(no subject)

[nfotxn]

What's up with "All that you can't leave behind" by U2 sounding like a Lou Reed album? Seriously, listen to it. It's Bono as Lou. His pronunciatation, inflection and phrasing is totally Lou Reed. And the basslines are so very knocked right off Transformer. The only difference is some trendy and jerky Garage fills here and there.

While I'm on ths subject, what about Bif Naked and The Strokes knocking off The Pretenders? Bif's new single "I love myself today" is not influenced by "Brass in pocket". It's a punk cover of the song. As for the Strokes.. ? What can I say? With enough promo money it doesn't matter how original you actually are. Re-packaging something old as new without any innovation at all. At least Bif and Bono are using punk and garage respectively. The Strokes are just re-hashing. Although to be honest I've only heard the single "Last night", I should listen to the whole album.

It just cheeses me off that bands like Sloan, Thrush Hermit and The Flashing Lights have been doing the same thing with great success up here in the north for more than a decade. And they all play much better than the strokes, I've seen the strokes live. They stink, they're like Smeared era Sloan. Sloan tries to score contracts down south and are given little tiny nothings. But when The Strokes from NYC go searching.. well look out! Can we say ethnocentric discrimination? First class musicians, they're from New York. They're on Leno, plastered all over MSN's music portal and heralded as "the second coming of The Velvet Underground" in Rolling Stone. Yeah, too bad The Velvet Underground already happened.

Crank the hype machine to 11!

Why do I play attention to pop music? It's like politics, totally corrupt. Not worth the effort.

This session of negativity for pop music has been brought to you by the letter N and the number n^th.

Comments

[bigbear4xl.livejournal.com]

The Strokes as the 2nd coming of the VU? Hardly. The Strokes don't have anything close to what VU had, which was a complete amalgam of Lou Reed doped-out realism + John Cale avante garde weirdism + Mo Tucker stripped down beats = way strange fabulousness with talent. Strokes = boring wannabe retro crap.

[kmon.livejournal.com]

You forgot the Sterling Morrison rock-guitar-meets-20th-Century-classical... Lou brought the bar chords, but Sterling brought the leads, and was completely in with Cale's avante-garde-isms. Of course, after Cale left/was kick out, the whole avant-garde thing took a back seat to the pop/rock.

[kmon.livejournal.com]

I would say that it's ethnocentric discrimination; they key factor to the Stroke's success seems to be the fact that the British press identified them as the next great American band: temporary relocation to London --> hailed by UK critics as next great American band --> reviews absorbed by US record companies --> bidding war --> triumphant American release --> embrace of US hype machine. Of course this formula didn't work for the dB's, but it did work for Jimi Hendrix. And Crissie Hynd. And Stabbing Westward. And Bush(yes, I know they're British... but might as well be American).

And the Flashing lights are great!

[kmon.livejournal.com]

oops... meant to say "I wouldn't say it's ethnocentric discrimintation"...

Not that I like the strokes, but....

[plaidninja.livejournal.com]

But, but, but!
But I like 'Smeared' era Sloan!
You just don't get it cause you were still in diapers then. :P

Re: Not that I like the strokes, but....

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but Smeared era Sloan didn't get on the cover of Rolling Stone and on Leno.

Re: Not that I like the strokes, but....

[plaidninja.livejournal.com]

Touche.

[abbazabba.livejournal.com]

*sits pensively and waits for his next media feeding*

Please save us, corporate masters of A&R