According to pitchfork, "wtf" is a genre now.

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the review of the Mandy Moore/Michael Stipe collabo is listed as such.

I wholeheartedly endorse this and since I rarely approve of Pitchfork shenanigans, I thought I'd mention it.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Ah, good old "We Are The World". Always three weeks behind the rest of the Internet.

It's way better than one and a half stars, anyway.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link

let's think up the wtf canon!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:05 (nineteen years ago) link

though, wait, I'm already doing that: VOTE VOTE VOTE for the most OMGWTFLOL(ROFFLE) HITS OF THE 90'S!!!!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Example 1: Pitchfork enjoying pop music for its own sake.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Does it consist of things OTHER than popettes covering songs they [rockist]HAVE NO RIGHT TO COVER BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO IMPORTANT[/rockist]?

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:06 (nineteen years ago) link

with Michael Stipe? Yes.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Stipe is key here

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:07 (nineteen years ago) link

But Stipe is a manslut. He'd sing with anyone right now. Mandy Moore is prettier than she used to be.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:09 (nineteen years ago) link

R. Kelly and Fred Durst are pioneers in the field of wtf.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Neil "Trans" Young is the godfather of wtf.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:11 (nineteen years ago) link

MICHAEL STIPE/FRED DURST DUET NOW PLEASE RECORD COMPANIES thx.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Michael "you're a vegetable, you're a buffet" Jackson goes up there too. Along with Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Actually if Fred Durst and R. Kelly teamed up for a Best Of Both Worlds deal it would take three weeks to get the smile off my face.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Nu Saved Me

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:13 (nineteen years ago) link

is the metallica/marianne faithfull duet wtf?

― Cripps Pink (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:14 (nineteen years ago) link

oh definitely. as is "The Unforgiven 2." Actually, I would say that Metallica have been wholly within the wtf genre since Re-Load.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:15 (nineteen years ago) link

That title was kinda the signal.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh man. "Unforgiven 2". Right at the end, how it goes "Because you're UNFORGIVEN TOO" TOO = 2.. that is WTF gold.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, and the preceding line where James says he's going to insert a key into your orifice.

― edward o (edwardo), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link

miccio on a roll, haha.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:18 (nineteen years ago) link

also there's S&M where the conductor must have just yelled "trill!" for two CDs. and you KNOW St. Anger is 100% wtf.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Electric Six, Junior Senior & the Scissor Sisters are all trying to find out if wtf can be done on purpose.

tatu and the new terrorist-oriented one are also very wtf.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:31 (nineteen years ago) link

beck was once mistaken for wtf

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:31 (nineteen years ago) link

This isn't a genre, it's a state of mind (and can be celebrated as such).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:48 (nineteen years ago) link

like this is the first genre that exists on a purely conceptual level.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 25 September 2004 23:49 (nineteen years ago) link

I think the house mix of 'All Your Base Are Belong To Us" belongs in this category.

― 57 7th (calstars), Sunday, 26 September 2004 00:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, 'Sulu Dance.'

― 57 7th (calstars), Sunday, 26 September 2004 00:20 (nineteen years ago) link

I think the Jethro Tull smash hit "J-Tull Dot Com" is pretty wtf. Refrain:

I'm yours
Yours... dot com.

In addition, Jethro Tull's whole album "J Tull Dot Com" is pretty wtf too.

― mrjosh (mrjosh), Sunday, 26 September 2004 01:04 (nineteen years ago) link

"Cotton Eye Joe" is definitely wtf.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Sunday, 26 September 2004 01:32 (nineteen years ago) link

abba OWN wtf

― Cripps Pink (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 26 September 2004 01:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Boney M is quite wtf.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Chuck Eddy books are for the most part based on the thesis "wtf=best music ever"

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha, Miccio OTM!!

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:23 (nineteen years ago) link

ditto richie unterberger, irwin chusid, julian cope...

― Cripps Pink (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:23 (nineteen years ago) link

in relation to those guys I guess I should amend Chuck's thesis to "danceable wtf=best music ever"

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Junior Senior are deeply indebted to the wtf canon, with all their references to wtf luminaries Sparks, the Sweet, the B-52s, JJ Fad, New York Dolls, Nancy and Lee, etc.

