critic's darlings

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(Mike, Gilmore Girls characters do not count!)

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

ha most bands more than 10 years old (but less than 30) are critics darlings

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't know any non-critics :(

Jess is right cf Men Without Hats

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

I love YMG, and a lot of other bands mentioned. The question was about overwhelming critic love, not exclusive critic love.

― jillian (jillian), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

What bands would you say are admired almost exclusively by critics?
-- Kenan Hebert (mondria...), February 17th, 2003 10:41 AM.

― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

What bands would you say are admired almost exclusively by critics?

Well, none of course. But people seem to be reading that into the question with their responses of: "But I Like That!"

― jillian (jillian), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

Quintessencial critic darling rock band: YO LA TENGO

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

blue oyster cult

― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

(I'm beginning to think ILM is on an endless loop.)

― Amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

it's like Cremaster!

― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

or Finnegan's Wake!

― James Blount (James Blount), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Is Tom saying that Men Without Hats are critical favorites now, or is he just abusing sarcasm? Because if Men Without Hats are now critical favorites then HOORAY WE WON BREAK OUT THE CHAMPAGNE AND PUT ON "I GOT THE MESSAGE!"

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sorry Nabisco I was just picking the first minor hit band of that vintage that came into my head - might as well have been Jimmy The Hoover. Don't let that keep you from the champers, obviously.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 17 February 2003 23:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

As I type this, this thread is wedged betwixt threads devoted to Sleater-Kinney and Stephen Malkmus. No further comment.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Beta Band.

What do I win?

― Mil, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

Show me a negative review of a Microphones album.

― Famous Athlete, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yet again, I have to be the first to mention Fugazi.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 00:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Athlete OTM! Though I'm sure the Microphones have a civilian fan base, I don't wanna know anything about it.

― Aaron A., Tuesday, 18 February 2003 01:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

the only critic's darlings I'm aware of are Carola Dibbell, Jenny Marcus, Ann Powers and/or Eric Weisbard, (formerly) Martina Eddy, Nancy Wilson of Heart, Joy Press, Joshua Clover and/or Jane Dark, don't know any more, what do you think I am, SICK?

― Elvin Willis, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 01:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Zwan.

― Curtis Stephens, Tuesday, 18 February 2003 01:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jon Dolan and/or Laura Sinagra, too

DJ /rupture

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 01:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

S
O
N
I
C
Y
O
U
T
H

Quite possibly the most overrated band in rock history, unless the Velvet Underground count.

― Evan (Evan), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 02:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Fugazi - some critic's band! The Argument was their first record to place in the Pazz & Jopp. A large percentage of Fugazi's fans are musicians though (see also: Rush).

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 02:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

Evan really is a Dave Matthews fan!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 02:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

Fugazi - some critic's band!

Find me ONE critic who has even deigned to give them as much shit as Sonic Youth got (incl from Rob C.)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 02:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

Robert Christgau - "The most principled band of the '90s declined to send out promos, a decision I would have respected even if they hadn't been so stalwart in minimizing ticket prices, staging all-ages shows, and otherwise putting punk's D.C-based straight-edge ethos into practice. Since their Dischord label remained solvent as other indies went mainstream or under, I'm sure they understood venture capital better than me. I bought three early-'90s albums: 13 Songs, Repeater, and Steady Diet of Nothing. These were enough to convince me that from the strictures of Minor Threat's razor-sharp hardcore to the confrontational formalism of Fugazi's surgical AOR, Ian MacKaye has always been a musical puritan as well as all the other kinds. Obsessed with corruption, he figured out that words and voices don't excise it as efficiently as a well-honed guitar--specifically Guy Picciotto's precise, rock-solid distorto riffs. On Repeater, Picciotto offered something like pleasure. On the other two the resemblance was more abstract. I'm not any kind of puritan. So I stopped buying their records. [2000]"

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well shoot me in the ass.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think S-K trumps Fugazi then, if only because they were called America's Gr8st OMG Rokk Band back in 1997 when Lifter Puller still existed.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

which critics like baxendale?

― keith (keithmcl), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

This thread is so fundamentally flawed.

The Fugazi/S-K thing is obviously ridiculous to anyone who has ever been to a show by either band. That goes for most everyone in this thread.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nate, the bands you're mentioning have lots of fans that aren't critics; you might as well call Bob Dylan a critics darling. I could only wish the gender makeup of rock criticism was similar to the gender makeup of a Sleater-Kinney audience.

