are you a music loser?
February 13, 2002 4:37 AM Subscribe
posted by j.edwards at 4:42 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by monkeyJuice at 4:42 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by arf at 4:46 AM on February 13, 2002
"Look! a Flaw!"
posted by cheaily at 4:47 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by nylon at 4:54 AM on February 13, 2002
there's so many good albums on this list, it's annoying. i suspect the rest of my day will now be spent in a crazy morpheus binge.
too bad the reviewer was just a tad glib. but that's in fashion these days, i suppose - especially at the guardian.
posted by will at 4:58 AM on February 13, 2002
I thought the inclusion of Bob Marley's Legend compilation was pretty sharp. The list should have included anyone who ever bought a Lee Scratch Perry record thinking that it was dub.
posted by chrisgregory at 5:06 AM on February 13, 2002
i'm not hip to your hipster slang.
posted by will at 5:13 AM on February 13, 2002
I am NOT going to tell you what the last cd I bought was ......
posted by bunnyfire at 5:22 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by tommasz at 5:25 AM on February 13, 2002
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Meadow/8887/
I gotta admit, I probably stopped listening to popular music around the time DEVO got popular...
I still don't know what the difference is between techno and house music.
posted by chrisgregory at 5:27 AM on February 13, 2002
And I shall second what j.edwards and will said. This list contains some truly excellent album, and even Dido's album, even if it's "easy listening", isn't THAT bad. Is good pop music just for losers now ? Do I have to be "underground" to be "in" ?
What the point of this list, really ? Being insultive ?
Then again, I'm not in my thirties, so that could explain why this guy's rules don't apply to me.
As for dub...
posted by XiBe at 5:29 AM on February 13, 2002
I too am nowhere near my thirties.
posted by williamtry at 5:38 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by brand-gnu at 5:50 AM on February 13, 2002
you know, i dig dido, think she has an good voice, but her brother's band of musicians is so much more interesting.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:51 AM on February 13, 2002
Also I am still planning to buy OK Computer, so that would push me up 1 notch on the Dido scale.
and why is there no #19 on this list?
#19 got promoted to #5
posted by Berend at 5:56 AM on February 13, 2002
Any others missing?
posted by jedro at 6:04 AM on February 13, 2002
and chrisgregory: "Who is the boss of you? Me! I am the boss of you! I AM THE BOSS OF YOU!" is from Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
posted by jozxyqk at 6:09 AM on February 13, 2002
Albums such as the Verve and Portishead's were good albums, but bought by people who'd heard maybe one song, or saw someone on TV playing them.
It's less about the music, more about the motivation for buying the music. Music journalist sneering at the record buying public, nothing new here, move along.....
posted by Markb at 6:10 AM on February 13, 2002
Personally, I scored two - Oasis and Radiohead. I don't play What's the Story much, so it probably deserves to be on the list. On the other hand, I still play OK Computer regularly and it still sounds as good as the day I bought it. (Actually it sounds better - it took 3 or 4 listens before I really 'got' it.)
posted by salmacis at 6:12 AM on February 13, 2002
This was a pretty smart list, I laughed the whole time -- these are totally the CDs hip music people get seduced into buying despite their better judgment. I however would have added WEEZER to this list -- and who wants to bet that in four years they'll draw it up again with SIGUR ROS right on there? Hahaha -- Sigur Ros I hate you. Also, someone should put BJORK on there -- not Vespertine -- but maybe one of the earlier ones.
posted by josh at 6:13 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by josh at 6:15 AM on February 13, 2002
To demonstrate my utter cluelessness, I thought that Graceland was one of the best albums of the 80s. Why ask "Why"?
posted by alumshubby at 6:18 AM on February 13, 2002
But anyway, enough of my protesting too much. The people the article is picking on are the same kind of people who only read the books Oprah tells them to read. They don't think for themselves so much as just follow their chosen leader.
