11/29/2003
MAKING TRACKS...
For an Older, Wiser Rock Readership.
By Sean Daly in the Washington Post.
[COURTESY OF BARBARA FLASKA]
11/28/2003
BRIEF MEDITATION ON MARCUS
From Flaskaland
"Marcus discusses the notion of social commentary--that's right, social commentary--explaining how it is that bringing in ideas and story into music and subsequent discussions of it (that's the 'social commentary' part) might actually have some meaning to a community and also make for music that is significant or relevant in some way other than mere commercial considerations..."
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS]
FROM THE DESK OF RICKEY WRIGHT
EVERYBODY'S A CRITIC
His Elvis act had the cabbie police all shook up.
Now, though, the city is considering letting cabdriver David Groh wear his Elvis costume to work after all.
11/26/2003
NEW BLOG ALERT
Keith Harris joins the fray with Useful Noise. The latest entry--"My Top 10 Record Albums Of All Time (inspired by Rolling Stone Magazine)"--is the only Top 10 Albums list you'll ever need to consult again. Tack it on your wall, memorize it. (Anyone know where I can get a copy of #9?)
11/24/2003
BILLBOARD NEWS ITEM
Billboard girds for digital challenge
By Jon Friedman, in CBS.MarketWatch.com.
Sample: "With a new editor-in-chief and marching orders to expand its reach, Billboard has begun adapting to an environment where the majority of recorded music is distributed online, not through conventional recordings. Now, alongside signature charts like the Billboard 200 and other lists of hot-selling musical acts, the weekly magazine now tracks Top Internet Albums."
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS - courtesy of MusicJournalist.com.]
COMPLETE THIS SENTENCE
2004 will be the year rock criticism...
[use comments box]
NEW BOOK ALERT
Do You Live a Lyrical Life?
Many people have written the book ON Rock n’ Roll.
Finally, someone has written the book IN Rock n’ Roll.
[By Casey Jones and Mark Malloy.]
11/23/2003
SO WHAT'S GOOD THEN?
Jason Gross of Perfect Sound Forever fame is working on his 2nd annual "favourite scribings" of the year roundup (see the 2002 edition here), and is open to suggestions for stuff he may have missed. This is a good opportunity to point out not "what's wrong with rock criticism," but what's right with rock criticism.
You can send your nominations directly to Jason, or post suggestions (preferably with links) in the comments box below.
BLOG ALERT
Jeff Chang's zentronix: dubwise and hiphopcentric.
The latest entry takes aim at the Da Capo series: "If you read the Da Capo series to find out what the best music journalism is about and who the best music journalists are, you would have to believe that rock is still dominant, that rap is still a marginal genre, and that women and folks of color just don't make the highest tier of best music journalists. In other words, you'd be still sucking in the 70s. If Ward Connerly were a rock critic, his best-of anthologies might look like this."
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS]
SHOPPING LIST
Christmas books: rock and pop
Popular music has regained its status as high art, argues Helen Brown in the Telegraph.
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS - courtesy of Barbara Flaska]
FROM THE MIAMI HERALD
Almost famous: Rock critics with big book deals and TV face time are becoming stars on their own. But are they saying anything?
By Evelyn McDonnell in The Miami Herald.
(Same old complaints from the same old sources, basically.)
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS - courtesy of Barbara Flaska]
11/21/2003
BLOG ALERT
Wayne's Words by Wayne Robins: "A veteran rock critic tries cutting out the middle man, offering opinions on pop music, culture, media and society."
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS]
11/20/2003
MORE ON THE G. BROWN CASE...
Michael Roberts in Westword provides a more detailed look at the resignation of G. Brown from The Denver Post following charges of plagiarism.
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS
What do you want first?
The bad news is that Phil Freeman's Mostly Weird blog is down. Gone. Kaput.
The good news is that he has a new blog called lowercaseblog (no capitalists allowed, eh, Phil?).
Says the man himself, "It may not be updated as frequently as Mostly Weird, because my life is becoming hectic and I'm going to try to limit myself to only writing about music."
