OK, what the hell's wrong with this review? I agree with almost all of it.
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 15:51 (fifteen years ago) link
bit overcooked i guess, but i like it! the 'every sentence must have some pow pow pow trickery' style of writing has kind of waned hasn't it.
― goole, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 15:52 (fifteen years ago) link
I just thought it was petty and smug. Plus, sprinkling song titles and lyrics into a review is a pet peeve of mine. This review always comes to mind when I think of a particular kind of criticism that leaves me more annoyed than informed. Maybe this is personal and not Harris's fault, but it reminds me of the whole era of sarcasm and naivite that led folks to say that Bush and Gore were the same, and a Simpsons and Seinfeld world where if you're not making a joke you are a joke.
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:04 (fifteen years ago) link
And if gospel music and 9/11 and Springsteen aren't sacred cows, than I assume Keith Harris doesn't see himself as one either. I've liked other reviews of his, as well as his show recommendations in City PAges.
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:06 (fifteen years ago) link
The first graf is right-on and far from smug.
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:07 (fifteen years ago) link
September 11 affected us all in different ways, and the way it affected Bruce Springsteen was this—as the second tower toppled from the sky, he was plunged into a world of eternal vagueness.
That's not smug?
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:09 (fifteen years ago) link
no
― goole, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:10 (fifteen years ago) link
No.
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:11 (fifteen years ago) link
it's funny! probably the funniest thing you could say about 9/11 and bruce springsteen
― goole, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:11 (fifteen years ago) link
If anything, he implies that Springsteen's the smug one for responding to 9-11 with an album's worth of platitudes.
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:12 (fifteen years ago) link
i don't disagree w/ Eazy's general drift, but there are much much worse examples and practitioners of that style imo
― radio k3ller (some dude), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:13 (fifteen years ago) link
I mean, gospel music is almost always more symbolic and allegorical than concrete and specific. "We Shall Overcome" works on specific occasions, but it doesn't document the surface of those occasions.
Definitely there are worse examples out there. This one pissed me off more than any other, though no more than he seemed to feel about The Rising.
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:21 (fifteen years ago) link
And I'm no big fan of unmelodic Tom Joad and Rising Springsteen songs, though I think "The Rising" itself is about as good a Springsteen song as there is. Telling a song from the point of view from a fireman in the first tower, but telling it in a way that someone could sing it and make it their own, and telling it in a way that doesn't permanently ground it in 2002, is quite a fear.
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:24 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm afraid of it too.
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:24 (fifteen years ago) link
A feat, a feat!
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:25 (fifteen years ago) link
in that review keith seems to just KNOW things that he can't possibly know, i.e. the post-9/11 Springsteen is vague because, like the Democratic party, he doesn't want to alienate anyone. really?
The Rising argues, implicitly but unmistakably, that in a time of crisis we should shrug off our individual concerns in the interest of "healing." Sound familiar?That's not to equate the heartfelt pieties of one of rock's most decent millionaires with the demands for unanimity launched by those gutting the Fourth Amendment.
That's not to equate the heartfelt pieties of one of rock's most decent millionaires with the demands for unanimity launched by those gutting the Fourth Amendment.
except actually it is. cake = had and eaten! and nice job getting the "millionaire" reference in there dude
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:27 (fifteen years ago) link
FEAR THE BOSS! FEAR HIM, I SAY!
xp
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:29 (fifteen years ago) link
also his first instinct that "if 9/11 hadn't existed bruce would have had to invent it" is a snide aphorism was the right one; it's a risible thing to say
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:29 (fifteen years ago) link
it's also funny as hell.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Sometimes critics use albums as an excuse to write zingers – wow!
― My life is butthurt so badly (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:32 (fifteen years ago) link
And sometimes non-critics use critics to encapsulate the shortcoming of a particular era -- no harm done to anyone.
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:33 (fifteen years ago) link
(Not critics in general -- specific reviews.)
― Squash weather (Eazy), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:34 (fifteen years ago) link
suggesting that Bruce Springsteen actually welcomes national tragedy because it will boost his own "relevance" is funny as hell??
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:38 (fifteen years ago) link
http://culturekitchen.com/files/images/web_Lee_Greenwood.jpg
― goole, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:39 (fifteen years ago) link
i just deleted like four bruce live albums off my ipod last night, i think i'm getting defensive because of my guilt - sorry bruce
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 9 September 2009 16:44 (fifteen years ago) link
no, it isn't. but suggesting that "If there hadn't been a September 11, Bruce Springsteen would have had to invent one." is, imho.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 17:23 (fifteen years ago) link
c'mon RI-I-I-I-I-I-I-SE UP. RI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-SE UP.
