OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

factual errors and questionable theses you can drive a boom clap through:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/10905375/Is-Charli-XCX-the-new-Adele.html

Casey Kasem, Ronald Reagan and music’s 1 percent: Artificial “popularity” is not democracy

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/22/casey_kasem_ronald_reagan_and_musics_1_percent_artificial_popularity_is_not_democracy/

http://noisey.vice.com/en_ca/blog/jacques-greene-brought-back-house-music-for-the-people

A WHIFF OF SANITY in that Salon piece.

Christ, Casey Kasem as a fucking icon, and anyone who uses "centrism" re music needs a thrashing.

I gave up/fell asleep when I got to the "centrism" bit. No point my getting annoyed about this or any of the linked Grauniad/Torygraph pieces because they are clickbait rather than proper music writing.

holy fucking fuck at that Noisey one - is Noisey one of the worst sites in history?

Christ, Casey Kasem as a fucking icon, and anyone who uses "centrism" re music needs a thrashing.

― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius),

The point about centrism is the pearl in the shit. The rest is drivel.

I have always liked "Bette Davis Eyes" fwiw

post clip of karaoke performance plz

The kasem challops thinkpieces that spawned that salon article seem equally shit though. There's nothing "brave" about what Casey Kasem did, he was a pop DJ, not a music critic. He performed the exact function he was supposed to perform, for lots of money. It seems revisionist in a REALLY confused way to imagine that he was the underdog in a battle against...I don't even know what. It's like, you might credit someone like a George Plimpton for allowing value to sports within "intellectual" culture, but Marv Albert is a sports guy doing a sports guy's job for a sports-loving public.

The headline on the Salon thing -- "Artificial popularity is not 'democracy'" -- is the plaintive cry of losing student-government candidates everywhere.

I admit I didn't read many of the Kasem appreciations, but the ones I saw were less celebrations of him as a musical force than nostalgic childhood reveries. I never had any illusion that Casey himself was the one picking the winners, or that the show was somehow a manifestation of his taste. He was just the friendly guy who showed up with that week's news.

Hurting 2 otm, at least with regards to the Slate piece that originally used the word "centrist." I like Casey Kasem a lot; he seems like a good guy, and obviously had a great voice and a talent for using it. But that Slate piece envisioned him a poptimist warrior-analyst who fought the good fight against rockism for years.

He was just the friendly guy who showed up with that week's news.

This is sort of the same thing as lots of people thinking of TV news anchors as journalists. (Including some TV news anchors, I bet.) I much prefer the UK term "newsreader," because that's all they do - read the news that other people gathered, while making sincere/trustworthy/empathetic faces.

Kasem didn't even like music

these guys are from england and who gives a shit

I like Casey Kasem a lot; he seems like a good guy, and obviously had a great voice and a talent for using it. But that Slate piece envisioned him a poptimist warrior-analyst who fought the good fight against rockism for years.

― intheblanks, Monday, June 23, 2014 12:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Meanwhile, the actual good fight he fought has gone largely unremarked-upon in his obits: http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-17/entertainment/ca-36376_1_aladdin-lyrics-magic

Yeah, it was cool to learn about his activism for better Arab-American representation in the media, including quitting the Transformers cartoon.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/07/amanda_petrusich_s_do_not_sell_at_any_price_reviewed_by_sarah_o_holla.html

"What's the Right Way For a Woman To Listen To (Or Write About) Music?"

I haven't read her blog in any detail, but that seems like a fairly reasonable piece.

presented here less as evidence of bad writing, more a continuation of earlier discussion itt. The contention that women music writers tried to "shout her down" seems over the top, treating a brief bout of criticism on Twitter like #cancelcolbert or something.

a brief bout of criticism on Twitter

Don't forget 60-70* irate thinkpieces on all the expected sites.

*exaggeration for effect

I forget what position I took on the blog when it first emerged but that book review is anything but a bad or disingenuous piece of writing. It resonated with me. I wish more "average" listeners felt comfortable engaging with all kinds of music and talking about their experiences. Art is about staging encounters between audience and object; there shouldn't be any qualifications involved

are average listeners really given any insight by an average listener telling them about their average experience

Idk you'd have to ask them. Her blog has a lot of readers so there's clearly some appeal there

If there's one thing we need to fight for, it's not the right of average listeners to opine at length.

uggh

i want to read more about naive people engaging in things like records or drinking expensive wine without context because i suspect their reactions cut more to the essential properties of the thing (this seminal record is blah, this expensive wine tastes the same as box wine) unaided by the heavy lifting of the culture around it, but the sense I got from her record blog was she was actually pretty well-informed about what sort of space each record was supposed to occupy.