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
NEW ZEALAND MUSIC SITE ALERT
What is NoiZyland? It is (from the site itself):
"A guide to New Zealand indie rock and pop music (and an increasing amount of electronic and dance music, and major label stuff too). We try to provide links to every NZ band site, review, and NZ music-related website we can find. We're also building what we hope will be one of the most comprehensive online discographies of NZ releases."
NoiZyland is edited by James Guthrie. (I found out about this site yesterday and just got the title now!)
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
11/19/2003
FROM THE DESK OF SCOTT WOODS
I'm a little behind the 8-ball on these, but...
[The person who sent this last link to me--who shall remain nameless--prefaced it with this comment: "Music blogs hitting the media again. The same media and the same blogs, but music blogs are hitting the media again."]
FROM THE DESK OF STEVEN WARD
THE DEBUT OF TRACKS
Today, Tracks is supposed to be on newsstands. I have not gotten my hands on a copy yet, but I plan to find one and report back. If any of you out there find a copy and want to submit a review of any kind, please do. I have looked for a magazine website and there does not seem to be one.
11/18/2003
FROM THE DESK OF [ANONYMOUS]
The Top 500 Reasons Rolling Stone Still Doesn't Matter.
"After much hoopla, the venerable music magazine will finally be announcing its choices for the 500 best albums of all time. Too bad nobody cares."
FROM THE DESK OF [ANONYMOUS]
Popular Music Writer G. Brown Disputes Denver Post Branding...
Announces New On-Air Radio Personality Assignment.
J.D. CONSIDINE WRITES:
The Washington Post's usually sharp-witted Peter Carlson takes a break from his usual beat--writing about magazines--to write instead about some CDs...which came with magazines.
Most are British music magazines, and Carlson doesn't seem to know the music press very well. He writes that he first noticed CDs with magazines in 1997, when the Oxford American included one with its Southern Music Issue, an admission which suggests he spent the last decade blissfully unaware of British music magazines. No surprise, then, that what he includes seems a random grab-bag, the sort of survey that comes from visiting a newsstand and grabbing the first eight mags that catch your eye. Carlson doesn't say much about the journals' editorial content except to sniff that "excellent writing is rare these days" (bit of the pot calling the kettle, eh Peter?). He includes such obvious titles as Mojo, Q and Alternative Press, tosses in a balance-adding mention of the classical mag Grammophone, and sagely comments that Uncut is "the world's best rock magazine." But while he also manages to include a pair of indie titles (Paste and Amp), he somehow completely overlooks the many dance music magazines with CDs. Guess it's easier to make fun at noisy punk rock samplers than to it is to decode DJ culture.
11/16/2003
FROM THE DESK OF RICKEY WRIGHT
DENVER POST'S G. BROWN RESIGNS AFTER PLAGIARISM DISCOVERED
From the Post:
Denver Post popular-music writer G. Brown resigned Friday after editors determined he had used language from other media reports under his byline without attribution to those publications.
Post editors learned of the matter last week when a reader contacted the newspaper and pointed out similarities between language in Brown's Oct. 26 preview of a Simon and Garfunkel concert and phrases in an article that had appeared earlier on a website. The reader provided The Post with a copy of the online article for comparison with Brown's.
The Post investigated, verifying that the website existed and that the article had appeared there. The Brown article contained sentences that repeated language in the online article virtually verbatim. . . .
11/10/2003
FROM THE DESK OF STEVEN WARD
KYLE GANN ON TOM JOHNSON AND GREG SANDOW -- MASTERS OF NEW MUSIC WRITING
Here is Village Voice new music critic Kyle Gann on reading the great critics that worked before him at the Village Voice -- Tom Johnson and Greg Sandow. The column below was Sunday's installment on his daily blog at ArtsJournal.Com -- "PostClassic."
"GREG, OF COURSE
Ahh, back to Arts Journal, the land of sanity, and I don’t even want to tell you what lunatic asylums I’ve spent my week in. My bright spot of the week was Greg Sandow’s very touching compliment to my blog. Thanking him for that strikes me as a private, not a public matter, and I have. But to give some idea what it means to me, picture me 17 years ago at 31, going into the Village Voice office on weekends and reading old Greg Sandow and Tom Johnson columns for hours on end, trying to figure out what they did, what I could learn from them, what the Voice audience was used to and would expect from me. Tom, of course, took a flatly descriptive, non-evaluative approach to a very new kind of music, highly auspicious for that historical moment because it allowed a lot of crazy ideas to float without getting shot down. Greg’s strength, I always felt, was connecting new music to the outer world, placing it in large social perspective, and I remember often having the experience of reading about some music he was describing and then him suddenly turning the world upside down, making me realize with a bracing shock where the little scene I was focussed on actually fit in. His writing wouldn't allow me to kid myself, and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. I realized early that I can’t begin to compete with him on the sociology of music - his understanding of the pop music world and the classical music business is much more fleshed out than mine, and as he says, I’m much more focused on internal musical logic.