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:25 (nineteen years ago) link

i think bands that are trying to be wtf do not count

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:26 (nineteen years ago) link

motive is irrelevant, it's the effect that matters. Personally I'd say the Electric Six are very wtf but that Beck is not.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:28 (nineteen years ago) link

see David Bowie and "avant-garde"

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:29 (nineteen years ago) link

motive is never irrelevant!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:30 (nineteen years ago) link

actually maybe not so much motive as context

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:30 (nineteen years ago) link

in which case your electric six/beck thing still holds true

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:30 (nineteen years ago) link

ok yeah context is relevant. but trying definitely doesn't exclude you from qualifying. It probably just makes it more impressive if you pull it off.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 26 September 2004 02:34 (nineteen years ago) link

In that respect, Britney's horrendous "My Prerogative" would be the one of the biggest ever failures of the wtf genre.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 26 September 2004 03:35 (nineteen years ago) link

although the birth of wtf is somewhat disputable, I believe Chuck Berry elicited the first true "wtf" with My Ding-A-Ling.

― Bill Neil, Sunday, 26 September 2004 03:38 (nineteen years ago) link

gah mandy moore is so cute gah

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 26 September 2004 03:43 (nineteen years ago) link

"See David Bowie and 'avant-garde'"

What do you mean by this?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 26 September 2004 03:46 (nineteen years ago) link

A lot of country music strikes me as wtf.

― jim wentworth (wench), Sunday, 26 September 2004 03:50 (nineteen years ago) link

(x-post) Wait, I get it; it's not wtf. So what, though? Neither is a lot of stuff. Are you saying he was trying to be wtf and FAILED?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 26 September 2004 03:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Skipping 125 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Great examples of wtf from the poll:

Bryan Adams, Sting & Rod Stewart - All 4 Love
Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith doing Diane Warren? WTF?)
Frente! - Bizarre Love Triangle
Green Jelly - Three Little Pigs (I'm shuddering just thinking about the stupidity of this record and its video)
Snow - Informer

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Monday, 27 September 2004 20:34 (nineteen years ago) link

BRIAN DE PALMA IS WTF MICCIO IS WRONG.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 27 September 2004 20:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Wakefield ft. Mary-Kate Olsen - Suffragete City

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001XAS3K/qid%3D1096324919/sr%3Dka-1/ref%3Dpd%5Fka%5F1/103-4255858-1026219

― bill neil (inabillity), Monday, 27 September 2004 21:43 (nineteen years ago) link

that is a wet dream of wtf. Wakefield is the best mall-punk band ever btw.

― bill neil (inabillity), Monday, 27 September 2004 22:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Wakefield's album is pretty great.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 27 September 2004 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link

I want to see a Pitchfork wtf review of that song. Wakefield needs more exposure.

― bill neil (inabillity), Monday, 27 September 2004 22:26 (nineteen years ago) link

By these standards most of the double entendre songs of classic blues are proto-wtf. Somebody up thread mentioned Charlie Patton and that's on the mark. Quoth Johnson, "I got a gal and she's long and tall; sleeps in the kitchen with her feet out in the hall. Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got em for sale." I mean, wtf?

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 04:01 (nineteen years ago) link

The new Shania single is pretty wtf. Firstly, it co-features Mark McGrath. Secondly, it's that skank-wanking processed guitar riff that serves as the hook. Unbelievable! And the coyness. The coyness, meant to be de riguer Shania flirty fun (I assume) is intolerable. Thirdly, she has the way about her of a restaurant hostess. Fourth and stuff - Mark's voice has been Muttified.

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 05:25 (nineteen years ago) link

is buñuel wtf?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 07:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Two important Wtf touchstones: Lou Reed-"Orginal Wrapper" and Brian Wilson-"Smart Girls".

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 09:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Although, Brian Wilson might fall into the Wesley Willis catagory.

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 09:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Shania's blue disc was wtf.

(me to chuck eddy back when i pitched the britney review -- "the sheer wtf factor is through the roof!")

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 12:11 (nineteen years ago) link

oh you crazy critics

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 15:35 (nineteen years ago) link

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― chuck, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Is the new Nancy Sinatra album WTF?

― Talent Explosion (Talent Explosion), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 15:51 (nineteen years ago) link

WTZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 15:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Pat Boone In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy is quintessential wtf.

― bill neil (inabillity), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 16:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Kitsch revivals of forgotten stars =/ wtf

― chuck, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah that's too much of a desperate plea for attention to qualify. If he did it for the art and was still wearing that dog collar today then maybe.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I realize that, and I would have agreed if I hadn't read the liner notes he wrote. They were so self-consciously ironic that it had me going wtf at his newfound self-conscious irony. Apparently he saw his first metal concert after he had the idea for that album. As if that wasn't enough, the actual music swung rather than Rocked, and still dared to call itself metal. I guess it's a different kind of wtf - more of a "why the fuck does the world allow this? God!" wtf - so I can't call it quintessential, but nonetheless it still gave me a pretty strong wtf reaction.

