Patti Smith vs. PJ Harvey

Oooh old people beatdown.

I have never listened to Patti Smith. I love PJ Harvey.

PJ Harvey has yet to write a song as clueless as "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger."

i was listening to easter this week and wondering what would happen if somebody wrote "rock 'n' roll nigger" now. would a major label even release it?

(and i love pj, but patti totally got robbed in this poll.)

i saw both of them live within a few years of each other, in the late '90s. pj was good, but patti was one of the best things i've ever seen (and i wasn't even expecting much from her).

lol 90s

Still disagree with anyone finding 8 track demos superior to Rid Of Me mind, thought it was a cowardly appeasement gesture back then and still do. Don't like the record 100%? Get a fucking bootleg and feel smug about it you wimps.

that's fighting talk danny boy.

I think ROM irritates me because it's the one PJ record that feels compromised by its production. At the time I was disappointed because it was trying too hard to be fashionable - too much Albini, too much of the mute-mute-mute-powerchord!! guitar sound that was then ubiquitous. Listening back to it now, it sounds dated and I think it's the only PJ Harvey album that's very definitely "of its time" .

Releasing the 8-track demos was a canny move IMO - rather than appeasement, it helped create the myth that Rid Of Me was a difficult listen - which cemented PJ's reputation as a "serious. proper. artist." hence we're still talking about her now.

Pj Harvey by miles.

What Ross said