'It Takes a Nation of Millions...' Potential Authors?

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Would anyone be able to suggest a writer who could tackle 'It Takes a Nation of Millions...' for a series of books that I'm putting together? (The books will be around 25,000 words each.) FYI, other albums being covered include 'Dusty in Memphis', 'Meat is Murder', 'Sign O' the Times', 'Forever Changes', etc. Thanks. David.

― David Barker, Wednesday, 22 January 2003 16:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I could. Depending on what the focus of the series is and what it pays. Is this a "Making Of..." or a "Records the Matter" or what?
I have samples.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

trife to contract!

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 16:50 (twenty-three years ago)

His would be the most original approach to that album in fifteen years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 17:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Sign O' The Times has got me stoked, but why Meat Is Murder over say, the Queen Is Dead?

I vote for Bonz Malone, re: Public Enemy.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 18:51 (twenty-three years ago)

It Takes a Nation of Millions Now Living Will Never Die.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 18:54 (twenty-three years ago)

For a second I thought you said Marc Bolan and was contemplating your powers at raising the dead to make them write books.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 18:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I want to say Greg Tate, but at the time, Chuck D. (IIRC) called him the Village Voice's "porch n*gg*r," so I don't know. Robert Christgau, perhaps?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 18:57 (twenty-three years ago)

As long as it's anybody but Harry "Media Assassin" Allen.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 22 January 2003 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

What's the criteria for this series? Classic albums? (Meat is Murder? Hello? Sorry, but the Smiths are one of those bands you simply outgrow after college.)
Memorable recording sessions? Or what?

I'd like to read about the making of Shoot Out the Lights, with Richard and Linda at each other's throats. Now that would be interesting.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 22:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Sorry, but the Smiths are one of those bands you simply outgrow after college

What if you hated them in college? I'm 31 and I only decided I liked 'em about two or three years ago.

Please do tell what else I'm too old fer, o wise seer?

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 22:45 (twenty-three years ago)

"Please do tell what else I'm too old fer, o wise seer?"

Any band that makes shallow, ham-fisted, pretentious music.
Maybe senility's come a little early for you, my friend.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 23:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Any band that makes shallow, ham-fisted, pretentious music.

And the bands you like are?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 23:29 (twenty-three years ago)

B-b-but if Johnny Marr's fists were really hams, he would have had serious trouble fingering and arpeggiating all those pretty little jazzy chords on the songs!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 22 January 2003 23:43 (twenty-three years ago)

No band that isn't shallow, ham-fisted and pretentious was ever worth a damn.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 23 January 2003 00:38 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd like to volunteer to write about GERMFREE ADOLESCENTS.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 23 January 2003 00:39 (twenty-three years ago)

i'll do the daphne and celeste LP!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 23 January 2003 01:14 (twenty-three years ago)

i'll do the daphne and celeste LP!!

I'll fight you for it, beeyatch.

― Charlie (Charlie), Thursday, 23 January 2003 01:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Dibs on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession!

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 23 January 2003 01:54 (twenty-three years ago)

B-52's Cosmic Thing is allll about me.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 23 January 2003 03:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Would anyone be able to suggest a writer who could tackle 'It Takes a Nation of Millions...' for a series of books that I'm putting together?

Ronin Ro

― CretanBull (CretanBull), Thursday, 23 January 2003 03:22 (twenty-three years ago)

If anyone cares, I'm doing the Sign 'O' the Times one. [ducks]

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 23 January 2003 06:33 (twenty-three years ago)

You sonuvabitch!

Can I do Parade?

― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 23 January 2003 07:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Pity it's not Fear Of A Black Planet. I have a readymade piece on that from 1990 which puts the record in context with the poll tax riots and the Boat Race (both of which occurred on the same Saturday we got the album on import from the now defunct Bluebird Records in Berwick Street) and winds up spearing Madonna's "Vogue" via James "Blood" Ulmer and McEwan's "Cement Garden." I might dig it out and post it on CoM if anyone's interested.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 23 January 2003 09:06 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm very interested, Marcello.

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 23 January 2003 09:15 (twenty-three years ago)

"And the bands you like are?"

You must have a lot of free time on your hands if you seriously want to wade through my list.
Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone about the Smiths. I loved them in college, just like a lot of girls liked Sylvia Plath in college.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Thursday, 23 January 2003 14:07 (twenty-three years ago)

g--g-get you!

