The Yaogun Diaries, part 4

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

Supermarket (超级市场, chāojíshìchǎng)

In the interests of variety, this time I’ll talk about Supermarket. Unlike the previous bands I’ve talked about, this one has very little relation with punk music – probably the closest comparison I can make would be Depeche Mode. I came to this band rather late – in fact, it was only as I was planning my departure from China and making a list of CDs to buy before leaving that I discovered them. The band was founded in 1996, and the following year signed up with Modern Sky Records.

Their first album came out in 1998, called in Chinese 模样 (múyàng), and in English usually The Look (that’s “look” as in “appearance” or “style”).
Their sound is high-tech and heavy on keyboards, with dreamy vocals and atmospheric guitar; drums are both real and electronic, programmed and played by human hands. In general, they aim more towards middle tempos and simple tunes lushly produced rather than energy and aggression.

“Sad Hallucination”

That’s a tune called 悲伤的幻觉 (bēishāng de huànjué) which should give you a good idea of what they’re about. They also tend to take their time about things, with most of the tracks in the six to seven minute range, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your mood. At times, the music gets quite abstract, leaning towards experimental electronic music.

On their second album, the slight experimental tendencies of the debut are brought to the forefront. It’s called 七种武器 (qī zhǒng wǔqì – Seven Kinds of Weapon), and the ten tracks are named simply “S1” through “S10.”
I really commend Modern Sky for sticking with them with such a non-commercial effort.
It’s a little on the long side, but here’s the opening track, which is a good example of the kind of what they’re up to.

“S1”

It starts off with odd percussive noises and bass notes from a synthesizer, building in intensity for a minute or so before an IDM style programmed drum part comes in. Then it suddenly cuts the tempo in half with a hypnotic guitar part, which is eventually combines with the double-time drums. Then you get voices, electronic ones and seriously distorted human ones. Well, listen for yourself.

To be fair, this is not obnoxious experimentation, and is often tuneful, though even in melodic moments there are distorted sounds in the background and unusual touches that set it apart from stock electronic pop. Many tracks feature oddly treated vocals, sometimes sounding very childlike (maybe actually a child singing). Two tracks stretch to over ten minutes. In one case a five minute techno song drifts off into outer space for a couple minutes, then is reborn with a harder edged guitar part for a while, then, after a brief break filled with vocal samples, builds slowly up to a big finish.

The Rock in China entry mentions a 2002 release called Laser Age – Laser Time, but I’ve found no information about it. It’s not listed on the Modern Sky site, and my searches have turned up nothing about it.

Modern Sky lists 繁荣的 (fánróngde – Prosperous) as their third album. It came out in 2004. It does include a song called 激光时代, which translates as “Laser Age,” so maybe the mystery release is a single.
While still quite experimental in places, in general this album is catchier, and in fact I’ve chosen its poppiest track as a sample.

“Beautiful Girl”

It’s maybe not completely representative of the album, but it just makes me smile every time I hear it.

There are still some weird touches, with sound effects, spoken voice samples, manipulated sounds, and so on, often combined with dancy beats.

Their fourth album is 音乐会 (yīnyuèhuì – Concert), though honestly I can’t tell if it’s a live recording or that’s just the title – I can’t hear any crowd noise. I don’t have a physical copy of the CD to check the credits. If anyone knows for sure, let me know and I’ll update this entry.
This one continues the basic trend of the previous albums, with catchy electronic pop songs interspersed with experimental sounds. Female vocals appear on several tracks, including this one:

“TV 84”

That’s 电视八十四 (diànshì bāshísì). The female vocalist is apparently from a guest performer, since the band is still a trio. All of the tracks are original, no versions of previously released music.

This band doesn’t seem to play live very often (though if Concert is an example, they do it well), and I never saw them perform, so these four CDs are all I have to go on. They’re an example of a different facet of Chinese music, a far cry from the loud guitars of The P.K 14 or Hedgehog (see my previous posts if you missed those).

Rock in China: http://wiki.rockinchina.com/index.php?title=Supermarket
MySpace (Chinese): http://www.myspace.cn/chaojishichang
Modern Sky: http://www.modernsky.com/

Note: All images and audio files presented here are in the interest of increasing awareness of Chinese rock in the English-speaking world. If you are the owner of the copyright in any of them and object to this free promotion, let me know and I'll remove the offending media.

