In Damnation of...Horses by Patti Smith

None of 'em are, except in terms of sales and giving college kids something new to toss up on their walls, not to mention aged rock critics something to stroke their chins over and pontificate at length about the new sounds in r'n'r/hip hop, what have you.

I can't even get through the other three even halfway.

She contributed to one of the 5 or 6 decent songs REM managed to put together over their shabby past ten years, plus 3

Blue Oyster Cult! plus 25.

But I still don't like her so much, at least Horses I mean.

and then she sings about doing the watusi and joe going to mexico and it all balances out. Everybody wins!

Hmmm. I guess you had to be there.

(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses, hey Horses)
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses, hey Horses)
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses, hey Horses)
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses)
Hey Horses!
You´ve been around all night and that´s a little long
You think you´ve got the right but I think you´ve got it wrong
Why can´t you say goodnight so you can take me home, Horses
´Cause when you say you will, it always means you won´t
You´re givin´ me the chills, baby, please baby don´t
Every night you still leave me all alone, Horses
Oh Horses, what a pity you don´t understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand
Oh Horses, you´re so pretty, can´t you understand
It´s guys like you Horses
Oh, what you do Horses, do Horses
Don´t break my heart, Horses
Hey Horses!
Now when you take me by the - who´s ever gonna know
Everytime you move I let a little more show
There´s somethin´ we can use, so don´t say no, Horses
So come on and give it to me any way you can
Any way you wanna do it, I´ll take it like a man
Oh please, baby, please, don´t leave me in the jam, Horses
Oh Horses, what a pity you don´t understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand
Oh Horses, you´re so pretty, can´t you understand
It´s guys like you Horses
Oh, what you do Horses, do Horses
Don´t break my heart, Horses
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses, hey Horses)
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses, hey Horses)
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses, hey Horses)
(Oh Horses, you´re so fine
you´re so fine you blow my mind, hey Horses)
Oh Horses, what a pity you don´t understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand
Oh Horses, you´re so pretty, can´t you understand
It´s guys like you Horses
Oh, what you do Horses, do Horses
Don´t break my heart, Horses
Oh Horses, what a pity you don´t understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand
Oh Horses, you´re so pretty, can´t you understand
It´s guys like you Horses
Oh, what you do Horses, do Horses
Don´t break my heart, Horses
Oh Horses, what a pity you don´t understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand
Oh Horses, you´re so pretty, can´t you understand
It´s guys like you Horses
Oh, what you do Horses, do Horses
Don´t break my heart, Horses
Oh Horses, what a pity you don´t understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand
Oh Horses, you´re so pretty, can´t you understand
It´s guys like you Horses
Oh, what you do Horses, do Horses
Don´t break my heart, Horses

You know, those of us who have loved this record, either back in the day, or since (although especially back-in-the-day), simply cannot ditch its brilliance just because there's now a backlash to its canonisation.

That's what I think, anyway.

I mean, "pretentious"? WTF? Not only is "pretentious" not a pejorative, but with Leonard Cohen cited as an example of same, we're s'posed to somehow accept this bizarre conclusion? Len is also great, people!!!

There's something in that each-subsequent-record-gets-worse thing, though.

Easter is a very nice record (moments of beauty, but moments of intense awkwardness) that's not in the ballpark of Horses in terms of impact. Importance. Sigh. I don't really understand what "importance" means, objectively. Having said that, Gone Again is really the only other good Patti Smith album. Her output over a long career is patchy.

None of which takes away from the amazing Horses.

But wait... wasn't it canonized 'cause it was deemed "important"?

Some love it, some hate it, some are indifferent. What's the answer? A show of hands? This "important" thing seems kind of, well... silly.

Yeah, "You Can't Stop The Bum Rush" rules. I'd never established a connection between 'em and Patti Smith, but I guess "Horses" shares that chaotic throw-everything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks mood that that album has.

What? Oh, Cohen. He's great too. "The Essential" rocked my Spring of 2003.

Afraid not. Should I?

I can't fucking handle it. Do me a favor, flush your head down the shitter for making such an ignorant, sexist statement.

Dream on, Wrongboy.

Hey David A.....calm thyself. I'm not organizing a goon squad that's going to go around house-to-house, confiscating copies of Horses, just so we can start a big bonfire, Kilroy Was Here-stylee. I just think the album in question (Patti's, not Styx's) is an undeservedly lionized bit of pompous schlock.

so i'm asking, once again, why some people seem to want to go out of their way to malign Patti Smith ? this isn't the first thread to set out to dismiss not only this record but Smith herself.

why is it so important to dump on this relatively concise artist (she hasn't made many records and has admitted that it would be worse to make too many bad ones than vice versa) ?

(oh, ok, most people on this thread seem to like her, but that "Loathsome New Yorkers" thread, that just made the new yorkers that talked up the original tabloid week-end "feature" and it's readers appear to be the loathsome ones)

I don't think I'd have worded it quite that way, but fair enough.... because of the disparity between the quality of her work and the praise said work enjoys.

Actually, I think all those artists were pretty clearly in Patti's lineage, and not just because they're women. But if it makes you any happier, *Horses* is *also* catchier, funnier, sexier, more rocking, and more memorable than any album that Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Radiohead, U2, REM, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pavement, Roy Orbison, Bob Marley, Tupac, Boogie Down Productions, Tribe Called Qwest, the Misfits, Iron Maiden, the Smiths, or Sisters of Fucking Mercy ever made. Okay?

11. If you could put together the worst concert bill possible, what 5 bands would you put on it?
1.Jet
2.Journey
3.Patti Smith
4.Wham!
5.Glass Tiger

Oh yeah, I got a Let It Be t-shirt that way, to name one, from one of those places where they had all the imprints up on the wall so you could pick one, choose your shirt size and color and then they would use a press iron to meld it all together. The last time I saw something like that was late 70s.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/12/bf/c5/12bfc552bc9624ac0819fab5248b1806.jpg

As mentioned a couple of times above "Piss Factory"/"Hey Joe" is really great - pretty much the only thing I'll return to (slightly surprised Penman didn't mention it).

And then her voice was sampled in a Dead C track in World Peace Hope Et Al. Its only a couple of mins long but its the only other time I cared.

Was enjoying listening to this this am, has a brief snippet of smith. Her magnetism is apparent (and yeah the assertion that she might be reacting against the beat lineage in any way is mildly baffling)