concerning critics

So a food critic goes into a Chinese restaurant and after sampling many dishes proclaims "This restaurant is horrible because there's no Italian food!" This is about how 99.9% of critics operate, i.e. they completely miss the point, and do so simply because of their own expectations and limitations.

Well, de gustibus non est disputandum, but this sort of connoisseurship is really a bad way for musicians to operate. Particularly because connoisseurship has everything to do with identity which rarely, if ever, leaves open the possibility of a road to Damascus experience. Especially among rock guitarists the default m.o. is usually to dismiss that which isn't playable as bad. Hendrix and Blackmore are acceptable, but anyone who raises the bar becomes 'too technical', 'souless', etc...you know the drill. It seems to me that as musicians we should, well, love music, and constantly strive to learn to play as much of it as possible in order to push our own boundaries further. And as we learn new musical styles we gain the added benefit of being able to connect with more and more people. (Connecting with people: really the goal of music anyway???)

It's a shame, but no surprise, that those who don't like anything are the same people who can't play anything.