The article isn't ragging on the music, although I did experience a pang of pleasure to see The Strokes on the list. (I might be convinced they aren't all hype if they release another album or play different songs live, but so far, nothing.)
posted by jennyb at 6:35 AM on February 13, 2002
But--woo hoo!--the new Chris Isaak CD came out yesterday, so today I could care less about all this pretentious musical hoopla. Wheee!
posted by rushmc at 6:42 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by jojo at 6:48 AM on February 13, 2002
To quote the cutting edge lyrics of Huey Lewis: it's hip to be square.
posted by groundhog at 6:51 AM on February 13, 2002
should i be ashamed? I would be...but i hate Oasis, so i feel redeemed.
posted by th3ph17 at 6:57 AM on February 13, 2002
But I bought my stuff BEFORE it was cool, and still enjoy it not because it was the last good music to be made, but because it's good to listen to old and new stuff.
I don't care if anyone reads this, I feel a little more.. justified.
posted by fnirt at 6:57 AM on February 13, 2002
'They just cannot comprehend the basic components of melody such as meter, rhythm and pitch and consequently do not feel any emotion when listening. The disorder seems to affect men and women equally.'
this, coupled with peer pressure, advertising and a need to belong could explain why some people choose which music to purchase by looking at the pop charts, or believing the hype/reviews in the press.
oh, i scored 1 (or three if you count copies). i have a somewhat perverse approach to this type of thing; if it's on the radio 3 times an hour, why buy? as soon as you get it home you'll be sick of it, or it'll be out of fashion. if you are 'tune-deaf' music being out of fashion could be a disaster, how do you explain why you bought it? alternatively, if you still want to buy it after the hype has passed, check out the sales, it's bound to be there!
posted by asok at 6:57 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by th3ph17 at 7:09 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:25 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by Baud at 7:27 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by Baud at 7:28 AM on February 13, 2002
Personally, I find these lists dumb. I listen to popular and obscure music equally as long as it's good. I switch easily between prog rock and Barenaked Ladies. So what?
posted by dagnyscott at 7:31 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by bob bisquick at 7:31 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by gramcracker at 7:37 AM on February 13, 2002
I thought the piece was funny, and I only recognised half the stuff. I don't think it's fair to dismiss the piece as fluff - any article espousing some preference in musical taste is obviously going to be highly subjective. You have to allow a certain amount of irony there.
In my own youth (I'm thirty two, almost), there were records which were played at every party, and which everyone seemed to have in their collections: The Cure's Head on the Door, the Stone Roses, the Violent Femmes (the album with the song that had the dirty word in it). This article was an attempt to put together a similar, more contemporary list of once essential recordings that are unlikely to stand the test of time...
That people have been so willing to admit to their Dido-ness is a positive thing. In Australia, we have a subculture of people we call dags. Dags are the sort of people that still listen to their old Duran Duran records, in other words, dedicated followers of now despised fashions.
And dags are kind of cool too. Why do you think so many Australian films still have an Abba fetish? Hell, I still listen to Gary Glitter.
Rise up and embrace your dagginess!
I mentioned Lee Scratch Perry because, in the same way that when most people think of reggae they think of Bob Marley (whose music was more of a mixture of reggae and mainstream pop, whatever the value of that music might be), people think of LS Perry when they think of dub (who was a genius in his own right, and frequently produced Bob Marley, but who never really made conventional dub records, given his tendency to overproduce things). People want to hear dub they're going to be better off starting with someone like King Tubby or Scientist.
posted by chrisgregory at 7:41 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by corpse at 7:50 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by groundhog at 8:01 AM on February 13, 2002
The article brings to mind how Green Day, once darlings of the Berkeley punk scene, lost their credibility once they became a national act. As if having more people enjoy your music automatically makes it bad. If nothing else, it points out that those who would buy a CD to be edgy and cool are as pathetic as those who would buy a CD to be like everyone else; in both cases, love for the music takes a back seat.
It also reminded me of a programmer who walked into my office one day proclaiming that the Stone Temple Pilots in my CD player, circa 1994, as a Creed knock-off. What a loser.
I'm with MiguelCardoso and bob bisquik...listen to what you love whatever it is.
posted by troybob at 8:09 AM on February 13, 2002
i still listen to duran duran every once in a while in order to keep my 'hungry like the wolf' karaoke skills honed to a fine sexy edge. are dags also into old aussie stuff like midnight oil, the church, split enz, men at work, and the silencers?
corpse...you have those in alphabetical order or by theme?
posted by th3ph17 at 8:18 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by jedro at 8:28 AM on February 13, 2002
Yes. A friend told me today that he was going to be investing the results of a recent windfall in an entire collection of Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel recordings.
