Taking Sides: Indigo Girls "Closer to Fine" vs Edie Brickells "What I Am"

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Columbus isn't dirty. OSU is dirty.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Shookout - when I saw her, she had some older dude who was definitely NOT Chamberlain playing. She was drunk as piss and apparently not too happy with the dudes who made up her band at the moment. I think she would've liked him there instead.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:12 (nineteen years ago) link

I have however seen him perform with Tori Amos (who he has also done many, many recordings with), and it was quite honestly a really kick-ass show. Tori shows WITH band >>>>>> Tori shows without.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:13 (nineteen years ago) link

nick, you fascinate me

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link

ok, we get it - you all hate earnest young women of moderate intelligence with unshiny hair
Don't be making rude and baseless assumptions, gabbneb. I have no malice towards any of the acts I brought up in this thread. I actually like the Indigo Girls (and 10,000 Maniacs) music. Don't assume I'm some kind of troglodyte just because (I came to the conclusion) the lyrics to 'What I Am' are broken.

come back when you can spell 'portentous'
actually, I was almost going to write 'pretentious', but that would be mean-spirited and unfair as well as being a cliché

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:21 (nineteen years ago) link

I love threads like this, because they always lead down some alley like finding out about this guy Matt Chamberlain, beat-maker to the stars. Earning your living playing drums behind Edie Brickell, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos woulds be an interesting life.

― briania (briania), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:23 (nineteen years ago) link

i've always wondered about those studio hacks that get trussed up all alterna-style to go out and play with shania twain during her "rock" phase or something.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 16:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Indigo Girls have no sense of humor

well, as long as you also dislike fugazi

my reaction to the 'four years prostrate' line has always been 'in your case, it was probably at least six'.

it is a terrible line, but they went to Emory. where did you go?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:25 (nineteen years ago) link

i mean, i'm being rude, but i think everyone else is being so too. i don't like prejudice against music/artists that are earnest and/or explicitly political, even if the music isn't good.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I love the notion of being oppressed by getting an expensive education.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:31 (nineteen years ago) link

i mean, im gonna go ahead and say that im prejudiced against bad music.

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:35 (nineteen years ago) link

i mean, i'm being rude, but i think everyone else is being so too.
(long sigh)
Okay, I know you were merely stating your opinion, but the tenor of your previous post, almost sounded like a personal dig. Like you were implying I'm a sexist pig of something.
Or am I just being too touchy?

i don't like prejudice against music/artists that are earnest and/or explicitly political, even if the music isn't good.
Okay, it's official, if gabbneb ever disses U2, Bruce Springsteen or the Clash, we have to remind him of this post.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link

I love the two latter artists, and earnestness isn't what I dislike about the former, who I'm mostly indifferent to.

Like you were implying I'm a sexist pig of something.

I'm talking about everyone here, and saying that I think there's a gender dimension, because these artists are being criticized for qualities that male artists are less criticized for.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, Okay.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:47 (nineteen years ago) link

gabbneb have you ever read a billy bragg thread on ilm???

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 16:48 (nineteen years ago) link

no, he doesn't interest me much. is he criticized for his earnestness or the particulars of his politics?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link

oh my , yes

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 17:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Has there ever been a more boringly literal-minded songwriter than Billy Bragg?

― amateur!!ST, Friday, 17 September 2004 17:00 (nineteen years ago) link

on quick look, that looks like particulars and literalism (Indigo Girls are being criticized for being vague), excepting John D's interpretation

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Natalie Merchant is a steamy cunt.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Is that a compliment or an insult?
Also, why does she sing with an accent, but doesn't seem to talk with one?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link

is he criticized for his earnestness or the particulars of his politics?

ok, poorly worded - this was supposed to be an opposition

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:17 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't listen to Natalie Merchant at all. "Carnival" gives me kidney stones.

Wasn't there a rather cool early-90s hip-hop song that sampled "What I Am"?

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:22 (nineteen years ago) link

it's probably something by digable development or arrested planets or something, right?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 17:22 (nineteen years ago) link

it's probably something by digable development or arrested planets or something, right?

No, that'd be that obvious answer, but it wasn't either of them.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Don't know (or care) what the lyrics are, but I'm ridiculously tolerant of tuneful folk-rock strummin' wimmin' who can harmonize; and it takes two to harmonize, so the Indigos take it. "What I Am" never did much for me either way, but I remain baffled by all the many reviewers who absolutely reviled it, 'specially considering that Rickie Lee Jones usually got good reviews (as far as I can remember.) And of course, none of 'em were as good as Tracy Chapman or Michelle Shocked or Joni Mitchell.

