"Fans have been abuzz this fall with word that famed rock band the Rolling Stones have made a “good” album (Tattoo You), as opposed to a “bad” album (such as last year’s Emotional Rescue). Buzz aside, however, no one has been able to explain why Tattoo You is a “good” album, save that it is generally agreed to sound “pretty good”. Announcing the Rolling Stones current American tour at an August 26 Philadelphia press conference, lead singer Mick Jagger denied that the good/bad consensus pointed to a “new artistic rhythm” in the work of the band. “Chacun a son gout, but really”,he said. “All right, Some Girls was good, Emotional Rescue was bad, this one’s good, I agree – though this one’s nowhere nearly so good as Some Girls. But don’t forget – between Exile on Main Street, which was a great album, and Some Girls, we came up with four bad albums, and a couple of those were terrible. Consumer Protection Agency investigations, class action suits, the whole bit. But anyway, “Jagger went on, “everybody will have forgotten about this one in six months. Sure it sounds ‘pretty good’, and it’s even got a ‘rockin’ side, and a ‘dreamy’ side, just like those ‘oldies but goodies’ lps, but I defy anyone to find a single song – what’s it called again? Oh yeah, Tattoo You, thanks – with a , as Sartre would have said, raison d’etre. L’enfer, c’est les autres, you know? We could have done these songs, or we could have not done them. Who’s know the difference? What people want is product. To assert that a tune carefully constructed out of half forgotten Rolling Stones hits for the sole purpose of assuaging the listener with a sense of familiarity disguised as high-tech contemporaneity could possibly be compared in terms of emotional impact or social metaphor to a record on the level of Elmore James’ ‘Done Somebody Wrong’ is merely to reify the sort of false consciousness that may well make revolution in our time impossible,” said Jagger, demonstrating the breath control that has made him a singing sensation on five continents.
Pulling himself together, Jagger pointed out that “the eighties are here”, and that he was therefore abandoning his “oldfashioned sixties habit” of dropping pretour hints that “this time” the Rolling Stones might surprise their huge audience with something “new and different”. “We’re going to do what we’ve always done”, Jagger said, “and when we’re finished, we’re going to do it again. Forever.” The Response of KMET, the Los Angeles FM radio outlet that was broadcasting Jagger’s words live, was all too real. The station immediately scheduled an eight hour “Stones Special” for August 28 – a marathon that, at least for the two hours during which I remained within its signal range, was characterized principally by a nearly complete avoidance of any material more than five years old. This policy was perhaps predicated on demographic research indicating that a good proportion of KMET’s audience was not born when the Rolling Stones began recording in 1963 – there being no reason to clutter the airwaves with music that, might serve only to confuse many clear-thinking young men and women with unfamiliar sounds, arcane references, or outmoded values."
― peepee (peepee), Monday, 6 September 2004 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link
Tim Lawrence's Love Saves the Day.
― djdee2005, Monday, 6 September 2004 20:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― djdee2005, Monday, 6 September 2004 20:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 6 September 2004 20:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Monday, 6 September 2004 20:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 6 September 2004 20:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― splooge (thesplooge), Monday, 6 September 2004 20:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jimmybommy JimmyK'KANG (Nick Southall), Monday, 6 September 2004 20:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Monday, 6 September 2004 20:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 01:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 01:41 (nineteen years ago) link
For me another would one would be Tom's article on Real Real, Fake Fake, Fake Real and Real Fake in pop - however I can no longer find it!
Oh yeah and the first edition of Kogan's Why Music Sucks where he breaks down his "PBSification" idea.
On a slightly more personal tip, Reynolds' piece on 2-step for The Wire in '99 doesn't introduce any new critical tools or ideas per se, but is a genre analysis par excellence, and has probably had a greater influence on the way I approach writing about music (in terms of unconscious emulation) than any other single piece.
