OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

Jody Rosen (the other one) posted this on Twitter this morning, and it's a pretty good demo of a person who just yesterday started listening to pop/Beyonce deciding to write about it: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/26/beyonc-is-our-indigo-girl-the-halcyon-90s-and-feminism-s-resurgence-in-pop-music.html

it reads like the work of someone whose knowledge of everything they write about in that feature was sourced entirely from wikipedia this afternoon.

En Vogue had a standout hit on their own that continues to be a great feminist break-up record in “Never Gonna Get It,” a predecessor to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” in the realm of songs empowering women to tell those disrespectful ex-boyfriends where they can shove it.

this mix of declarative flatness with calculated informal breaks is exactly how my students write for the paper.

idk what people mean by "feminist" anymore

fortunately neither does anybody else apparently

Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes

idk Marcotte doesn't usually write about music, does she? It's certainly better than when political op-ed writers would talk about gangsta rap groups like Nine Inch Nails.

Yeah, that piece may have been banal but it's not like the writing or the thesis is worthy of this thread.

I know that piece doesn't exactly reek of in-depth musical expertise, but if prominent feminist writers want to sometimes write a column about feminist messages in music, that seems fine with me.

not that they need my approval, definite poor choice of words on that. Just mean that it's weird to see it show up in the worst music writing thread, right after the piece about how D'Angelo used to be capital-S sexy and then he gained weight

I'm fine with it too, but not if it means disregarding entire eras of music (Rosen's Twitter feed spells it out pretty well what's wrong w/ it).

I'd rather discuss (and mock) pieces like this rather than the college paper shit that usually gets posted in this thread as of late.

(and I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Marcotte, I'm still bitter about how she's handled criticism from feminist POC about various issues).

Yeah, fair point. I'm not a huge fan of Marcotte either.

this jody rosen? http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/beyonce-the-woman-on-top-of-the-world/

Yeah, that's him. I don't see your point.

unfair, but kind of funny:

Beyonce: The Woman on Top of the World
By JODY ROSEN

A few years ago, Beyoncé Knowles was like any other record-breaking pop star in an already crowded field. Then something changed.

Jody Rosen ‏@jodyrosen

"But somehow, seemingly overnight, things changed." The Somehow Seemingly Overnight Theory of History.

This isn't funny or interesting enough to be in this thread tho, rly

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1602421

that piece may have been banal but it's not like the writing or the thesis is worthy of this thread

simon reynolds line is disgusting, tho

Which line is that?

the one about ll cool j's face looking like a nazi helmet

and this is a guy who said that indie bands were racist for not incorporating enough "rhythm"

or wait, that's sasha frere-jones. simon reynolds said that british indie fans didn't listen to r&b or hip-hop, which is probably true. point redacted.

more offended by his comparing it to a penis, myself

Reynolds' line about the nazi helmet is in response to LL comparing himself to Hitler, no?

nazi dickhead ll cool j

so since it somehow went unremarked, maura's link there is a CFP for the lead editor of the music department for the largest alt-weekly newspaper in San Francisco.
The job requires hiring and maintenance of a staff of up to twenty freelancers, writing the lead article for the printed paper's music section on a weekly basis, director level consultation, editing for all web-published pieces and regular writing for the proprietary website. You're expected to give up nights and weekends to attend shows.
That job is NOT full-time. It's a twenty hour a week gig with hourly pay and (presumably) no benefits. In San Francisco.
Even in what is likely the best case scenario, being the lead music writer/editor of SF Weekly will not pay for your rent.
That's the goal for anyone working as a music writer today. That's what a high-profile job looks like.
Kids: run far far away from this field unless your parents are rich.

This person will report and write the lead music story for the SF Weekly paper every week and will assign, edit, and write posts for the paper's music blog, All Shook Down. The ideal candidate will have professional experience covering Bay Area music, a deep knowledge and voracious interest in music of all genres, and the enthusiasm and energy to develop sources and find fresh, compelling stories.

20 hrs/wk, hourly rate

lol xpost

i need a new job

me too

lol:

- Ability to turn out pristine, compelling copy with or without an editor

"Kids: run far far away from this field unless your parents are rich."

or do your own thing! start something good on your own. and work it. fuck all these crappy places. it's basically an entire industry BEGGING you to be creative and do something cool on your own.

has this been posted? i hate to link to laweekly and their clickbait pieces. i was actually surprised to see this in the print edition, i didn't realize they bothered wasting actual ink on this stuff.

http://www.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2014/08/05/why-la-is-more-punk-than-new-york

almost think this thread should be locked. it's bad mojo. the good music writing thread has cobwebs on it...

Reynolds' line about the nazi helmet is in response to LL comparing himself to Hitler, no?

― Position Position, Wednesday, August 27, 2014 3:50 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not really no

couldn't agree more with "do your own thing! start something good on your own" and yes when that works it is awesome, but it's a cluttered, noisy world out there, it's hard to get something like that off the ground MUCH LESS bringing in revenue and unfortunately nobody's bills are going away. never mind finding the time to do it. again, i agree wholeheartedly but that's just easier said than done.

admittedly, i tend to be risk averse and have a mortgage and two little mouths to feed. doing something cool is a young person's game, i guess.

uh it's still kinda difficult for the single childless renter, too, trust

everything is easier said than done. i quit a union job that gave great health care and benefits to me and my family to open a used record store at the height of a recession. it ain't easy. being young helps. all kinds of things help. having a full time job and working on something else at night is rough. don't have kids if you can help it. it's just that SO MUCH of this internet and print stuff sucks SO bad. websites, free papers, newspapers, magazines. and if you aren't gonna get paid anything (or much) anyway, just do it on your own. if you can make a living as a print or web journalist churning out crap, that's fine. everyone has to eat.

can't remember the last time i did anything cool

I ate some gelato the other day, that was cool

most people will NEVER make a living with music writing, so why not just do stuff that interests you? or think of a cool project for you and your friends to work on. for fun?

i'm not even talking to people here. just...in general.

de capo best new gelato 2014

it's just all so BAD. nobody with any brains should want to have anything to do with it. i don't care if it's huffpo or buzzfeed or the guardian or whatever. BAD!!

couldn't agree more with "do your own thing! start something good on your own" and yes when that works it is awesome, but it's a cluttered, noisy world out there, it's hard to get something like that off the ground MUCH LESS bringing in revenue and unfortunately nobody's bills are going away. never mind finding the time to do it. again, i agree wholeheartedly but that's just easier said than done.

I've been running Burning Ambulance since 2010. I make no money from it; there aren't even ads on the site. Granted, entire weeks can go by without a post, and our daily pageviews hover in the low hundreds, but I'm happy with it, the artists I write about are happy with it, and that's enough. Monday to Friday, I do other stuff.

Ugh, I don't want to start my own zine.

I'm chewing a toothpick and fixing up my harley as I type. Is that cool?

idk are you getting paid for it

did i mention how bad everything is?

"Ugh, I don't want to start my own zine."

duh, i'm not talking about you slackers. people with energy. and pep.