Of course, I had blown in from godforsaken CHICAGO, and for years everyone in the New York scene shook their heads because I was such a pitiful substitute for the great Greg Sandow. So to get such a sincere tribute from the critic I got so used to being unfavorably compared to was like - I made it into the club. Perhaps that’s enough to say."
(And here's something to think about. What is a good name for "new music?" Sandow has written that "alternative classical" might work. What about "downtown music" or "American music?" I like the term "new music." But the work of Phillip Glass might not spring to mind when some hear "new music" as much as The Strokes.)
FROM THE DESK OF STEVEN WARD
STING LANDS ON COVER OF INDUSTRY'S NEWEST MUSIC MAGAZINE
The New York Times looks at Tracks -- an "adult" music magazine edited by Alan Light.
Personally, I'm rooting for Tracks. I love the idea of a magazine like Mojo or Classic Rock that costs less than nine bucks.
11/09/2003
FROM THE DESK OF SCOTT WOODS
Utne Independent Press Awards Nominees--2003, with links to each of the nominees.
FROM THE DESK OF SCOTT WOODS
A couple new Annie Leibovitz links:
1. Leibovitz zooms in on the roots of American music in EMP exhibit. By Regina Hackett in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
[An interview.]
2. Annie, get your flashgun. By Sean O'Hagan in the Observer.
[A review.]
[Both links courtesy of Barbara Flaska.]
11/06/2003
FROM THE DESK OF RICKEY WRIGHT
Still more TV. Lisa de Moraes' weekly chat.
FROM THE DESK OF PHIL FREEMAN
Great article on hygiene movies, by noted film critic Joe Bob Briggs, from Reason.
(Every once in awhile, Joe Bob lets his mask slip a bit, revealing John Bloom, the highly intelligent critic and commentator beneath.)
FROM THE DESK OF PHIL FREEMAN
MTV launches new magazine...and it, um, sucks.
Best line from this piece: "This is a magazine for people who have given up on culture and on even trying [to] distinguish the shiznit from the Shiznola."
BURYING LESTER BANGS
By Brian James in PopMatters.
The writer makes a couple good points and a whole pile of annoying generalizations (and how is criticism a "passive activity"?; grr....). I don't have the time or energy to think about this right now.
As I mentioned a while ago, the most enjoyable writing about Bangs this time around has (generally) come from more personal recollections, and here's another good one from Steven Rubio (whose blog you really should tune into regularly if you don't already).
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
11/05/2003
FROM THE DESK OF BOB B. BRADY
FUCKING HELL! ITS THE NME BIG BOOK! OUT NOW!
11/04/2003
JOB POSTING: MUSIC & ARTS REPORTER
The Day, an independent, award-winning daily newspaper in New London, Conn., is seeking a music and arts reporter to write authoritative, informative and lively stories and reviews. Background in music--ranging from rock to country to hip-hop--required. Must meet deadlines, have daily newspaper experience, and be willing to work nights and weekends as events dictate.
Send a resume and clips by Nov. 24 to:
Human Resources Dept., The Day, 47 Eugene O'Neill Drive, New London, CT, 06320.
11/03/2003
MELTZER'S AUTUMN RHYTHM
I got a copy of Autumn Rhythm last week, and though I haven't got to the part yet where (according to Barbara Bamberger Scott) he "has fantasies of having sex--no, I mean having actual sex--with his mother," I'm liking it a lot more than I thought I would (and now I can't really remember why I thought I wouldn't like it). I'm not reading it in sequence, though, and pathetic yob that I am, I first had to scour the contents to see if I could find any evidence of rock criticism remaining in the man's system (please sir, just a small dropping from the table will do), and was pleased to discover three terrific pages on the White Album. Check it out--p. 59 - 61: Meltzer having fun--no, I mean having actual fun--with music and words and ideas again. Yippee!
