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Looper's Delight
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well, i had to (really) work during the whole jimi thang, but i still want to chime in (i.e., flog the dead and decomposed horse) and add a few random thoughts to the jimi mix . . .
even though i was buying the hendrix albums when they were first coming out, i too have a little problem with the deification aspect of what has happened to the hendrix myth/image. (though i'd say that, in my opinion, he's way more deserving of the demi-god status than is jim morrison.)
that being said, i believe that it's no different from people making cultural icons out of people like beethoven or wagner or mahler or armstrong or parker or coltrane or fripp, etc.; the innovative/revolutionary/visionary personality/style becomes the new status quo. people often don't react to the SPIRIT of what the person did, but rather to the actual PRODUCT. in other words the message isn't the message, the medium is the message. (i think that when one looks at much of what passes for religion in this world, one will find the same sort of process; it's human nature) this is becoming more and more prevalent in our overly commercalized world (?).
still, the value is still there if one can get beyond the calicification and fossilization of those who only live in the nostalgic haze and cannot live in the now. a rather lame way of saying get over your parent's generation being stuck in only what they listened to in their youth and find out if there IS value for you in things from the past - - or not.
historically there has always been a "culture war" between factions extolling the old and the new: ars nova versus ars antigua is the first instance that i can put my finger on - - and that was in the 13th century or so. it has continued up to the present. the burns documentary on jazz could be seen as a 10-part manifesto of such a "warring" faction.
re kid rock having a 10-cd box retrospective, i seriously doubt that he'll even put out 4 cds total, he pretty much feels like a novelty act to me. korn and limp bizcit, on the other hand, probably will have multi-cd sets when they're old and grey. and some kids will think that they're dinosaurs too - - and they will be, they'll be playing vegas at the hard rock cafe.
it always blows me away when i meet people in their 20s who are really into "classic rock" - - hendrix, zepplin, et al - - and not into any of the new stuff. i always want to say, yeah that shit was great for its time, but there's a lot of great stuff happening right now, too.
gustav mahler to johannes brahms while looking at the whorls of water coming down a brook after having a meal together: "which is the last wave?"
stig