New York Rock Ironized
July 13, 2005 8:43 AM Subscribe
Is New York Rock: A Critical History hilarious band-busting sarcasm or so cloyingly ironic and juvenile as to be puke-inducing? (via ILX)
"The result was opaque—the very opposite of clear"
posted by klangklangston at 9:06 AM on July 13, 2005
posted by klangklangston at 9:06 AM on July 13, 2005
the latter? it has all the trappings of rock critic cliche. (Is that the joke?)
middlebrow rock critics like parrots, think the Clash was really Heavy and always name drop Exile on Main Street.
If the guy is 19 it's well done on any level. If the guy is 30+ , inexcuseable.
posted by celerystick at 9:29 AM on July 13, 2005
middlebrow rock critics like parrots, think the Clash was really Heavy and always name drop Exile on Main Street.
If the guy is 19 it's well done on any level. If the guy is 30+ , inexcuseable.
posted by celerystick at 9:29 AM on July 13, 2005
To sum up: "Waaaaaa! Waaaaa! I'm not Chuck Klosterman! Waaaaaa! WANT MY MOMMY!!!"
What a tool.
posted by elwoodwiles at 9:34 AM on July 13, 2005
What a tool.
posted by elwoodwiles at 9:34 AM on July 13, 2005
More tragedy arrived in the form of heretofore the worst album of the millennium, Andrew W.K.’s March ’02 I Get Wet, which travestied New York rock in order to ruin it.
I remember my first clumsy attempt at expressing my guilt-ridden enthusiasm for I Get Wet to a dear friend who, in all other respects, is the consummate music snob. Imagine my shock when he gave me a "well, duh" look, expressed his love of the album, and said, "No apologies, dude: if rock were never allowed to be dumb, then we'd have never had the Ramones."
I think that's why, on some level, Andrew W.K. didn't just amuse so many otherwise icily ironically-detached critics (check out the Pitchfork review in question, or the FPP, assuming this is a bit of creative writing) so much as utterly infuriate them: it called their attention to the big, stinky elephant in the room, i.e., that rock and roll is (was?) always at bottom about a certain youthful enthusiasm for the dionysian. This is profoundly embarrassing to a certain class of rock snob (for reasons that vary, I'm sure, from person to person), and records like I Get Wet, which thrust it in your face, are bound to promote a reaction. It's a revolutionarily reactionary sort of record.
Sure, we permit your Death Cab for Cuties and your Interpols to sulk about and pen their paeans and whatever, but it's always good (in my opinion) to have a regular kick-in-the-balls reminder of the heart of the genre (irrespective of whether it's still, in fact, beatin' in Cleveland).
Of course it's big and dumb and loud and fun. That's the point, you square.
NP: "Looking Around" - Yes
posted by joe lisboa at 9:41 AM on July 13, 2005
I remember my first clumsy attempt at expressing my guilt-ridden enthusiasm for I Get Wet to a dear friend who, in all other respects, is the consummate music snob. Imagine my shock when he gave me a "well, duh" look, expressed his love of the album, and said, "No apologies, dude: if rock were never allowed to be dumb, then we'd have never had the Ramones."
I think that's why, on some level, Andrew W.K. didn't just amuse so many otherwise icily ironically-detached critics (check out the Pitchfork review in question, or the FPP, assuming this is a bit of creative writing) so much as utterly infuriate them: it called their attention to the big, stinky elephant in the room, i.e., that rock and roll is (was?) always at bottom about a certain youthful enthusiasm for the dionysian. This is profoundly embarrassing to a certain class of rock snob (for reasons that vary, I'm sure, from person to person), and records like I Get Wet, which thrust it in your face, are bound to promote a reaction. It's a revolutionarily reactionary sort of record.
Sure, we permit your Death Cab for Cuties and your Interpols to sulk about and pen their paeans and whatever, but it's always good (in my opinion) to have a regular kick-in-the-balls reminder of the heart of the genre (irrespective of whether it's still, in fact, beatin' in Cleveland).
Of course it's big and dumb and loud and fun. That's the point, you square.
NP: "Looking Around" - Yes
posted by joe lisboa at 9:41 AM on July 13, 2005
Of course it's big and dumb and loud and fun. That's the point, you square.
a-mothafucking-men.
posted by jonmc at 9:42 AM on July 13, 2005
a-mothafucking-men.
posted by jonmc at 9:42 AM on July 13, 2005
The author lost me at "With the death of irony". Whenever I hear that phrase I can't help but think that I'm dealing with a complete wanker.
posted by clevershark at 9:47 AM on July 13, 2005
posted by clevershark at 9:47 AM on July 13, 2005
Man, first off, I Get Wet wasn't a very good album. It had great songs on it, but Christ, try listening to it all the way through. There just wasn't enough there for me. But songs like Party Started, they are that "genius stupid" level where it hits all the lizard brain points just right. Andrew WK still finds his way onto mixtapes, but I can't ever stomach the whole thing anymore. Makes me feel diabetic, that much sugar all at once.
Second off, Interpol blows.
posted by klangklangston at 9:50 AM on July 13, 2005
Second off, Interpol blows.
posted by klangklangston at 9:50 AM on July 13, 2005
Whups. Sorry about not closing my tags...
posted by klangklangston at 9:51 AM on July 13, 2005
posted by klangklangston at 9:51 AM on July 13, 2005
any treatise that claims Lenny Kravitz or Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as saviors of rock and roll must have been written by someone with rectocranial impaction.
I lost count of how many kittens died for him to write that article.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:55 AM on July 13, 2005
I lost count of how many kittens died for him to write that article.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:55 AM on July 13, 2005
i genuinely loved "i get wet", and not in an ironic fashion whatsoever.
posted by jimmy at 9:56 AM on July 13, 2005
posted by jimmy at 9:56 AM on July 13, 2005
"What if that guy from Smashing Pumpkins lost his car keys?" (mp3 parody)
posted by celerystick at 10:17 AM on July 13, 2005
posted by celerystick at 10:17 AM on July 13, 2005
i genuinely loved "i get wet", and not in an ironic fashion whatsoever.
Hey, me too!
posted by myeviltwin at 11:31 AM on July 13, 2005
Hey, me too!
posted by myeviltwin at 11:31 AM on July 13, 2005
Wait, this was supposed to be serious? I was reading it all wrong. Damn, man.
posted by ITheCosmos at 1:18 PM on July 13, 2005
posted by ITheCosmos at 1:18 PM on July 13, 2005
guys, while I don't know about a lot of the bands talked about at the end (puttin' on the ritz?), I'm pretty sure that this is meant to be totally ironic, in the sense that everything he says he likes he hates and everything he disses he likes. I happen to like the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs some, and generally guitar music, especially Neil Young, but I think his political schtick is a funny parody of rock writing.
posted by oldleada at 1:32 PM on July 13, 2005
posted by oldleada at 1:32 PM on July 13, 2005
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It made me laugh.
posted by ITheCosmos at 9:02 AM on July 13, 2005