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
"NEW CREEM" UPDATE
Dormant Creem Magazine to Publish Again.
From Yahoo, sent by Tom Sawyer, who writes:
"FYI...note the reference to Lester Bangs as a 'wild-haired' critic. Funny how little attention has been paid, until now, to his tonsorial shortcomings."
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
THE BIG BLUSH
A Guardian feature, wherein writers reveal their most embarrassing moments.
This week: Michael Bracewell, author of England is Mine.
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
[link spotted on S/FJ]
rockcritics.com UPDATED
I've posted the two interviews below, with Andy Secher and Kandia Crazy Horse, on rockcritics.com, which is really where they belong, ultimately (though it's come to my attention recently that some people still don't get the concept--i.e., the difference between rockcritics daily and rockcritics.com--hmm...maybe my concept is fucked after all). Nevertheless, with any new content like this, I'll post it in both spots--time-permitting, anyway. I want them here, on the daily, because it gives you an opportunity to comment on them; I want them on the dotcom because there's a better chance they'll always be there (it's not my itchy finger I worry about so much as the apparent quirkiness of Blogger's archiving system).
(If this is the first time you've ever popped into this site, you must wonder what the hell I'm going on about. That is, if you haven't fallen asleep already.)
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
FROM THE DESK OF STEVEN WARD
ANDY SECHER, EDITOR OF HIT PARADER, GOES ON THE RECORD
1. How long have you been working at Hit Parader and what was your job title when you were first hired?
As amazing as it may sound, I've been working at Hit Parader for nearly 25 years... which is truly incredible when you consider that I'm 32 years old. Uhh--first part right, second part, not quite. When I was hired, I guess I was an assistant editor. The staff was basically two people back then, so I could assume just about any title I wanted. I was hoping for "washroom attendant" but that was already taken.
2. Let's go back and talk about how you landed your job at Hit Parader. Where were your first pieces of rock journalism published?
I landed my job at Hit Parader thanks to an interview I had done with AC/DC appearing in the New York Daily News. When I was just out of college, I decided to start my own national newspaper syndication. I was too dumb to know that you weren't supposed to do something like that on your own. Well, within a few months, I managed to get my column into a dozen major papers around the country, including the Sacramento Bee, the San Antonio Express and the New York Daily News. I was focusing on hard rock/metal bands at the time (the late '70s) because it was my primary interest... and nobody else was doing it.
3. Was Hit Parader an important rock magazine to you when you were growing up?
Actually, I tended to read Circus more because Hit Parader tended to cover too much punk, pop and new wave. In fact, I briefly worked for Circus before moving on to Hit Parader.
4. What was the mission of the magazine when you started there and do you think it is the same today? How would you describe the current mission of the magazine today?
Our mission remains to survive one more month. Actually, when I came aboard in 1979, my immediate goal was to take the magazine from covering new wave to covering hard rock. My first cover was Van Halen, and we were the first magazine in the world to focus exclusively on hard rock/heavy metal. We were a bit lucky in that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (with Priest and Maiden) was just kicking in, and the West Coast Metal Explosion (Motley Crue, etc.) was about to launch. Our timing was very good. We've stayed loyal to hard rock throughout the years because that's where my interest remains. Trends, bands and fans have come and gone, but hard rock has stayed strong.
5. Former Circus editor Philip Bashe recently told me a story about you being at one of those rock symposiums back in the 80s and how you criticized some of the people on that symposium for being elitist about heavy metal. Bashe said Robert Christgau said something to you about a mag like Hit Parader "pimping" for heavy metal. Bashe said that may be true but how it's no different than the folks at the Village Voice pimping for people like Lou Reed. Do you agree with that, do you remember the incident and do you think that some in the rock press today still look at heavy metal magazines that way?