The Yaogun Diaries, part 3

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

Hedgehog

This band was the subject of frequent notices in the English-language publications around Beijing from the time I started reading them, and the descriptions were enticing enough for me to buy their second CD Noise Hit World (Badhead/Modern Sky, 2007) without hearing any of it first.
It’s a really engaging pop-punk sound with some elements of both British and Japanese rock to it. Like many Beijing bands, Hedgehog is a trio, in this case guitar/bass/drums, and also like many Beijing bands, at least one member is female, in this case drummer 阿童木 (Atom, as in Astroboy, because she is small in size but very powerful just like the robot boy in the cartoon). Their modus operandi is to establish a catchy rock groove and add somewhat sing-song vocals over it, sometimes punctuated by enthusiastic shouts. Guitarist 子健 (ZO) does most of the singing, though Atom helps out with backing, occasional lead, and shouting. The lyrics are mostly in English, unabashedly sung with Chinese accents. The bassist also goes by a nickname, 博宣 (Box).

Here’s the opening track for you to get the idea.

“Toy & 61 Festival”

It wasn’t long before I got a chance to see them live (covered here originally). They were part of a four-band bill at Yugong Yishan for the two-band album release party of Carsick Cars and Snapline on November 10, 2007.
That was a great night of music, and Hedgehog were outstanding – noisy and rowdy without being out of control.
I ended up seeing them live the following weekend at 2 Kolegas as part of a different four-band bill. This time they were the final band after RandomK(e), Subs, and Re-TROS.
Most of the decent pictures I got appear in my original post over here.
2 Kolegas is a very different environment from Yugong Yishan, closer to classic “dive” status and proud of it. The smaller, more intimate show was looser and ended with a real Rock and Roll Moment, as I described in my original post.

The band has remained active since then, though I haven’t seen them again. Their third CD, Blue Daydreaming (白日梦蓝 – báirìmèng lán), came out in 2009 on Modern Sky, and, like Noise Hit World, is much more subtle and melodic than their live persona would indicate, thought it’s full of vitality and charm. This time the lyrics are split about halfway between English and Chinese, but I don’t think that’s an indication of them giving up on international recognition.
As much as I like Noise Hit World, I think this one is better. Here’s one of many great selections.

“Pseudomorph”

I said it’s more subtle, but that doesn’t mean it’s wimpy. It’s more muscular sounding in many places, though there are passages of acoustic guitar with dreamy vocals.

There’s also a 2006 CD called Happy Idle Kid which I’ve never seen in stores or at a gig.
Haven’t been able to find a download anywhere either, though I’ve searched all over. For some reason when you try searching with this band’s name (or the Chinese equivalent 刺猬 – cìwèi which they don’t use very conspicuously), you find a bunch of video-game related stuff.

Rock in China: http://wiki.rockinchina.com/index.php?title=Hedgehog
MySpace (Chinese, but with audio): http://www.myspace.cn/hedgehog
AMP interview (in English): http://amp.channelv.com/seenandheard/2007/07/24/1185244713938.html

Note: All images and audio files presented here are in the interest of increasing awareness of Chinese rock in the English-speaking world. If you are the owner of the copyright in any of them and object to this free promotion, let me know and I'll remove the offending media.

The Yaogun Diaries, part 2

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

The P.K.14

Like Re-TROS in my last installment, this band has its roots in Nanjing. They have continually played with their name, claiming it stands for various different things at different times. They have also been listed at times as P.K.14 (The Chinese language has no articles, so this is pretty common with band names). Their newest release uses The, so I’ll call that the preferred form.

Way back in the spring of 2007, the P.K.14 was one of the first Chinese bands I saw play live (read about it here). They opened for the Soundtrack of Our Lives at Star Live. At that time, their third album 白皮书 (Báipíshū – White Paper), while more than a year old, was still getting positive reviews in the Chinese English-language press, so I went to their MySpace page and checked out the music. For some reason it didn’t really grab me, though I didn’t dislike it.