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

which critics like baxendale?

actually, yeah. i've never read a positive Baxendale review.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Urgh, I sense another Sterling Clover "but REAL people don't like them" argument coming up and I thought we were talking "critic's darlings" as in bands that could, in the eyes of the press, do no wrong and also if you dislike them you are clearly CRAZY IN THE HEAD, but apparently this is becoming some sort of weird echo of the Sterling Clover P&J thing so I'll shut up.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

(Wow, I was really redundant there. HEY NATE EDIT FIRST THEN POST)

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

critic's darlings = bands who's fans are almost exclusively critics or who's love from the critics is in now way proportional to the love they get from their target demo

at one time, John Hiatt

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

for a negative review of Sleater-Kinney see Griel Marcus on One Beat

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

haha good charlotte

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 03:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

(The Baxendale thing was an abortive in-joke. I know they've been savaged in the UK, although their US reviews were favorable.)

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

I bet Yo la Tengo is the king here. You take a band's entire fanbase & then figure out the percentage of those fans who have had at least one record review published...Yo la Tengo is untouchable.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

the us reviews read from the same set of talking points, derided for being "ironic" and not as good as pulp or pet shop boys.

― keith (keithmcl), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

pretty much any band with former rock critics (Yo La Tengo, Magnetic Fields, Pet Shop Boys) gets love from critics. Yo La Tengo were a critic's band circa Fakebook (it's still a little insane how high that record placed in the P&J), but now - post-Painful, esp. post-I Can Hear the Heart... - not anymore, or at least not anymore than most indie-rock bands.

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

I bet Yo la Tengo is the king here. You take a band's entire fanbase & then figure out the percentage of those fans who have had at least one record review published...Yo la Tengo is untouchable.

I know a lot of critic types who hate YLT.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

buncha assholes!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

wait,,,critic 'types'?

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, critic types bad things about Yo La Tengo on their computer-machine key-boards.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

Miss Rosen! Nate's accusing you of using bad grammer Miss Rosen!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

better ger yr hair did (copywritten 2001 missy elliot)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

That's it Blount, you better be waiting under the flagpole at recess!

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

waiting under the flagpole - http://63.172.85.108/flagpole/FMPro?-db=reviews.fp5&-format=review2.htm&-lay=reviews&type=record&publish=yes&-op=cn&band=tatu&-recid=33562&-find=

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

Miss Rosen! Nate's accusing you of using bad grammer Miss Rosen!

Er, no he's not!

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 04:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Skipping 31 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

george - where is this interest in sonic youth from big city critics you speak of? the wire?

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 18 February 2003 22:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Television.

― Dave Fischer, Wednesday, 19 February 2003 01:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

various magazines, mostly from the UK and includng The Wire, plus a couple of local (nz) ones

i admit critics' visibility right now is low or at least spread, with moves onto the web, so i assume there have to be a lot more genre-specific fanzine type web publications that now achieve a much higher worldwide circulation, with critics as general purpose music contributors to non-music publications less prevalent

and so threads like this will be more about a different set of critics for every poster, from both genre and other preference points of view (so i guess my choice sy are older or classic critics darlings, which they certainly were ten years ago

The Wire attempts to be universally applicable while excluding a lot of pop/rock music, which maybe makes it irrelevant to some here, and their championing of almost lone pop/rock band sy particularly ridiculous to me

― george gosset (gegoss), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 04:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pulp have become very much a critics' band over the last 2 years, thus cementing Jarvis's place as the Grant McLennan of our times (though Grant McLennan might have some choice words to say about that).

― Charlie (Charlie), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 04:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

With all due respect to the author of my favourite song, Grant McLennan's lyrics could never hold a candle to Mr Cocker.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 04:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

no, but the wiggly fingers are not dissimilar.

― Charlie (Charlie), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 06:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Sex Pistols. "Greil, be quiet, or I'll never let you out of that box!"

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 19 February 2003 06:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Flaming Lips

― Vic (Vic), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 06:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

uh what

explain Vic

― Brian the Snorf, Wednesday, 19 February 2003 13:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

the whole beefheart phenomena is an interesting aside to the general ransacking of the blues by the whites, probably a curious distraction for rock critics through the years that's still fun to reflect on

(This thread is dead.)

Yeah, George Gosset, Frank Zappa fucked up "Trout Mask." Included all that shit to make it seem like a "field recording." But the record succeeds anyway. "Ransacking the blues by whites" is kind of a musty notion now, though--white people have always played "blues" and it's unfortunate there's no term equivalent to that idiot word "rockist" for these "bluesist" people who persist in thinking it's all about the noble black man, the ransacking white man, and some misguided notion of "purity" of "delta" blues and all that very wearying bullshit. "Trout Mask" isn't "perfect" but it sho' is swingin', and if you get nothing else out of besides that great velocity, you've gotten more out of it than most folks have. It's only people uncomfortable with the basics of American music as she is swung who persist in hearing what Beefheart did as "difficult." And there were a few critics back in the dark ages before "rockism" who saw this, too.

― frank p. jones (frank p. jones), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 13:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

I dont read much press these days ;-)
What kind of reviews do the Foo Fighters get ?

― kevin brady (groeuvre), Wednesday, 19 February 2003 13:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

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