I do remember the incident because it was probably the first and LAST of those things I ever did. I knew I was stepping into a mine field and I didn't like the feeling. I always sensed that people like Christgau had to justify their existence by promoting the artistic aesthetics of the rock form. I've never taken any of this that seriously. Hit Parader isn't the New York Times... it's a frikkin' fanzine, and proud to be exactly that. Our target demographic is some 17 year old kid in Iowa, not a socialite in Manhattan. Sure the "mainstream" rock press is elitist... but I think it's less elitist today than it used to be. Is that a good thing?
6. What rock writers and rock magazines meant something to you when you were growing up and what rock writers do you think had some kind of influence on you?
I hate to say this, but I really didn't read that many rock magazines when I was growing up. There was the occasional Circus or Creem, but that was about it. They tended not to write much about the bands that interested me.
7. I think magazines like Hit Parader, Circus, and Metal Edge serve a purpose in the rock journalism world--they cater to the younger fans--mostly teenage boys--like nobody else. Do you agree with that and could you elaborate?
You hit it right on the head. We are geared for a young, male demographic. That audience may not want to read detailed critiques or lengthy analysis. They want short, pithy interviews and features--along with BIG color photos. The formula is fairly basic.
8. When you look back at your career at Hit Parader, what stories or interviews stand out for you--whether it be for news value or just good rock journalism.
It's been an amazing ride, both figuratively and literally. I've been able to travel around the world following the form's biggest stars; Ozzy in Brazil, Dio in Japan, Bon Jovi in Canada, the Scorpions in Sweden... it goes on and on. There's no question that the times (and the stars) were bigger and brighter in the '70s and '80s. Once Nirvana hit, things took a definite dive in that regard. I remember the first time I interviewed Van Halen in a New York hotel and encountering a chain-smoking, Pastrami-eating Diamond Dave. The stories are too many, and in some cases too wild, to be printed here.
9. As Hit Parader's editor, what advice would you give to journalists who love heavy metal and would like to see their byline in Hit Parader?
Get a good story... and push it. Don't wait for us to assign you something. I know it's kind'a like the old chicken and the egg. How do you get the cool story without a magazine affiliation? Well, it can be done! And when you have that story pick up the phone and let the right people know. Also, keep in mind that magazines like Hit Parader have three month lead times. Don't offer me something that's old news today, when it's gonna be positively stale in three months. Try to anticipate what might be happening in a few months.
10. What is the biggest misconception about Hit Parader?
That I actually know what I'm doing.
11. Again looking back at your career at HP, what editors and writers at the mag stand out for you as friends, freelancers or colleagues?
I think more of the many people within the industry who've been a major help. Hit Parader has functioned with an amazingly small staff throughout the years.
12. Hit Parader has been publishing for so long now. Do you see it as a continuing thing that will go on in future years?
I'd like to think so. I don't know how much longer I'll keep doing this because I do find my interest flagging a bit. But the field seems relatively strong and just when people are beginning to write off metal as a viable
commercial or artistic form, that's when it tends to once again rear its ugly head.
13. And finally, why do you think the mainstream rock mags like to ignore heavy metal and do you think that is changing now or will change?
That's not as true as it used to be because I think those mainstream magazines have begun to realize that if you want to grasp the lingering pulse of rock and roll, heavy metal bands still do it better than anyone! Also, the cross-over success of performers like Ozzy have opened a lot of eyes to the long-term accessibility of metal stars.
KANDIA CRAZY HORSE
INTERVIEWED BY SCOTT WOODS
[Kandia Crazy Horse is the Editor of the upcoming music tome, Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock 'n Roll, which will be published by Palgrave at the end of 2003. I recently sent her a bunch of questions about the book and a few about herself as well. Eventually, this will move over to rockcritics.com, but I wanted to post it here first because I'm at work and you know what that means...]
1 - How are you doing, and what have you been listening to lately?
I'm doing shitty, thanks, Scott. This year has been all about Arthur Lee & Eddie Hinton. Have seen five of
Love's Forever Changes anniversary concerts since December 2002 (including the one in LA w/ Johnny Echols & Don Conka), got the Zane Records reissues of Hinton and listen a great deal to an Eddie compilation made for me by someone I love very much. Rufus Wainwright's Want is superb, perhaps the only true masterpiece of the times. Otherwise, my recent enthusiasms have been: Los Lonely Boys, Seal's latest--which is a real triumph, Donnie still, Mofro, Jet (from Australia, purveyors of Get Born), the Chesterfield Kings who have a cracking new one on Sundazed--The Mindbending Sounds of..., the Faces, Jeff Beck Group, Eugene McDaniels' Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse, a lot of Fela still, the Neil Young reissues (esp. On The Beach). Hoping someone will send me the reissue of Gene Clark’s No Other. Admit a horrible weakness for Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" and Zero 7's remix of N.E.R.D's "Provider." Jesse Malin dominated the 1st quarter for me, continues to spark and I am still reserving judgment on My Morning Jacket.