Myself, I'm a Skyhooks and Mental as Anything fan. Cue: If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?
I feel like I'm hogging the discussion here. Can you tell that I'm procrastinating?
Is anybody reading this prepared to admit to still owning a recording they once thought was cool but that they're now embarassed about?
Am I the only living fan of Martini Ranch, whose only hit was the 1984 song How Can the Laboring Man Find Time for Self-Culture? And if you do remember it, do you realise that the actor Bill Paxton was half of Martini Ranch?
Nostalgia can be a cruel mistress.
posted by chrisgregory at 8:29 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by jburka at 8:29 AM on February 13, 2002
Tiro! Êl eria e môr
I 'lir en êl luitha 'uren.
Ai! Aníron...
posted by kliuless at 8:39 AM on February 13, 2002
It's the same old thing of not being afraid of popular music anymore. Which is another symptom of this whole ageing thing. Another symptom is actually liking music on commercials, like when they put Nick Drake on the VW ad, or when you find yourself tapping your toes to that accursed Mitsubishi ad.
Some that were missed on the list (Hey that sounds like that Hall & Oates song):
That Breakfast at Tiffany's song
Primitive Radio Gods (that was the "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth song)
......and go ahead and bitch if you want, but I'd include Bjork on the short list with Dido and Portishead. And I do have a Portishead album...just not Dummy.
And Definitely the Dave Matthews Band.
And Counting Crows too.
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:52 AM on February 13, 2002
I have the EP of that song somewhere. Never realized that was Paxton though.
posted by alumshubby at 8:56 AM on February 13, 2002
I'm guessing they're not because the Guardian is a british paper and no-one's heard of them over here..... I know in the states they play stadiums, last year in London they struggled to fill clubs.
posted by brettski at 9:07 AM on February 13, 2002
I'm guessing they're not because the Guardian is a british paper and no-one's heard of them over here..... I know in the states they play stadiums, last year in London they struggled to fill clubs.
posted by brettski at 9:07 AM on February 13, 2002
I'm guessing they're not because the Guardian is a british paper and no-one's heard of them over here..... I know in the states they play stadiums, last year in London they struggled to fill clubs.
posted by brettski at 9:07 AM on February 13, 2002
What a bizarre way to be introduced to an admirable American.
posted by chrisgregory at 9:12 AM on February 13, 2002
I guess you could call me a fan. Or slightly obsessed.
I'll have to politely disagree with Kafkaesque's assertion about Counting Crows. (I have nearly all of their B-Sides and such, too.)
posted by Danelope at 9:27 AM on February 13, 2002
Two. I have two of these CDs.
posted by varmint at 9:43 AM on February 13, 2002
I think that the author's premise-- that a lot of people are buying these records because they're perceived as 'cool' or 'hip' when they don't know what 'hip' really is anymore -- is a good one, tongue-in-cheek it may be. It happens all the time. It's happened to some of the coolest people I know. People grow up, have more important things in their lives thna music. Luckily this hasn't happened to me yet (I'm 30).
And of course many of us here will not own a lot of these due simply to the sheer Englishness of it.
I'm also reminded of a list that Pitchfork did a few years ago (sadly not online anymore) called "20 albums for people who don't like music". It listed the discs that your friends who own about 6 cd's have. Included: Legend, Abba Gold, Eagles Greatest vol II and the like.
posted by sauril at 10:16 AM on February 13, 2002
So I guess I'm in the "Dido demographic," but I don't care about being cool or being part of the scene; I like what I like.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:27 AM on February 13, 2002
That reminds me of something similiar that happened here at work.... a co-worker, overhearing me listening to The Red Hot Chili Pepper's album "Freaky Styley, ( from...1985?) made the comment,
"All the new music sounds the same. That sounds just like my favorite band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. That band should be ashamed for trying to copy them."
heh.