(thanx to dave m and jed)
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 03:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 03:55 (nineteen years ago) link
the thing about tom is that he really doesn't have the one definitive piece does he, somehow i dont think real fake fake real is it, it may be a good philosophical overview but it lacks trademark charisma, tho maybe i should reread before i spout off drunk again as i usually do
― artiste (artiste), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 04:02 (nineteen years ago) link
His "Vox" piece might be a good "representative" piece as well. Especially the bit about Mariah Carey and Sigur Ros subjecting the whole in favour of the part.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 04:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― etc, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 04:17 (nineteen years ago) link
the entire prologue to lipstick traces.
my fave tom ewing piece is his short essay on "panic," the link to which i can't find right now.
"death rock 2000" by frank kogan.
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 04:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― etc, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 05:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 05:48 (nineteen years ago) link
etc.
― djdee2005, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 07:31 (nineteen years ago) link
Obv Reynolds.
Jon Savage 'England's Dreaming' is just great and again, so much more than just a book about the sex pistols. (It starts with a detailed social history of the King's Road, for example.)
I don't normally do biography, but Julian Cope's 'Head On' is hilarious and definitely worth a read as is his 'Krautrocksampler', whic is out of print now , I think. If one definition of good music writing is making you want to hear the music described, then Copey missed his vocation by being a pop star.
And if all that's not out enough for you get your head round Kodwo Eshun's 'More Brilliant Than the Sun' which is great if only for the vicious critique on the rest of writing about music in the introduction.
I've just started 'Words and Music' by Paul Morley and I'm too excited to say anything about it. Is there a thread on that already somewhere?
― Jamie (Jamie T Smith), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 09:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 09:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― pete b. (pete b.), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 09:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jamie T Smith (Jamie T Smith), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:36 (nineteen years ago) link
old music books/essays on the web
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:38 (nineteen years ago) link
the second Lester compilation ("Main Lines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste")is mandatory mostly for "Bob Dylan's Dalliance W/Mafia Chic."
John Morthland (editor of above)also wrote "The Best of Country Music," a truly definitive record guide. (out of print)
"Pet Shop Boys, Literally" by Chris Heath is a great documentary of 80s pop and a delightful sampler of The Wit & Wisdom of N. Tennant.
"All What Jazz" by Philip Larkin is somewhat limited as criticism -- he's a hidebound swing-era conservative -- but his prose sings. Read it for form rather than content and you could learn how to write.
"Blues People" by Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones). He's a hateful anti-semite but this early work is a thoughtful examination of race and music in the US.
"Disco" by Albert Goldman. For my money this is the best book ever written about popular music. It took the scourge of rock criticism, professor Goldman, to define the first popular alternative to rock. "Disco" is the source for every subsequent history of the DJ, and also the first/only book to consider the effects of technology on pop music-making. And it's short, probably 10-20,000 words enclosed in a amazingly decadant coffee-table book. Also provocative, thought-provoking and FUNNY as hell. big caveat: it's out of print, and insanely expensive on Amazon.
"The Dark Stuff" by Nick Kent outclasses most journalists' collection because Kent went back and edited/combined various pieces into a varied and cohesive whole. Classic encounters w/ Iggy, Neil Young, Guns & Roses and Stone Roses/Happy Mondays.
Any one of the various editions of "Rap Attack" by David Toop is essential. The "EMP Oral History of Hip Hop" is overlong, even padded, but the first half, er, rocks.
I've always had a soft spot for "Any Old Way You Choose It" by Robt Christgau. a nice mix of early 70s consumer guides and essays. more mainstream than his musical tastes and prose style became later, but just as intelligent and challenging.
"What do I do w/ Greil Marcus?" Read him w/ a salt shaker at hand. If you start thinking "is it just me or is this hyperventilating nonsense?" It's not you.
― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 10:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:02 (nineteen years ago) link
mystery train seems sort of thin next to marcus's later work (which i really like, mostly), but the "presliad" is still worth reading.
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:14 (nineteen years ago) link
controversial choice. could see you banned from ilm
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jimmybommy JimmyK'KANG (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 11:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:07 (nineteen years ago) link
Greg Tate - 'Flyboy In The Buttermilk'.
