"I'm not sure how one measures 'self-consciousness,' but when I listen to "Debra" I think, "This is a white dude singing." Nothing inherently wrong (Bowie, 1974)."
have you heard becks cover of bowie's win? he does it very straight.
in fairness, the debra narrative, i.e. a guy trying to get with a girl and her sister, is arguably not one that should be sung about with a 100% straight face.
"tbf i feel like the beck song is a good corrective reminder that for all the reverence prince is also the 'masturbating with a magazine' guy"
also often camp AF. see: international lover's ending.
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:05 (three years ago) link
never heard this beck song but i probably should to work out how offended i should be with this comparison
― nothing (Left), Monday, 29 March 2021 15:06 (three years ago) link
prince is also the guy that made a song called wonderful ass, vibrator, and wrote gigolos get lonely too.
"never heard this beck song but i probably should to work out how offended i should be with this comparison"
please do.
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:07 (three years ago) link
not trying to save-a-debra, ILMs most talked about & favorite song of 2021, but just sayin imo the stance "this ridiculously goofy ott song with strained sex rhymes is clearly intended to mock prince" is a little bit "you cant fight in here, this is the war room"
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Monday, 29 March 2021 15:12 (three years ago) link
for the hell of it, here is an exchange between beck and dre3000 (someone not above pastiches of prince, never mind bootsy, sugarfoot and who knows who else), which also discusses prince. http://persojy.free.fr/fr/beck_outkast.html
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:17 (three years ago) link
Beck: I was gonna ask you about Prince because he was a big inspiration for Midnite Vultures.Andre: Prince, to me, is the greatest of our time, as far as songwriting and producing and all that.Beck: It's funny now because when I was making my last record, Prince wasn't somebody that people were talking much about. He kind of ebbs and flows. People don't cite him as an influence much these days, especially not in the rock world. For me, he represents possibilities, you know. He does it all.Andre: Most definitely.Beck: He has that sense of humor that I think you guys have, which is a rare commodity.Andre: Yeah, man, you've got to keep it fun.
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:28 (three years ago) link
i don't think anyone was saying "debra" was intended to mock prince
― ufo, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:44 (three years ago) link
'i like prince but i cant be prince, i want to sing like prince but i cant sing like prince with conviction, i dont sing about sex so i cant sing about things prince does with sincerity, isnt singing about sex a bit silly lol, how can i do it? i will sing about it as if i know it is silly, that way i can get away with this without anyone saying i am just singing about sex like so many commercial artists do; also i think if you are too sincere and emotional, it means you are not intelligent, i am intelligent, and i want people to recognise this, so i will not succumb to such simplicity'
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:50 (three years ago) link
“step inside my hyundai”
― voodoo chili, Monday, 29 March 2021 15:57 (three years ago) link
'i like prince but i cant be prince, i want to sing like prince but i cant sing like prince with conviction, i dont sing about sex so i cant sing about things prince does with sincerity, isnt singing about sex a bit silly lol, how can i do it?
two better answers are "write it for someone else to sing" or "maybe not"
― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Monday, 29 March 2021 15:59 (three years ago) link
also, obv: hipsters gonna be hipsters.
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 16:08 (three years ago) link
There’s probably something to unpack at length w/r/t Beck’s relationship to Black music in general (including hip-hop in his earlier stuff), but I’m not sure he’s an interesting enough artist to warrant it.
― beer drops on my keytar (morrisp), Monday, 29 March 2021 17:05 (three years ago) link
his relationship to Black music is as fraught and interesting as any modestly intelligent regular dude's.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 29 March 2021 17:13 (three years ago) link
def interesting. and def warrants it. obv he likes it. but obv he also has some rockist supremacy in relation to it so i wonder how much he really respects it. i remember hearing live shows on bootleg mp3s from the 90s that he had where he was, IIRC, kind of taking the piss out of james brown somewhat, affecting JB-isms for comedic effect, which didnt sit that well with me at the time tbh. i think he has quite a detached relationship to it, i doubt he would ever get as ridiculously romantic about old bluesmen as someone like keith richards in that sort of over-affected indebtedness, he just sees it as something to keep up to date with as its doing new stuff that might be interesting for someone like him to utilise, which leads to things like his work with timbo and pharrell (though the pharrell stuff was years after the neptunes heyday). i think he has different relationships with the stuff thats rock canon that he did in his americana, bluesy folksy periods, then a diff relationship with whats come after.
― candyman, Monday, 29 March 2021 17:24 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Tuesday, 27 April 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
I am genuinely curious to see how many votes "Debra" will get
"Debra" voters, reveal yourselves
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 01:41 (three years ago) link
NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF! SOMETHING TELLS ME YOU WANNA GO HOME!Champagne, bibles, custom clothes you ownCalling up from special area codesHollywood notes with the Hollywood phones
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 01:54 (three years ago) link
That's the part that always sticks with me from Midnite Vultures.
How Does It Feel obv. Silly poll but the beef upthread is also silly.
Not gonna vote, but when I saw Beck he encored with “Debra” and there were approximately zero layers of irony; shit was ridiculous but he was completely into it
― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 03:40 (three years ago) link
we'll finally know how many drive an elantra
― devil sticks in trench coat (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 04:57 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Wednesday, 28 April 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
Okay, all nine of you reveal yourselves
― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid), Wednesday, 28 April 2021 02:05 (three years ago) link