It's okay to not like Scott Walker, but do you have to be such an idiot about it?

Okay, I recognize that I'm about to be irrational. If that might bother you, feel free to, you know, move along.

There are things in life I do not like, that other people do. Most famously among them: cilantro and Crocs. Many of my friends (hi, Gina!) like these things, like them very  much. I remain friends with them. I don't doubt their sanity nor their powers of reason. I simply accept that it takes all kinds of personal preferences to fuel a competitive global economy.

There are times, in fact, when I glory in the diversity of human experience. I mean, if I had to compete not only with the other people who find my girlfriend hot but every person now living on the planet, that would be very exhausting.

Who we find attractive, the shoes we like, the television shows that grab us, the music we enjoy listening to, all these things are simple personal preferences and matters of some kind of chemistry or magic.

But how we express our likes and dislikes, and the way we talk about those of other people, gets into an entirely different zone. The zone where everyone who knows me is tapping his or her foot and going, for the love of god Christie stop rambling and qualifying and tell us what the fuck has you pissed off before we slap you silly and make you wear Crocs.

So fine. Here it is:

I don't care if you like or don't like Scott Walker. I don't care if you enjoy his music of the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, or the new millennium. I don't care if you enjoyed Stephen Kijak's film about him or not.

But if you're going to spew out your opinions on either of those subjects, and dismiss either or both as lame, bad, or disappointing, it would be nice if you had some kind of basis for your opinion, if you could put either thing into context in some way, in other words, if you knew what the fuck you were talking about before you informed all the people on the Interwebz of your views on the subject.

Scott Walker is considered by many of the best known and most respected musicians in the world to be a genius and a major influence on not only their work but the entire field of alternative music. It's fine if you don't like him. I honestly don't care. But when you shrug off who he is and how he fits into the music world as if listening to a few songs by him gives you the ability to put him into any kind of context... oh god, someone make me shut up.  Honestly, I shouldn't write when I'm this pissed off.

As for Stephen's film, if you don't like it, that's also fine. But critique it in a way that respects it, that shows some remote understanding of its structure or themes, the craft that went into it, or the field of musical documentary filmmaking. I have a friend who didn't care for it, and when she published a critique of it in her blog, I didn't come here and rant about it. I read it, I saw where she was coming from, and while I didn't see it the same way, she had a foundation for her criticism and I respected that.

But the little girl who wrote me that she's "disappointed Gale Harold put his name on something so weak.... about a musician no one's ever heard of" needs to get her head out of her ass. A hundred years from now, when we're all dust and every TV show Gale Harold has ever been in is forgotten, people will still be making and listening to music that has its roots in Scott Walker's work. And I'll bet that "Scott Walker: 30 Century Man" will outlive "Desperate Fucking Housewives" into eternity, too.

If I had blood pressure medication I'd take it. I don't, so I did this instead. I now return you to your normally calm and rational Dogged blogging.

Comments

[fuck off]

You think you know everything and you're "cooler than the rest of us because you've heard Scott Walker? Fuck you. And wehre's your respect for the things people like when you call Desparate Housewives "fucking"? Aren't you supposed to only do criticques that have some "basis," whatever that means? I'd rten times rather watch DH than sit through that crap movie one more time just because Gale's name is on it, and I wish he was filming DH right now instead of wasting his time and energy going to San Francisco to see the opening of a movie he must have seen a thousand times already and probably has the dvd of anyway. I'm glad he's fine, but you should ligthen up.

[Christie]

LOL, you tell me to "ligthen up" (sic) and then you go with the fuck you and fuck off stuff? Please.

Yes, I did call Desperate Housewives "fucking," and maybe I shouldn't have. I like "fun" television sometimes, too, even though I don't care for that particular example of it. But I've also written seriously about it when it's called for, and my point that it's not going to stand the test of time is really my critique, not the word "fucking" stuck in there. And there's nothing wrong with that; plenty of things I like aren't going to stand the test of time, either.

I'm assuming you're the author of the letter I received, but whether you are or not, the point is the same: love it, hate it, I don't care, but can we discuss things on their merits and in context, instead of just SPEWING?

And if you feel your idol has let you down by giving some of his hard-earned money to finance a project that means a lot to him and nothing to you, well... you're bound to suffer an enormous amount of disappointment in your life, because we don't get to choose what other people do with their money or their time, or what they care about. We can't do that for the people who are our friends and family members, and we sure as hell can't do it for complete strangers we've seen on the teevee.

