First of all, before you come to any conclusions about this post based on the title (you probably already have), let me state this: I relate these subjects because when I was a small child, they seemed to go together well. Now I think otherwise, but through the process of explaining my mindset as a child, I can make a point or two about the human mind's habit of association.
When I was a young child I hated jazz. I thought it was boring. If you could ask me as a child, of course, I wouldn't say it was because I disliked the way the bass line alternated with every quarter note, interfering with the structure of the chords, or that the chords in general were more dissonant than in popular music, although both of these factors may have contributed. I would have just told you it was cheesy and boring, and that I didn't like it. What I realize now, though, is that the main reason that I did not like jazz was because I associated it with my surroundings at the time that I was hearing it. My mind has a strong association between music, color, and environment, and for me, the environment for hearing jazz was what was really boring, not the music itself. But through association, something that links a memory or emotion that bears a particular response can seem to have the properties of that response itself. Imagine the places in which a young child would hear jazz. These would most likely be:
- A boring formal social event involving fancy suits and old people, in which jazz is played on the loud speaker or band stand, eliminating any chance of conversation.
- A waiting room with white walls and a white tile ceiling in which jazz pours from the circular sound-drain overhead.
- An old cheesy movie in which too much talking and not enough exploding occurs.
These are the kinds of situations in which a young child would hear jazz. Can you imagine now why I might learn to hate a form of music by association?
On the contrary, though, I can say that I now appreciate jazz. In fact, I love it. This didn't come too easily, though. It took quite a few listening sessions with just me, some work to do, and nothing but jazz in the background. But after a while, I've really come to enjoy it. It just takes some time to get used to.
This leads me to expand my case of association not just to jazz music, but to all music in general, since for me, this phenomenon occurs mainly in music. Once when I was practicing with a band-mate/friend of mine (guitarist), he was just reviewing one of our songs with me, and for the ending (I don't play during the ending), he improvised three new chords just to say "the heck with it." They were the major IV, then the minor iv, and finally the major seven I. A close friend of both mine and his, who was spectating, began to laugh out loud and comment on what a "cheesy ending" it was. I can clearly see where his comment was coming from. I'd heard quite a bit of those chords in sentimental soft rock and indie rock music, so I knew what he was talking about.
It made me think, though, about what makes something cheesy. I'm sure that by "cheesy," what our friend meant was sentimental and overused, cliché. I've looked up the official meaning of the word "cheesy," though, and it is different, although I've heard that word used quite often to mean the very same thing. In general, I believe the official definition of "cheesy" is just of generally poor quality, such as a knock-off or something unpleasant. I've found that the word "trite" more accurately describes the desired tone used to describe something that is cliché. However, I believe that the modern slang meaning of "cheesy" will do just fine, as it can be generally recognized as "trite." But anyway, something becomes cheesy when it is overused.
So something becomes cheesy when it is overused. This is not hard to understand, but what is interesting about it is that no new idea is ever introduced with the purpose of becoming a cliché. Think, for example, of the type of music that you might hear in the background of a TV commercial. The type of music being played would greatly depend upon the type of product being used. Think of the all-overused generic soap commercial with the white background, the shiny models' skin and hair, and, of course, the cool-graphics computer-generated animation showing how the shiny fluid magically cleanses you. The music used in those commercials generally some form of relaxing jazz-pop ballad, or and upbeat electropop beat; something of the sort. Usually, though, the people who make these commercials will seek out the dreamiest, most relaxing music. They are mainly responsible for how this music is presented to the general public. As a result, people begin to associate this type of music to its surroundings. I believe that some types of music much like this are commonly heard more often in commercial advertising than by their few avid listeners. Disappointingly, this can shift the entire general perception of one genre of music from innovative to "cheesy" over the course of a few years.
On the contrary, it is likely the person's fault, though, who invests in such tacky methods of music promotion as commercial advertising, even if passively so. Therefore you really have to be careful exactly how you present an idea, as if it appears in the wrong context, it can become cheesy just like anything else. But overall, it matters not how the idea is presented, but simply how much it is, and how well it is adopted. The best way to solve this problem is simply to think of a new way to present an idea and to be innovative, with the hopes that in this world stuffed full of popular ideas, if any are congruent to the ones that you are attempting to present, that they are obsolete or unheard of altogether.
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