2 - What is the title of your upcoming book?
Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock & Roll.
3 - Where did the idea for the book come from?
Independently, I have had the lifelong idea of doing some cultural project focused on the innovations of blacks in rock & roll. I specifically came to this project when my old friend/schoolmate Mike Ladd, the alternative hip-hop artist extraordinaire, recommended to independent filmmaker James Spooner that I serve as a "scholarly" resource for his book at St. Martin's. James eventually decided to throw all his energy behind his new film Afro-Punk, aka Rock N Roll Nigger (High Yellow Productions) and I helmed the book project.
4 - I understand there are other writers involved--are you the Editor of the book? Who are some of the contributors?
Yes, I am the editor. Contributors range from Black Atlantic icon Paul Gilroy and my rockcrit nigga Jon Caramanica to the lovely Vivien Goldman and Bad Brains’ Daryl Jenifer. Me mate Barn generously supplied some historical reprints from Rocksbackpages.com's archive. And I even got that crazy dada wigger Lester Bangs to write for me; he's about neck 'n neck with 2Pac, Jimi, Eva Cassidy & Mojo Risin' in the posthumous release sweepstakes inne? I wonder what he makes of Prince stumping for the Witnesses door-to-door these days?
5 - Is the book a genre study? A musical history? A polemic?
I suppose Rip It Up--note the Little Richard reference--is a combination of select history and polemic. I was wary of calling it "the" history because it’s hardly complete...and that was intentional. Certain decisions as to cutoff dates and which artists would be included had been made even before I stepped up. The real point of the book is to serve as a primer on blacks' contributions to rock and serve as a marker for future in-depth study of the subject. Black rock still deserves the mammoth coffee table treatment with Pedro Bell & Henry Diltz images and all that jazz. I just could not countenance the fact that I might die any day now without having made a stand on behalf of black rock’s canonization for the Masses to recognize.
6 - Did the writers write material specifically for the book, or is it culled from different sources?
Reprints had appeared in various music publications; the Bangs piece originally ran in the Village Voice. Everything else was done specifically for the project.
7 - Do you write anything for the book yourself?
I actually submitted several things but, in the end, my primary contributions are the Introduction and an interview with legendary session singer Venetta Fields. Also had a hand in the "Black Rock Glossary" etc.
8 - All I know, from the brief mention you made in an e-mail, is that the book is a history of black rock. Is there a unifying premise here?
I would not say there's a unifying premise beyond the majority of the artists' era of peak productivity falling between 1964 and 2003, a burning churning desire on the part of the writers to be militant about black rock...and of course, erm, having suffered creative and professional slings and arrows due to race.
9 - Do you believe that audiences and critics still have preconceptions about what "black" music is and what "rock" music is? If so, where are these preconceptions coming from--critics? radio and MTV? demographic marketing? the record labels?...
The Black Rock Coalition's Director of Operations, Darrell McNeill, contributed a lengthy and thorough essay on the cruel history of race and the entertainment industry; read that and you'll get just about all the "facts." Personally, as a young, black, female rock critic who has mostly covered southern rock throughout their career, I perennially LIVE the reality that audiences, the media and the industry have dangerous and ignorant preconceptions about what black music is and ain’t--and about rock. Me'Shell NdegeOcello’s struggles with artistic freedom, mass indifference and poor reception by the black community and black radio certainly prove that these issues are entrenched and (pun intended) bitter. The pimping of Jimi Hendrix's legacy and his constant presence on the cover of wide-circulation guitar magazines which conveniently divorce him from his colored roots is also a huge point of contention...I mean, Jimi's kinda like that one black slave in the Mormon heaven. All that you mention--radio, MTV, demographic marketing--are bloody usual suspects. Yet, as a critic, I am more concretely aware of the gang's shortcomings in treating black and "other" music. Maybe that cannot be helped since we "others" are not and never have been the center. Labels are definitely to blame, though, since with the appearance of every Chocolate Genius, Glen Scott & Res, the same ole tired refrain about what is and should not be "black" music rears its ugly head. Lenny Kravitz is the only one in the last 15 years or so to truly escape that conundrum and some would argue that he’s achieved it by pointedly eschewing race and any radical stances throughout his career. No need to spin, this record's been broke.
