“Superhero Fatigue” Isn’t Actually That

Is superhero fatigue killing movies? Don’t the terrible numbers of 2023 show that there’s superhero fatigue? And if so, why does it exist? Is it because there’s too much to watch? Because it’s bad? Because it’s too “woke?” (Not even those scare quotes can convey the sarcasm I type that with.) Because Millennials are too old? Because Gen Z won’t go out to the movies? Most importantly, how can we make money again? WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE MONEY?

Everyone from Screen Rant to Forbes talks about this trend as if it’s a given, but no one can seem to agree on what it is and why it’s so pervasive. If you read the industry-focused analyses, the clear indicator is the rapidly declining success of the superhero movie as the box office juggernaut it was throughout the 2010s. If you read the fansite analyses, the clear indicator is the rapidly declining reviews both from critics and audiences (and from non-audience review bombers). But both of these are symptoms with no single clear cause, so anyone can project their own assumptions onto them. And that’s what’s happening, because these analyses are part of the actual real problem. They are themselves a symptom that is indicative of a totally different problem: the addiction to canon.

Done With the 101

or Why some media other people find deep feels so shallow

You ever watch a movie or a series that everyone else is gushing about, and you just can’t help but wonder…why? So then you try to find review sites you respect to explain what everyone’s getting out of it, and you find these effusive reviews about how complex and insightful the show is? And you read all those reviews and the examples that keep coming up are ridiculously simple things like, “Did you notice that Verna is an anagram of RAVEN?”

Well, it happens to me a lot. In particular, it has happened with every single thing I have watched from “horror auteur” Mike Flanagan. (Yes, people call him that. No, I do not agree.) And while it is tempting for me to just have a rant about how I think Flanagan is overrated, I wanted to glean something more broadly applicable from this experience. So I am using this opportunity to talk about why reasonable people can have different views about the depth of the same work.

I call it “the 101 effect.”

Yes, This Is Art

Every once in a while when I’m hanging around my social media feeds, I see someone who I normally think of as educated, open to new ideas, etc., posting another meme or complaint about “modern art.” Sometimes it’s abstract, sometimes an installation piece, sometimes pop art, but inevitably the question becomes “how is this art?” (Sometimes the conversation focuses on “why is this worth so much?” which is a different but related question.)

Because I always try to hit the same points when I’m replying to these discussions, it was kind of inevitable that this would end up a blog post that I can just link to in the future. So here we are – a discussion of modern and contemporary art and why it is indeed art. Yes, even that banana.

A Great Story Told Poorly

Many of my friends know me to have strange tastes in media – often eclectic, sometimes contrarian – and they know that I am always happy to explain my tastes. In discussing things I do and don’t like, I have long been interested in why I differ from other people who I consider to have perfectly valid viewpoints.

Some of that certainly speaks to differences of experience – my life experiences have affected me in particular ways that I recognize are not always the norm – but I also like looking for common threads. (For instance, I have an extended theory of comedy that explains why I don’t care for Seinfeld or the mockumentaries of Christopher Guest.) One of the things that I like to say to people is that I would rather have a great story told poorly than a poor story told excellently. And while that sounds simple enough, and I know what I mean, it needs a bit of explanation.

Justin Was an Artist

(I wrote this years ago, but I’ve only ever shared it privately with family. Today is the 26th anniversary of my cousin’s death, so I wanted to give it some editing and revising and finally make it public.)

Music Ain’t Dead, You’re Just Old (Music Archive #10)

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Well, I threatened it, prepared it quickly, so now here it comes.

Music Ain’t Dead, You’re Just Old

The month of December 2021 will be a look at more recent music – I will be focusing only on artists who have emerged in the 21st century. Not only will I be looking at the music of the last 20 years, but I will also be examining the changing ways that people discover music.

The reason for this is that the list emerged in response to a narrow-minded Twitter thread passed around recently that insists that music is now homogenized because all the radio stations are owned by fewer companies. The idea that music requires radio for diversity is ridiculous and historically disproven, but I understand that there are many Gen-Xers and Millennials who just don’t know how to find new music these days. I intend to help.

With that in mind, I will be arguing several things:

• There’s good music today.
• There’s good Pop music today.
• There’s actually been quite a variety of musical movements over the past two decades.

I will also warn you that my list leans heavily toward women artists and women-led bands, partially because that’s my preference and partially because literally everyone I saw sharing that thread was a dude, and I think there may be some subtle, unexamined misogyny in people’s views on popular music.

Short-Lived Transformative Music (Music Archive #9)

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I have chosen this title specifically to eschew the idea of one-hit wonders because that phrase is fraught with a lot of assumptions about genre, region, and awareness. Also, many of the artists I have chosen for this list had more than one hit. Several of them even had long, successful careers, but perhaps not under the same band name or in the same part of the industry.

What I want to examine are songs that, for one reason or another, had a disproportionate impact when compared to the success of the artist or group. Because of this, most people will probably recognize quite a few of the songs on the list. But I want to put the song and artist in context and talk about why both are amazing.

Organizing the songs into categories was less clear this time, as many of the songs could fit into more than one. But here’s my rough grouping:

Part 1 – Lost in the Era

This is the largest section, which covers a broad range of music that was iconic at the time of release and maybe even saw some resurgence later. But while the songs themselves were popular, the artists were often overshadowed or failed to live up to their potential.