I own 11 of these albums, and damnit, I love The Joshua Tree, so shoot me.
posted by bradth27 at 10:32 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by jerseygirl at 10:49 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by todds at 10:51 AM on February 13, 2002
I stand unashamed! I love pop and I love pulp (along with more hip and enlightened fare. Play and read whatever jumps your trigger.
posted by edlark at 11:14 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by boneybaloney at 11:31 AM on February 13, 2002
I laugh at the ultra-vain hipster types.
That article was good for a laugh.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 11:43 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by Lynsey at 11:46 AM on February 13, 2002
posted by feelinglistless at 11:57 AM on February 13, 2002
Joshua Tree is still good. Dummy I gave away, same with OK Computer. Never did like OK Computer, it got "rave reviews" tho', so what the hell ?
I think maybe some reviewers should be taken to task here ? huh ??
Lightning Seed's Sense would make it 9. It's all good.
posted by Mondo at 12:01 PM on February 13, 2002
One of the more intriguing musical questions to me of the last 10-15 years is how and why the British and American musical scenes have almost completely diverged. Back in the 80s the top 40 charts in both countries were about 3/4 identical in any given week, and rather heavily skewed towards the Brit artists. Now maybe 20% of the British charts are American, and maybe 3-5% of the Americans charts are of British artists. Which is rather sad, as British rock - and even prefab pop - tends to be a lot better than the Americans'.
Anyway, this writer's musical elitism totally pisses me off, and now I'm going to go blast some 70s pop just to spite him. Maybe some Carpenters.
posted by aaron at 12:04 PM on February 13, 2002
I have never, ever been able to understand true music fanatics, who own thousands of albums, buy several new ones every week, go to concerts practically every night, read Maximum Rock N Roll and know every single band mentioned inside every issue ... I wish I did, I wish I knew it was that I was missing, what I'm not grokking. And I must be missing something because it seems like 80% of the public fits my definition of "music fanatic" to some extent or another. But to me it's as inexplicable as most of the questions on that whole "are there other universes?" thread.
posted by aaron at 12:15 PM on February 13, 2002
gooood.
My fate is intertwined with the New Pornagraphers... Last Saturday my band played a show in Madison about 10 blocks from where they were playing, I was really tempted to sneak out early and go see them, really good 60ish rock.
I had 3 of the albums on the list and listen to all of them from time to time (Ok Computer, The Man Who, and The Strokes) but can't say I bought them because of hype (especially since I never bought the Strokes)... Hmmm... The list was just kind of Snarky...
The American List would probably have Ryan Adams, At The Drive In, The Strokes, Coldplay, and Jimmy Eat World... Maybe. But most of those bands are good.
posted by drezdn at 12:18 PM on February 13, 2002
I have retreated into old fartdom.
'Enya's Greatest Hits' playing softly in background...
well, look on the bright side...least it isn't Peter Frampton...
posted by bunnyfire at 1:26 PM on February 13, 2002
Blasphemy.
Someone should take all forms of radios from that programmer. How in the bloody blue hell can you mistake STP for a Creed knockoff?
(STP's Core currently gracing the CD player.)
As for this:
"All the new music sounds the same. That sounds just like my favorite band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. That band should be ashamed for trying to copy them."
Good grief, what an idiot. Let me guess they own one RHCP album and it's Blood Sugar Sex Magik? Which I do have and love, but I know a lot of people who are 'fans' who own just that album.
I'm done ranting now, as I'm showing my age.
posted by SuzySmith at 1:58 PM on February 13, 2002
I have about 3000 cd's and have 12 on the list. I picked up Dido for $5 bucks in a used bin long berfore she broke here. That's about all the disc is worth.
posted by chainring at 2:09 PM on February 13, 2002
To the average person Creed does sound like STP but anybody who likes music knows better.
posted by chainring at 2:16 PM on February 13, 2002
Phew, only 1100, aaron will understand me.
Nine out of 25 (does it matter which?), and only two are less than essential. While the article is amusing enough, and its implications pretty accurate if you owned 12 of these in a small collection, in a large collection it could just as easily mean that you buy the occasional 'album of the moment' to keep in touch with what everyone else is listening to. Same way you might switch on 'ER' to see what all the fuss is about. Buying any particular album is a big deal if you buy one or two a year; it isn't if you buy one or two a week.