The two most notable things about their sound were the lead vocals of Yang Haisong (杨海崧), which are not terribly melodic, mixing yelping, yelling, and overwrought semi-spoken Chinese, and the guitar of Xu Bo (许波) , which generally stays away from rhythmic playing like you expect in punkish rock, kind of like the Edge in a less anthemic setting than U2.
This leaves the bass and guitar to push the rhythms. They also have a tendency to wander off into moody grooves with atmospheric guitar (which U2 also did in their early days). Other good comparisons include Television and Joy Division.
I think it was probably the vocals that prevented me from enjoying this band right off the bat. It wasn’t until I had much more experience listening to Chinese rock that I came to appreciate them. A few months after seeing them live, I reread some of the CD reviews and decided to give it another go. I bought the album and listened to it a few times, gradually coming to the realization that it really was quite good. It’s on the Badhead division of Modern Sky, China’s premier independent rock label.

As an aside, on the CD spine, the band’s name is given as Pent Kilowatt One More Than Thirteen. On the opposite spine, they have the Chinese name 青春公共王国 (qīngchūn gōnggòng wángguó), which means Public Kingdom for Teens – get it? P.K. 14. As you can see, the front cover just says P.K. 14.
The album has worn well for me, and I still like listening to it a lot.

“They”

As you can hear on this song, 他们 (Tāmen – “They”), the band is not averse to including embellishments to their guitar-bass-drums core. Other tracks include glockenspiel and synthesizer. The credits are all in Chinese, but according to the Rock in China bio, the album was recorded in Sweden with producer Hernik Oja. The band’s long-time (though not original) drummer is of Swedish ancestry, though he’s lived most of his life in China and Hong Kong.

“Saga”

I can’t resist giving you another sample of this record. The energy and passion in this track are obvious even if you know nothing of the words. I love the way the guitar is at times pounding out the eighth notes and then breaks off to soar melodically, and the climax of the tune, which finishes off the album, is positively cathartic. It’s called 故事 (Gùshi), which means “Story” or “Saga.”

In June of 2008, just before the Olympics, the band released their fourth album, 城市天气的航行 (chéngshì tiānqì de hángxíng), which translates rather cryptically as City Weather Sailing. It’s on the Maybe Mars label, which has been putting out a lot of good stuff lately. The artwork is just as cryptic, with a blurry cityscape on the front...
and a rather strange photo of performance art or modern dance on the back:
As soon as I pressed Play on the first of its 18 tracks, I knew I was in for something special. The sparse keyboard touches of the previous album have been enhanced to the point of having their own voice, though still without overpowering the post-punk core of the band. This is music that is both sophisticated and visceral. Six of the tracks are interludes under a minute long, brief improvisations that set up the mood without seeming indulgent or unnecessary.

Here is the second cut, 穿過河堤(chuānguò hédī – “Wade the River”), which features an excellent string arrangement.

“Wade the River”

Now that I’ve covered their third and fourth albums, what about the earlier ones? Rock in China lists a 2001 CD called 上楼就往左拐 (shànglóu jiù wǎng zuǒguǎi – Upstairs on the Left), released on Subjam in China and Empty Egg, a Canadian label, but I have never seen this available for purchase or download anywhere.
There is also a demo collection called 烂掉吧 (làndiào ba – Rotting, or maybe Rotten) which is available for download (with the exception of track 5) from here along with RealMedia of some other demos. All of the tracks listed for the Upstairs CD also appear on the demo collection – I don’t know if the Subjam/Empty Egg release featured exactly the same recordings or new versions of the same songs.
Aside from the demo’s production quality, which is not so bad, the music, while it does contain the seeds of the band’s style, is less interesting. There are no credits to go on, but it sounds like they’re using a drum machine. The mood is more subdued, completely lacking the intense energy shown on later recordings. All in all, it reminds me much more of Joy Division than their later material. Incidentally, the file I downloaded for track 6 seems to consist of 5:35 of silence.

“Invested in the Break of an Embrace”

Check out 投向分裂的怀抱 (tóu xiàng fēnliè de huáibào), which might or might not translate as “Invested in the Break of an Embrace.” It’s one of a few of the demo tracks that really give the sense of what the band would later grow into.

