Some thoughts on Pan's e-mail:
> It got old
> during the second song.
I completely agree. Even when I was creating some songs, at some point
it became less of a lark and more of a chore. The idea of a song with
strange vocals isn't quite enough to carry a whole library of tunes; to
be more listenable, a D'oke song needs to add something unique to the
formula. Which is why, once I made the first couple of songs, I went
looking for another idea, and hit upon the duet (i.e., putting together
lines using more than one source).
Actually, when I was first coming up with the idea, I was hoping that
the songs would be a means to an end, rather than the final product. The
idea of having a readily available sound library of just about any word
in the English language is one that should appeal to any culture jammer,
and my hope was that people would find other (better) uses for the
samples, and not just view D'oke songs as the only thing to do with
them.
> I would posit that it's "safe" culture jamming. It doesn't really bring
> up any specific cultural issues other than a general "We could get sued
> to redoing these songs". I suppose if you take the info on the website
> into account, there is some substance. However, on their own the songs
> don't really bring up any issues. John Q. Public just hears silly songs.
I agree with you on this point. When the songs started showing up on the
Dr. Demento Show, I knew the moment had passed, and the songs were just
another novelty.
But (a) by the nature of the songs, it's difficult to get across any
culture jamming ideas (apart from the idea that culture can be reused
and recycled into something different than its original form), and (b)
even if it's just a novelty, I like to think of it as one more addition
to the general listening public's subconscious that may bolster the
argument that the reuse of culture is not a damaging thing.
jma
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