What's so great about obscure music?

Does it sound better?

Does Phil Elverum make lovelier music than Abba? Does he? Really? REALLY? You're speaking (well, not literally. This is a strictly one-way flow of information) to a man with at least 3 Mount Eerie albums (last time I checked), so tread carefully. (Nothing on 'The Glow, Part Two' is a patch on 'One Of Us Is Crying').

Yet we do, we chase after Neil Young bootlegs, mythical botched pressings, the Great Lost Albums* and, of course, the Best Band Ever, Haven't You Heard Of Them. Well, I do. Sometimes. It's a tricky one, because of course a lot of obscure music is very wonderful. For instance, Chris Bell (the dead one out of Big Star, natch) has a very lovely song called 'I Am The Cosmos' with a paltry 14,000 scrobbles on last.fm (link). Considering the song was available 24 years before last.fm started up, that's pretty bad going. But anyone who's heard it can of course testify that it is, clearly, The Best Song Ever Written (this week at least).

That's a bit of a weird one actually, because it is a rather strange song. (It's about a guy who misses his girl trying to cheer himself up by making rather, um, grandiose statements about himself. I think). So its obscurity is at least understandable: it's not going to float everyone's boat. Neither is, say, Jandek (who is cool. in fact, because he actively seeks out obscurity; in fact, I'm pretty sure that's the only reason anyone'd ever listen to his music - because of the difficulty involved).

But on the other hand, check out, ooh, any Tarantino movie ever made. Chock-filled with the most straightforwardly gorgeous pop music ever made, which would yet remain unheard amongst my peers were it not for the wise soundtrack choices of that controversial (is he still controversial?) director. e.g. The Delfonics and their rather superbly titled 'Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)'. Were it not for Jackie Brown, I rather doubt I'd have ever heard it (for consistency: link). And somehow, the very fact of their obscurity (relatively obscure, that is, to the people who are most likely to end up watching the things – which I am rather lamely assuming for the sake of argument includes both you and me – Philly soul afficonados, leave the flame mail at home) makes it cooler. (The speccy bastard).

So what gives? Scholars have been debating it for centuries (probably). Having analysed the relevant literature (ish), I can announce here and now, exclusively for This Is Fake DIY, that it comes down to three factors:

1) the underdog factor,

2) the possessiveness factor (Nick Hornby's pet theory)

3) what I call the Mystical Allure Of The Unknown factor.

and of course the

4) the Oh, You Haven't You Heard Of Them? factor

So that's that. Nothing to do with the music itself whatsoever. Sorry. If it makes you feel better, I should add that major chords and upbeat rhythms in Burmese music apparently signify sadness. My point being that, say, ooh, 90% (to literally, well, not LITERALLY literally pluck a figure from the air) our enjoyment of music is, finally, culturally conditioned anyway. So who cares? It's all in our heads anyway. If the obscurity of a piece of music allows you to enjoy it more fully, then more power to you. (On this note I will humbly point the reader towards one of the most obscure tracks ever released, my own B-side 'Green Lights Mean Go', currently registering a fat 10 listens on last.fm [link - and incorrectly tagged to boot - damn you, iTunes!] - now that's what I call obscure.)

Anyway, I'm off to see Mama Mia. Cheerio!

* Some unlucky readers may be interested to know that I, too, have a Great Lost Album. It's called 'The Ragged Choir' and it's a 25-minute long post-folk rock opera/song cycle about two kids who find a secret world in their back garden. What a tool.

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