Dahle Communication

How do we classify music - why U2 is not classic rock

Last week a friend of mine made an intriguing comment on Twitter "Not sure how I feel about U2 being referred to as "classic rock" on #Glee" I understood her feeling, but I did comment that U2's Boy came out in 1980, over 30 years ago - however, she felt that the song 'One' really isn't classic rock. That got me thinking about music and how we classify things. On this point I had to agree with her: to me, U2 (especially Achtung Baby and albums that followed) should not be considered Classic Rock.

It comes down to how we classify things. Music has always been classified into different genres - Alternative, Grunge, Hair Metal, Pop, Country, etc. What becomes complicated is when we try to break it down by an age or time divisions. Things such as "classic rock" or "old-school rap" because who decides if something should be considered in those divisions?

Let's take Classic Rock for example. What standard should be used for determining what is and what isn't classic rock? Is it a certain age? If so, then do we just put any type of musical genre after a certain amount of time into that category? If that is the case, then we are really starting to bunch things up.

Let's take a look at three different albums from about the same time to see this example at work: R.E.M.'s Out of Time, Pearl Jam's Ten and Poison's Flesh & Blood. All three albums came out between 1990 and 1991, yet you couldn't find three different genres as these three. However, if we use age as the determinant for something, they can all be considered "classic rock" now and that just doesn't seem right.

Maybe I'm just getting old and still think classic should just be bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and anything between 1965 and 1980 - because before 1965 is more Oldies and after 1980 is well...80's music.

My point in all of this rambling is that we have to be cautious when we label things. Communication is all about the language that we use. That is why you should be careful when you label something. I'm sure Glee didn't mean anything by it, but I am sure there were a lot of people my age and older who don't consider U2's one as classic rock. However, to someone in high school, it might sound like an oldie. Such is the problem with age I guess.

Will Obama use storytelling again with Elena Kagan?

Picture from Kathleen Dooher-AP, Washinton Post

 This morning I awoke to the news that President Obama is going to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. The biggest news from this announcement is that it will mark the first time in United States history that there will be three female justices serving on the bench at the same time.

However, what I am interested in is how he is going to use communication to get the confimation though. Using an effective communication strategy (better known as Public Relations) is key to winning the public vote, even if he doesn't get the Republican's vote.

Last year I noted that he was using a great story to paint Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the all-American tale of rising up from hard times to become a justice. It was a great story. Here is just a small part of the New York Times article that I quoted then:

Her up-by-the-bootstraps tale, an only-in-America story that in many ways mirrors Mr. Obama’s own, is one reason for her selection, and it is the animating characteristic of her approach to both life and the law.

It was well done and obviously successful since she was nominated. The question I have now is, will Obama learn from those hearings and once again focus on Kagen's story to gain public support? If he is smart he will. The story-telling that the Obama administration used last year was very effective.

As always, I have no idea if this person is qualified or not - I need to do some research before making that decision. However, I will be interested to see how the Obama administration appraches this issue, especially with the toxic environment that politics seems to be in since the health care debate and an upcoming election in November.

I'll try to keep a watch of the proceedings as they unfold and will continue to see how effective (or ineffective) their communication methods will be. However, in the opening article I am already starting to see a trend: serve das Dean of Harvard Law School and would make history by joining two other females on the court. However, the article was mostly focused on other issues that are not that condusive to telling a good story. Only time will tell if that is going to change.

Get off line to get some perspective - and work done

 Over the past few days I have been without the internet at work. Needless to say it means that I have not been able to check my e-mail as often as I would like (sadly I don't have a blackberry) and I have been off of most social networking sites except for at random intervals or in the evenings when I get a chance.

I thought I might go crazy at first, but I have also found myself highly productive. There have been numerous things on my to-do list that just kept getting pushed aside until these past few days. I've been able to knock out a lot of those items on the list and get some work done on topics I wasn't sure I would be able to get to until sometime this summer.

While I have missed some of the banter that I am sure is occurring on Twitter, I don't feel as left out as I thought I would. In fact, not being able to get on-line at will has been a bit of a refresher for me and has been quite nice.

Sometimes we need a change in our routine to get a little perspective back into our lives. A lot of times, we try to stick to what we always do, fearing what would happen if we changed. Unfortunately, this is usually to the detriment of ourselves. How can we get better if we just keep doing things the same way we always did them? The answer is: we can't.

The message for communication is clear - don't just rely on what you currently are doing or have done in the past. Make sure to take a step back and analyze a few things. Are your intros really that good? Can the language used be sharpened more? Do my visuals in the PowerPoint actually make sense? A lot of times we think we know the answers to these and other questions, but a lot of times we don't have the perspective needed to see the problems.

So, my advice to all of you is to take a day or two, and if you can, shut off your computer for a good portion of the day. I know this may not be practical for some of you, but a good banishment from the web can be a good thing (even though I complained about it on Twitter). As for your speeches, take a step back and try to get a fresh look at your speeches and presentations. Are they really doing what you want them to do - or is it just what you've always done. A fresh pair of eyes can do nothing but help.