Pitchfork's Chris Ott takes No Prisoners

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a lot of space coulda been saved if you had just listed the names of the loser albums and written: "Jeez, what where these people thinking? They were just sad imitations of other bands! Jeez, why did people buy this stuff? what losers! Now you can buy them all for a dollar." and be done with it.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:30 (twenty years ago) link

Music criticism should just be numbers, no words. Maybe some stars now and then.

― NA (Nick A.), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:32 (twenty years ago) link

I agree with Nick:
words are antiquated in
criticism, life.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:35 (twenty years ago) link

01010100011010000110000101110100001000000110011101110101011110010010000001101100011010010110101101100101011100110010000001000001011011000110010001101111001000000100111001101111011101100110000100101110

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:38 (twenty years ago) link

wudju say about my mother?

― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:42 (twenty years ago) link

Ott, disregard my advice. Your writing still blows.

― NA (Nick A.), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:45 (twenty years ago) link

this morning a friend at WUOG (Athens college radio) read some of those Ott posts over the air, with rimshot sound effects, etc. It provoked much mirth. The city of Athens thanks you Chris Ott for bringing a smile to it's face. Who said rock critics are useless?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:17 (twenty years ago) link

"What kind of pleasure do you get out of the kind of writing you do?"

― thom west (thom w), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:17 (twenty years ago) link

simple rule of thumb - any publicity is good publicity. you lot are feeding it. ha ha.

― st tremaine, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:21 (twenty years ago) link

shouldn't you be begging someone to return your e-mails?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:26 (twenty years ago) link

ha ha.

nah.

that's pretty cool that pitchfork got free advertising on radio though.

― st tremaine, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:28 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, people in athens will finally know about pitchfork (would someone could do the same for nme in london)(or rolling stone in aspen)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:31 (twenty years ago) link

never been to athens, james. going to go next year. no idea what athens is like?? gots to visit friends in savannah.

― st tremain, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:33 (twenty years ago) link

you'll love athens - it's filled with wannabe rockcritics!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:34 (twenty years ago) link

hey! never said i was a rock critic man... just a fan, here.

― st tremaine, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 18:36 (twenty years ago) link

Nicolars, who is that in the 3rd pic you posted, and how the hell does she have such nice legs?

― Felcher (Felcher), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:03 (twenty years ago) link

who's this ott character again?

― maria b (maria b), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:24 (twenty years ago) link

Worst thing about this thread: I can't find a decent picture of the mid 90s boyband OTT at all.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:32 (twenty years ago) link

http://ntbiomol.unibe.ch/images/Ott.JPG

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:36 (twenty years ago) link

So does Pitchfork still think the KLF is grebo?

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:37 (twenty years ago) link

(Actually, I meant http://www.rx7.com/racing/content/teamcont/images/chris.jpg.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:39 (twenty years ago) link

there's a semi-decent one at http://www.muse.ie/archive/bakers_dozen/ott.html

― Felcher (Felcher), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:48 (twenty years ago) link

Worst thing about this thread: I can't find a decent picture of the mid 90s boyband OTT at all.

maybe because "mid-90s" = "early-90s"?

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:49 (twenty years ago) link

If you had to be in another band, who would it be and why?
N-Tyce because they wanna party!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:51 (twenty years ago) link

Gygax- they did an interview (on that link) where they talk about Scream and Natalie Imbruglia. They are 1997.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:53 (twenty years ago) link

dom- scroll way up for fascinating discussion of "mid-90s" vs. "early-90s".

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:56 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, do you really expect me to sit through all that? Chindig.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:00 (twenty years ago) link

Some further admittedly pedantic quibbles...

- Ott refers repeatedly to certain acts as "signatures" (i.e a band that has been signed to a record label). I may be mistaken about this, but isn't the conventional term "signings" instead of "signatures"?

- Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks has been sporting dreadlocks since at least as far back as 1988 (the last time I saw the band live). Thus, this in no way renders his chosen hairstyle "recent".

- "TV II" by Ministry could hardly be considered "proto-grindcore", given that Napalm Death (inargualby the preeminent grindcore band) debuted in 1987, a good half a decade prior to the release of Psalm 69.

- Ned's Atomic Dustbin a "shoegaze" band? Love'em or hate'em, Jonn [sic] Penney and co. could never be accused of playing dreamy, ethereal pop, much less boasting a stage presence particularized by somnambulistic stasis. They were one of the most hyperkinetic live acts of the time (lots of rampant leaping about).

