 |
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Jim Connelly's
Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Monday, January 15, 2007
Jesse Steichen's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Friday, January 12, 2007
Bill Bentley's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings Of 2006
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Anthony Carew's 13 Fave Albums Of 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
SXSW 2006: Finding Some Hope In Austin
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Letter From New Orleans
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums of 2005
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Music For Dwindling Days: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Sean Fennessey's 'Best-Of' 2005
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Albums Of 2005
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Lee Templeton's Favorite Recordings of 2005
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Michael Lach - Old Soul Songs For A New World Order
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Found In Translation — Emme Stone's Year In Music 2005
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Dave Allen's 'Best-Of' 2005
Monday, January 2, 2006
Steve Gozdecki's Favorite Albums Of 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Johnny Walker Black's Top 10 Of 2005
Monday, December 19, 2005
Neal Block's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Year In Review
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Monday, December 12, 2005
Jennifer Kelly's Fave Recordings Of 2005
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Tom Ridge's Favorite Recordings Of 2005
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Ben Gook's Beloved Albums Of 2005
Monday, December 5, 2005
Anthony Carew's Fave Albums Of 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Prince, Spoon And The Magic Of The Dead Stop
Monday, September 12, 2005
The Truth About America
Monday, September 5, 2005
Tryin' To Wash Us Away
Monday, August 1, 2005
A Psyche-Folk Heat Wave In Western Massachusetts
Monday, July 18, 2005
Soggy But Happy At Glastonbury 2005
Monday, April 4, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 3: All Together Now
Friday, April 1, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 2: Dr. Dog's Happy Chords
Thursday, March 31, 2005
The SXSW Experience, Part 1: Waiting, Waiting And More Waiting
Friday, March 25, 2005
Final Day At SXSW's Charnel House
Monday, March 21, 2005
Day Three At SXSW
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Day Two In SXSW's Hall Of Mirrors
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Report #1: SXSW 2005 And Its Hall Of Mirrors
Monday, February 14, 2005
Matt Landry's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
David Howie's 'Moments' From The Year 2004
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Lori Miller Barrett's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Noah Bonaparte's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Kevin John's Fave Albums Of 2004
Friday, January 14, 2005
Music For Those Nights: Max Schaefer's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Dave Renard's Fave Recordings Of 2004
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Neal Block's Top Ten Of 2004
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Jenny Tatone's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wayne Robins' Top Ten Of 2004
Friday, January 7, 2005
Brian Orloff's Fave Albums Of 2004
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Johnny Walker (Black)'s Top 10 Of 2004
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Jennifer Przybylski's Fave Albums (And Book) Of 2004
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Mark Mordue's Fave Albums Of 2004
Monday, January 3, 2005
Lee Templeton's Fave Recordings Of 2004
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
Why (Almost) Everyone Hates The Strokes!
Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: Oh, that poor New York punky band The Strokes. From the email I've been getting, they'll be lucky if anyone actually listens to their music. Critics and music fans are pissed about the hype, saying The Strokes have gotten media attention they don't deserve.
Last week we ran a "Daily Report" ( "The Strokes Just Wanna Play Music") by Jenny Tatone. Essentially it was a profile of The Strokes. Reacting to that, designer and music fan Rachel Lipsitz wrote in to complain about the undeserved attention she feels the band is receiving, and I ran a second "Daily Report" ("Why We Write About The Strokes").
Just to make things perfectly clear, I love both the group's EP, "The Modern Age," and its album, Is This It. But I'm fascinated by what everyone has to say about the group and the hype.
One of our Australia-based contributing editors, Anthony Carew, wrote: "I did hear that 'The Modern Age' EP before the hype made it to Australia. It's quite good. 'Last Nite' is a nice tune. The sound of it, as in the actual recorded tone/etc., is really good. Saw them live and thought they were a little mediocre, but still okay. I'm sure the hype has prejudiced me against them, but in all honesty The Strokes are not the kind of band I would get really excited about in any situation. ... Oh, and The Strokes have been marketed like a boyband here. I'm not saying that to be pissing on their parade. It's really how it is. You don't debut at #5 with a debut record featuring no hit singles without some deft retail-fellating."
