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Random Play: Life? In the Fast Lane

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  • Simon Grigg,

    Weston,
    it's an extension of the NME factor as it was called (when that magazine still actually mattered)..and was practiced across the UK's hip media extensively in the decades after 1976. Blame the likes of Birchill, Parsons, Morley, and the offensively self important Robert Elms..build em up, bash em down. From an era when music criticism actually made a difference (I don't think it really does anymore outside a few niche genres).

    But I have trouble with someone who writes:

    On and on it runs, until you feel the soft flush of embarrassment whenever you are reminded of how much you liked that band, that song, and the embryonic hope that you once felt so keenly trickles away and grows tired and sticky.

    really? She's so unsure of her own opinions, the substance of her own taste, that a couple of radio comments, a tabloid story or two and the like drives her from a band or an artist she once liked? She's that worried about others' sneers at her Coldplay albums that she squirms at the thought that they might know she once liked them? A wee bit sad and vacuous I'd say, rather than the incisive commentary she thinks it is.

    And I'm not quite sure what it has to do with Britney (who has never had any critical acclaim but perhaps deserved a little more)

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Stephen Judd,

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    Hey Simon,

    I don't disagree with you. Its odd that a music critic should have to defend what they like to themselves.

    I'd just say that some people's contrivances are feted while others' are pilloried, and I'm curious to know why that is. IMO the the disdainful orthodoxy about Britney Spears is getting in the way of basic human compassion, among other things.

    in the weary predictability of the assault, in the crude missile hurled, in the sheer effort exerted to hate something

    Now that she's bald, perhaps Britney should start wearing a stupid hat:
    http://www.nme.com/reviews/the-good-the-bad-and-the-queen/8116

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    I'd just say that some people's contrivances are feted while others' are pilloried, and I'm curious to know why that is. IMO the the disdainful orthodoxy about Britney Spears is getting in the way of basic human compassion, among other things.

    And since we are in that mode...agreed. The entertainment industry (both Damon Albarn's rather good new album and Britney essentially being different sides to that same coin) and the media it feeds make these qualitative judgments and we all tend to run with them. Which are, to my mind, often rather skewered. But thankfully history re-writes as often as not. The po-faced serious musicians of an era are rarely as well remembered as the musicians who made people smile as well...and I think Max martin who created the Britney magic will get his due.

    Sadly the media and the industry are quick to turn. There is ongoing chatter in music industry forums as to whether Britney will lose her contract (i.e.be dropped) by Sony BMG if this next album doesn't work as well as it should..one has to remember that the record companies are, with 20% drops in sales this year over 10% drops last year, facing the abyss and this is another behind the scenes factor...they simply can't afford to lose the money machine that Britney is, but on the other hand they can't afford to fund it if it doesn't provide instant results.

    But, as a complete aside I really like that Good The Bad and The Queen album...almost as much as the new LCD Soundsystem and the James Holden (which was end of 06)..its a great year for new music so far..

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

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