- I hate to differ with the estimable Chuck Eddy, but calling the KLF a "grebo" band is decidedly not simply a matter of opinion, but rather a sizable error. The KLF are as much a 'grebo' band as Celine Dion is a New Romantic. As much as it's a remarkably trivial distinction, 'Grebo' (a truncation of "greasy boy") referred very specifically to guitar-based bands like Gaye Bykers on Acid, Crazyhead and the hirsute, garage-clatter era of Pop Will Eat Itself. The KLF, meanwhile, were an entirely different breed of cat, concentrating more on chill-out ambient music and house (something PWEI wouldn't get involved in until later on). I'm not suggesting that one is greater than the other or that any of them are worth a damn, but if you're going to allude to them -- let alone lambast them in print -- at least get your facts straight.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:09 (twenty years ago) link

Alex, ALL genre affiliations are matters of opinion. ALWAYS. If a KLF song (they had a few featuring gutiar parts, if I recall) sounds like grebo to somebody, there is NOTHING wrong with calling them grebo, no matter what stupid perimeters people have limited the word to before. And Celine Dion may well have some very new romantic bits, actually. Grebo ones, too.

― chuck, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

Chuck, you know I love ya -- but I just can't agree with ya. Calling a Venom track "jazz" won't make it true. Calling the Osmonds an Electroclash ensemble won't make'em hip in Williamsburg. I know categorization is a stifling thing, but there's right and there's wrong.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:17 (twenty years ago) link

There was a KLF/grebo connection in that Bill Drummond produced Zodiac Mindwarp, but otherwise it's conventionally off the mark...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:18 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, Celtic Frost were the jazz band. Except when they were dub metal. And anybody who ever heard "Crazy Horses" knows the Osmonds were one of the heaviest *metal* bands ever, except for "One Bad Apple," when they were Justin Timberlake. And why on earth would I care what morons in Williamsurg think, anyway? Except when I DJ there, I mean.

― chuck, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:22 (twenty years ago) link

crazy horses rule.. REVIVAL STARTS NOW?

― st tremaine, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:26 (twenty years ago) link

this is still my favorite chris ott website.

http://www.bigcworld.com/

― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:50 (twenty years ago) link

ohmigod

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:51 (twenty years ago) link

this one is pretty good too.

http://www.wens.com/airstaff/chris_ott.aspx

― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:54 (twenty years ago) link

actually, this is my favorite.

http://www.footbag.org/newmembers/profile?MemberID=40543

― scott seward, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 21:58 (twenty years ago) link

you are a genius after all

― David. (Cozen), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:00 (twenty years ago) link

Chuck, while it may be provocative and even enlightening to assign an usual genre classification to a band and then explain your reasoning, I think the point is that just throwing out a genre name considered incorrect by most readers will cast the critic's credibility in doubt (for those readers) - and with good reason.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:08 (twenty years ago) link

that or maybe it'll force them to actually think about music and how it sounds and works regardless of what the label's marketing dept says

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:09 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe, if it's truly an interesting choice, presented in an enlightening way. But I don't think most run-of-the-mill reviewers tossing off genre names, whether "right" or "wrong," inspire much deep thinking.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:16 (twenty years ago) link

This thread is missing only one thing: trife.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:20 (twenty years ago) link

most run-of-the-mill reviewers don't do anything right (it's what this whole thread's about)(ott's an extremely run-of-the-mill reviewer)(cf. 95% of music blogs)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:30 (twenty years ago) link

Well good, we agree.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:33 (twenty years ago) link

These are the best threads. This is the best bit: "Ott's comebacks are so breathtakingly LAME that...God...I'm overcome with this weird desire to field him some insults just so he won't look like such a nine-year old."

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:34 (twenty years ago) link

And everyone wonders where the Onion came up with such an outlandish concept for that article last week.

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 23:48 (twenty years ago) link

NOBODY wonders that!

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 23:49 (twenty years ago) link

harriet wheeler shouldn't ever get a red sticker.

― keith (keithmcl), Thursday, 25 September 2003 00:57 (twenty years ago) link

a factual inaccuracy (or two) would be something like this...

Aussie buddy Tom Morgan of Smudge wrote most of this record ['Come on Feel the Lemonheads'], and though I'm sure he made some nice money on the royalties for "Into Your Arms", he couldn't have been too happy that a druggie pinup boy reaped all the career-extending rewards.

anyone with either an internet connection or the album itself could tell you that (a) morgan shares co-writing credit with evan dando on 8 out of 15 songs and gets full credit on none, which is not the same thing as writing "most of the record" and (b) morgan had nothing to do with writing "into your arms," that was by another aussie, robyn st. clare, though maybe all those aussie pop geniuses look alike.

frankly, i don't think it's that huge a deal, but then again my name does happen to be...

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 25 September 2003 01:07 (twenty years ago) link

maybe all those aussie pop geniuses look alike

it's true! we all look like shabby longhairs

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 25 September 2003 01:19 (twenty years ago) link

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