Food for thought: The King's New Clothes

If you don't already know the story of The King's New Clothes then here's a short little song that sums it up pretty nicely. Feel free to skip past it if you do know it, though.

It gives a pretty good message about peer pressure in relation to art and other things "intellectual". I'm sure I'm not the only one to have been in a social situation and felt obliged to agree with the general consensus when talking about a so-called "classic" piece of music. It makes me think if the others around me really did like that piece, or if they also obligingly agreed like me. The internet doesn't seem to be subject to this kind of behaviour, since most of the users have most-likely never met each other, which leads to a lot more honesty online (and also, admittedly, a lot more arguing). But to get an idea of what I mean, I'll give an example: The Beatles.

Straight off the bat, I don't mean the band themselves. I'm fully aware that a few years ago they were the "oMgB3StThInGEVa" band amongst a lot of young teenagers, which inevitably got quite annoying for everyone else. I'm also aware that a few people now call the band overrated, saying that they're really not what they're cracked up to be. But as for myself, I'm a bit in the middle. Sure, they're not the absolute pinnacle of all music, but I think it's unfair to automatically call them overrated just because they're (still) popular. In fact, I quite like The Beatles, and I have done ever since I got hooked on the Yellow Submarine film as a kid.

But all that is only part of my point. My point is related to two songs of theirs that seem to generally be considered their best. Those being Hey Jude and Let it Be. Why those two? The Beatles wrote much more interesting songs in their years than Hey Jude, but it somehow seems to be some kind of blasphemy to think that Jude isn't that great. Do Beatles fans just call those songs classics to save face, or do they genuinely believe that Let it Be is them at some of their best? I don't know, really. Maybe I'm just fussy with music at times. After all, I can hardly stand power ballads, and those two songs are the closest The Beatles ever came to that "genre".

However, I hope I've made my point clearly. Sucking up to the common opinion can be more commonplace in art than you might think. For more examples then consider Pink Floyd with Comfortably Numb, Looney Tunes with What's Opera Doc?, and even MLP songs with This Day (Aria). Again, maybe it is just me who thinks they're not all they're cracked up to be, considering how great they all can be, but maybe there is an unwritten law that prevents anyone from being able to dislike "classics" such as those. Well, if that law does exist then I think it's high time for it to be done away with. Approach both new and old things with a fresh and critical attitude. Don't be afraid to say "I don't really like this". And never feel like you're under pressure to impress people with your opinions. You'll enjoy yourself a lot more that way, and if more people adopt such an attitude then there may well be fewer cases of The King's New Clothes in the future.

Please bear in mind that none of what I've said is factual: it's nothing more than my own thoughts, and hopefully they'll get you thinking too.