Authenticity...blah blah blah

So remember that class I am taking? Today's topic was authenticity in music. We have a lot of talking heads in this class, but I did my duty as a serious blogger and was the only person scribbling away in my notebook during the class. I missed the class last Wednesday to pick up my CMJ pass but apparently my prof asked some people to bring in some tunes for the class to decide whether on not the music was authentic. Here's what we had to choose from:

1. "Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
2. "Party All The Time" - Eddie Murphy
3. "Magnet" (I think) - Lindsay Lohan
4. "Sunshowers" - MIA

Take a wild guess to which were considered authentic but the geniuses at NYU. (1 & 4 if you really need to know.) However there was a bit of a debate with our buzzy Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. In fact one girl (I won't name names) went as far to call Alec "a retarded David Byrne." And another who apparently works for a record label revealed that her label has been consistently offering deals to the band but that they are resisting...but not for long, she said. We'll see.

What else did we talk about? How imperfection can be authentic, for example: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards harmonies are considered authentic because they weren't exactly perfect. A band is authentic if they are relevant to the times. And basically everyone in my class decided that being in a band to make money isn't authentic, however my teacher quickly reminded us of a famous saying that "only a fool wouldn't write for money." I agree. It's a living. They won't be able to make music for us to hear unless they are to get paid. Let's not be so naive.

For Wednesday I have to choose a band and write a paper on whether I believe them to be authentic or not. I have a band in mind, but I am hesitant to reveal it just yet. I'll wait until I write it, and perhaps until I get it back. But if you have any suggestions, and some thoughts on this authenticity debate, I'm all ears.

From this moment on, I will only showcase authentic music. Because there’s a very clear and obvious definition to what makes music authentic. Riight.