― Ferg (Ferg), Thursday, 23 January 2003 23:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Strange: I do like listening to Meat is Murder more than Queen is Dead but the latter certainly seems richer in terms of potential text action.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 24 January 2003 00:04 (twenty-three years ago)

could someone kindly link me to a page where i can experience proof of the genius attributed to one ethan padgett ?

― woland, Friday, 24 January 2003 02:38 (twenty-three years ago)

right here

http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/e/eminem/eminem-show.shtml

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 24 January 2003 02:41 (twenty-three years ago)

i wasn't impressed.

i reckon this boy could pen some killer homoerotic porn though...

― woland, Friday, 24 January 2003 03:15 (twenty-three years ago)

If you didn't outgrow them during college, you're beyond hope.

― kieran, Friday, 24 January 2003 03:24 (twenty-three years ago)

ethan p, the worst Pitchfork writer of all time.

― Polly, Friday, 24 January 2003 03:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Christ, this place has gone to the corny indie fuxx

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 04:41 (twenty-three years ago)

corny indie fuxx or no, trife can eat a dick

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 24 January 2003 04:42 (twenty-three years ago)

are they corny indie fuxx because they don't like Ethan's writing? if that's all it takes....

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 24 January 2003 07:36 (twenty-three years ago)

let's all beat up on the teenaged kid whose Eminem review was a lot more interesting than ninety percent of the other Eminem reviews (and that's ALOT of reviews) and talk about how we did or didn't outgrow the Smiths in college. ILM - Alive and Kicking! (anybody remember Simple Minds? Those were the days!)

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 07:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Can't wait to see the fresh take on 'It Takes a Nation of Millions'!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 07:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Meanwhile, the kettle's black - What did you listen to today?

― the pot (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 07:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Man I forgot how great that review was.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Ethan's review has better writing than most of Meat Is Murder. And I like the Smiths!

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:15 (twenty-three years ago)

this has nothing to do with Ethan or the review, or my opinions thereof, but your reasoning on "the teenage kid" thing is suspiciously close to people who said "well, you can't criticize Silverchair--they're just kids, maaaan," as if being young exempts them from being subject to the same quality judgements as everybody else, which is, to put it bluntly, romantic bullshit.

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:19 (twenty-three years ago)

to put it bluntly!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:22 (twenty-three years ago)

romantic bullshit?

james loves ethan! james loves ethan! they should get married!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:24 (twenty-three years ago)

he can eat a dick!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:26 (twenty-three years ago)

ILM--alive and kicking!

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:28 (twenty-three years ago)

he can eat a dick!

I'm sure he can!

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Seriously though, if someone said 'Nate Patrin is the worst City Pages writer ever' and the City Pages wasn't City Pages but was P'fork (so vastly lower bar) and some else said 'Patrin can eat a dick' and Patrin was just a teenaged kid and that Eminem review really was your favorite Eminem review of the year are you saying you wouldn't have his back?

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:37 (twenty-three years ago)

I would probably say something like "That's actually my favorite thing I've read this year," rather than "Jesus God look what ILM has come to yet again!" or "But he's just a wee li'l thing, for pity's sake!" I was judging your logic, not your opinion.

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:39 (twenty-three years ago)

But he is just a wee lil thing!

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Also--and this isn't a request or demand, I realize there there have been plenty of discussions of Ethan's piece already, it's more me extending my answer--I'd try and explain why it was my favorite thing this year. That might bring me in for some derision myself, but if I were passionate enough and convinced that I was right, that wouldn't matter.

But he is just a wee lil thing!

Pauline Kael was like four-foot-nine!

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 24 January 2003 08:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I like that it reads a hundred miles an hour. I like that the reviewer doesn't feel the need to stake his 'stance' on Eminem like its Roe v. Wade or what Eminem means in our society (how many reviews went 'what does Eminem mean post-9/11?'). I like that it's formally daring and bizarre and I'm not even sure if it was intended to be. I like that it's disruptive effect in the confines of Pitchfork is (for me) identical to Eminem's effect in top 40 radio or Mtv. I like that it cuts through the bullshit and generates plenty of its own. I like that the reviewer actually seems to know and like hip-hop (you'd think this would be a more common characteristic Eminem reviews but 'taint) but doesn't spend the time laying out what side of the bling-bling v. backpack like x-million hip hop editorial or apologias but instead makes his point by picking his targets, mocking them, and moving on (sorta like Eminem). I like that it's funny. I like that Ethan comes off like a noise boy even though I know he hasn't read them and would probably turn up his nose at them. I like that Ryan Pitchfork comes off like Erskine Sanford in Citizen Kane, and that his line that Ethan was a 'high maintenence record reviewer' qualifies for some sorta understatement of the _______ award on the basis of this review alone. And I like that it builds up to the point of the whole review, : Ryanpitch4k : ethan you act like i don't know what you're capable of
et HAN P2 3 : but what would be the worst that could happen
et HAN P2 3 : what am i capable of??
Ryanpitch4k : you'll get away with anything you can
Ryanpitch4k : the more you get away with the happier you are

I like the idea of a writer trying to get away with something and maybe even getting away with it.