And as for Natalie Merchant, I fucking HATE her, not only for her insipid music but also for her idiotic remarks back in '86, when she expressed genuine dread that R.E.M., because they were working with Don Gehman, J.C. Mellencamp's producer, were making a "heavy metal album!" Like, huh?!?! What an idiot - she's exactly the kind of person who woulda burst into heartbroken tears at the sight of Bob Dylan's Stratocaster at Newport in '65! 10000 Maniacs and one lunatic.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Brand Nubian sampled 'What I Am' on 'Slow Down'

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I really wish that Edie and the Indigos would team up and build a gigantic rocket that would then be used to shoot Natalie Merchant into the sun.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 17:55 (nineteen years ago) link

waiting in line at the coffee shop vs waiting in line at the art supply store

― kephm, Friday, 17 September 2004 17:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Indigo Girls can write the shit out of a song. If we're going to go the peace-love-hippie route, give me them over Simon and Garfunkle any damn day. And when did the fact that an artist is "humorless" become a reason for not giving them props? You people baffle me.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:23 (nineteen years ago) link

Jeanne, how do you feel re: Natalie Merchant and possibly introducing her to a celestial hydrogen furnace?

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:26 (nineteen years ago) link

how do you feel re: Natalie Merchant

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Was that a reference to The Evil One? I thought it was more Indoge Girls defence.

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Natalie Merchant had her moments. I think there were three in total.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Was that a reference to The Evil One?

It was a Dan Perry kind of post

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha, so yes then!

― The Evil One (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link

(I know what you meant, I am recontextualizing for fun and profit)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Brand Nubian sampled 'What I Am' on 'Slow Down'

That's the one - thank you!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link

aww man - simon and garfunkel kick the shit out of all three of the others. paul simon wrote better songs in his sleep than anything by 10K maniacs, IG, or edie brickell. not a gender thing, either - i put joni mitchell and sandy denny and linda thompson above s&g...

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:37 (nineteen years ago) link

I remember having to work the Indigo Girls show at Marquette my sophomore year. That "I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind / got my paper and I was FREE" mentioned above got this HUGE resounding ROAR and I was like, this sucks.

― frankE (frankE), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I saw Natalie Merchant sing in NYC at St. John the Divine Cathedral at a memorial service for Allen Ginsberg and it was lovely. So there.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:56 (nineteen years ago) link

ok, this makes me hate them

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Hahaahhaah! Ooh! You're such a bad ass for graduating from college! Hahah.

― shookout (shookout), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:20 (nineteen years ago) link

yes, they're so anti-intellectual

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link

and so much more dismissive of their privilege than more privileged indie-rockers

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link

if i'm totally wrong here, it's because i'm one of the high-schoolers amateurist hates

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:26 (nineteen years ago) link

what? where does that come from? why are you being an asshole?

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:30 (nineteen years ago) link

glory days well they'll pass you by glory days a.k.a. the pathos and humor of high school nostalgia

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:31 (nineteen years ago) link

seriously, i'm not sure what caricature you're struggling to apply to other posters on this thread, but i don't think it fits.

― amateur!!st, Friday, 17 September 2004 19:32 (nineteen years ago) link

give me [the indigo girls] over Simon and Garfunkel any damn day

there's logic to this. I'd totally listen to an Indigo Girls CD-R comp made by somebody who I knew had taste and access to their rather huge discography).

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Skipping 47 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Is this truly the closest thing to a general Indigo Girls thread on ILM(??)

I'm realizing, very belatedly, how great they are... but intimidated at the idea of getting a grasp on an act with 15 studio albums (not to mention solo / side projects). Beyond the S/T (which I revisited for the first time since, probably, high school – it made me laugh at how good it is, on a song-by-song basis), and the Best-Of / Essential playlists, any tips on how to "get into them"?

― juristic person (morrisp), Tuesday, 28 September 2021 17:27 (two years ago) link

Light some incense

― calstars, Tuesday, 28 September 2021 17:44 (two years ago) link

Goddamn, for decades now I assumed they were saying "The closer I am to find," which I always assumed was an awkward but deliberate grammatical mistake.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 28 September 2021 17:54 (two years ago) link

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