but I like music better than the idea.
posted by krinklyfig at 1:14 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


What is music for?

Afrika Bambaattaa tells us that all music is dance music, and that's good enough for me.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 1:15 PM on November 21, 2007


What's happening on Radio Scotland during No Music Day?

In Good Morning Scotland Bill Drummond sets out his stall for No Music Day. Morning Extra continues at 0850.

Fred MacAulay and Co instigate the No Music Day Police activity by sending reporter Richard Cadey to George Square in a bid to stop the public listening to music.

Scotland Live follows and next up is The Radio Cafe which features an in-depth interview with Bill Drummond.

In Tom Morton's Show Bill Drummond will be take calls from the public about the piece of music that had the biggest impact on their lives.

Get It On on will consist of important events in music history and Bryan would like your contributions about your musical memories.

The Jazz House will feature No Music Day arrests, and Bill Drummond will be quizzed by Stephen Duffy on his jazz leanings!


So on 'No Music Day' people sit around talking about music?

LESS TALK, MORE ROCK.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:25 PM on November 21, 2007


Music is better if you go for quality over quantity and increase the silence. There's too much availability nowadays.

Too much music?! How terrible! Heaven forfend that we would have too much music! I really don't see the point in depriving myself of one of the few reliable joys in life. I think people think these "day without" things because they secretly believe they need to suffer. I don't.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 1:26 PM on November 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


Worth noting, perhaps, that tomorrow is a good day to start listening to music again.

There are few substitutes for the appreciation you can acquire for a thing in its absence.
posted by myrrh at 1:35 PM on November 21, 2007


Everything in moderation.

Sometimes I worry that people have stopped listening to music because they enjoy it, but have started to listen to music solely to drown out both the outside world and the voices in their head.
posted by drezdn at 1:45 PM on November 21, 2007


The Light Fantastic: Even as someone for whom music is a chosen life pursuit, I strongly disagree with you. Every wonderful thing can have its beauty dulled by over-saturation, and there are very few things in this world that have become so saturated in our life as music.

Imagine the most treasured object of your childhood, that thing for which you would have cried inconsolably if it were taken away or destroyed. Now imagine it being dragged through mud, run over, shot, lit on fire, thrown off a bridge and then being run through a sewage processing plant. In doing so, you might be able to understand how I feel when I eat out a restaurant, or go to a store, or sit in someone's car, or any number of activities that force me to listen to music even though they have nothing to do with it.

Music is deplorable as an accessory, or as some crude tool for emotional manipulation, but these things are the best that it can be when it is combined with every mundane activity of our lives.
posted by invitapriore at 1:46 PM on November 21, 2007 [3 favorites]


Dude, invitapriore, you have serious issues when it comes to music. Music isn't just for you, it's for everyone. Other people love music as much as you and don't mind hearing it in public places.

I, for one, think the idea is really pointless. Can't wait to get in the car after I get out of work and crank up some music. If I listened to talk radio on my commute, I'd probably have driven off the overpass by now.

Wholeheartedly agreeing with the "Less talk, more rock!" posted earlier.
posted by fructose at 2:05 PM on November 21, 2007


Ha! I am listening to Android Lust right now. I previously listened to Re:Automation Podcast #134, Killahertz, Electronic Substance Abuse, Prometheus Burning, and my own work-in-progress for my next album (which I blasted very loudly on my car stereo as well as playing on the Zune). Probably will fire up Cenotype next.

The last website I was on right before MeFi was Metropolis, where I just ordered the Maschinenfest 2007 compilation and albums by Necro Facility and Hocico.

Most likely, this evening I'll be showing my wife how to use my Zoom H4 so she can record an a capella album for NaSoAlMo.

I'd be more likely to comply with No Oxygen Day.
posted by Foosnark at 2:17 PM on November 21, 2007


Other people love music as much as you and don't mind hearing it in public places.

There's never a time you don't mind hearing music? You don't mind people trying to use music to increase your productivity or the amount you buy at the supermarket?
posted by drezdn at 2:56 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I've had this song stuck in my head since 1984.
posted by stavrogin at 3:17 PM on November 21, 2007


I am so not clicking on that, stavrogin.
posted by motty at 3:26 PM on November 21, 2007


Music is better if you go for quality over quantity and increase the silence. There's too much availability nowadays.

I obviously agree about quality v quantity, but I'd rather have both. There is no way that I'm going to live long enough to hear all the good music that's already been made, let alone hear it enough to appreciate it (or get bored with it). No Music Day is 6-8 hours wasted that I could have been spent listening to Wilco or Nick Cave or Nick Drake or Sun Ra (which is what I have been doing today).
posted by Infinite Jest at 3:36 PM on November 21, 2007


CHOOSE LIFE, motty!
posted by stavrogin at 3:45 PM on November 21, 2007


Ha! I've done nothing but music today. In fact, today has been one of the most musically triumphant days in my life, because I've finally learned what that music is that they play whenever there's an undercranked black and white shot of a fistfight on top of a moving train: Franz von Suppé's Poet and Peasant Overture (about 3:17 to 4:38).

