Recently Kenny Drew Jr., son of the jazz piano legend and a noted player in his own right, published an anti hip-hop diatribe that sparked a monster thread in the allaboutjazz.com forums. Amid the avalanche of jazzbo fuddy-duddyism there's also been some great discussion, as more level-headed folks entered the fray.. I've learned a lot by reading through it.
I was reminded of that thread today, while reading this history of the Stradivarius violins.. it starts out describing violin's early days in the 1500s, when it turns out the instrument was getting dissed much like the turntable-as-instrument is dissed today:
"At the time the violin had a distinctly questionable reputation. The accepted view was that it might provide a good accompaniment for dancing, but it was not something in which true musicians should take an interest. In parts of Italy there were even church edicts directing the destruction of this licentious object..."
If you check some of the anti-turntable remarks in that thread, the resemblance is uncanny.
