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Topic: Dementia is.....

Started by: Stavro Arrgolus

Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  02-23-19 05:42 AM  -  5 years ago

Here it is; the dementia definition thread from October, 2011. The first post describes the 2010 blog where I first (incompletely) defined what dementia music was and repeats the list I made then.

There's been a lot of fuss of late over what's dementia & what isn't, so here's the list again.
Tim P. Ryan   Offline  -  Participant, MP3  -  10-28-11 08:55 AM  -  12 years ago
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re: Port Starboard Sox By: Kate & Anna McGarrigle
being more whimsical than punchline funny and should get some play here on tMMA.
Yes, I would hope that songs that are fun instead of punchline funny would also find places in our shows. They do expand upon the mad music experience. In many cases, they do not wear out as easily as some others.

-Tim
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Stavro Arrgolus:

Here is the dementia definition I blogged about last year. ...?
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  10-11-11 05:09 PM  -  12 years ago
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Those guys need to be run over by a few Chinese tanks to make them remember what totalitarianism is all about - and that it's just plain bad. Ya don't cotton to it.

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Bob Guest:

Perhaps I should have said that all those people who demand I be politically correct aren't funny.
Bob Guest   Offline  -  Artist  -  10-11-11 04:57 PM  -  12 years ago
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Perhaps I should have said that all those people who demand I be politically correct aren't funny.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  10-11-11 04:53 PM  -  12 years ago
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It can be - www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=33646

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Bob Guest:

But who wants political correctness? Political correctness isn't funny.
Bob Guest   Offline  -  Artist  -  10-11-11 04:47 PM  -  12 years ago
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But who wants political correctness? Political correctness isn't funny.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  10-09-11 12:08 PM  -  12 years ago
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Hmmm... I should clarify that a bit. I gave up when I couldn't decide how to word the sizable contribution blacks have made to this genre of music. There was never anything 'racially charged' in the process as it says below, but you can't even mention this subject anymore without a big harangue over it's political correctness or the lack of it.

If you can compose something that describes this subject acceptably, I'll add it to the list.
Stavro Arrgolus   Offline  -  Editor, MP3  -  10-01-11 11:05 PM  -  12 years ago
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Here is the dementia definition I blogged about last year. I always ask that DJs not add songs to the database that aren't dementia (leaving the songs to appear black in their show playlists), but how do you define it?

I had a go at it a while back. I typed out the standards I use to determine 'dementia' in a song. The results are below. I gave up when I got to the racially charged stuff. And I had hospital visits...

Anyway, if you want to help flesh out this list, here's your chance.

Below the line is more or less what appeared in the blog.
_____________________________________

A couple of years ago, a while after this version of the site was working and most of the bugs were fixed, the question came up of what songs were considered 'dementia' and what were not. I had wanted to designate everything in the archive that wasn't dementia with a slightly different color scheme- just to make the point. It was at that time I realized that the definition of the genre was rather subjective. I thought, "OK, smartass. Exactly what makes a song 'dementia'? Or novelty, for that matter?"

Answer came there none, so I did what I always do- procrastinate until I figured it out. Now after a year or two, I've decided to do what I should have thought of then. Just make a whopping great list of everything that makes a song or spoken word piece 'dementia' or novelty or whatever and sort it all out later. It's going here so everyone can add their own comments and ideas and sarcastic wit and bon mots and orangutans and breakfast cereals...well, you get the idea. Now, I'll just pull the pin and count to five.


Dementia Is...(or..Why The Hell Is There A Song Page For That?)

• Holiday music, whether it's meant to be amusing or not, is the most obvious example.
It's always separated from other types of music and seems to be listenable only during the holiday it's made for and is verboten at all other times.

• Parody - "A skit, spoof, jape or vignette" - whether the writer's underrated or not. (Had to get a Python reference in here somewhere). Any song that imitates the style or uses the lyrics of another song & all other forms that one could describe this. Parodies of parodies are popular. They're doing parodies of original Weird Al songs now.

• Both works and artists that classify themselves as comedy outright.
Though often, something calling itself funny is very, very wrong. It can be easy for artists to get typecast as 'comedy only', making if more difficult if they want to do 'serious' work at some point. Conversely, a hilarious song that the artist meant to be serious is also dementia. Awful lot of those...

• Artists that the culture agrees to be dementia.
Here comes the subjective part. Dementia also includes certain artists that we acknowledge to be part of it that could also be considered mainstream. Many examples; Frank Zappa is the one I'll use for this list. You already know who else...

• Everything Dr. Demento plays.
Of course, this site was originally a Demento fansite before Barry demanded that it not be, so all the songs from his show are duly noted here- whether they're dementia or not. I'm thinking of all that crap his station made him play in the mid '80s. Certainly not dementia and occasionally not even listenable, but it's here because Dr. D played it. A technicality, to be sure. It applies only to what's in the playlists and nothing else.

• Dementia by way of nostalgia.
Over time, songs can become dementia because the times and the pop culture that go with it (or certain events) have evolved into something that considers certain songs and artists from the past to be the sort of thing that now belongs in this archive.

• Foreign languages
Foreigners are funny! They wear silly clothes, do ridiculous dances, worship animal headed gods with odd numbers of arms and speak incomprehensible gobbledygook! Sounds like dementia to me. Nø, realli!
..Actually, un PC as it is, certain songs in other languages have always been considered novelty music and are still considered humorous- if that Russian guy in the YouTube video's any indication.

And that's as far as I've gotten. It's far from complete. I'll add more to the list when I can think of amusing/disturbing things to include. And if you've any bright ideas, don't keep them to yourself.

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