Their second album came out in 2004, and it is where the band came into their own stylistically. The improved production and drumming really fill out the sound, and we’re starting to see touches of the sophistication. The album is called 谁谁谁和谁谁谁 (shéishéishéi hé shéishéishéi – Who Who Who and Who Who Who, which is maybe some kind of expression I’m not familiar with).
The song I’ve chosen for you to sample is 第二十八个影子 (dì'èrshíbāgè yǐngzi – “The 28th Shadow”).

“The 28th Shadow”

Just a few days before I left China, I got the chance to see The P.K.14 live again. This time the show was at Yugong Yishan. They had the middle spot on a bill with Offset: Spectacles before them and the American band These Are Powers after.
One thing’s for sure: they were a lot louder this time.
In fact, it was one of those shows where the music was so loud that any nuances were completely overwhelmed by volume.
Yugong Yishan has an excellent sound system, and most of the time even loud bands sound good, but this one was way over the top.
Still, they really had the crowd going.
The material off the newest album sounded very different than it did in the studio.
And a little crowd surfing never hurts.

Rock in China entry: http://wiki.rockinchina.com/index.php?title=P.K.14
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pk14
Modern Sky Records: http://www.modernsky.com/
Maybe Mars Records: http://www.bingmasi.com/

The Yaogun Diaries, part 1

Part of a series dealing with rock music in China, mostly Beijing because that's what I know. 摇滚 (yáogǔn) is the Chinese word for rock music, the two characters literally meaning "shake" and "roll".

Introduction

When I first went to China back in 2006, one of my goals was to learn as much as I could about music there. Being the musical omnivore I am, that included everything from traditional folk music to academic Chinese Classical music to pop and rock – whatever I might find there. Somehow I never managed to see a Peking Opera show, but I saw dozens of rock bands, and the whole phenomenon of rock in China fascinated me.

While it's undeniable that rock music is a Western art form in its origins, it's also undeniable that it has had an impact all around the world. I think this is in part because rock is not a clearly defined genre, but a kind of cultural chameleon. It can absorb various outside traditions and remain rock. This is nothing new – it started back in the 60s when elements of European Classical music and the music of the Middle East and India started to filter into psychedelic rock. As I see it, rock was born out of the union of rhythm and blues (at the time mostly confined to predominantly black communities) with country music (primarily a white form of music), so it should be no surprise that rock is good at melding what may seem like opposites. Over the decades since its birth, rock has mated with just about every possible form of music on the planet, and its bastard offspring can be found just about everywhere you could point on a globe.

So it should come as no surprise that there is rock music in China. I've even had reports that rock is starting to make inroads in North Korea, though in a highly constrained form that mostly resembles 60s surf music – all instrumental, thus avoiding any questionable lyrical content. The government of the People's Republic of China is also known for censorship, though it is nowhere near as restrictive as North Korea, and musicians there have their own methods of dealing with it. We'll get to that later.

I went to a lot of shows at clubs, theaters, and festivals over the last two and a half years in Beijing, and you can get some descriptions and photos on my China blog by searching on the music tag. Like any thriving music scene, Beijing has artists that cover a wide variety of styles, from raucous classic punk to acoustic singer/songwriters, from experimental noise to sweet technopop. Some of them come off as derivative of their Western prototypes, some of them are wildly original. Some of them sing in English, some in Chinese, and some in other languages. All in all, there are easily a couple dozen artists there worthy of international attention, and from my own difficulties, I know how hard it can be to learn about them. There is precious little information, even in Chinese, to guide you, and a lot of it is extremely difficult to come by outside the country. So I'd like to share what I've learned, and help bring together some of what's available elsewhere on the web.

First up, there is an online directory, Rock in China, that has a lot of information, most of it in English. It's an evolving resource with user-created content like Wikipedia. I've been contributing there myself, and will continue to do so as I have time and facts. I've also contributed and updated artist bios on Last.fm for many of the bands I know. A lot of Chinese rock is available for download at VeryCD, though I'll leave it up to others to determine the moral/legal status of what's there – it's also in Chinese, though I've found that even with limited language skills, it's possible to make my way around. I can give some lessons for those who are interested – just ask.

And now, since it seems like it would be a shame to end this post without covering something specific, I'll tell you about...