10 - Does the book challenge these assumptions--and how?
At this point, I think it remains to be seen whether or not the book will succeed at countering a half-century’s worth of wrong-headed thinking and writing about blacks in the rock field. Perhaps it's too much to ask of any one work. I do think that the book represents a challenge in its exploration of the subjectivity of various artists like Sly Stone, Slash and Betty Davis. In the past (and present), many of the fans and biographers of these artists who have been allowed face time with the mass mind were white males and it's their "authority" which holds sway in all assessments of the musicians and their oeuvres. Let some folks inside the race at least have a chance to present the other side of the mirror (of Sly's freaky grin).
11 - Who do you think are the 5 most significant black rock artists of the last 50 years? (Feel free to expound.)
I think the choices below are pretty self-evident...but here’s some suitable quips:
12 - Who is the most significant black rock artist of right now?
David Ryan Harris...he's a Georgia homeboy so got to give it up. No, I never fucked him and I actually don't think he likes me too much but we have been "friendly acquaintances" for several years. Never actually saw him live in the Follow For Now days but witnessed the Brand New Immortals era and his solo career at close quarters. He’s never quite grasped the ring of mass adulation that he deserves but he is very rare in the rock pool--of ANY race or gender--in that he has the great voice, guitar chops, songwriting skills, stage presence & suitably marketable image that lots of aspiring musicians lack. He is also one of very few that has successfully covered Hendrix without you wanting to commit suicide; I maintain that NdegeOcello's "May This Be Love" is the best but David's "(Have You Ever Been to) Electric Ladyland" is superb.
13 - What is your personal prognosis of the state of popular music in general today? Is it in good shape, great shape, hopeless, etc.?
Being that music is my grand passion, from my first memories being musical to my foolish pride as a vinyl fetishist/collector, I just cannot admit that the prognosis for popular music is utterly hopeless. I am an early FM radio baby and a defiant anachronism...so I tend to view most pop output with a jaundiced eye these days. Beyond the general milestones like "Rapper’s Delight," "La Di Da Di," "The Message," etc. and the music of Public Enemy, the Native Tongues and the Dirty South, I have never had any use for Hip-Hop Nation and remain resentful that this is my (black) generation’s great contribution to the global culture. If it weren’t for OutKast, Cee-Lo & Big Gipp, I’d probably have to hang myself. No one, critic, fan or otherwise--has ever wanted to agree with me and never shall...but I still maintain that the reason I was in exile amongst the Black Crowes for all of the 1990s is because I felt they were doing the work that younger black artists should have been in the mainstream eye. With Freddie Stone as his key idol, I sincerely felt that Chris Robinson was slaying some of my aesthetic dragons. I would argue that Donnie, also from Atlanta, is the one bona fide "Negro" artist of the times who has an appropriately complex and comprehensive vision, great talent and an awe-inspiring commitment to the Race.
There are also artists that I don’t "like as a person" that I think are doing important work...but they rarely dovetail with the list of critical and rock snob darlings. Kid Rock deserves a lot of praise.
Basically, I await the demise of hip-hop, Orlando pop, "R&B" girl groups, the dregs of Nu Metal etc., but I don't think their banishment will change too much. It'll be business as usual in the Industry. I will say here that I do not think piracy and illegal downloading is the root of all evil--for either the rockbiz or Hollyweird. The chief problems are an appalling lack of artist development at the labels and, in the wider entertainment industry, the greed of these corporations and their utter disregard for the consumer. [That Lesley Stahl segment on 60 Minutes was pathetic: trying to appeal to us by saying the poor blue collar workers like carpenters at the studios are being sacked when the real problem is that these high-level executives are not taking any pay cuts or losing their ranches in Idaho]. I frankly could give a toss whether all the majors tumble into the sea. What have they done for me lately?...to bite the O. G. Miss Jackson.