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 09:12 (twenty-three years ago)

Ethan = Eminem = Bugs Bunny

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 09:13 (twenty-three years ago)

and fuck Renata Adler

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 24 January 2003 09:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I like that the reviewer actually seems to know and like hip-hop (you'd think this would be a more common characteristic Eminem reviews but 'taint)

god fucking knows!

― M Matos (M Matos), Friday, 24 January 2003 09:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I like that it sez everything that needs to be said about eminem in the first part concisely and then it emulates the rest of the fun stuff about in the second part and yeah it's more formally daring than Adaptation fersure especially the columbine bit which captures eminem's "mtv won't even play my songs" shtick.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 24 January 2003 09:23 (twenty-three years ago)

ILM has always been full of corny indie kids. But my basic test for whether ILM is still good - that everything gets a fair hearing from at least some of the people here - hasn't been failed yet.

That review is excellent.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 24 January 2003 10:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I liek it cos it's funny, ner dur.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Friday, 24 January 2003 10:25 (twenty-three years ago)

it's a very original review. he puts his name in there, the exchanges with ryan...he actually goes through the whole interweb reviewing machinery and that doesn't damage the review but strenghtens it. And in the end still manages to come up with outstanding track descriptions. and it all reads in a schizo type style.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 24 January 2003 10:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it's a trivvic review, too. It's not a trick you could repeat very often, which is also a good thing.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 24 January 2003 11:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Pity about the album and artist themselves. But that's another matter. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 24 January 2003 15:55 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah it is a great review..
has ethan written much else?
i've seen a few pieces here and there,but not much...

― robin (robin), Friday, 24 January 2003 19:24 (twenty-three years ago)

Good things: it was (a) funny and (b) didn't seem frightened or ruled by the music itself, as so many other Eminem pieces have (even those attacking him seem to be wrestling and very seriously near-desperately trying to master and pin down the material).

Bad things: it'd have read just as well with some more caps and punctuation, really.

― standing up for corny indie on ILM since mid-2001 (nabisco), Friday, 24 January 2003 21:15 (twenty-three years ago)

''Bad things: it'd have read just as well with some more caps and punctuation, really.''

well he did it on purpose, maybe to capture the spirit of the record.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 24 January 2003 22:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Well yeah Julio but really I don't care: standard English usage can accommodate a whole lot of spirit-capturing on its own.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 24 January 2003 22:19 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think there's a problem with having a bit less structure than usual if it helps get the message across (and maybe he felt that it would help if he screwed his grammar a bit).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 24 January 2003 22:28 (twenty-three years ago)

this is an arguement out of nothing.

― michael wells (michael w.), Sunday, 26 January 2003 19:34 (twenty-three years ago)

ILM--alive and kicking!

― bnw (bnw), Sunday, 26 January 2003 20:56 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

ethan p, the worst Pitchfork writer of all time.

― Polly, Thursday, January 23, 2003 10:35 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― and what, Friday, 30 January 2009 00:51 (seventeen years ago)

first mentions turning up a host of treasures

― and what, Friday, 30 January 2009 00:52 (seventeen years ago)

lol as i was scrollin thru this thread i had that copied all ready to paste down here and u beat me to it

― max, Friday, 30 January 2009 01:05 (seventeen years ago)

sup wgw

― punk floyd (The Reverend), Friday, 30 January 2009 01:13 (seventeen years ago)

that eminem show review wasn't all that funny.

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 30 January 2009 01:45 (seventeen years ago)

the fuck it wasn't

― J0hn D., Friday, 30 January 2009 01:49 (seventeen years ago)

the wayne/birdman one is all time IMO

― crackers is biters (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 30 January 2009 01:52 (seventeen years ago)

lol I think I get to take partial credit for that one

― J0hn D., Friday, 30 January 2009 01:53 (seventeen years ago)

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