The subjectivity of Talent

Another comment received via YouTube:

"Okay Mr Smartypants Spoonerstreet,wheres your music if you are so great that you could judge these people? Are you aware there are different types of harmony? Have you heard of Harry Partch,Charles Ives,or Anthony Braxton? Are you aware that Anton Webern made melody obsolete?"

Really? Seriously? You honestly believe that these guys are SO good, that they sound like this on purpose? That they should actually be considered as musical innovators? I have as much appreciation for varying musical tastes as the next guy, but I would tap the brakes just a little bit before I put them in the same category as a Phillip Glass or Frank Zappa.

I have received a few comments like this every now and again, and it never fails to baffle me. I never know if these people are joking, or just feel like stirring up the pot. If you really, truly, honestly like the music that Complete puts out, great. You are an amazingly tolerant person. But, for one second, try to think of one band that is really, truly bad in both of these categories: songwriting AND musicianship. It is hard to do.

You may not like Pearl Jam because they sold out, but you can't deny their musicianship. You may not like Tool because they don't have mass appeal, but it is difficult to deny that they know how to write a song. This is what makes the Complete video so damn amazing. Not only do they lack the songwriting gene, they also are seriously deficient in the musicianship area as well.

Even bad bands (take the local high school garage band, for example) have some redeeming qualities or at least an excuse for you not to take them to task. Either their guitarist shows promise, or their drummer keeps a steady beat, or even the fact that they are 15 years old can be taken into account. Complete has none of these things. NONE! They aren't very good at playing their instruments, they aren't very good at writing songs, they don't stay in time, and they can't perform them consistently (I assume). Having said all of that, this is the worst part: They don't know they are bad!!!! They truly, honestly think that they are doing the music industry a favor by being in existence. Now, I am all in favor of having confidence in your music, but every band in the world has to be able to take an honest, objective look at themselves and answer the hard questions: Are we good enough? Are we marketable? Do we do the right things that will get us noticed? It appears to me that Complete knew all of these questions, and answered them with a resounding yes.

Now, I am not all doom and gloom here. Curtis, amazes me in many regards. First of all, he has more charisma than many, many front men that I have seen in many, many bands. He gets it. He is active. He talks to the crowd. He lets the music take him over. He pours his heart and soul into his performance. He isn't afraid to do things that are slightly outside of the norm. You don't know how many times I have seen a band and said to myself, "If only we could get Curtis' soul into this guy, this would be a great live show". Seriously. I have thought that.

Dave

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YouTube - Complete: Behind the Music

YouTube - Complete: Behind the Music: "COMPLETE is fucking awesome. you however are a douche-bag. smug motherfucker. reminds me of captain beefheart. texas bbq style."- Comment left by YouTube user


See, this is why I love the internet. Something that no one would ever have the balls to say to someone's face is super-duper easy to say when using the internet.

God, I love the internet. Taking free speech to a whole new level.

Some backstory...

Since I have been telling people about Complete for the better part of 10 years, I thought I would share with you guys some of the history behind some of my comments. I would love to claim that I thought of all of the commentary all by myself, but in reality, a lot of it came from the people that I have shown the video to over the years.

The band I used to be in (formerly Frolic, currently The Opus Flux) had a large hand in the overall genesis of the Complete commentary. We watched this video close to 50 times together and every time it just got funnier and funnier. Not only was it great to watch, but we bonded with other bands over the story of Complete. My favorite thing to do before someone has seen the video is to ask them to imagine the absolute worst band in the world, and concentrate on what they thought that would sound like.

It never sounds like what they eventually hear.

Many people that I work with have seen the video as well, and this has helped me develop the "stages of Complete" that people go through. There are two distinct types of people who watch the video: Musicians and Non-Musicians. Musicians are the only ones that go through the anger phase. Non-musicians just don't care, but musicians get visibly upset at what was presented as music by our favorite band. They view it as some sort of insult to their craft, and I am inclined to agree with them.

I mean, at what point could Complete ever looked at themselves and said, "Yeah, we are pretty good at this."? They had to have known. Even as good as I thought the bands that I was in were, there were times where we looked at ourselves and said, "This song just isn't that good" and we stopped playing it.

At what point did Complete decide to give it up? Was there a fight amongst the members? Did someone just stop showing up? I wonder if they ever had to try to find a replacement...imagine showing up for that audition!

I would love to hear some of the things that you and your friends went through while viewing the video. Post in the comments about it and maybe we can vote for the best story or something.

Chocolate Rain

Ok, so this doesn't have anything directly to do with Complete, but it is very "Completish" in it's innocence and interestingness. Give it a listen. I can't get the damn thing out of my head.

More Complete????

Received a message from a guy who also taped the Complete performance on the same show that I did. He says that he has the tape somewhere and just has to find it. Just think...we might get a couple more songs to add to the collection. Wouldn't that be sweet?

A member of Complete?

So someone did some very creative internet searching and has claimed that they found the phone number to one of the band members. I haven't verified if it is true or not, but I hope to soon. The idea that we might be able to get in touch with one of the members is kind of scary to me, like I thought it would never happen. If it is a reality, I will fill you in on what is going on.

Catching Up...

So, here are some of the cool things that have happened from the people who have contacted me:

1. A gentleman in Michigan has created a Myspace page for Complete. It is very well put together, and is pretty damn funny at the same time. Please go there and become Complete's friend.
2. The same gentleman has created t-shirts and was kind enough to send one to me. I wear it proudly any time I go out to see bands (which isn't very often anymore).
3. I get a lot of emails asking me if I have a DVD of the video I can send them. I honestly don't. I suppose I could make some, but I really don't have a ton of time. My advice would be to download one of those programs that allow you to save videos from the web and save it.

More to come...

Inagural Post

So, here goes. I felt like this blog would be a good idea to keep everyone up to date on all of the things that go on with Complete. A lot of stuff has happened behind the scenes that a lot of you wouldn't know about. I get contacted by a lot of people about the video, and every once in a while, it might be news worthy, so I will share it here. The Myspace page has been a godsend, so hopefully this will be a good supplement to that.