"There are of course many definitions of 'art', and, given the inherent subjectivity and limitless debatability of aesthetics, a definition of Art Music that doesn't depend on agreement over such an inscrutable subject makes life and argumentation simpler."

Oh do f**k off. That site is pillock central.

and as we walk away you can still hear him ranting away in his splendid isolation correcting the nice woman who just brought him his coffee "this isn't a biscotti..."

replies are anything to go by, they'll be over here in a while to give out to us!

is there any mention of one P. Morley on that site? Reads like his handiwork to me.

Top quality, entirely pointless cultural elitism.

"[Pop] is performed by people who... can barely sing or play an instrument. Charlatanism, affectation, contrivance, banality and conventionality are all typical features... The songs themselves... are nearly always expressions of juvenile sentimentality, posturing or narcissism' - that sounds alright to me.

If they come round here spoiling for a fight, we can bamboozle them with talk of arcane prog, obscurist indie, primordial rock'n'roll and unashamed heavy metal (amongst many, many others). That should show them who's boss.

Surely not for real. I think someone has created it as an idiot magnet.

If Robert Johnson doesn't qualify as art music, then they have it wrong anyway. In my opinion.

this is a masterclass in "Charlatanism, affectation, contrivance, banality ".

No-one who's that clever or funny has the spare time to come up with someting like this. I think we should take he (for it can only be a he) who is responsible and invite him to partake in a rational and intelligent debate on the matters he holds so dear. Then we should drag him outside and give him the righteous kicking he so obviously deserves. The ponce. Bet he looks like Malcom Gladwell.

complete Twats like that...must be a full time job being so superior, disappointed yet ridiculed all your life.

I should know :)

the website to a friend of mine who's a classical violinist (sorry, 'Art' violinist!) and she could read more than a paragraph before she started getting really annoyed!

That is awful, but I suppose it's that person's right to set up a web site and a mailing list if they want to. I'm not sure that the owner realises that the increased web traffic is more like people slowing to look at a car crash than people who actually agree with him/her.

The whole thing reminded me of the Radio 3 bits that Dead Ringers used to do; "BBC Radio 3. Quiet isn't it. The time is just coming up to... oh, who cares. Let's all have a biscuit and listen to some Schubert."

"Let's all have a biscuit and listen to some Schubert."

The questions posed & answered came from the same pen.Two minds,but one pen.Hilarious.

It reminds me of the utter disdain with which RR used to greet an answer to a question about "popular" music on Brain Of Britain.
Unfortunately the contestants seemed duty bound to align themselves with RR. If asked to identify who was singing a song about the only acceptable answer was the Beatles, as the Hey Jude Hitmakers had actually permeated the fabric of rarified knowledge required of BoB contestants.
That would be the answer if the artist was anyone from Bob Dylan to Led Zeppelin. Otherwise the only acceptable answer was "I don't know".
Cue an RR complaint about being deafened by the cacophony.

from a email from Observer Music Monthly
" OMM's critic-at-large Paul Morley writes about putting away pop music and studying classical music and composition at the Royal Academy of Music for a year"

sophisticated to be more challenging than most pop 'music'.
Who does this condescending twat think he is? Sounds like he needs his head removing from his arse.