Post a controversial music opinion

I can't believe anyone thought it was worth arguing with him tbh, there's a vehement refusal to engage with any of this music on its own terms.

The brilliant/maddening thing about that post, though, is that his take is OTM every 6-7 entries or so.

Most startling bit of that breakdown is him saying that Bitches Brew is 'also interesting in parts'. I thought he'd dismiss it wholesale.

I also hadn't realized just how much he loathes the blues.

almost as much as compilations!

72. Purple Rain, Prince

His best album. Not too many of those repetitive funk number, instead lots of nice melodies. "Darling Nikki" may be his best song ever. The title track is overrated tho.

^i love the little random bonkers opinions like thinking Darling Nikki is the best Prince song

every compilation that shows up seems to make him madder

yeah I get why calling him a rockist isn't right, but he exemplifies aspects of rockism more completely than any other rando on the internet I've encountered, e.g., the holiness of The Album form

then there are opinions like this that are some kind of special Geir-ism:

Nothing of interest happened in "rock" before The Beatles and the following British invasion.

Why don't you guys just realised that hip-hop will never be even remotely as important as rock. Hip-hop is just as passing fad - completely forgotten in 20 years - while rock will live forever.

This HAS to be a joke.

Actually, I think I'm 100% in favour of 'rockism' being exemplified by an Autotuned synthpop musician who hates Robert Johnson and noisy guitars.

yeah I get why calling him a rockist isn't right, but he exemplifies aspects of rockism more completely than any other rando on the internet I've encountered, e.g., the holiness of The Album form

then there are opinions like this that are some kind of special Geir-ism:

Nothing of interest happened in "rock" before The Beatles and the following British invasion.

― rob, Wednesday, July 28, 2021 8:11 AM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah for sure, he's just quirky in ways that don't line up with strict Rolling Stone/boomer rock rockism

he's really dumb and shitty about blues, rap, soul, jazz, and...um...hmm...i'm detecting a pattern here

seriously tho - i keep coming back to the darling nikki thing, so weird! and the odd thing is there are so many prince songs that fit his ideal of "songwriting" in the classic 60s sense

Actually, I think I'm 100% in favour of 'rockism' being exemplified by an Autotuned synthpop musician who hates Robert Johnson and noisy guitars.

cosign

I think why it smells so much like rockism is that it shares the problem of extrapolating from one's own personal taste to a grand theory of what makes music Good (n.b. *I* would never do this).

Also, there are similar undercurrents of white supremacy and classism in Geir's theory that resonate with critiques of rockism, even if his idiosyncratic rationales (every time I read a Geir post I wonder if I actually know what melody is) are different

he's really dumb and shitty about blues, rap, soul, jazz, and...um...hmm...i'm detecting a pattern here

But then how are we meant to parse the lyrics to 'Talking to a Computer'? Verily the plot thickens.

I think why it smells so much like rockism is that it shares the problem of extrapolating from one's own personal taste to a grand theory of what makes music Good

For sure, but the fact that Geir isn't a rock fan first and foremost turns 'rockism' into a bit of a misnomer here imo.

📹

xp
oh for sure, it's just unsettling to see an ostensibly real person argue that, yes Sgt Peppers really is the #1 album of all time

It's funny too because when I think of quintessential rock music, Sgt. Pepper is hardly the first title that springs to mind, what with its expanded instrumentation and good-natured melodies and echoes of music hall and Indian classical music. Isn't it kind of odd that the ultimate rockist album (according to one dominant narrative, at least) is a pluralist pop LP above all?

Uh this might be the most troublesome line in that entire post.

Besides, the entire 50s were overrated. Nothing of interest happened in "rock" before The Beatles and the following British invasion.

I think why it smells so much like rockism is that it shares the problem of extrapolating from one's own personal taste to a grand theory of what makes music Good (n.b. *I* would never do this).

Also, there are similar undercurrents of white supremacy and classism in Geir's theory that resonate with critiques of rockism, even if his idiosyncratic rationales (every time I read a Geir post I wonder if I actually know what melody is) are different

Tbh, I think it's because rockism is mostly a strawman onto which people project any bias they dislike. Prescriptivism, racism, and classism are not uniquely associated with rock or rock criticism.

Pom, you are insane. Sgt Pepper is Luddite machismo.