John Corbett - 'Extended Play'
― Edmundo (Edmundo), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Edmundo (Edmundo), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― dr. phil (josh langhoff), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― fernando, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― piscesboy, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 12:45 (nineteen years ago) link
(i realise this question may come across as somehow personally involved since I'm mentioned at the top of the thread, but I'm more just curious than anything else. I accept that you feel like an outsider but I would never have considered your writing about music to be somehow contrary to some hypothetical ILM guiding principles - whoever is defining them)
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 13:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― scott pl. (scott pl.), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 13:11 (nineteen years ago) link
I'm wondering if there's some sort of Universal law involved.
― hobart paving (hobart paving), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 13:16 (nineteen years ago) link
Oh my god yes, without any question. Matos and I are united on this point.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 13:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 13:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 13:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 14:25 (nineteen years ago) link
This is an interesting distinction. How is importance defined?
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link
(you can do penance by suggesting books on reggae or dancehall or some jamaican music axis, which i would v. much appreciate since every time you post to a dancehall thread i get out my notebook).
also does anybody know what happened to the archives of Addicted To Noise? can we bully Da Capo into publishing them?
― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link
I think there's another thread where someone mentioned reggae and dancehall books...
― steve-k, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― stelfox, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 15:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― cºzen (Cozen), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 16:51 (nineteen years ago) link
I had no idea this was true. I'll be leaving now. hahaha! Just kidding. I don't even know what girls aloud is. maybe i love them too. and i did own the 45 of come on eileen when i was a kid.
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 17:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 17:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 17:51 (nineteen years ago) link
I should mention that Kelefa Sennah (sp.) piece on Jay-Z that's in De Capo's best of 2002.
― djdee2005, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 18:03 (nineteen years ago) link
and dee you're right, but the Elizabeth Mendez-Berry piece on Jay 'Classic Material' just !KILLS!, as does that entire book.
― Dave M. (rotten03), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 23:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― djdee2005, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 14:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― artdamages (artdamages), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 20:38 (nineteen years ago) link
In "Midnight Train to Georgia," which everybody I've ever met acknowledges as a great record, the frivolousness of the Pips doing their train-whistle ooo-woos (especially if you're watching it on TV and they're gesturing and spinning around in unison at the same time) is what keeps Gladys's soul singing down-to-earth. Without the Pips, Gladys would be merely "intense" - not catchy enough, therefore boring, therefore not intense at all, really. Calling music "intense" or "emotional" or "soulful" is usually a euphemism for "it seems like something I'm supposed to like." It's fairly obvious that the Pips alone would be an ignorable proposition; my point is that Gladys alone would be just as ignorable. And, in fact, the problem with most soul music is that it's all-Gladys/no-Pips: e.g., '60s Aretha Franklin subscribed to the fallacy that by removing shlockish prettiness from music (Dionne Warwick's "I Say A Little Prayer," say) you improve it, when really you just make it more reverent....
Then again, since rock'n'roll is a leisure time activity, there are inevitably people who act like music should be all Pips/no-Gladys. But that wouldn't work, either, since Gladysness is where music's tragedy comes from. As often as not, I need moroseness or violence in my disco. My sense of humor's fine, but the trash-aesthetic concept of forced insignificance (where ideas and passion and audacity are shrugged off as "pretentious") isn't fun - it's lazy.
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 22:14 (nineteen years ago) link
I was gonna say "because no one enjoys arguing against tons of ppl by yourself" and then I realised oh wait, some ppl *do* enjoy that and sometimes I do, too, but most of the time most ppl don't.
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link
I've been reading Steve Almond's Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life. Enjoying it so far, and it seems to be way up ILM's alley (a book about being an obsessive music fan / sometimes professional music critic).
― Mordy, Sunday, 25 April 2010 23:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Criticism of Criticism
― ksh, Monday, 26 April 2010 00:06 (thirteen years ago) link