Like you, I'm glad he's fine. Unlike you, I'm also glad he helped get this film made. If you don't like it, and don't like Scott Walker, that's entirely your business and not mine. Frankly, you being stupid is also your business and not mine, but when you email your stupidity to me, or bring it to my blog, then you've made it my business.

[Amber Waves]

Dear fuck off-

First let me just say that I greatly admire your spelling abilities and your proofreading skills.

Has it occurred to your feeble brain that you've just insulted a project that your hero, Gale Harold, respects so much that he invested his money in it?

Do you at all understand the possibility that projects like Scott Walker: 30 Century Man could be the type of work that Mr. Harold puts his heart and soul into making?

Finally, just because you've deemed it a waste of his energy to go around promoting a film he was the associate producer on, doesn't mean he does.

Sheesh get a grip!

Oh and before you go off on me, I've never seen the film or Desperate Housewives. It's called a principle, get one.

[Christie]

Yeah, Amber, I kind of missed making the point that Ms. Fuck Off seems to think Gale Harold should be chained to the set of Desperate Housewives and not allowed to range free because it means less screen time for her to view.

Also, this film was financed years ago, long before he was on the freaking show so... oh never mind. Ack.

[Stacey]

Fuck Off sounds suspiciously like some of the people I've been dealing with lately with regards to Randy.

And apparently Gale's only purpose in life is to entertain Fuck Off by being back on DH, right now, not going to a premiere for a movie he helped finance. I had no idea!

[Timy]

Well, it’s late and I’m tired but I just couldn’t let this go by without putting my two cents in.

I have a big problem with people who behave as if Gale Harold's sole purpose should be to 'service' them. After reading Christie’s interview “Documenting a Musical Outsider”, you clearly see how fascinated Gale is by Scott Walker and how excited he was to have been part of this project. The fact alone that Gale took ‘the time and energy’ to go up to San Francisco to support the film, should make it clear how he feels about it.

To see a so-called fan of his belittle that experience and say that she'd rather have him on DH instead, is disrespectful to him and of his choices. Besides, I have the sneaky suspicion that Gale would rather be doing this kind of stuff full-time, if he didn't have to worry about paying the bills.

With regard to Scott Walker himself: I've known him for years. I grew up listening to the music of the Walker Brothers and I loved it. I can't say I'm a big fan of his experimental stuff, but we can't all like the same things. (I've been told there are even some people out there who don't like Gale Harold. Go figure!) But I like the fact that Gale was involved with this movie because it clearly was a story that needed to be told about an unusual man who has made a significant contribution to the music world and who has been a major influence to a lot of people. For that alone he deserves our respect.

[TheWeyrd1]

Well...I don't wear Crocs, though I live quite near their origination point, and I don't generally care for cilantro. I don't hate either, but definitely not first choices... As for Scott Walker, I must claim ignorance on the topic...

[Christie Keith]

You know, Weyrd, honestly, I'm not such a geek that I think everyone should like Scott Walker or even know who he is. A friend mentioned I may possibly have over-reacted to this, but I find anonymous letters and anonymous blog comments very infuriating. They really make me crazy, and then I feel like I just have to say something.

Which doesn't make my friend wrong, LOL... of course I over-reacted. I just got back from taking the dogs on a long walk and I'm feeling much more philosophical about it all now.

[carina]

"Fuck off" is the kind of so-called "fan" who thinks that Gale's sole purpose on this earth is to entertain her. Never mind what makes him feel good, what he is interested in, what makes him grow. All that matters is that she gets what she wants. That's just sad.

[Christie Keith]

I was thinking about this last night, and the closest thing I can remember is when Lucy Lawless got pregnant during the filming of Season Five and it drove a storyline that the fans didn't like.

There were some fans saying she should have waited until the series was off the air to have a child.

Now, I hated that storyline too, but my attitude was and is: tough shit on us. We can't say someone's desire or decision to have a baby is less important than the storyline of a television show. I mean, priorities, folks.

This is one of the reasons I've never been comfortable with personal fandoms, by which I mean, fangirling real people as opposed to fictional characters.

Which may, in a way, be why I find interviewing Lucy and Renee so stressful, because of that conflict. And why I sympathize with poor Stephen Kijak in having to not only interview but make an entire film about someone he fanboys (why does "fangirl" seem like a verb to me, but "fanboy" just doesn't?). It's treacherous territory in all kinds of ways.

I mean, when I achieve my current obsessive dream of interviewing Rachel Maddow, I'm going to have the same problem. I'm willing to make the sacrifice though. Aren't I noble?

[Nish]

Dear fuck off:

It's so sad that if you'd spent 5 minutes doing a little google research you too might have been one of the cool people.