@mussels
This probably won't help because it realies on an obscure reference, but it should have read "...the persnickety part of a collective memory disturbed from
its self-affirmation..."
I think wwas jazz critic Francis Davis (or possibly Martin Williams) who wrote an essay that distinguished the musical breakthrough of Ornette Coleman in the late 1950s as throwing off the shackles of the audience's expectation to be delighted and refusing io meet the need for satisfying resolutions within well-worn traditions in order to validate the music's excellence in terms of its ability to meet such a requirement, even by novel means.
Instead, the composer or musicians insisted the listeners to follow them rather than the other way around.
This sometimes included aggressively challenging the listener to go into and through unfamiliar, unattractive, and/or difficult sound structures. It was a demand that the music be experienced as artistic expression rather than eentertainment. It also meant that the music was often ignored or provoked angry criticism.
It's awkward to write this because I'm hardly an across-the-board Coleman fan, have found Cecil Taylor's density often impenetrable, and often can't give rationale for wwhy another artist's shrieking cacophony (by most folks' tastes) absorbs & elates me.
For the purposes of my ccomment on "The White Album" the 'self-affirmation' lens serves as a silly trap, and I was poking fun at myself (or others) for where I'd think, "Well, he didn't hit that note so that his singing sounded precisely like Paul," or, "The guitar solo on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' wasn't 100% accurate to the 1968 original, so it wasn't good enough and didn't make me happy." Such 'complaints' could only be so clearly exposed in the case of only one reference point ever.
Again, I doubt this makes it clearer to anyone but myself. I'm tapping these thoughts out pretty much live on my pphon.. rough drafts to divert my attention and hope that Karaban commits the next time I look for on-topic material in this fforu (no, I don't that's happening tonight).
Regarding the "cosplay" reference,
@storrsroars, that was simply another way to described examples llikePhish playing make believe and performing another band's album, such as Little Feat's "Waiting for Columbus as was mentioned in one post. I might aactually even have a bad cassette copy of a Phish doing "The White Album" on a Halloween or NYE, come to think of it.
They aren't exactly "missed opportunities" but Rockpile would be way high on a list of bands I wish I'd seen as a match for when that would have been and my age & such at the time. Also, I haven't ever seen Aimee Mann, for no good reason when compared with how much I like the best of her.
