First off, to my shame i wasn’t at all aware of Discographies, so I’ll def check it out.

I liked Noise cause it was thought provoking, a good ‘story’ – as every history is some kind of story – which even though i found fault with it at points, it made into an interesting, sometimes even wild, interpretation of the relationship between people and music, and that between culture and economics.
Specifically I arrived at it while writing a paper about the invention of the phonograph, and got to Noise on my search looking for what ways has the possibility to record sound, and more specifically “playing it back”, has brought into our lives.
And in these times when the music world is changing so fast, it’s still a sphere in which different kinds of know how’s – how to create it, how to program/edit/curate it (as dj’s do) – still maintains strong value, which goes beyond just having it, as everyone nowadays sort of has all the music ever made (as long as they’re connected to the web).
And it’s a special kind of knowledge, as everyone ‘likes music’, and we have an active, ongoing, non-stop relationship with it, either at the club or home alone, and yet, not everybody manages to ‘speak’ with it.
Am I making any sense?

Now, your Bitter Devotion remix that I just discovered, that I DO love – and I plan to listen literally ad nauseum to it. Thanks!

I’m sure Ewan has read Noise. Perhaps he even likes it…. I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned in Ewan and J Gilbert’s book Discographies.

If you’re around to reply can you tell me why you like this book? What idea did you get from it that you thought was good? I’ve read it and I pretty much hated all of it but I’m still curious about it’s appeal to other people.

My point is…these distortions seem unfortunately somewhat endemic to the ongoing tensions between (underground) music culture and its representation in popular media.

P.S. Re: Polly’s comments…way to steer the topic off course…

so we return to the issue of sampling. once again I have been in interview situations where producers have admitted to sampling but not declaring same as it was only ‘a little snippet’ or they might have to pay royalties etc etc…

“Journalism on the other hand – or certain kinds of it – is predicated on somehow holding ‘the truth’ in high regard. If a writer claims to have witnessed something or spoken to somebody in order to tell me a story or make a political claim, I need to be able to trust them to have actually done so.” ….fair point but journalists are not high court judges they don’t swear ‘oaths’ entering office…they adhere to certain guidelines such as representing truth and protecting sources….but music journalism is a different matter altogether….a sector that is cloaked and difficult to report on…

“Yes, musicians can be hypocritical about claiming that they live one lifestyle and actually living another – but we could say the same of many other professions or people in public life; sportspeople, politicians and also journalists! But whether that’s the case or not it doesn’t affect in any way what they make – we don’t need to ‘trust’ music.”….

yes we do need to ‘trust’ music. when youngsters year are buying records and buying into an image looking up to a ‘star’ that is also a contract of responsibility….but if that star is snorting cocaine out the back…well says it all really…

musicians as people are of course capable of being lying untrustworthy disingenuous scumbags – as is anyone in any profession! But we don’t need them to be moral or ethical for them to be useful or successful in their work. Music – I’m talking about the actual work itself – makes little to no moral or ethical claim on us – maybe in a lyrical context sometimes.

Journalism on the other hand – or certain kinds of it – is predicated on somehow holding ‘the truth’ in high regard. If a writer claims to have witnessed something or spoken to somebody in order to tell me a story or make a political claim, I need to be able to trust them to have actually done so.

Yes, musicians can be hypocritical about claiming that they live one lifestyle and actually living another – but we could say the same of many other professions or people in public life; sportspeople, politicians and also journalists! But whether that’s the case or not it doesn’t affect in any way what they make – we don’t need to ‘trust’ music.

What I also find ironic in what you are saying is where you compare journalism being based on truth and the same not being comparable to music.

I have watched musicians (mostly from an EDM background as this is the area I write within) over the years take drugs in front of my face and then gone onto mainstream marketing websites, radio stations, blogs etc and ‘marketed’ themselves onwards as this pure, fluffy beautiful being to young demographics who innocently believe these beings to be what they market themselves as when really what they are is drug addicts and drug consumers.

Now when I try to write about this or ask questions about drugs I am met with denials, censorship or aggression from management or other. As if this does not exist.

So, Mr. Pearson what say you now. The truth should only exist in writing and journalism you think??