Here’s your spot to quickly get a rock-related beef off your mind. It doesn’t have to be anything major or long-standing, like any number of the pet peeves I share on a weekly basis. I think it’s best if we use this space for the sort of minor rock-related offense or frustration that you recently felt yourself unable to share with your mate or any nearby “normal” people.
For instance, en route to dinner with some work friends last night, I passed a bookstore. Knowing that I had a flight coming up this weekend I thought I’d duck in and pick up the latest edition of MOJO, always one of my go-to reads for long flights. Wouldn’t you know who was featured on the cover?
The Boss! “We were connected to the street…” reads the quote pulled on the cover of a story entitled The Making of a Working Class Hero. I almost never suffer from motion sickness, I figured, so why buy that issue and find myself throwing up over the middle of America? And the last thing my wife, who does suffer while flying, needs to hear is me bitching about the continuing saga of His Bossness. The issue also has a piece on Joanna Newsom, “The New Queen of Acid Folk,” as if I should know who the old queen was.
Man, I’m getting queasy just thinking about this issue I didn’t buy, but you see what I mean about the purpose of this thread? I couldn’t have sought empathy from anyone around me in the store. My wife and kids had better things on their mind. But you, my fellow Townspeople, can most likely listen and nod your heads. I feel better already, and I look forward to doing my part to help you feel better about your most recent rock-related beef, the kind of thing no one hears you screaming about in the regular world.
My beef is hipsters kvetching about Springsteen.
I hear ya, teek…
Noted MM.
While I think they are a fine band, how did Arcade Fire all of a sudden become the only band that matters or some such nonsense? I’m sure their Philly and NY shows this week were total reinventions of rock and roll as a music form, but no way were they any better than Ike Reilly at the M Room.
Here’s another beef – how come Ike Reilly can’t get arrested?
I’ve never even heard of Ike Reilly. Is he a Philly-area musician?
Keep life’s little rock-themed indignities coming!
Ah, here’s something on Reilly!
http://teenkicks.blogspot.com/2010/08/ike-reilly-week-in-philly.html
I want to change my answer to “What artist are you most tired of seeing kicked around here unfairly in the Halls of Rock?” to Bruce Springsteen.
I think the answer to the Arcade Fire question would be the same as the first band labeled as “the only band that matters”: publicists.
My beef in rock.
How come in the fashions of music certain periods become ripe for plunder. For example, “the 80s” was a hanging corpse for two decades and then suddenly – voila! – it’s all good. SO called new bands make their names not merely referencing but seemingly ripping off artists of another era.
Beef? I could bite someone!
Oh, and Bruce’s new long player is called London Calling.
I rest my case.
My beef is people complaining about Springsteen getting criticism. He seems to be doing fine.
The Ike Reilly sounds nice, but you’ll likely hate me for saying the song on that page reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB_lIHwoIPk
Why did Pink Floyd record the song, “Wish You Were Here”? From that moment on, they ceased being bemused, and interesting, commentators on the human condition and became a bunch of pretentious pseuds.
Oh, dr john, I like “Wish you were here” but part of that has to do with it being recorded for me before a long goodbye…
My beef: annoying rock critics, ourselves not included. Number one of my list: Sasha Frere-Jones of the New Yorker. I SOOOOO disagree with much of what he writes. He seems to look at much of the current music scene through a very narrow, “I know more than you” lens. For example, in a review of the last Portishead album, he noted his perception of an error that they made in the recording process, but wouldn’t tell you what it was, only that he had sussed it out. Yeah, Sasha! I was particularly incensed by an somewhat recent article that he wrote that concluded that current music isn’t “black” enough, and (like the person who comes up with a verbal comeback after the putdown) thought of a million responses. And this from a white, rich guy.
Please, RTH, I need your nodding and empathy here…
PS – I’m sure Mr. Frere-Jones will have something to say very shortly about Arcade Fire.
Rock fashions recycle with every generation, though sometimes they do the occasional 18th century throwback. I like the idea of powdered-wig metal.
“London Calling,” by Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DwBfsLt3Xk
@cherguevara – No hatin here – Ike and Billy drink from the same Dylan/Guthrie wellspring. I prefer Ike, but that’s my problem.
Another beef = Win Butler’s hair. It appears he’s rockin’s a cross between Joe Strummer’s ill-advised mohawk and Philip Oakey’s lopsided humanoid look.
I kvetched last night about how so many crit-fave bands seem to celebrate moping, and wondered if there were any critical darlings who promote triumph over adversity — particularly through some manly activity like kicking ass. I mean, why does ass-kicking now have to be the exclusive lyrical territory of acts like Toby Keith, or aging boomer rockers, or (as much as I love ’em, they’re seen as a bit of a retro joke) Supagroup?
The missus and I did agree that the Kaiser Chiefs (remember them? Boy that seems like a long time ago…) were pretty upbeat. She also suggested the Arctic Monkeys, but I wasn’t cool enough to know for sure. But where’s the ass-kicking?
Bob Dylan does the Clash? Actually that sounded a lot better than it promised. Apart from the alleged vocals of Mr Dylan.
Good point, hurrundivbakshi. Mope is cool, upbeat not so much. Does have something to do with the literary leanings of lyricists (there’s some, right there) that inclines naturally towards the introspective and tragic?
Comedies rarely win the big Oscars.
Hrund: good observation. I would think that this also extends to other areas of art and the artist. Who likes a happy artist?
Critically-aclaimed cheerful bands? How about Vampire Weekend (after their first album) or Phoenix? Mr. Royale nominates Spoon.
Who said anything about being cheerful? This kind of gets back to old arguments we’ve had around here about “winner rock” vs. “loser rock,” but — no, you don’t have to be cheerful to not be mopey. You can be angry, you can be disaffected, you can be indifferent, you can be… you get the idea.
Now that I’m thinking about angry bands that critics love, Rage Against the Machine was one. But, what, they disbanded, like 10 years ago?
I was at both The Arcade Fire/Spoon at the Mann and Ike Reilly at the M Room last week, but only went to the M Room show to see The Standard Fare, the excellent opener. Since it was a work night, I went home after their set and missed Ike Reilly since I’d never heard a note.