― vulva eyes (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 17:28 (fifteen years ago) link
just you wait til i fetch my Cain, you.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 17:32 (fifteen years ago) link
what would we do without music critics--how would anyone ever understand music
― Monsieur Queueue (Mr. Que), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 17:35 (fifteen years ago) link
by abusing copious amounts of illegal substances, natch.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis), Wednesday, 9 September 2009 17:43 (fifteen years ago) link
haha @ the rapreviews.com writer eventually outing himself as an animal collective stan and comparing merriweather post pavilion to veckatimest
― k3vin k., Thursday, 10 September 2009 02:18 (fifteen years ago) link
uhhhh i first read that as "rape reviews" and then as "ra previews" pls let's pretend this says nothing about me except that i'm about four deep.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 10 September 2009 02:24 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/newsfocus/article.html?Straight_Edge_is_no_sex,_no_drugs,_just_rock_and_roll&in_article_id=741802&in_page_id=65
This is from today's Metro and actually worse than the URL would lead you to expect
― What are the benefits of Western democracy, better elections? (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 23 September 2009 13:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I like that they transcribe the guy's t-shirt as "Party F******g Sober!" and then run a photo of the whole fucking thing right below that.
― pshrbrn, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 14:09 (fourteen years ago) link
SleeveNotes: Tim Jonze:It's not every day you get to compare Sugababes to the band who wrote Nazi Punks Fuck Off. But this week the pop trio followed in the footsteps of extreme metal terrorists Napalm Death by soldiering on, despite the fact that, since Keisha Buchanan's departure on Monday, their lineup now has zero original members.
It's not every day you get to compare Sugababes to the band who wrote Nazi Punks Fuck Off. But this week the pop trio followed in the footsteps of extreme metal terrorists Napalm Death by soldiering on, despite the fact that, since Keisha Buchanan's departure on Monday, their lineup now has zero original members.
OK, what's wrong with the above?
― Mark G, Wednesday, 23 September 2009 16:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Article on Creed in Slate today. Reads utterly incoherent to me and I'm not sure that it's not a joke, but it seems sincere enough I guess.
― wmlynch, Thursday, 22 October 2009 00:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd hardly say its incoherent save for
"Higher" might turn out to be the nu-grunge "Don't Stop Believing": dismissed by cognoscenti on arrival as bludgeoning and gauche but destined for rehabilitation down the road as a triumphant slab of ersatz inspirationalism.
ersatz?
inigo_montoya.jpg
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 22 October 2009 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh just go for the clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 October 2009 00:15 (fourteen years ago) link
That article was fine. It was of a piece with Slate's baffling obsession with contrarianism and revisionism. It was a decent read.
― Bill Magill, Thursday, 22 October 2009 14:18 (fourteen years ago) link
It was a great read, except it would have read EXACTLY the same if it was on The Onion.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 22 October 2009 14:32 (fourteen years ago) link
derivative blowhards with a self-righteous Christian agenda
i like how he describes in 8 words why no one likes creed and then spends 5 paragraphs defending creed.
― call all destroyer, Thursday, 22 October 2009 14:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm a sucker for a thoughtfully contrarian essay, so this worked.
― lihaperäpukamat (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 October 2009 14:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Then you remembered the sex tape with Kid Rock and came to your senses.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 October 2009 14:44 (fourteen years ago) link
I can share Brett Michaels' own tape with you.
― lihaperäpukamat (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 22 October 2009 14:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Why is Creed "good" and "underrated"?
1. They write "first-rate schlock-rock."2. "In his lyrics, Stapp is a well-meaning, Bible-fluent doofus, easy to chuckle at"3. Stapp's stage presence is "obnoxiously anachronistic"4. "Higher" is "a triumphant slab of ersatz inspirationalism"5. "Tremonti was a brutally effective guitarist"
It's like he couldn't even take his own argument seriously. His defense is pretty backhanded.
― wmlynch, Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:51 (fourteen years ago) link
the bar is pretty low for good music writing tbh
― access flap (omar little), Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Why is Creed good? Cuz they write shit songs with bad lyrics and their frontman is irritating. THAT'S WHY!
― wmlynch, Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Wait, it's that they're ersatz good.
the slate thing is just a space-filler, but its hardly terrible. or terribly written anyway. dunno if it was worth the effort...
― scott seward, Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:56 (fourteen years ago) link
what IS worth the effort these days? where's the good writing thread? i haven't read anything good in a dog's age. somebody must have written something good this year about music.
― scott seward, Thursday, 22 October 2009 17:57 (fourteen years ago) link