What's particularly amusing, though, is that this is a classic case of The Guardian attacking its own. Half its readers would be perfect 'Dido demographics'. I'll have to buy it over the next couple of days to read the enraged letters...
It's also amusing that an article on those who 'don't like music as much as they used to' is in the paper where former rock journo Julie Burchill, who covered '70s punk for the NME, now spends her valuable column inches bagging her ex-husband and her local council.
posted by rory at 2:29 PM on February 13, 2002
I thought this was for albums that made me a "dildo" fan.. Gotta quit those Eveyln Wood courses.
Seriously though... Not one in my collection.
::::::huge sigh of relief::::::::
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:44 PM on February 13, 2002
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:19 PM on February 13, 2002
Oh, how having a job and having gone to law school severed my connection to good music!
posted by ParisParamus at 3:29 PM on February 13, 2002
meg
posted by hazelmeg at 4:24 PM on February 13, 2002
musically, the genres usually sound pretty different, house is generally much warmer, smoother, and funkier, while techno tends towards harder more artificial sounds. to a large degree 'techno' became genericized as a catch-all for electronic music before 'electronica' started being bantered around lending much confusion. also, the recent popularity/fusing of progressive trance and house hasn't helped much either.
for those interested, here's a good starting point.
posted by lhl at 4:34 PM on February 13, 2002
To the average person Creed does sound like STP but anybody who likes music knows better.
I was quoting someone from earlier in the thread. Core is STP's first album, which is what I'm still listening to now.
I just don't see how Creed and STP sound anything alike. There is no comparison.
And obontopic: I own 1 album off that list.
posted by SuzySmith at 6:14 PM on February 13, 2002
The closest I came to the list is that I own the first three albums by Texas (they're from Scotland of all places!) but don't own "White on Blonde".
Maybe it would help if I listened to commercial radio, or college radio, or watched videos on the TV I don't own.
On second thought, it wouldn't help at all.
posted by hotmud at 7:17 PM on February 13, 2002
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe that was the Counting Crows. :)
I scored 2/25: Coldplay & Moby.
posted by somethingotherthan at 7:32 PM on February 13, 2002
I own two albums on the list (Graceland and Joshua Tree) and I've got the mp3s for OK Computer.
All I can say is "eh".
posted by daveadams at 7:43 PM on February 13, 2002
i would own joshua tree if all my friends didn't have it. and i do mean all of them.
on the plus side i listen to sinatra. that's pop isn't it?
posted by juv3nal at 1:35 AM on February 14, 2002
posted by Opus Dark at 1:57 AM on February 14, 2002
Jeez, I knew I wasn't paying attention to pop music, but I usually at least hear of people like this....
Eh, back to scarfing up German Neue Deutsche Welle bands on AudioGalaxy....
(2 out of 25, both on vinyl....)
posted by geneablogy at 6:20 AM on February 14, 2002
I wasn't aware that Dido was such a lightening rod for musical dissent. I've got a bunch of these. Sue me for liking music. I've done the whole music snob thing, but ultimately all it is is an arrogant conceit, one that leaves you a bitter old grump who doesn't even like your *own* music anymore, let alone anyone else's.
posted by me3dia at 9:47 AM on February 14, 2002
Her 'No Angel' was the biggest-selling album in the UK last year. Which of course means that nobody likes it. :)
(No, I don't own it; but hey, I heard 'Stan' once on Triple J in Melbourne, so paint me decrepit!)
posted by rory at 11:35 AM on February 14, 2002
I got Dido's album a while back but never actually took the time to listen to it until two weeks ago. Wow, it's actually really good. Although the best album this year is definitely 'Point' by Japanese weirdo Cornelius. But, yah, Dido is good.
posted by wackybrit at 2:46 AM on February 15, 2002
Didn't we have this what ru listening to discussion before??
posted by johnny7 at 9:42 AM on February 15, 2002
Gee, I've been gone a week and it's like I haven't missed a thing. No, I mean, really...
posted by y2karl at 11:02 AM on February 15, 2002
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posted by monkeyJuice at 4:41 AM on February 13, 2002