Sgt Hongroe's Rockist Challops Thread

It’s all just stuff that that one older, audiophile goofball from your local record store says. The loud one that peers over his glasses with one bulging eyeball as he inspects matrices.

xp to Sund4r

True, though I think "mostly" is important: there's definitely something about the music crit canon as it stood in the 80s and into the 90s—roughly I guess? this isn't my area of expertise tbh—that is relatively aptly captured by "rockism," though the term is too broad. As ums said it's more like Boomerism-Rockism, maybe call it Wennerism in its most totalitarian form idk. I think that would make Poptimism the Maoism of this dialectic lol

I guess Steve Hoffman Forums is the closest thing to honest-to-God rockism that I can think of in 2021 AD, and it almost exclusively consists of moribund boomers.

xp

True, though I think "mostly" is important: there's definitely something about the music crit canon as it stood in the 80s and into the 90s—roughly I guess? this isn't my area of expertise tbh—that is relatively aptly captured by "rockism," though the term is too broad.

There absolutely were widespread biases in 80s and 90s rock crit but my memory is that they favoured Tracy Chapman and Arrested Development more than Rush and AC/DC.

Tracy Chapman and Arrested Development more than Rush and AC/DC.

― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Wednesday, July 28, 2021 9:06 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Tracy Chapman and Arrested Development were both in their own ways calling back to older scenes of Rolling Stone music (early 70s singer songwriter/folkies and Sly and the Family Stone)...it's not a coincidence

I don't really know tbh. I guess I'd say rockism as I've understood it is more about canon-building than contemporary music, but I could also see an argument that celebrating Arrested Development over, say, gangsta rap was born out of a (rockist) bias toward artists who make liberal political statements. [xpost w/ ums]

That Geir post had something about What's Going On "finally" ushering in the concept album for soul music, which to me resonates with the critique that rockism only appreciates non-rock when it conforms to rock values.

All that said, as pom pointed out, "rock" is an ill-fitting signifier for concept albums, protest songs, a kind of high-art modernist ambition, etc. I'm increasingly thinking it's better explained as a generational not generic bias, which might also explain Chapman, though I'm not that familiar with her work

Oh, totally. I'm just not sure the critical bias was towards macho men playing loud guitars and drums, (or even, like, what the average person means by "rock").xp

Pretty rhythmic for a guy who hated rhythm!

There _was/is_ a crass guitars-shred/rap-is-crap pov but it was more of a mainstream FM radio listener's pov that the ostensibly rockist critics largely scorned; I feel like these things get conflated in a weird way.

All that said, as pom pointed out, "rock" is an ill-fitting signifier for concept albums, protest songs, a kind of high-art modernist ambition, etc. I'm increasingly thinking it's better explained as a generational not generic bias, which might also explain Chapman, though I'm not that familiar with her work

Yes, although too much concept and high-art ambition was also a critical target post-Pepper. Jackson Browne uber alles, really.

Someone found his Soulseek folder or something at one point, and it turned out he listened to lots of hip-hop and R&B. As mentioned above, I think his schtick on this board had a good dose of troll in it.

He definitely liked hip hop and R&B a lot more than he was ever going to admit on here, though he let his guard down occasionally.

I started reading ilxor in 2005 and "Is Geir a rockist or a challops addict or a troll or what" was a hot topic then. Geir's been gone a while (how long?) and people are still parsing his opinions. In an odd way, that's an achievement.

Two cheers, then, for Hongrockism?

He was the Yin to Lex’s Yang.

everybody’s got a hongrø heart

his Spotify account
Geir’s a man of catholic tastes - he even has a Blues playlist for you all to follow!

it's a Hongrock life for us
instead of Sweet Leaf, we get Styx

instead of shabooh, we get kick

lmao!!!!!!!!

everybody’s got a hongrø heart

his Spotify account🕸
Geir’s a man of catholic tastes - he even has a Blues playlist for you all to follow!

Lindsey Buckingham isn't fit to shine Christine Perfect's shoes (though the fucker should).

Do you think his guitar playing made her songs worse?

No, but she's played with at least two better guitarists. And I find offensive the idea that she needed Buckingham to polish her songs.

I hereby regret all my posts about Springsteen and Bono on this thread, and some of y'all's about other subjects, but mostly my posts about Springsteen and Bono (which is almost all of my posts). Non-controversial, but there it is.

i can't look them up, but i can guess. what were your controps, and what are your regrets now? in alphabetical order! (jk)

Edge of Seventeen is on an advert in the UK and I'm sorry to say that I now hate it. Never been a big fan, but reducing it to the chorus only has shown me that it is unredeemable. I also have it as an earworm, which is not helping.

I's okay. I flagged you.

cheers

http://i.imgur.com/m97m3pB.jpg

(credit to some dude)

blinding lights > take on me

what's the deal with having to rank things just enjoy music. It's like when password reminders are like "what is tour favorite food?????" jeez i dunno I'm a grownup maybe "pasghetti and meatballs or maybe those dinosaur shaped chikkin nuggs"?????

rankings CAN be fun when you're maybe about to see a band live and your excitement leads you to categorize everything, but I often get stressed out making them otherwise.

post your five favorite songs with slide guitar bite me just wrap my donald duck comics to go frodo