brandondrury
The Significance of Bumping
by , 10-10-2011 at 02:35 PM (1858 Views)
The correct spelling is probably bumpin' or bumpN or something like that. I'm white. I look white. I dance white. I'm calling it bumpING.
Once upon a time I was into to the rather progressive stuff and rarely listened to a song that was shorter than 8 minutes. I took the cerebral side to the music I made and recorded very seriously and avoided anything that wasn't up to “my standards”. I went through the same thing with movies. If the movie was something the “popcorn crowd” would get, I didn't want anything to do with it. There was a certain lack of mental stimulation that seemed almost immoral at the time.
When it came to social events and weddings, I had a conflict. My personal reservations had trouble letting go. The issue of stupid pop music was one I tagged with write and wrong and I ended up being the guy sitting in the corner with my beer watching everyone else do their thing.
Fast forward a few years. Last night the woman's best friend got married. It was non-stop bumpin. I was out there shakin' my ass, stomping to kick drums, and convulsing my body in ways that mothers were covering their 8-year-old girl's eyes hour after hour. I was completely covered in sweat. I can say without reservation that it was 100% fun non-stop bliss. You don't get to have 100% fun when you are over 30 too often. You can't leave those opportunities behind....EVER. I'll be dead soon.
Not Mutually Exclusive
A big thing I've learned is there is no “us vs them”. By shakin' it LMFAO, you aren't dumbing down music. You aren't taking away from “serious music”. You aren't a part of the problem. You simply aren't wasting a night that could be used to perfect your Johnson Windmill (I'm not sure I want to imagine that particular dance move) to sit on the bench only scratching the surface of life.
Paper Plates vs Fine China
Last week Dave Pensado was pressed on this issue of art vs pop. The question to him was implied as to mean that pop music was somehow inferior. Dave immediately (and rather forcefully) jumped in to say that you've got paper plates and you've got fine China. It would be hard to live without either and you SHOULDN'T live without either. The notion that pop music fills a certain indispensable role is not something you hear much in recording land, even if that role is more on the “disposable” side.
The Real Smart
If you REALLY want to test your intellect, subscribe to Scientific American or read a book on Special Relativity. You'll suddenly realize that the kind of smart it takes to understand the relation of gravity and time has ZERO business in our irrational world of noisy emotions. Gravity leaking into another dimension has nothing to do with song arrangements, note choice, and song length. Apples n bowling balls. In other words, you should be making artsy, progressive music because it gets your rocks off and not because you have a 4.0 grade point average.
Us Recorders
If we are really music people, we should try to “get” Pink just as much as we “get” Mars Volta or Dream Theater. There are huge musical lessons that all three can teach and all of them can make us better producers, engineers, and songwriters regardless of whether we are using 4-on-the-floor or 15/16.
On a more personal level, don't live your life on the sidelines. Chug half your beer so you don't spill it, and get in the game. Your intellect has betrayed you otherwise. Get out there, show your ass, and have a blast doing it. When you get home, pull out the fine China is you are so inclined.
Party On!
Tags:
bumping,
dream theater,
lmfao,
mars volta,
pink 
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