A music fan named Dan Haar wrote: "I cannot sit idly by while you attack innocent victims disgusted with the press this band has gotten. I mean, they're a good band and I like the single, but as someone who reads music press from the US and UK I've got to say that I have been completely turned off. Every single New York rinky-dink publication has touted them. ...and the British press mentions them more than they mention Radiohead or Oasis (which is pretty fucking incredible). I guess it would all be OK if the writers had an ear for the music, but I have yet to read one well-thought-out piece.
"If I ever see them compared to Television again I will stop reading magazines altogether. Television were not a chugging riff, rhythm band, which at their best The Strokes are. ... Most people who know about the band are already suffering from too much hype, and we haven't even seen them play yet. When they finally play some shows, maybe we'll all be walking around mindless slaves. But until then I'm going to refuse to read another word about them. It's too bad, because we really do need a great rock band to come charging in and save our souls right now, but the press is making the whole thing kind of laughable."
Neumu contributing editor and columnist Philip Sherburne wrote: "I must admit: I'm currently wrestling with a truckload of antipathy toward The Strokes, purely because of their hype. And no, I haven't heard a single song of theirs. And yes, I realize the problem here. So 1) I am in fact very curious to hear the record, to see if it bears out my worst suspicions (then again, maybe it will, and I won't even mind!), and 2) I appreciated reading your column because at least it addressed the issue of hype and backlash. ...but I'll give The Strokes a chance, promise.
"I think what has bugged me so far isn't just the hype, but all the trappings of 'rock authenticity' that come with it. These boys are keeping it real, the press tells us, rocking as though the late '70s and early '80s had never disappeared. I hate that kind of assessment; popular music is all about artifice, and some of the most skillful musicians use that to their advantage (from Outkast to Gillian Welch, paradoxically enough). And The Strokes, with their alleged Upper East Side upbringings, will have hard time convincing me that they really embody downtown danger. And so if their story is predicated on that kind of lowbrow authenticity, I'll balk. But if they simply rock, and rock well, just clever enough but not too smarmy, I'll be happy to rock along with 'em."
Here's what music fan Ben Butler wrote: "The artistic movement known as Mannerism arose in the mid 1500s. Its proponents believed that all the representational problems associated with painting, architecture and sculpture had been solved. Turning away from the direct examination of nature — which had characterized the art of the so-called High Renaissance — they concentrated instead on questions of style. Mannerist painting is characterized by distortions of perspective (especially drastic foreshortening), contorted figures and convoluted allegory.
"The Strokes are Mannerist rock. Their music doesn't examine the basic material from which rock is traditionally constructed/reacts to (the same things any art springs from — people's relationship with the world). Instead, their music examines their record collections. There's nothing here that isn't a distortion or contortion of what has gone before. Couldn't this be said of all pop — after all, a notoriously plagiaristic and derivative form? Yes. But the difference here is that the Strokes have none of the sense of particular time and place that makes pop pop. Sure, Black Sabbath may be nothing but blues riffs played loud. But nonetheless their music is profoundly British and working-class. Insert your own example here.
"To me, the Strokes have none of that. They're a fairly typical first band (I'm only guessing they'd be these kids' first band): very obvious and not very good. For a couple of moments on their album they almost do it — 'New York City Cops' being the most obvious example — but for the most part it's an awful lot of barely digested record collection regurgitated almost verbatim. This is music for A&R guys — it has an easy-to-grasp mythology, with reference points in some 'golden age' of rock where men were men and Lou Reed was young. Television. Max's Kansas City. Blondie. The Velvet Underground. Andy Warhol. What a load of cobbler's. And as for the wank and hype: Any time I hear that a band is going to 'save rock and roll' I know they're going to suck. That's got to be the most tired line in the book. Next!"
Naturally Jenny Tatone, who has seen the band live, listened many times to their album, and (at my request) wrote the "Daily Report" about The Strokes that got all this started, has a different point of view: "I'm so tired of hipsters who try so hard to dislike something just because it's popular or because all the attention it gets makes it 'uncool.' Some people really need to learn to see beyond that mentality and stop limiting themselves."
The InsiderOne Daily
Report appears weekdays at 9 AM PST, except when it doesn't.
by Michael Goldberg
|
|
|