Re-TROS

This is one of very few Chinese bands which is available on CD in the US. Their first album, Cut Off!, was released by Tag Team Records, and they’ve toured in the US, including a spot at SXSW in 2007. Their first album lists their full name as Reestablishing the Rights of Statues – later items have called them Rebuilding the Rights of Statues. The Chinese version is 重塑雕像的权利 (chóngsù diāoxiàng de quánlì), which can be translated either way.

That American release (actually an EP) is a 2007 re-release of something that came out in China on Badhead Records (a division of Modern Sky) in 2005 with one added track. Both are called Cut Off! I have the Chinese version. As the story goes, Brian Eno was working in the same studio where they were recording, liked their music, and ended up doing some guest keyboards on some of the tracks.
Stylistically, they are most closely related to Gang of Four, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Pere Ubu and early Talking Heads, though they are distinctive enough to avoid any charges of being mere copycats. Their lyrics are almost entirely in English.

"TV Show (Hang the Police)"

I first saw them live in November of 2007 at a little club called 2 Kolegas, which is a great place located inside the grounds of a drive-in movie theater, along with a number of other bars and restaurants. It was my first time going to the place, and it was not easy to find. The taxi driver had no clue (at that time I spoke very little Chinese), so it was lucky I’d looked at a map and knew the general location. It was a triple bill, starting with Subs, then Re-TROS, and finishing up with Hedgehog. I’ll talk about the other two later.
Re-TROS put on an amazing show, very intense with energy and commitment, probably including imperfections but much too enjoyable for me to care.
The lyrics, which deal with social issues bordering on politics, were pretty much indistinguishable. Lead singer 华东 (Hua Dong) is extremely emotive in a jerky David Byne kind of way.
Bassist Liu Min (刘敏) is less demonstrative, providing solid low end and backing vocals. Ma Hui (马晖) is mostly simple, but quite imaginative on the drums, with lots of unconventional patterns and unexpected accents.

2Kolegas is a great place to see a show, not such a great place to take pictures since the lighting is pretty minimal. You can read my original post about the show here.

After that night, I didn’t get a chance to see them again until June of 2009, at the release party for their full-length CD with the unwieldy title of Watch Out! Climate Has Changed, Fat Mum Rises... (including punctuation), which is out on Modern Sky in China. So far no outside release that I'm aware of.

"My Great Location"

This show was at Yugong Yishan, which is much bigger, with better lights and sound than 2Kolegas, though lacking the cozy dive ambiance.
This band was great before, but have since grown into something truly awesome. The new material is rather atmospheric on the CD, though the live show was every bit as intense as before.
Liu Min even handles lead vocals and melodica at times.
Hua Dong sometimes sets aside his guitar to concentrate on singing. When he does this, there are often taped guitar parts filling in. These “non-live” elements are mostly unobtrusive and do not detract at all from the impact of the show. I have also written about this show here.

In short, this band is one of the best bands in China, well able to hold their own with any band anywhere, both live and in the studio.

Rock in China entry: http://wiki.rockinchina.com/index.php?title=Re-TROS
Band home: http://re-tros.com/face.html
Band Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/rebuildingtherightsofstatues
Tag Team Records: http://www.tagteamrecords.com/
Modern Sky: http://www.modernsky.com/

You get what you pay for

Americans complain a lot about taxes being too high, which implies that lower taxes are always better. We speak as if the money we pay in taxes is just wasting our hard-earned dollars, and ideally we should keep all we earn and spend it entirely on things of our own choosing. When pressed, I suppose most of us will admit that the government actually uses those tax revenues to do things like maintain armed forces, which most of us will admit are necessary. Leaving aside the question of waste for the moment, what things we are willing to give our government money to accomplish?

This is the first in a series of posts about the role of government. What is government for, and what should we expect of it? In American schools, we learn about the structure of our own government, and from the polls I’ve seen, most of us promptly forget it all. But it is not until specialized college level courses that more general questions about the purpose of government are brought up.

The first broad area of government activity can be called Security. Quite likely it is this function that first led to the creation of government. We can divide Security into a few aspects: External, Internal, and Border Control.

