{"id":867,"date":"2007-09-17T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-17T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-12-10T09:53:51","modified_gmt":"2008-12-10T09:53:51","slug":"loser-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/loser-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Loser Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zH8-lQ9CeyI?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nFor many on RTH, <b>Loser Rock<\/b> is the ultimate musical <i>bete noire<\/i>. On the face of it, the words \u201cLoser Rock\u201d conjure the image of a broken, simpering man, venting his pain by cradling an acoustic guitar, mousily whispering words of a bottomless yet superficial despair, before finally collapsing in a pile of tears. Or perhaps the term summons the memory a doomed, slovenly, possibly soused twentysomething, howling against the elements, wringing a tortured sound from his Fender Jaguar, while a rhythm section plods along with a distinct lack of commitment.<\/p>\n<p>Here in the halls of rock, Loser Rock can take on mythic proportions, often becoming the convenient scapegoat for the decreased popularity of party-rock, cock-rock\u2026 in fact, one could conceivably pin the decline of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll in the public sphere at the feet of Loser Rock. The ultimate sin of Loser Rock is that it ultimately encouraged listeners to equate rock with bad times, not good ones. And who honestly wants spend time at that party?<\/p>\n<p>But of course in many ways this characterization of Loser Rock is a straw argument. Re-read the first paragraph; now, do you actually know any well-known musicians who are <i>really<\/i> like that, and nothing <i>but<\/i> that? I submit that the likes of <b>The Smiths, Elliott Smith, and Belle and Sebastian<\/b> are not Loser Rock so much as they are Alone Time Rock. (Paradoxically, The Smiths and Belle and Sebastian\u2019s cult audiences have swelled to the size of their own social sect, practically. Of course, these fans are often cited as part of the problem by the anti-Loser Rockers. But that\u2019s a whole other essay.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CEhIu4vtSIQ?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nThat said, there is something called Loser Rock and it can be a positive or a negative. At its best \u2013 when acts like <b>The Replacements, Aimee Mann, Nirvana, and Quasi<\/b> are firing on all cylinders \u2013 Loser Rock owns up to reality. If <b>Winner Rock<\/b> thrives on the delusion that the odds can be defied (hence its frequent connection with sports), Loser Rock achieves catharsis by facing failure and articulating it accurately and perfectly. Sometimes, shit goes down and it\u2019s best not to pretend otherwise. Loser Rock can allow you to wallow, and sometimes we all need a good wallow. But that\u2019s not the only way. For a time, The Replacements showed us how to turn losing into a good party. Aimee Mann displayed the effectiveness of a precisely worded and dryly delivered summation of a losing situation. Nirvana wedded hopeless desperation to corrosive guitars and a rhythm section that frankly eats Winner Rockers for dinner. Quasi have entire albums that act as the indie-rock equivalent of Peter Finch\u2019s famous <i>Network<\/i> speech, or perhaps Alec Baldwin&#8217;s in <i>Glengarry Glen Ross<\/i>. Get mad, sons of bitches. <\/p>\n<p>In contrast, it seems to me, Winner Rock as Mr. Moderator defines it, is an almost abstract concept. <b>The Clash<\/b> addresses its audience as a whole? Doesn\u2019t this tie in with that great band\u2019s worst attribute \u2013 their rhetoric? I\u2019m not convinced that Winner Rock is not, in fact, best represented by <b>Survivor and Journey<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>One final point, and an olive branch of sorts: An appreciation of Loser Rock does not mean one cannot also listen to Winner Rock. The point is that a person should be able to access a wide variety of emotions in their music collection, if they so choose. One day you might want to hear \u201cEye of the Tiger.\u201d Another day you might want \u201cNeedle in the Hay.\u201d Must <i>every<\/i> song be connected to \u201cSatisfaction\u201d?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many on RTH, Loser Rock is the ultimate musical bete noire. On the face of it, the words \u201cLoser Rock\u201d conjure the image of a broken, simpering man, venting his pain by cradling an acoustic guitar, mousily whispering words of a bottomless yet superficial despair, before finally collapsing in a pile of tears. Or <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/loser-rock\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[49,43,50],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}