Is this the part where Greg Kot flies the rockist flag?

I wish. Cf. Madonna Studies.

It combines any number of half-baked notions, including what appears to be some professional jealousy. I still wish that it were as OTM as this group's interpretation of it is.

OTOH, "U2 sell themselves on their authenticity, but their authenticity is fake" strikes me as no less rockist than a straightforward fake=bad argument.

"Better my authentic fakery than their fake authenticity."

Or maybe it's just me.

And yeah roger, I'm not saying that that Neil Tennant quote isn't wrong-headed, but the last thing anybody wants right now is another gambol through the swamp of R-ism ;)

this thread was kind of like waving a red flag in front of a china shop full of bulls though

Wow, the power of pop criticism.

I will download it next time I'm on slsk - that mid-80s period of Depeche Mode is my favourite so there's no reason why I shouldn't like it now.

So we're to sound out what Tennant meant instead of playing with what he actually said? Such strategies are the Great Big Poppa of authenticity tropes!

As for lackign context, I think I made the context clear. Reporter Chris Heath asked them what they thought of "Rattle & Hum." Without the benefit of forming a lucid statement (as we do, sitting here in front of our compuers), Tennant came off rather well. The guy was a critic at one point, remember. As for "professional jealousy" or whatever, the Pet Shop Boys were still having hits in the UK and USA at that point in their careers - as well as a fair amount of critical acclaim - so nuts to that.

(and Anthony's right too: their U2 cover is the perfect U2 critique - and tops U2's version.)

a) a song of yours now being associated with something that you don't like or don't want it to be associated with. "I liked Lust for Life BEFORE it was on tv and regular people knew about it"

b) having the assumption that the commercial is of greater artistic value than the song

c) Hearing a great song that you immediately associate with a product

Considering the relatively short life of most ad campaigns, the number of people who will make that association is small, but I still wish I didn't associate Beach Boys tunes with car ads and Cubs radio spots, and I sure as hell don't think of "Rhapsody In Blue" as anything more than that United Airlines jingle, at least for the first split second I hear it.

It's the artist's right to do what they wish, but some of those associations are annoying...

The Nazis had their death camps to wipe out races. We've got Limp Bizcuit and Korn. :(

I admit that it's perverse, but as they say it's there in the text.

The first quoted paragraph (which is where I read some envy over U2 pandering in just the broadest possible way to the Landau Nation and being celebrated for it while serious artists like the Pet Shop Boys, who wouldn't be caught dead doing anything as obvious as making a pilgrimage to Graceland, were treated as bubblegum, no matter how many hits they had) is razor-sharp.

The second paragraph... not so much. You can't decry artifice without implititly valorizing authenticity. Though I happily concede that NT is well aware of the irony in holding up the Pet Shop Boys as champions of the authentic.

Not that it's any of your business, but Discography did indeed replace various cassette recordings at some point (I think when I got a car w/out a cassette player - I can't drive in LA without "Left To My Own Devices")

That said, Tennant is much more fun. Is this threadjacking complete Beware of Alfred Soto bearing most excellent quotes.

OM,er,G.

Bathe it and bring it to me.

haha. Tennant's got loads of great lines. I'm surprised U2 never covered "Opportunities" back when they were being ironic and coming out of lemons.

and Larry's got the brains too.

He's dead on about indie rock though.

and Larry's got the brains too.

True - he's the one who stays out of the papers. And he's made lots and lots of money.

Everytime I read that word, I have the sudden compulsion to say something like:

"Shut up you fucking self-important pretentious loser."

But I never would, that's rude.

But no matter what you think of Bono or what he's said or done, I tend to agree somewhat when he says that the iPod is the "most beautiful object art" in music culture since the electric guitar. Agree?

http://www.yenra.com/george-foreman-grill/foreman-grill.jpg

"Shut up you fucking self-important pretentious loser."

This is the kind of intelligent debate we need more of.

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Must...stop...listening...to...Anal...Cunt...