"Opine" isn't what she does though. The blog is a journal of her listening experience. I've only read a few entries, but they're well written and probably relatable for people who feel intimidated by their local record shop. There are many levels on which one can engage with a work and she is candid about the lack of prior knowledge she brings to her listening. In an era when anyone can feign expertise using google, this is actually a cool thing to see.

sorry xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS8oyl1gygs

that's fine for a blog, treezy. but what about the 'column space' that goes to thing-of-the-moment nonprofessional noncritics like her from media outlets looking to get their content on the cheap?

exactly -- that's what blogging is for and blog on, avg ppl

I for one welcome more non-specialist, regular joe, shoot-from-the-gut opinions being bruited about on the internet, because I have been starved for such opinions both in real life and on the blogosphere, as they have been drowned out by the so-called 'experts.'

Gotta say, Tree Cool, going on a message board frequented by rock critics in various states of employ and declaring, "I wish more major outlets would replace informed opinions with glorified Amazon reviews by, oh, whatever dumbass they can find" is A+ trolling.

hey that almost makes underemployment sound european and sexy

I'd rather read your reviews than hers, Whiney, but the appeal of her blog is also obvious to me. She's a good writer and her posts aren't really comparable to Amazon reviews imo. I can't really do anything about the job market for writers and didn't say anything about who should and shouldn't be paid to write.

there is generally more/better writing on her blog than people give her credit for, probably because everyone stopped reading it after the outrage died down, "leave the writing to the REAL WRITERS" gatekeeping rarely sits well with me (column space/pay is a consideration but in a lot of cases I think it's deployed as an excuse) and in theory I love the idea of someone doing a project like this and gradually learning more about music and writing and confidence in one's own opinions, however:

- the review was mostly not about the book at all, and my main takeaway from it was "this book sounds fascinating and I want to read more about *it*"
- the idea that something written by a woman, especially someone with as much of a resume as petrusich, is automatically a referendum on How Women Write About Music, sits even worse with me. put another way, I don't understand the mindset where you read/engage with a book like this and what you find most compelling/of interest for non-clickbait-chasing readers isn't "literally scuba diving to the bottom of a river to search for records" but "woman! writing!" or "my blog, let me tell you about it."

yeah the article mainly made me aware of and curious about the book but the 'angle' of the piece seemed a little myopic

the review was mostly not about the book at all, and my main takeaway from it was "this book sounds fascinating and I want to read more about *it*"

Also true of pretty much every book review ever published in The New Yorker, to be fair...

there are ways of being 'not a REAL writer' and there are ways

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Y3mWDkB6o

According to wikipedia, the last song, “Spoon,” was Can’s only big hit. It was a hit single in Germany. Interesting, because it does not sound like a typical hit!

such good writing

boy that sure makes me want to check out can

If I want to read something amusing if relatively clueless, Chuck Klosterman already exists.

lol i'm not sure i actually read that blog during the initial hub-bub. all in all it's some of most amateurish asinine garbage i've read in my life. all in all in all in all. all in all in all in all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0drC8qVMRk

the review was mostly not about the book at all, and my main takeaway from it was "this book sounds fascinating and I want to read more about *it*"

Also true of pretty much every book review ever published in The New Yorker, to be fair...

― Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, July 13, 2014 5:10 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

most of those new yorker reviews just seem like the "reviewer" summarizing the book(s) and perhaps throwing in a few critical sentences so it passes as a review/critique. it almost seems like the design is to make actually reading the reviewed book(s) superfluous. IDGI.

are you talking about the 'briefly noted' section? the new yorker for sure does thoughtful book essays.

She's a good writer and her posts aren't really comparable to Amazon reviews imo.

Paris 1919:

Okay, we’re back to romance on side two with “Paris 1919.” This song has almost a musical feel to it

I don't care if some idiot has a blog but praising the writing is a bridge too far

Totally. Here's Trout Mask Replica

Looking at the picture of these hippies on the back cover though, and thinking about how the 1950’s were so straight and polished and then the world basically went crazy in the 60s, it makes you realize that you really can do whatever you want with music, and you should do it.