pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

1,518 Choosy Moms Agree

is this Singles sdtk review a fucking joke

lol they should've gotten Cameron Crowe to write it

just bizarre to position it as a pivotal moment/artifact of grunge culture when it was a late-arriving cash-in w shitty songs and is also an actively terrible movie

I remember being absolutely crushed/crestfallen by how bad those Westerberg songs were

Drown was and still is v good fuiud imho

truly a pivotal song from the Seattle grunge scene

lmao also true

lol yeah Drown is the obvious standout on the soundtrack but the movie always struck me as extremely corny and not representative of grunge or Seattle at all. it came out a full year after Nevermind, too - not surprised it was seen as a cash-in / opportunistic. I wonder when he started writing/shooting it though - had to have been before the grunge phenomenon really took off.

well of course, movies take years to make. but that doesn't change the overall cultural context or its reception. nobody took this movie seriously, it was garbage.

"In a particularly great anecdote from Our Town, Truly guitarist Robert Roth recalls watching Nirvana debut 'Teen Spirit' live at Seattle’s OK Hotel while 'across the street, there was a private thing where they were filming Alice in Chains for Singles.'"

the singles soundtrack has at least three classic tracks (im not counting "chloe dancer/crown of thorns" bc it debuted elsewhere)

As reporting and criticism, the Singles piece is superb – and I don't care much for that album or that cultural moment.

probably more like six tbh

xxxxp I realize that, I was just speculating about Crowe's intention in making it.

'singles' got some decent reviews, i don't remember it being regarded as a cash-in or exploitative at the time of its release. maybe in seattle, idk. i guess when i think opportunistic cash-ins from the '90s i think 'reality bites', which was much worse as a film and as a soundtrack. nothing in 'singles' is as hilarious as Ethan Hawke screaming a PG-13 version of "Add It Up" at Winona Ryder.

like it wasn't Jon Bon Jovi going into his manager's office in 1993 and demanding "Make me look like Nirvana."

i have watched both in the last year and SINGLES holds up much better

Singles at least feels written and played naturally where Reality Bites is the Trump ethos on celluloid.

Funny, I watched "Reality Bites" on election day last year...

oh so it's you I blame

the studio sat on singles for two years, right?

therefore imo it's not a cash-in

reality bites is pure insane nonsense

oh so it's you I blame

I didn't know what I was doing, I swear!

anyway eric's writeup of the singles soundtrack is great imo, more of a grunge exegesis than a review

"state of love and trust" is also the best pearl jam song

I was nodding happily along with the Singles trashing until I realized I was confusing it with Reality Bites. I don't think I've ever actually seen Singles.

I hope we can all agree that "Dyslexic Heart" is a bad song, though

both Westerberg songs suck

i like both westerberg songs

I was nodding happily along with the Singles trashing until I realized I was confusing it with Reality Bites. I don't think I've ever actually seen Singles.

― PJD PDJ DPJ (DJP), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 20:37 (thirty-nine minutes ago) Permalink

I confuse those two movies, both of which I've seen, CONSTANTLY in my mind.

What were those damn Westerberg songs doing there anyway?

Singles has nothing so offensive as the Steve Zahn character in Reality Bites sitting around being gay and ill-used until I remembered the garage door opener gag

"within your reach" was on the say anything soundtrack, crowe must've been a fan xp

any one of you defend Elizabethtown, starring Ornaldo BOOMS' bangs?

"Within Your Reach" is the only Replacements song I like (I discovered it through the Say Anything soundtrack)

I've never seen Say Anything, but when I got into the Replacements and first heard "Within your Reach" I had a feeling that it just had to have been on some 80's movie soundtrack.

i kinda like how goofy and dumb dyslexic heart is

it sounds a lot like what was on "modern rock" radio before grunge took hold

(i like it too!)

"Overblown," "Seasons," "Birth Ritual," "Drown," & both Pearl Jam songs are really good. I'm not sure if "Would?" or "Nearly Lost You" were intended as non-album tracks but they're also both really good.

"state of love and trust" is also the best pearl jam song

This might be true.

I hate Cameron Crowe movies but I'll concede that he did start putting this movie together a while before Nevermind blew up.

it sounds a lot like what was on "modern rock" radio before grunge took hold

― maura, Tuesday, May 23, 2017 8:58 PM (one hour ago)

otm

yeah reading that review, sounds like the studio is to blame for making it seem like a cash-in upon release - they wanted to change the title to Come As You Are.

"within your reach" was on the say anything soundtrack, crowe must've been a fan

Or Cusack. I always assumed that's why Fishbone and the RHCP are in there. (Fishbone has a cameo in Tapeheads, too.)

according to an article in Musician written by Crowe when Singles was released, Cusack had originally wanted to blash FIshbone instead of Peter Gabriel from that boom box until Crowe nixed it – he didn't want it to look like Ione Skye was being serenaded by a crazed Fishbone fan.

Pearl Jam was my first favorite band, so I can't overemphasize how mesmerized I was to see Vedder acting (endearingly poorly) in Singles. That's really the only thing I remember about it (aside I guess from realizing even at age 12 that Campbell Scott was a dweeb).

I agree with Brad that State of Love and Trust is PJ's best song. I don't much like the other PJ song. I will go to bat for most of the songs tbh. (not so much Dyslexic Heart.