Comments on: Meme of the Day: We Gotta Get Out of This Place

By: Steven Ward

Steven Ward — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:05:39 +0000

Actually, McLane started out at Circus and then worked at Rolling Stone for a while. She did cover stories on Aerosmith and Heart at RS.

By: s woods

s woods — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:48:39 +0000

Quick addendum: my internal/external characterizations are perhaps incorrect. The real “external” reasons some quit are obviously economic and/or corporate: Rick Johnson claims no one cared to publish his work, and a lot of folks, esp. nowadays, just get shitcanned usually as a result of downsizing. Not trying to discount that obviously.

By: s woods

s woods — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:13:58 +0000

FYI, these were quotes I pulled some time ago through various sources (starting with what I detected was a common theme among some of the interviewees from our own archives). It’s always struck me that rock criticism, whether a profession, a hobby, or whatever, is something that a lot of people feel the need to drop out of and to pronounce on their dropping out of — it seems to be part of the story of rock criticism itself. (You could say this is true of every profession, obviously, though I’ve never sensed it to be as much an issue in, say, movie criticism — am I wrong?) The reasons cited for dropping out are usually some combination of alienation or inability to relate to the now-ness of music, lack of financial stability, deciding instead to follow a more lucrative (and respectable?) path, burning out on the endless listening and concerts, etc. Obviously, a lot of people who drop out of the game don’t necessarily stop being music critics — they just stop doing it in print, for money. There’s precious little likelihood that — at least if they were committed to the form in the first place — they stop talking and thinking like music critics; once infected by the bug… (I firmly count myself among these; gave up on the idea of being a critic eons ago, but if you pat my head and rub my tummy in just such a way I’ll still pull off a reasonable facsimile.) It’s interesting to me that some critics quit for external reasons, others for internal reasons. Some blame the music itself, others note that the disinterest is entirely their own. Like Richard, I too once “felt in awe of [Lester]’s bleak attitude… felt that maybe I didn’t have Lester’s existential depth if I could take simple pleasure in spinning a mere Dead Boys album.” I now think that’s a failure in Bangs’s thinking (though not his writing) and might in face be total hogwash (no, Lester, what changed was YOU)… but it’s a question worth wrestling with.

I used to see Daisann McLane’s name quite a bit. Probably in the Voice, maybe in New York Rocker?

By: Tom Lane

Tom Lane — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:04:25 +0000

I never heard of McLane or Hinerman. Googled them and found that McLane is a travel writer and Hinerman writes about the communications business. The latter is the best way I can describe it after doing a search.

By: Steve Crawford

Steve Crawford — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 02:25:53 +0000

This thread reminded me of a few quotes. One from Rick Johnson, “Every time you get to heaven, somebody moves the gate!” Also, reminded of the feedback that Kurt Vonnegut’s editor would give him when he bitched about being a writer, “No blacksmith is in love with his anvil.”

By: Richard Riegel

Richard Riegel — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:00:59 +0000

Nice selection of quotes, Scott, even if I did say so in one of ‘em myself. Tom Carson’s on target with his comment that losing your critical context makes it all begin to fall apart. For me the context was the monthly publication of my deathless prose about the records in hip & wiseass CREEM, regularly followed by a modest (lavish by current rates) payment for my efforts. That way I could continue my dual ’60s-bred callings as a family-man-provider and as “a writer.” After my CREEM cycle hit menopause in ’88, I lost my context, as writing-wise, there was nothing else like CREEM out there. (Cf. Rick Johnson’s similar laments.)

Lester’s characteristic worries about “alienation” just above reminded me that when I visited him in NYC in 1978, the first time I’d seen him in person since he left CREEM, we were talking about various current bands, and he asked me something to the effect, “Do you really like all this ‘new wave’ stuff?” I said “Sure!” as I was having a great time auditing the Ramones and Elvis Costello and all the other purged-of-James-Taylor music arriving in my mailbox weekly. Lester admiited that he liked a lot of those artists, but somehow still wasn’t getting everything he’d wanted from music when he’d set out to write about it. I felt in awe of his bleak attitude (just as I already was of his writing skills), felt that maybe I didn’t have Lester’s existential depth if I could take simple pleasure in spinning a mere Dead Boys album.

By now, I think I’m finally beginning to catch up with Lester in the alienation neurosis, even if I had to live nearly twice as long as he did to begin to see some of that darkness. That said, I’ve received simple — no, complex! — pleasure the past couple of weeks while listening to the Sharon Tandy compilation CD I bought on Amazon. She did most of her records in holy 1966-67-68, and is the likely bridge of sighs between Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield & thus crucial to my own musical mythology, but that’s all I’m going to say, because even if rock criticism still exists, I’m NOT one of those guys any longer — even my thoughts are fleetingly freelance now . . .

By: Garrett

Garrett — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:22:50 +0000

Interesting quotes.

It’s probably “best” to think of rock music as part of culture and of rock criticism as part of intellectual discourse and journalism: part of larger wholes, part of how we have joy, make meaning, live.

By: Jody Macgregor

Jody Macgregor — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:49:06 +0000

I followed the link and read the rest of that Paul Morley interview. It was great, thanks for that.