Tangerine Dream at SXSW Music Festival 2023

If you had to say just one good thing about the work of the professional critics, what would it be?

Answered by Edgar Froese

Yes, definitely not everything that’s been written about us is crap and I’ve never claimed that it was. Unfortunately, in the public eye, the positive side of something isn’t half as interesting than dirtying someone’s reputations. Is that odd? But one should never forget about the way most critics were before becoming critics. Most critics come from the same background they now criticise. It’s best not to forget one important factor: they’ve gotten through one of the most uncomfortable experiences in life, the lack of acknowledgement in their own efforts to become a successful artist. Very often some frustrated individual tries to save his artistic and philosophical integrity by tearing up a rock act or a theatre premiere with a pen. The way we hate critics for that gives them some inexplicable satisfaction. A writers has an orgasm for 20 bucks per line – at the most. There’s one thing a critic should always keep in mind: “If there is any real doubt as to whether or not an artist has delivered a true piece of work, it is better to vote for than against him; why ? As a writer, you always have a second chance to correct yourself. The artist, once torn apart by the media, doesn’t have the same luxury.Because many critics are quite cynical, here a word from Oscar Wilde: “A cynical critic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”By the way, some time next year a documentary will be released featuring some of the most bizarre statements that the media has expressed about TD.