External Security generally takes the form of military organizations. Almost every nation in the history of our planet has had some kind of military force, and very few citizens of any nation would argue that it is not needed (Costa Rica is an interesting counter-example, having abolished its army in 1949, as is Liechtenstein, army-less since 1868). Of course, the size and organization of the military are subject to a wide variety of possibilities. Some countries spend as much as 10% of their GDP on their military forces, some less than 0.1% – the US comes in around 4%, though some military programs are difficult to quantify, so this could be slightly higher. (Information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.)

Most countries with coastlines maintain some kind of coast guard, which may or may not be considered military. They provide a wide variety of services, such as search and rescue, that are outside the scope of defense, as well as border control and law enforcement. For example, the UK’s Coastguard is a civilian agency, while the Icelandic Coast Guard is a law enforcement agency. The American Coast Guard is a branch of the military which has some non-military functions.

Which leads us to law enforcement or Internal Security. This is another area that virtually all nations have, and organization and duties vary widely. In the US, most law enforcement is organized at levels other than federal, such as state, county, city, or whatever, though we do have the FBI and a few other national entities. For the purposes of this discussion, I’ll include courts and prisons in this category of government activities.

Border Control is another aspect of Security that governments engage in, and another function that few citizens would protest. Even countries with the most liberal immigration policies want some control over who enters, and most countries are interested in stopping the entry of certain items, like illegal drugs, dangerous materials, weapons, disease-carrying people, animals or plants, and so on.

That’s my broad overview of one of the least controversial functions of government. Check back next week when we move into areas that more people take issue with. While we may argue about the details of enforcement, budgeting, and so on, virtually all of us agree that our government should perform these duties.

There is no need to be embarrassed by your taste in music

It's an internet cliche we've all seen:

Your favorite band sucks.

On the one hand it's often meant as a joke, exaggerated hipsterism, but then when you start reading the comments on music blogs and sites like Stereogum, you realize that a lot of people have lost sight of the fact that taste in music, as in all other art forms, is just that: a matter of taste.

There are no objective criteria to be used in judging art, no matter what academics (or internet trolls) may say. Sure, you can evaluate the technical skill involved in a piece of music, but even that has no direct relation to quality of art.

We've all heard the noisy, arrogant attitude: My favorite music is great, and everything else is crap. Whether they're hating on major label artists as sell-outs, emo singers as worthy of decapitation, country singers as uneducated hicks, rappers as unmusical gold-chasers, or anything else. It is absurd to lump all the practitioners of a given genre together, and certainly indicative of minimal exposure. Anyone who has listened with much depth in any genre knows that it's not all the same. The whole indie-vs-major thing is particularly ridiculous, since it requires the listener to know what label the music was released on before deciding on its quality.

On the opposite extreme, in the face of strident hipper-than-thou rhetoric, many people retreat into a blanket apology: I don't have very good taste in music. The big secret is this: there is no such thing as "good taste" in music. Each of us likes what we like for our own reasons. Maybe I like Hank Williams because my parents listened to him when I was a kid and it reminds me of happy times. And if Hank Sr. is considered cool by some kind of hipster consensus, fine, but my feeling is the same with Glen Campbell, who to my knowledge is not considered cool. Whatever. They both remind me of my childhood, just like the Monkees.

I recently watched a great documentary called Afro-punk, which shone light on a fascinating, little-known sub-sub-culture. One thing that was interesting about the film is that while it was in part about defying boundaries and rules in music (like the idea that punk is a white musical idiom), at several points in the film there were stereotypical dismissals of other genres, in particular the ridicule of the "twenty-minute drum solo" emblematic of 70s rock outside of punk. For one thing, I find no contradiction in my fondness for both progressive rock and punk. The drum solo was invented in jazz, allegedly by Gene Krupa, and since the 1930s there have been good ones and bad ones.

I've heard it said that while American radio stations are relatively narrow with their playlists, most Americans actually listen to more variety: if you look at their CD collections, you will find things from multiple genres, things that would never be heard on the same radio station. I don't know if that's true of most people – it's certainly true for me. You'd be hard pressed to find a genre I don't have. I don't say that to brag, but to make a point: quality is not dependent on genre.

There are a lot of other factors that are irrelevant to determining quality...

Like when it was made. Music from 2009 is no more or less valid than music from 1945, 1972, 1984, or even 1705.

