Hey, No Offense, But All Your Blogs Bite It

But last night, I decided the time had come -- I was going to do download a
bunch to my Palm Pilot for subway reading during my commute. I thought it
might prove a good place to do a little research and keep abreast of the latest goings-on.

And seriously? What I found was a lot of lists, in-jokes, pictures,
and inpenetrable references -- as well as links to other blogs, of course. Aside from the fact that almost none seemed to have much to say about actual music, almost across the board, they reinforced the worst cliches about music writers: that they're this uber-insular, elitist sect that's more interested in impressing one another than trying to think anew, even if it means saying something stupid.

Did I kind of expect that? Sure, I suppose. But the thing is: that's what ILM, for all intents and purposes, should probably be, but isn't. There's a lot of fresh, honest--dare I say--brave assessments on this board -- by, I might add, many of the same people playing this silly game I just described. You would think the blogosphere could be public diaries -- musings about this passion of ours, the great testing ground for the Big Ideas that end up in print somewhere, or maybe just write-ups of records our respective publications wouldn't let us review for whatever reason.

But from virtually all that I've seen, they aren't that at all. And that's just very, very disappointing. There are some great writers here.

you admit that and then have the nerve to criticize? heh, that's some cojones.

great!

try harder, btw.

IMO, once you start consciously blogging for other bloggers, and not for yourself or for a real or imagined audience, the quality suffers badly. When that happens, it leads to online feuds and writers trying to outdo one another first and foremost. Also, people start becoming self-conscious about their niche in the blogosphere. They start thinking "I have to write about stuff that others aren't writing about, I've got to be more unique" instead of just writing about whatever interests them.

I'm not just referring to music blogs here, I'm referring to any internet communities I've come across -- music, sports, politics, you name it.

Personally I don't like the MP3 blogs, aside from the odd blog that features mixes.

And this was a surprise? You've read the Pazz & Jop poll comments section before, right? Anyway, most of the political blogs I've scrolled through seem to fit the same pattern as the music ones.

I used to take great pains in always thinking of the first-time reader when writing each post, always trying to explain references etc. Then I decided that I actually liked in-jokes and self-referentialism and being part of a blog-gang, so I eased up on all of that. I fully expect 95% of casual readers to walk away scratching their heads and thinking WTF is he blathering on about. It's a blog, not a magazine. Horses for courses...

i disagree. ILX is designed for two-way communication, for rapid response. blogs are online journals; the text is offered up to be read as an entity in itself, rather than as part of a discussion. that crappy little "comments: 0" at the bottom of thousands of blogspot posts says it all.

there are some excellent, awe-inspiring, life-affirming blogs out there. there are many, many more that are frankly knuckle-bitingly embarrassing; a good proportion of these are obviously written entirely for other members of the - cough - "blogosphere" to read. a good blog exists because it has something worthwhile to say and says it beautifully. a bad blog exists purely to affirm the writer's existence, which is ultimately rather pathetic.

it's like forming a band: for the sake of the rest of us, only do it if you actually have a driving need to do so.

Didn't you know, I keep it going just to promote yours. ;-)

that crappy little "comments: 0" at the bottom of thousands of blogspot posts says it all.

I have a lot of fans. I especially like the VEeAgra one.

I found Jess Harvell's year-end take on music on his blog very interesting even if I don't always agree with him. Jessica Hopper writes wonderfully. Dj Rupture/Jace Clayton's take on grime, life in Spain, and various others...There a Canadien guy who lives in Senegal and post about African music who's been mention elsewhere by me and others on ILM who's great. How about Julianne Shepherd, and Phil Sherburne,Christopher Porter and numerous others(I just learned from Sasha Frere-Jones blog about the jazz covers of pavement cd)...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ... urgh [chokes with laughter]

whats your blog?

Is there such a thing? I must live in an insular world.

No, it was just the word.

No they don't, it IS embarrassing. There is a reason diaries used to have locks.

"OMG look at what those people are doing in my periphery! I don't want to see that! Get out of my field of vision as I am rooted to the ground and am unable to turn my fucking neck!"

WHY YOU TAR EVERY POST TO THREAD WITH SAME BRUSH?!?

*hides*

All the ones I read are. And I think they're successful.

Well, "online diaries"/blogs have a different motivation now since there seems to be this collective need to make yourself seen and heard, whether you have something interesting to say or not, with several important exceptions of course. I pretty much agree with the sentiment that grimly fiendish promotes upthread re: starting a band.

miccio, you had a problem with a song being goofy?!?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, June 27, 2001 3:23 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol