Hard News: Rockin' the Casbah?
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Hooray for South Park references!
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Hooray for South Park references!
Did I?
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"A little bit country, a little bit rock n' roll?" That is South Park (the 100th episode, if I remember right.)
Of course, they might have been referencing something else which I have no idea about... -
Of course, they might have been referencing something else which I have no idea about...
Er, yeah: Donny and Marie Osmond. It was the theme song to their show.
I feel old.
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Here's one of those annoying fan-made videos with no actual video, but it's the first link I could find on short notice:
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There sure ain't a shortage of bad music writers...Simon Sweetman anyone?
I've got a dollar for anyone who can tell me what qualifies him to 'write' about music...I think he worked in a music shop at some point, in which case, colour him qualified!
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Grant Smithies is the best music writer in the country I reckon. And not just because he likes what I like, hates what I hate, and is a mate :)
It's a shame he's being watered down into writing a load of general feature stuff for the SST, although I'm sure he'd have a different opinion on the matter.
Re the NME, I haven't seen it in print form for years and the online version is, well, difficult.
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I feel old.
I make 'a little bit country' Osmond references all the time. I thought I was dating myself horribly, but it turns out I'm actually referencing South Park and am down with Teh Libertarian Yoof. Who knew?
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Most music writing these days is nostalgic: magazines like Q and Mojo which enable people who were not hip in their youth to catch up in middle-age. Much of the reviewing in the general media is of artists making come-backs or just rolling on. New artists do not get much of a look-in.
Perhaps young folks don't buy magazines and there is no way to monetize the web, while there are hordes of amateurs who will give you their opinions for nothing. So there is not much work for a jobbing music writer. Then again, perhaps the music is not worth writing about.
Oh well, at least the NME has its first fanciable Editor in 57 years.
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Ditto the respect for Grant Smithies. His pieces are evocative and enlightening.
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The other part of the show picks up on John Harris's recent feature for the Guardian Review, which asks: where have all the good music writers gone?
Ah... its an interesting piece, but was I the only one who detected an element of 'get off my lawn you pissant kids, and take your bogs and Twatter with you' in it? Perhaps I'm a crusty old bastard myself, but Griel Marcus and Lester Bangs were writers for whom you had to sift through a lot of pretentious, or flat out incomprehensible, dross to find the (admittedly damn sparkly) gems.
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I reckon my students will be interested in those topics...See you there tomorrow.
My favoured perspectives on music is Grant Smithies, Nick Bollinger Graeme Reid in NZ --and from abroad--the UK mag The Word (their tagline "Intelligent Life on Planet Rock"). They always have sharp writing, don't stint on criticism where it is warranted, and always have great counter-mount samplers. Does anyone else read it?
My 16 year old daughter is currently keen on Kerrang, even though she does acknowledge that it is filled with look-alike/sound-alike hairy boy groups.
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Grant Smithies is the best music writer in the country I reckon. And not just because he likes what I like, hates what I hate, and is a mate :)
My vote's with Duncan Greive, always interesting and as someone who's worked closely with the man recently, his work rate is also phenomenal. Plus he can write nobly about sport too at his Deadball site.
And as you said, the Real Groove site is awesome (I'm paraphrasing - but god knows how Duncs finds the time to do that as well, with a fulltime writing staff of, well, one...)
Paint me jealous!
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My vote's with Duncan Greive, always interesting and as someone who's worked closely with the man recently, his work rate is also phenomenal.
Yes, I have a lot of time for Duncan, and I'm really pleased it's working out for him.
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Pitchfork media 's good, if a little up themselves.
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Perhaps I'm a crusty old bastard myself, but Griel Marcus and Lester Bangs were writers for whom you had to sift through a lot of pretentious, or flat out incomprehensible, dross to find the (admittedly damn sparkly) gems.
Waaaaah! I'm off my face on cough syrup and I'm going to drag my typewriter to the bottom of a swamp and review Metal Machine Music!
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I thought I was dating myself horribly
Saves money on drinks.
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My 16 year old daughter is currently keen on Kerrang, even though she does acknowledge that it is filled with look-alike/sound-alike hairy boy groups.
Ahhhh, Kerrang. I was reading that when I was sixteen, too. That would have been at least mumble mumble number of decades ago.
It gives me great comfort (in my old age) that whatever other upheavals are occurring in music and fashion, metal just keeps on doing it's thing over in the corner, unnoticed and unloved by anyone else. And that's how it likes it.
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I didn't quite understand why Jon Stephenson's piece was news to anyone when it ran in the SST on Sunday. Isn't this exactly the same issue David Beatson has been ably digging and OIAing and blogging about for over a year now? Stephenson might have got an SAS guy or two to comment, but it's hardly a big investigative breakthrough on his part.
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Grant Smithies is the best music writer in the country I reckon.
His book of NZ albums was a beauty I thought. But NZ has been very lucky over the years and the legacy of Roger Jarrett's mighty Hot Licks and of course Mo's Rip It Up is still very large. To my mind all good music writing in NZ owes a massive debt to both of them, and both the current RIU and Real Groove can draw a direct line back to Murray.
Internationally, it's easy to forget that NME at it's most influential peak, circa 80-85, was only selling 100,000 worldwide on average, far less than the more mainstream Smash Hits and the metal-ish Sounds
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And I'm at a loss to understand why we are fighting in Afghanistan when I read things like this over and over again
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Pitchfork media 's good, if a little up themselves.
It does have the faint air of people grossly over-compensating for their unhappy years of high school social pariah-dom. "I'm the cool kid now - and you can go sit by the dumpsters!" :)
Waaaaah! I'm off my face on cough syrup and I'm going to drag my typewriter to the bottom of a swamp and review Metal Machine Music!
If you want to clear those jammy pipes, Metal Machine Music is cheaper and more effective than P in a bottle. Though I've got to admit a sneaking affection for Charles Sharr Murray's Beckett-esque review of an album by Yes (in its entirety): NO.
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Speaking of cheap-but-sorta-funny shots in music reviews, I believe Pitchfork reviewed a Jet album by posting a YouTube clip of a monkey masturbating.
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Ahh the NME...
When I was at varsity in the UK in the early 80s (god I'm old!) my best mate Sturat so venerated his copies of the NME that he would iron them to make sure they remained uncreased. And if there was a pic of Debbie Harry in that week's copy he'd buy two - one for cutting the picture out and sticking it on his wall, and the other to iron and keep in pristine condition.
I second (third, fourth) the vote for Grant Smithies - he's a wonderful writer and a damn fine bloke as well. I first met him working on The Gathering, when I took over the publicist role from him. He was about a million times better at talking about the DJs and performers than I was (I could never sound "down wit teh kidz" like he could), so I stuck to the love and peace and be nice humans angle in all my publicity. He was a hard act to follow!
Ditto also the appreciation for Duncan at Deadball. I got entirely too hooked on NZNTM earlier this year, and he wrote the best blog posts about the show - power rankings 'n' all. The liveblogging on the night of the final was fun too!
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And if there was a pic of Debbie Harry in that week's copy he'd buy two - one for cutting the picture out and sticking it on his wall, and the other to iron and keep in pristine condition.
Deeply, deeply tragic.
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