Still, there is a staggering lack of humanity and morals amongst the people who work in the industry and that alone is probably the most damning factor in the business’ current troubles and the creative sector's malaise. Everyone's favorite whipping girl, Courtney Love, easily illustrates this: on the one hand, she's supposedly "fighting the power" for artists' rights etc etc (which she then went and undermined by settling...no one held a gun to her head); on the other, she's her fatherless daughter's sole support and yet she cannot give up her puerile sexdrugsrockanroll fantasies of assuming Anita Pallenberg's throne long enough to focus on the mature responsibilities being a mother requires. I like the party like everyone else and I got the wanderlust but I have never been a junkie and I have no dependents. I don't care what your beliefs are: once you have the kid, (until they’re eighteen) they must come first.
Rufus Wainwright gives me the most heartfelt hope for the future of the type of music I value. I don't understand how ANYONE who actively obsesses about the lifeblood of music can fail to genuflect before him. Yet with him, again, I am often swimming against the tide because many of my colleagues have a very rigid opposition to him based on post-punk bias, homophobia or whatever. Patterson Hood is also my Great *Hope... (* he & I are beyond race).
14 - Ditto the state of music criticism.
I've said enough, here and elsewhere, which supports career suicide so you will not lure me 'neath the JoJo Dancer proscenium. I was there when that all went down, you know. Every other scribe, high and low, has sufficiently weighed in about how every 19 year-old with a laptop thinks they can topple the monolithic statue of Lester Bangs at 14th Street, the nadir of the lad mags and their influence on reviews, and how the publicists have all of our balls--and, erm, ovaries--in a vise. I'm just tired of it already. I don’t see a real future for music criticism (if it even exists right now)--some of Armond White's recent NY Press anti-NYFCC screed applies here--and, now that it's plain that I don't have the taste (or medical benefits) for the lobotomy it would require for me to outlast Jane Smith's record, I sympathize a good deal more than I ever did with R. Meltzer. I sincerely doubt we will ever see the greatness of a Jon Landau again on paper.
Richard's simply brilliant; loving his new book on geezers. I am also very fond of Jon Caramanica, Amy Linden & Barney Hoskyns (looking forward to his Mellow Mafia opus very much). I rarely see Vivien Goldman or Rob Sheffield’s stuff but, in their zones, both are good. I remain indebted to Bob Christgau, Dennis Lim & Chuck Eddy. Holly George-Warren is mah twang nigga.
Stanley Booth has never been a music critic yet he remains my Chuck Berry. I'll be his Huckleberry (laughs)!
15 - What about you--are you working on any other projects or articles right now you can tell us about?
I'm working on my tan, Scott, right here beneath the weak Harlem sun. Many of the rednecks I've adored or sparred with over the years think this shit's natural but it ain’t.
Rock on wit' yo’ bad selves,
Kandia Crazy Horse
Manhattan, November 2003
11/02/2003
MILK IT, MILK IT GOOD
Jerry Donaghy reviews Jim Derogatis's Milk It! in Powell's Books.
I find it hard to read past the first sentence here, but maybe that's just me.
[POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS...thanks to B. Flaska for the link.]
11/01/2003
IF IT AIN'T SCOTTISH, IT'S...
Scotland's 100 best rock and pop albums
"To compile the Top 100 Scottish Rock and Pop albums, The Scotsman polled over 50 musicians and critics (and one music-loving culture minister)."
The only Top 100 list in the world where the Proclaimers sit at number 2?
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
LINKS UPDATE
FYI: I've done some fairly extensive updates to the rockcritics links page. A few new blogs have been listed, and I've started to fill out the section now entitled, "Resources, 'Zines, Alt-Weeklies, Aging Dinosaurs, Media-Centric, etc." Sometimes the call between what qualifies as a blog and an actual "zine" is hard to determine; if I've listed your publication in the latter and you think it should be in the former, let me know and I'll change that around. Ditto, of course, if you want to be added to either of these lists. (Next project: divide the "resources, 'zines..." section into micro-categories.)
POSTED BY SCOTT WOODS