Like where it was made. American music is neither intrinsically superior nor inferior to music from Ireland, France, Mexico, China, or Afghanistan.

Like how popular it is now or was at some time in the past. Other people's likes or dislikes, no matter their numbers, tell you nothing.

Like what language the singing is in. Admittedly, many people prefer music where they can understand the words, and that's fine, but I think it's quite possible to enjoy music without knowing what they're singing about. After all, there's a lot of music in English where I wish I didn't understand. And I also enjoy instrumental music where there's no singing at all, and all you have to do is think of the human voice as an instrument.

Like what kinds of instruments are used. Electric, acoustic, electronic – guitar, piano, lute, sitar, koto, accordion, banjo, harmonica, didgeridoo, laptop, kora, coffee cans full of paper clips...

Like what tradition (or combination or lack thereof) it comes from. Pure Delta Blues is not superior to pure Carnatic music or the electronic combination of East African griot music with Irish folk.

So what does quality depend on? Listen to music with as open a mind as you can – how does it make you feel? Does it touch you, either emotionally or intellectually?

If it touches you, it's good music, and you have nothing to be ashamed about. There is no need to be embarrassed by your taste in music. And there is no need to berate others for their taste.

Is health care a service or a right?

John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, caused quite a stir recently with this post on the Wall Street Journal web site. Sensational exaggerations and knee-jerk boycotts aside, while his statements may seem to make sense, there is a fatal flaw in his reasoning that I've not seen anyone call him on, at least not in a reasoned way. The core of his argument comes down to this:

Many promoters of health-care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care—to equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals. While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?

Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That's because there isn't any. This "right" has never existed in America.

So is health care really a service, not a right? If a bleeding car crash victim staggers into an emergency room, can they be turned away? There is nothing wrong with denying service, right? A restaurant can refuse to serve a shirtless or shoeless person. But even the most hard-line conservative is not going to advocate denying emergency room service to a person in need. I would argue that a service that cannot be denied is a right.

Obviously, we have no trouble denying some medical services to the uninsured, which turns American emergency rooms into their primary source of care. If a problem is not serious enough to drive someone to an emergency room, they do without care. And if the problem becomes more serious, that's exactly where they go, even if it's something that could have been prevented easily with earlier treatment. This is one of the primary reasons American health care is in such trouble. Even aside from the cost in suffering and unnecessary deaths, it would be far cheaper to provide the service of early treatment to the uninsured than to treat them only when they are in serious need.

Another problem with Mackey's point is this: even if health care is a right, that does not mean "equal access to doctors, medicines and hospitals," which sounds like some kind of communist system. Virtually every other developed nation in the world has designed systems based on the idea of health care as a right, and nowhere is there any pretense of "equal access." People who have enough money can always get extra care and have more choices, being able to afford travel to the doctor or hospital they want. The right of freedom of speech does not mean equal access to mass media; the right to keep and bear arms does not mean everyone gets a gun for free; the right to work does not mean we can all do whatever job we choose.

Mackey mentions that there are no rights to food or shelter either. I would like to point him to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which the US has signed but never ratified. Of course, that Covenant also mentions health care as a right, along with other things that many Americans do not consider human rights, but "desirable goals." Which puts the US in the odd position of claiming to be one of the world's foremost proponents of human rights while simultaneously being one of the nations with the narrowest definition of human rights. Our view is that it would be nice if everyone had enough to eat, but there is no intrinsic right to avoid starving to death. So not only is it acceptable to not help starving people, but it is also acceptable to deny people food if they don't meet some standard of merit. After all, this is not a human right, but a service that can be denied.

Am I reducing Mackey's argument to the point of absurdity? Maybe, but I think his argument is at its core flawed and even of questionable morality. He says health is not a right, and I don't know where he draws the line.

He uses the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution as the only definitions of human rights. Well, a lot has changed in 200 years, and maybe those are not the only documents that should be used. I've mentioned the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and there's also the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, widely regarded (outside the US, I suppose) as the Gold Standard of rights documents.

Mackey also goes on to raise the specter of horrendous waiting lists for medical care in Canada and the UK. This is a false argument and misdirection of attention. Which is better, 830,000 Canadians on waiting lists for care, or millions of Americans who get no care at all? But that's really a different topic for another day.