The Weepies

Music is not an easy topic to deal with in an academic setting, as all music listeners have lots of strong feelings about what they listen to, young listeners especially. In this piece from Weekend Edition Saturday (9/8/06 - 10:49), we get to hear the music of the Weepies and, perhaps just as importantly get to meet two interesting young people, Deb Talan and Steve Tannen.

Their latest album, Say I Am You, was recorded at their house in Pasadena, Calif. "World Spins Madly On," a track from that album, appears on the soundtrack of the recent film Friends with Money. More on the group at Wikipedia.

Classroom thoughts

• We are used to thinking about music in terms of big hits, big stars, lots of marketing; here we get a different picture of the music business as a cottage industry. As a career choice, what's the appeal of each approach?
  
  
• A key element in music listening is genre, distinct, readily recognizable qualities that must be present to make a work of art appropriate--that is, appropriate to it genre. If these elements are not present, the work is immediately deemed as outside the genre, hence, inappropriate and, more to the point, often unlistenable, regardless of any other feature. See what Wikipedia has to say about genre, and discuss the role of genre in your own music listening.