From Arcade to Ashlee: Interview with David Cooper Moore
Posted by s woods on December 15, 2009
A big (maybe the biggest) story of the decade in pop for me personally was the thrilling and frequently surprising evolution of what has come to be known as “teenpop” (yeah yeah, I’m old — still prefer “bubblegum” myself). From “Since U Been Gone” to Girls Aloud’s “Biology” to Britney’s Blackout to Jojo, Cassie, Sugababes, and the apparently invulnerable pop factories of Max Martin and Dr. Luke, nothing — nothing — made driving (and crying) seem as consistently crucial an experience in the ’00s. And few writers tracked and made sense of the stuff as well as David Cooper Moore, proprietor of Cure For Bedbugs and Cr4Bdbgs (not to mention a contributor to the Stylus Jukebox, plus numerous other venues and comments boxes). Recently, Moore started delving into his own evolution as a fan and music critic, and I highly recommend the two thus-far published pieces in this series: 2001: A Taste Odyssey and 2002: My Convent Year.
I spoke with Moore recently about his discovery of and thoughts about the teenpop genre, including the journey he once described as “from Arcade Fire to Ashlee Simpson.” We also discussed his writing (including a short-lived stint at Pitchfork), his thoughts on Paris Hilton (and the attendant critical conversation around her), plus a bunch of other stuff, including his comics-artist wife Emily who was sitting in the room with him and who neglected to wrench the phone out of his hands to set any records straight. (Moore, btw, also partook in the rockcritics.com blogger symposium a couple years back.)
Listen to a stream of our conversation (in four parts) below:
PART ONE (on writing, commenting in boxes, etc.):
PART TWO (on discovering teenpop):
PART THREE (on Paris, Ashlee, Kelly, Rihanna):
PART FOUR (on Arcade Fire, teenpop machinery, decade faves):
Or download the mp3s here.
