They have an album based on The Fountainhead. Prog rock is almost by definition pretentious.
Have you listened to their lyrics? They read like philosophical screeds.
Anyways I like plenty of things people consider pretentious. Can’t really change that.
Ehh. It’s not a horrible book, but it’s badly in need of a rewrite.
By which I mean, all instances of the word “crumby” need to be corrected to “crummy.”
ETA: I dunno, maybe Salinger spelled it that way because he was afraid he hadn’t made Holden Caulfield punchable enough.
ETA 2.0 (Is it pretentious that I don’t find that to be an acceptable way to spell “crummy?”)
Yeah! To show other people how poor they are!
I can’t I just can’t get past the garden rake sound. All the crappy synth, that guys metal on chalkboard vocals. I just don’t care what the lyrics are because the sound is so, so, unbearable.
I understand why people hate that book, I just feel very differently. I’ve heard some say that when you read it influences how you feel about it. I was thirteen. And it’s hard to pick a more influential book when it comes to my writing. At thirteen, I really needed to see what a flawed character looked like. I really needed a strong voice that broke with other classical stories.
I view Holden as a traumatized boy in a society that is indifferent to his suffering, desperately trying to make his own meaning but having no idea where to start. The best he can do is extend compassion toward children like his departed sibling. I should probably give it another read soon.
I’m not really sure why it doesn’t bother me because almost everyone else who sounds even a little bit like that bothers me.
Okay, sure, but none of that excuses his making me mentally correct away from “crumbly” every third page!
Who else sounds like that? I’m not being snarky. I really can’t think of any other band that has that sound.
Well I’m not really sure what sound specifically that you are talking about. What I am talking about is squealy falsetto. It shows up in classic rock from time to time and disco. I also don’t like raspy voices, and I think Geddy Lee is a bit raspy too. Like I can’t listen to ACDC because of the raspy voice.
So no, I can’t explain why Geddy Lee’s voice doesn’t bother me, but it’s probably because I like the lyrics and sound more than I dislike his voice. And for that particular band I’m not sure what kind of voice would work better.
I agree it’s annoying, but it’s been at least ten years since I read it. I do remember counting the number of curse words. I counted seventeen on one page.
OK, now I know what we’re talking about for sure. I love AC/DC and no they are not philosophical at all. I imagine Guns and Roses falls into this category, umm, Aerosmith perhaps? The voices are similar in that they are in the higher registers for men, and a bit husky. That is where the similarities stop for me. The tone of Geddy along with the echo like synth, and the almost flutter like throat sound on the high notes makes me want to crawl away. Really, I feel pretentious hating them sooo much, because most people I know like them.
I guess Holden would have made a decent Doper, then.
And I would have Pitted him for his spelling (looking over my shoulder for Gaudere the entire time).
What? I went to Episcopal churches for most of my life in different parts of the country, and don’t recall ever hearing it pronounced that way. As in “I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church,” right? Cath-OH-lick?
Thinking it over again, I’m probably wrong. It’s been years since I’ve been in a church to hear the prayer said aloud, and I’m likely misremembering. Perhaps I’ve been substituting that pronunciation in my head to get away from what sounded to me originally as a reference to a different church.
I don’t think Caulfield pities pretentiousness. He loathes and despises it. The book manages to be pretentious about loathing pretentiousness. I didn’t really get it when I read it as a teen, and after reading it as an adult I find it intolerable.
But Geddy Lee is The Voice of Canada…
I’m so sorry Canada. I really thought I’d never say that.
Episcopal vestry member here. We do typically pronounce it with three syllables, but the emphasis is definitely on the first syllable: “one holy CATH-o-lic and ap-o-STOL-ic…”
Absolutely agree with you. I find that when I reread things I enjoyed as a teenager or younger adult (I’m in my early sixties now) I often don’t enjoy them as much as I did when I was younger. I’ve read Catcher in the Rye about four times now, and there’s more each time I read it.
I certainly understand not liking it–de gustibus and all that–and those who describe it as a “novel about a whiny little shit” (hat tip to my friend Stan) are not wrong. But “pretentious” I don’t see.
Can’t speak for murderers and whether or not they are pretentious. Like @Spice_Weasel I am not a murderer myself, just FYI.
I meant Salinger pities pretentiousness. Holden doesn’t even recognize it. It’s all just phoniness to him, while ignoring his own phoniness.