Still working on identifying the "victory through air power" theme heard starting at 2:30 of this (not safe for anyone whose mind can't handle anime girls with airplanes for legs). I'll find it, though!

And there ain't man nor beast can come between me and my violin practice.
posted by darksasami at 4:13 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


"Music is deplorable as an accessory, or as some crude tool for emotional manipulation, but these things are the best that it can be when it is combined with every mundane activity of our lives."

I'm finding myself very weary of the "connoisseur" mindset that seems to be so prevalent now. What happened to just enjoying something without worrying whether it's the "best" or if you are enjoying it as maximally as you can. Why must I feel embarrassed that I don't really mind Denny's coffee, or that I hum along to Muzak? It doesn't mean that I don't enjoy a lovely cup of fresh brewed premium A+ coffee, but must I hate everything else because I happen to like it? I'd rather find something to enjoy every day, than to spend a day NOT doing something I enjoy, on the off-chance that it might be marginally better the next day. But, then again, that's just me.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 4:18 PM on November 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


mashups of John Zorn, Boards of Canada, Coil and the Beach Boys

Pls export to ogg and post kthx!
posted by everichon at 4:46 PM on November 21, 2007


I used to want to visit Scotland. Remind me never to do so during the holidays. Maybe some June...

Even tho I ain't catholic and find saints amusing in a way similar to how I used to find action figures amusing when I was a kid, I'd be all for the idea of making November 22nd International Music Day, and as part of the celebration one would participate in unbridled improvisational moments of noise.

A day of silence? Is that really necessary? I could tell myself that participating in a day of no music would be a way to remind everyone how important music is. I could tell myself that. I could give in to the propaganda. I can't stand it when I'm manipulated by peer pressure to partake in a moment of silence for the randomly departed.

John Cage taught me that this is an impossibility. There is music in your inhalation and exhalation of breath. There is music in a baby's laugh. There is music in toilet flushing and wheel squeaking and flags flapping in the wind. Nature sings to us all the time. Wild birds are never going to participate in a human's moratorium, unless you shoot them dead. Cage would argue that even gunfire can be music. Anyone who has experienced the awe and raw emotion of a twenty-one gun salute cannot argue that point.

Music surrounds us, it binds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together. Actually that's something else, but you get the idea. A day of silence would cause me to rebel in ways that'd make a sailor blush and a librarian deaf, and no force in the universe could stop me.

As Laurie Anderson once said, "listen to your heartbeat."

Irony of ironies tho. The website knows this. It's counting on it. It acknowledges that people are going to celebrate No Music day by not participating, which means they will actively seek out music on No Music Day in effort to counteract it's effects. This still brings attention to their ambition.

I often find the phrase appealing: the only way to win is not to play. However, in this case, you don't play by playing, so they still get you. You can't not be a part of No Music Day. It's like playing the game.

...gotcha! =)
posted by ZachsMind at 5:18 PM on November 21, 2007


Music isn't the problem...
posted by mrducts at 5:21 PM on November 21, 2007


to counteract it's effects... it's = its
dammit.

posted by ZachsMind at 5:31 PM on November 21, 2007


What's the problem, Mr. Ducts? Enquiring minds want to know...
posted by ZachsMind at 5:32 PM on November 21, 2007


Politics, religion or alcohol. Or any combination of the three.
posted by mrducts at 5:41 PM on November 21, 2007


Sorry The Light Fantastic, I miscommunicated: I meant that music is turned into that by its context, not its content. A Beethoven quartet used to sell diapers is no better to me than a Rolling Stones song used to do the same.
posted by invitapriore at 6:03 PM on November 21, 2007


which is an improvement on Radio 4 Theme Sailing By, which was right since lunch.

Dammit, you've just evacuated Biggie Smalls and replaced him with the Shipping Forecast.

"There are warnings of gales in Viking North, Utsire South, Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, Malin, Hebrides, Fair Isle, and Faeroes.
And if you don't know, now you know, nigga..."
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:16 AM on November 22, 2007


I made the mistake of watching "The thing called love" for the 30th time the other day. Now I have the entire soundtrack playing through my head all day long. Dermot Mulroney can act, but he sure can't sing, I'll tell ya.
posted by signal at 5:31 AM on November 22, 2007


WTF? If you don't like the state of music, get out there and create.
posted by Eideteker at 5:48 AM on November 22, 2007


I like the idea, mainly because I think many people are frightened of silence these days and thats a shame. Music is very important to me, hearing it, making it, but I also like having space in my head to think from time to time. Music takes me higher etc, but I'm not scared to come down :)
posted by freya_lamb at 2:54 PM on November 23, 2007


Ack! for "thats" read "that's". Goddamn Grails addling my brain. Kids, just say no!
posted by freya_lamb at 2:57 PM on November 23, 2007


« Older The 30-Second Senate Session   |   Homebrew Chef Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments