{"id":30542,"date":"2013-02-19T06:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T13:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/?p=30542"},"modified":"2013-02-18T17:38:11","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T00:38:11","slug":"music-matters-al-walser-the-heretic-of-edm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2013\/02\/music-matters-al-walser-the-heretic-of-edm\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Matters: Al Walser, The Heretic of EDM?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Each Tuesday in Music Matters, Matthew Linder explores the intersections of music, culture and faith<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was as\u00a0perplexing\u00a0as the 1988 nomination and Grammy win of Jethro Tull\u2019s \u2018Crest of a Nave\u2019 album for the best\u00a0Hard Rock\/Metal Performance.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in December when the Grammy nominations were announced, the electronic dance music community was shocked to find little-known Al Walser and his song \u201cI Can\u2019t Live Without You\u201d as one of the nominees for Best Dance Recording. With only 20 views on YouTube<\/a>\u00a0(you read that correctly\u201420), EDM fans were puzzled as were the heavyweights of the genre and fellow nominees, Skrillex, Avicii, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia. It was as\u00a0perplexing\u00a0as the 1988 nomination and Grammy win of Jethro Tull\u2019s \u201cCrest of a Nave\u201d album<\/a> for the best\u00a0Hard Rock\/Metal Performance. In the end, Skrillex\u2019s punk-inspired Dubstep track,\u201dBangarang\u201d, took home the Grammy.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/k80DSWGcFIg<\/p>\n

Though the rhetoric spouted by EDM artists and music media concerning Walser\u2019s nomination, before and after the award show, was vitriolic.\u00a0Philip Sherburne who covers EDM at\u00a0Spin<\/em>\u00a0Magazine,\u00a0<\/em>called into question if Wasler was even an EDM artist<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Walser made for an entertaining diversion, but his nomination was a major embarrassment for the Grammys, proving just how out of touch the RIAA\u2019s members are when it comes to contemporary electronic dance music. The issue wasn\u2019t that he was a total unknown; it was that his song, \u201cCan\u2019t Live Without You\u201d couldn\u2019t by any reasonable standard be considered representative of electronic dance music. Not sonically, not stylistically, not culturally \u2014 just, no\u2026\u00a0So let\u2019s thank Al Walser one last time before we forget his name forever; he cut the sacrificial bull so that EDM may live on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A number of superstar DJ\u2019s also voiced their ire of over the Grammy nomination<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u201cI think the Grammys need to take a hard look at their infrastructure to make sure that something this disgraceful doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d music producer and DJ Tommie Sunshine said.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Diplo did respond with an email [sarcastically stating]: \u201cI love Everything about him! (hash)hackthesystem! Dance music sucks anyway!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Sunshine [of Skrillex] says the Grammys could suffer a real blow in the eyes of the EDM community if Walser were to win at the Feb. 10 awards show in Los Angeles. He says the short list of acts snubbed by Walser\u2019s inclusion starts and ends with French DJ and producer David Guetta, an international star with several hits to choose from during the nominating period.<\/p>\n

\u201cAl Walser\u2019s inclusion as a nominee makes people take the Grammys less seriously and if they expect younger people and fans of EDM to pay attention or care about what they are doing, they better start being more upfront with their process,\u201d Sunshine said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A lot of blame to put on a small time DJ. So how did an\u00a0unknown\u00a0EDM act, with barely any following, obtain a Grammy nomination in a highly competitive category? According to NPR<\/a>:<\/p>\n

To get his spot on the Grammy ballot, Walser heavily marketed himself on Grammy 365, a private social networking website for voting members of the Recording Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is he got the votes,\u201d says Recording Academy Vice President of Awards Bill Freimuth. \u201cHe was able to convince enough of our voting members that his recording was of a quality that deserved a Grammy nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freimuth says Walser sent out 7,000 emails on the site, poking members to listen to his song.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt raised a lot of eyebrows,\u201d says Freimuth, \u201cbut we looked into it thoroughly, and there were no aberrations in what happened.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Naturally, Walser was\u00a0flabbergasted\u00a0by the response<\/a> when he used the proper channels to campaign for his song\u2019s inclusion in the Best Dance Recording category:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still surprised by some of the people questioning it, especially when they said it should be fraud or something because that couldn\u2019t be further from the truth, as we all know\u2026 The other thing is I hope that this whole story is an inspiration for independent artists. \u2026 Maybe I am that little engine that could.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this is how some saw Walser, a win for independent artists<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in fairness, access and a level playing field,\u201d [Rich] Bengloff, [President of the American Association of Independent Music], said. \u201cAnd those other artists could have also worked the Grammy365 platform if they were so inclined, and I bet a lot of them did. \u2026 We just like the fact that The Recording Academy is very inclusive and that they give independents the same access and treat them with the same respect as every other artist that\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI Can\u2019t Live Without You\u201d does lack the quality of the other nominees, it is disheartening to see fellow artists place the problems with Grammy voting on a guy who followed all the proper guidelines. For an organization which gave \u201cMacArthur\u00a0Park\u201d a few Grammys<\/a>\u00a0(often referred to as the worst song ever), a guy who worked hard to promote his song is the least of their worries.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lesson for Christians in this. We tend to act like the Pharisees when Christ has called someone to him who doesn\u2019t fit our man-made conception of a Christian. Jesus ate with sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors and to them he gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven, even though they did not deserve it. Jesus had within his sovereign will the ability to punish them for their sins but instead he gave them the undeserved gift of himself, covering their sins and giving them eternal life. Dr. Rod Rosenbladt sums it up this way in his talk,\u00a0\u201cThe Gospel for Those Broken by the Church\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In heaven we will meet cowards, scum, \u201cbottom-of-the-barrel\u201d, reprehensibles, jerks, deadbeat dads, murderers, all sorts of rabble. And they died believing in Jesus and His blood as their only hope.\u00a0Ask yourself: \u00a0Is sola fide [faith alone] true or is sola fide not true in the case of failing Christians?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many felt Walser was undeserving of a nomination, but in reality, none of us deserve anything in our life but to die for our sins. We become as arrogant as Walser\u2019s critics when we think we have earned our place in God\u2019s kingdom. By faith alone we\u00a0received\u00a0the free life-giving gift of Jesus\u2019 blood and so did those we would never think deserved it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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