Play Me My Song

The proprietor of the local blog I'm Just Sayin Is All… has a recent post bemoaning the dearth of indie rock at Summerfest in Milwaukee. While the lineup would most definitely be different if I were in charge and I agree with some of the things the author, Kyle Pfister, says, I still feel that the post is nothing but an extended self-important bout of whining.

The first item in the litany of complaints is that "the majority of the lineup has peaked". Peaked how? In popularity, I presume. Like Mr. Pfister, I have absolutely no desire to see REO Speedwagon or Def Leppard or most of the bands whom he lists. But he goes on to say:

"In order to stay relevant, a festival needs to showcase acts with new ideas who are advancing the current music scene."

Relevant to whom? What exactly is the current music scene? Is it the music scene of the Top 40 singles from the Billboard chart? The blues scene? Hip-hop? Americana? Metal? No.

We find out of which scene he speaks in his next item which notes "the indie scene is strangely absent". Elsewhere he says:

"Summerfest often seems like only one thing targeted at one type of person: A money-maker targeted at the lazy music consumer." (emphasis his.)

In other words, he wants festivals to showcase acts which advance his current music scene. This is incredibly self-centered and insulting. When did you appoint yourself the arbiter of musical taste for everyone, Mr. Pfister? Contrary to your post, indie rock is not the end-all-be-all of music. And how dare you hold yourself up as a model "music lover" in possession of the only "proper" way to consume and enjoy music. Those of us who do not partake of indie rock as your ilk do love music no less than you, Mr. Pfister.

In the guise of just sayin' that Summerfest could use a more varied lineup, what Mr. Pfister actually says is that his taste and the tastes of his fellow indie rockers are superior to all others. Thusly the post is an elaborate bout of whining about how Summerfest doesn't cater to his musical preferences. Oh poor, misunderstood indie rocker! It must be a dreadful burden to be the keeper of the knowledge that is "the art of music". And woe betide the indie rock musician who is relegated to the US Cellular stage! For it is a fate worse than death!

Hopefully someday Mr. Pfister will realize that the world does not revolve around him or his precious indie rock or, indeed, rock music. I also hope that he comes to understand that the art of music is not contingent on what is current and hip. The mostly young white men who perform indie rock and the mostly young white men who consume it do not have a lock on some mythical "pure" form of expression and consumption of music that is unsullied by commerce. Not only has the Summerfest lineup grown stale as Mr. Pfister notes, but so too the dithyrambic praise of indie rock.