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

you don't need space-filler on the internet. it's not like a newspaper or magazine where you have to fill space; you choose how much of the theoretically infinite space of the internet you want to use.

but even internet newsmags have, um, theoretical space limits and such, no? they have sections. they need to fill a section. they need product, basically. same as a regular magazine.

that's probably because old people run it

it's the internet just throw up whatever

in case anyone was wondering why they ran that article, its because it gets forwarded around the internet and posted on message boards like this, and then people go to the site and some of them click on the ads, and then slate gets money, and pays its writers

Thanks for explaining the internet Max, you are a hero.

it's the internet just throw up, whatever (xxp)

np jon seemed like there was some confusion on this thread vis-a-vis the article, and why slate would publish something that wasnt particularly insightful but was contrarian enough that people seem to want to tell everyone about it

it's about as contrarian as a cannned ham.

cannnnnned ham

"utterly incoherent to me and I'm not sure that it's not a joke, but it seems sincere enough I guess."

Ha! sums up my feelings re: Creed and maybe Rammstein and Rush. Maybe ICP and Burial, too.
What groups are like that for you guys?

To compare Creed and ICP to Rush is sacrilege.

Bill Magill OTM. Faygo & Seminars>>>>>>>>Ayn Rand.

which awful alt-weekly cover story essay on jay-z is worse??

http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=19159
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/old-bull/Content?oid=2473786

jk the stranger one is ugh but the cp one is http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lvl.gif

He is Gen-Why's Crack Cobain, in their search for a new musical Nirvana.

man i fuckin hate wordplay

it's about as contrarian as a cannned ham.

What about scrapple?

city paper joint is the worst piece of rap writing i've read this year

RIP al shipley circa 2008 getting space to rightfully shit on 'american gangster'

He may be getting old, but this album is a warning flare to the world that he could do this shit forever.

like, i don't even know where to start

haha i still get space i just wouldn't use it to shit on nu-jay more than once

"Jay may be the Magna Carter (though they aren't related, both men share similar surnames) but Weezy smells succession"

similar?

He is "literally" carrying hip hop on his back.

"And we are in the age of Obamica now; if a black man can become president of the United States, then a wicked jump shot or slinging crack rocks—as the greatest rapper of all time, the late Christopher Wallace once suggested—is not the only way out of the hood. The looming shadow of the big baller/shot caller has not disappeared completely, but it's getting smaller."

This paragraph is literally burning my eyeballs. My head is literally going to explode. Figuratively speaking, this is a terribly written piece.

btw that goof jonah weiner who wrote that article on Creed has a 'conceptual' rap group:
http://www.myspace.com/spiderfangz

haha the way nick sylvester constantly posted about 'spiderfang' on his blog i thought it was just some bullshit he made up himself

Ghostface Killer (Tony Starks)

ohhh, he means Tony Starks

honestly the predictable contrarianism of that creed article is so obnoxious to me for some reason ... like yes, we get it, all music isnt that bad when its not on the radio all the time

i just hate the idea that dude was like, "oooh creed catalogue torrent ... maybe ill make a hundred bucks in slate cash off a half assed review of this that SHOCKS MUSIC FAN SENSIBILITIES"

So hold on, is Weiner now Slate's official pop critic?

http://www.slate.com/?id=3944&qp=43219

Jeez, that's f'n depressing...

they were going to hire me and give me free reign to write about Wilco every week, but the deal fell through at the last minute.

they went for second best.

If I ever got a chance to interview Jay, I

so sad that this sentence occurs in a cover story on the guy

isn't a covery story

er cover story

no it's not very cover-y at all

haha xp

ya i assumed it was from deej's "which awful alt-weekly cover story essay on jay-z is worse??" but i guess you'd know better

Is It OK To Like Chris Brown's New Single?
What to do when a bad person makes a good song.

Creed Is Good
Scott Stapp's nu-grunge foursome was seriously underrated.

Can Miley Cyrus Save Health Care Reform?
The pop starlet's new single is great, goofy—and bipartisan!—fun.

The Last Sellouts
Pearl Jam's brilliant new single, brought to you by Target.

Over the Hump
The Black Eyed Peas' inescapable, incoherent, irresistible new song.

Was Limp Bizkit Really That Bad?
Why the most hated band ever deserves another listen.

Ladies! I Can't Hear You! No, Really, I Can't Hear You!
Where did all the female rappers go?

Lil Wayne and the Afronaut Invasion
Why have so many black musicians been obsessed with outer space?

The Cure for the Common Coldplay
The band's surprising new album.

Impressive corpus.

You missed this one:

Unbearable Whiteness
That queasy feeling you get when watching a Wes Anderson movie.

Slate's new challops column.

: /

My new Slate column: "Received Contrarianism"

Is the rest of Slate any good? I rarely read it.

Varies wildly from writer to writer, but I'd say overall it's gotten worse over the years.

holy shit, that city paper story takes the fucking cake - easily the worst thing I've read this year

Craziest thing about the CP story is that it's not by some dumb young kid:

http://www.nathanielturner.com/baltimoreoratorbarrymichaelcooper.htm

:O

Totally thought that was written by a college kid.

Every single one of this guy's article titles outdoes most of the #slatepitches responses.

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23slatepitches