Just North of Something Important

richaod:

But speaking of revisionism: ’90s Tori Amos. I think you once labelled her lyrics “obviously embarrassing” in passing, and I didn’t respond then - but I consider her a truly visionary artist, as many people evidently did, or still do. Emblematically of her apparent whitewashing from history, Pitchfork originally ranked Little Earthquakes as the eighth-best album of the 1990s, but when they revised the list a few years later, it was left off entirely. So maybe the listmaking process is democratic, and the site’s staff/aesthetic changed, but surely good music is inherent?

I think it’s fair to say that dealing with uncomfortable emotions with brutal, unsentimental honesty, utterly devoid of self-pity, isn’t cheesy. Nor is externalising it exhibitionist if it resonates artistically. But it is difficult. Yet arguably no group of fans in all music have been as broadly, profoundly emotionally affected by an artist’s work as we “Toriphiles”; certain fans’ ongoing willingness to follow her on entire tours attests to that. So I’m not calling anyone out personally, and the quote was hardly intended as definitive, but to call Tori Amos “obviously embarrassing” feels a little insulting when many identify so strongly with her - not because I or anyone else is necessarily a victim in need of therapy, but because to us, she just about represents pure empathy in music. And it’s nowhere near a Celine Dion-esque critically reviled, “for the fans” situation - just where has all that goodwill gone?

If, whether or not it’s embarrassing music, we’re not really embarrassing as people, I’d also like to think musical taste, especially indie/”cool” status, doesn’t exist as a superiority complex. Not over other people, nor the aesthetics with which they may identify.

When helping me revise my pieces, Rachel will often say, “remember, other people don’t know what’s in your head.”  This is one of those times.  I say that about Tori lyrics with the greatest affection, because I used to be a huge Tori fan myself, right up through whatever that double live album thing was.  Live shows, meet-and-greets, the whole bit.  I just threw out my two boxes of cassette bootlegs when I moved to the west coast.  It’s like that.

So while I do think Tori Amos lyrics are obviously embarrassing - they’re overwrought and meaningless and badly in need of editing - I’m not sure quite where that impulse comes from, nor do I intend it to imply that Tori’s music is worthless or embarrassing.  (I did a post some years ago about how to produce a good Tori Amos album, FWIW.)  I still like it, I think.  I mean, my explanation for why she’s lost so much respect is essentially that she kept making music, and that music kinda sucked, but I know others disagree.  I think the biggest problem with post-Pele Tori is that she just started pandering to her fans, and given the kind of grating ideas her fans have about her (fairies and religion and vaginas and etc.), I don’t think that was very good for her artistically.  But do I just think that because I myself am embarrassed about having liked Tori Amos so much?  Is all of it embarrassing, or is none of it embarrassing?  It’s almost impossible for me to say, having been so wrapped up in it.  I can say that my actions as a Tori fan were somewhat objectively embarrassing, and no, I’m not going to get more into it than that.  For me, I just listened to so much Tori that I started being too aware of her tics and stopped being able to differentiate.  It was a problem of volume, and lack of variation.

Anyway, all that said, musical taste is nothing if not a superiority complex!  It’s just democratic in that everyone thinks their musical taste is the best, so it all kinda works out in the end.