Steve Schwartz wrote:

>I can understand different tastes.  I even expect it.  However, elevating
>taste to the level of artistic principle drives me up the wall.

I must confess I was reluctanct to hit the reply button because things
seemed so obvious to me that I still think I am missing something (exp.
where the intricacies of the English language are concerned).  Well, I'll
take the risk.

Since I cannot really understand what an artistic principle is, my best
guess would be "...elevating taste to the level of aesthetic principle...",
which confuses my mind even furter, being aesthetics and taste basically
the same thing.

Even when thinking of it as to "...widespread taste (read people) should
not be thought of as an arbiter of aesthetics' trends...", some doubts
still arise, since I cannot remember of such a persistent gap between
people and arts (not only music), throughout history.

What I really believe is that in one or two hundred years rock, pop and
jazz will be considered as the leading musical forces of the second half
of the 20th century.

It may happen, sometimes to the better of us, to end up in stagnating waters.

Roberto Strappafelci