Guess the Mystery Writer #2
Dated December 1982… Continue reading Guess the Mystery Writer #2
Category: Quotes
Guess the Mystery Writer #1
What follows are two quotes from a famous writer—someone whose rise to fame preceded rock—talking to an interviewer about the Stones (both quotes are from the same interview). Rather than tell you who this is and where it’s from, I’d rather let you, dear reader (??) take a guess. Perhaps it’s extremely obvious? (If you are familiar with the passages and want to spill the … Continue reading Guess the Mystery Writer #1
On the “Greater Mysteries Contained Within”
“Critics write about pop music because many of them actually love it, and even when they don’t, they want to figure out why they don’t. It’s like that woman’s ‘My Husband’s Stupid Record Collection’ blog, except instead of Albert Ayler LPs, it’s Katy Perry videos, and instead of a smug veneer of ‘this is elitist and bad,’ they’re genuinely curious about the hows and whys … Continue reading On the “Greater Mysteries Contained Within”
Pop as Self-denial
“I’ve long suspected that those who rail most vehemently against the banalities of mainstream pop do so because they can’t stand the fact that they react to the music. It drives them crazy to hear a snippet of ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’ and then have the damned hook bouncing around their head for the rest of the afternoon. But rather than … Continue reading Pop as Self-denial
Pop as a Sickness
“People sometimes ask why a serious, well-educated, intellectual fellow such as me wastes his time and enthusiasm on the most insignificant passing trends and the most contrived, trashy music he can find. And I don’t know what to say. I just can’t get into George Harrison, Seals & Crofts or even Van Morrison and the Band. I like that stuff, but it simply doesn’t excite … Continue reading Pop as a Sickness
Quote of the Day (3/11/14)
“I think maybe I feel a little out of place in the critic’s world because a) I’m a scientist and, b) I’m damn handsome. I would have enjoyed being a medical researcher, I think. It’s a good thing I can’t go back in time, because I have about 89 careers I’d like to try.” – John Kordosh, interview in rockcritics.com, 2004 (still on the to-be-imported … Continue reading Quote of the Day (3/11/14)
From the Department of Officially-Through-the-Looking-Glass
“I think there is a difference nowadays, yeah. Back when we were first starting, there were plenty of women who were clearly very confident in their sexuality and also quite controversial: Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, Wendy O. Williams, if you ever saw her. That’s one reason a lot of them became iconic in the way that they did. “The difference now is that there’s not … Continue reading From the Department of Officially-Through-the-Looking-Glass
Radio Static
“Other times, the AM radio in my bedroom, when I was listening very quietly to music late at night in the winter, would have intermittent bursts and pulses of static noise. I’d noticed that the heat would come out the vent in the room at the same time as the bursts. This sound would drive my sister crazy. But I assumed this was connected in … Continue reading Radio Static
Couldn’t Help Himself
“Still, I continued to try to fool myself that this wasn’t really me. I was a novelist who happened to be writing about music, strictly as an avocation. When I finished my first book, Feel Like Going Home, I announced to the world, in an afterword to the book, that that was it, that I wasn’t going to write about music anymore. And I didn’t … Continue reading Couldn’t Help Himself
A Generation in Rapid Retreat
“I haven’t written a god damn record review in well over a year. The last several reviews I managed to crank out before I quit should never have been written. There just came a point for me where the whole thing began to seem entirely useless. The record Biz, the groovy people that run it, the groups, the rock press, one album after another of … Continue reading A Generation in Rapid Retreat
My Life in Rock Criticism
Sorta-topical-relevance Friday morning listening. Continue reading My Life in Rock Criticism
Down and Out
“I’ve never for a second regretted pulling away from being a Professional Music Critic almost immediately after feeling burned/burned out. There were folks willing to support my writing –and they were and are still probably great, it’s not you it’s me etc. — but I can just so clearly see where that path could have gone, and it scares me. A few folks in the … Continue reading Down and Out
Stuffing it in a Box
“And so I took a break. I put ‘music writing’ in a little box and stuffed it up in a cabinet in the back store-room of my brain and I left it there. It’s still there, and that feels right. To be clear: I am not stopping writing. I’m not sure that would be possible, or even advisable, for me to do. And I’m not … Continue reading Stuffing it in a Box
Finding the Perfect Fit
“When it comes to Pitchfork and scoring, I would say that you would be shocked by just how democratic the rating process is. Without giving much away (because I don’t think that’s fair to Pitchfork), it goes something like this: In general, a record is discussed by the writers and generally, through that, the site arrives at a score consensus. Then reviews are assigned or … Continue reading Finding the Perfect Fit
“The thing about rock music…”
The thing about rock music, in all of the forms that I’ve worshipped, is that it’s not about thinking. You have your cerebral performers, but rock music is about the body: the corporeal sensations of fucking, moving, imbibing, ejecting. It is not about the caverns of the mind. And those caverns are where Bach spent his lifetime chasing the intricacies of forms, twisting the ideas … Continue reading “The thing about rock music…”
RockCritics.com 