Part 2 – Soundtracks and Special Appearances

There is plenty of music that is well-known mostly because of its presence on a soundtrack or because the band guested on a popular TV show. These songs represent important moments in media, ones which captured the imaginations of their respective generations.

Part 3 – Mainstream Visits the Club

This short section looks at dance music that broke out of the club rotation and into much broader awareness. But these particular dance hits came from artists that quickly vanished back into club obscurity.

Part 4 – Supergroups and Side Projects

The artists in this final section are ones you will certainly recognize, though not necessarily in these incarnations. These are projects by otherwise successful musicians that were short-lived for a variety of reasons.

I’m particularly proud of this list, because it is one my more diverse ones – branching out more to the 70s and even a bit earlier. (My earliest selection is from 1902, but that’s certainly an outlier.) Keep in mind that your choices and thoughts may differ from mine, and I am happy to have that conversation in the comments below each song. But this is my list to share. You can always do your own.

A Month of Peter Gabriel (Music Archive #8)

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During my last one, I really thought I was about out of time periods and/or genres to consider. But then I had an idea that has really taken hold of me. And when ideas take hold, I have to act on them.

So in March, I will be doing my first ever deep-dive into a single artist. So get ready for

A MONTH OF PETER GABRIEL

Most people know at least a few things he’s done, and they may recognize more than they think, but I want to really expand people’s knowledge of his amazing body of work. With that in mind, here are the categories I’ll be exploring:

The Genesis of Peter – A short look at his pre-solo days and his origins as a prog-rock icon
3 or 4 Untitled Albums – The early days of Peter’s solo career, covering all the albums through Peter Gabriel 4 (aka Security)
The Secret World of So and Us – A shortish look at the height of Peter’s popularity in the late 80s/early 90s
A Passion for Collaboration – Movie soundtracks, guest appearances, video games, and an epic (but mostly unknown) rock opera to ring in the new millenium
Raising Up the New Blood – The late era, including orchestral work, reflective introspection, and exchanges of covers with other artists
The Nest that Sailed the Sky – Closing songs and thoughts

The 90s That Almost Was (Music Archive #7)

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After (and even a little bit during) my Gothtember musical retrospective, I had yet another inspiration for a month of music. This one came together a lot faster than usual, and I decided that I wanted to do it to close out the year. Decembers are often used for looking back, but not many people want to spend a lot of time examining 2020. Instead, I’ll be looking a little further back for my December song-a-day list:

The 90s That Almost Was

We all know the 90s were full of Grunge, Boy Bands, 3rd Wave Ska, and Punk Revival, but there was a lot more going on during that decade than we often remember. In this list, I’ll be taking a look at movements and artists that almost had a huge influence on 90s music but ended up being overtaken by the more well-known trends.

I have a lot of categories for this one:

Riot Grrrls

A quick, 3-video history of the sound that could have been a lot bigger, except the boys stole it and turned it into Grunge.

Psychedelic Surfers

Early in the 90s, we were returning to the 60s in a hopeful rush of love, peace, and psychedelia…before it all got grumpy.

Madchester and More

A look at British trends that failed to gain a foothold in the US despite being musically amazing.

(Real) World Music

Partially because of Peter Gabriel’s outreach work with Real World Studios, for a brief moment it looked like musical globalism would make it big.

The McLachlan Effect

Sarah isn’t on this list (because she WAS part of the popular 90s), but her success had a huge impact on other artists, especially in and around the Lilith Fair festival.

Folksplosion

Folk had as much of a revival as Punk in the 90s, but didn’t really hit the mainstream all that much. I end with a selection of my favorites.

Those of you who know my musical tastes will quickly see that this list is also “what Eric was listening to in the 90s,” and that’s certainly true. This is a very personal and important list for me, fitting for the end of a hard year. If you get through the whole month loving everything, please let me know. It means we should probably talk about music a lot more than we already do.

Gothtember (Music Archive #6)

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This will be an examination of the history of Goth music. I know several of my friends are definitely more of an authority on this than I am, but I like to think I know enough. I once again felt compelled to build a bridge between Gen-X and the younger folks who came into the scene a bit later. I know many people who seem to equate Goth and Emo because the scenes share some aesthetics, but the music is vastly different.

My categories for this song-a-day exploration of Goth are as follows:

1) Origins – bands and songs that may or may not be officially “Goth,” but certainly helped spawn the genre
2) The Dark Wave – the emergence of the first Goth bands from a combination of Punk and New Wave
3) The Metal/Industrial Edge – Goth music’s transition into the 90s and influences from hard rock and heavy metal
4) Downtempo – the simultaneous and contrasting movement towards trance and ethereal Goth
5) Lasting Impact – just a couple of post-Goth songs that I want to comment on in terms of how they relate to the genre

As always, this will be a mix of well-known songs and much more obscure ones. (If you know all of them, you’re probably one of the people I was referring to earlier.) However, if you’re familiar with my various FB music series, then you know that the context and flow is important. You may disagree with some of my choices, and that’s fine. Everything is up for discussion and interpretation.