― bill neil (inabillity), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:31 (nineteen years ago) link

would Metal Machine Music be considered wtf?

― bill neil (inabillity), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:43 (nineteen years ago) link

critics have done a lot to try and erase the inexplicability of Reed's ouvre, but there's still a good bit of juice there. He deserves a nod.

I think there's TONS of wtf on the first two Velvets albums.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:47 (nineteen years ago) link

>the actual music swung rather than Rocked<

I love this dichotomy, even though I don't really understand it!

― chuck, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:52 (nineteen years ago) link

dude, you should talk.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I love this dichotomy, even though I don't really understand it!

I meant there was much more brass than guitar.

― bill neil (inabillity), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:14 (nineteen years ago) link

OK, I'll ask, what's wtf about the first two Velvet Underground albums?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 23:52 (nineteen years ago) link

The mixture of avant-garde, garage and bugfuck spazzoid. Ballads followed by noise followed by gah everything. It's definitely contextual wtf but if taken at face value these albums are nuts.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:01 (nineteen years ago) link

If "Ding-A-Ling" counts than "too busy suckin' on my ding-dong" (on album where half the tracks are about minds being split open) counts.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:01 (nineteen years ago) link

OK then Doors are wtf and Godz are wtf, etc.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:03 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah I can see the slippery slope that follows the Velvets-as-wtf. I can definitely see the Godz as wtf, but the Doors I'm iffier on (they strike me more as dumb than inexplicable).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:09 (nineteen years ago) link

this wtf concept is veering quickly into banality

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Doors I'd almost want to put in the "not as weird as they think they are" category.

true, am.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:11 (nineteen years ago) link

No fair getting Doors digs in while veering into banality. Doors ruled.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:18 (nineteen years ago) link

"Touch Me" is pretty wtf.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:24 (nineteen years ago) link

esp. in a "Doors Rule" context.

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:24 (nineteen years ago) link

There are DIFFERENT "Doors rule" contexts. In some, the greatness of "Touch Me" is recognized.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:27 (nineteen years ago) link

YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER

(wtf)

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:29 (nineteen years ago) link

'critics have done a lot to try and erase the inexplicability of Reed's ouvre, but there's still a good bit of juice there. He deserves a nod. '

'Vicious
you hit me with a flower
You do it every hour
oh, baby, you're so vicious'

i'd say that's pretty wtf.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:56 (nineteen years ago) link

at least the flower part always struck me so.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 00:57 (nineteen years ago) link

that's just saying that the supposed viciousness is actually pretty feeble

no wtf

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 01:11 (nineteen years ago) link

this wtf concept is veering quickly into banality

it's only natural. now would be the time where wtf either splits off into subgenres or is discreetly swept under the rug.

― bill neil (inabillity), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 01:11 (nineteen years ago) link

GAWD WTF IS SO FOUR DAYS AGO!

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link

I foresee Durst searching for inner wisdom and inexplicably finding the impossible: post-wtf. I know he has it in him.

― bill neil (inabillity), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 01:33 (nineteen years ago) link

GOOD DOCTOR OTM.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 02:36 (nineteen years ago) link

that's just saying that the supposed viciousness is actually pretty feeble
no wtf

-- kit brash (kitbras...), September 29th, 2004.

yeah but it sounds wtf. wtf is between the lines man as well as on them. like a viscous fluid seeping into the floor or some other half-baked metaphor like that.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 02:43 (nineteen years ago) link

dammit i need to sleep.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 02:46 (nineteen years ago) link

In response to the Velvets.. personally I think they WERE wtf but that their wtf-ness has dated. Which punk was it whose first reaction to the banana record was actually "what the fuck?" Iggy? I don't remember. But anyway in that sense you have to admit that in 1967 they definitely were wtf.

― bill neil (inabillity), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 03:13 (nineteen years ago) link

i don't mean to suggest that the doors were banal, but rather that the category of "wtf" had been rendered so inclusive as to be practically meaningless. not that i think it's a very interesting critical category to begin with bah humbug etc.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 03:16 (nineteen years ago) link

The PRODUCTION on White Light/White Heat definitely borders on wtf-ness. Same goes for Raw Power!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 03:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Unrelated, but... has anybody had problems accessing the PF website? For some reason it won't load on my computer but works fine when I try from other computers.

― Baaderoni (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 07:55 (nineteen years ago) link

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