To the left two bored men discuss suicide by drum solo

As I slowly make my way out of a hangover and start relearning how to do things like tasting, and putting on pants without falling over, reading, etc., I’ve started flipping through the latest issue of Spin, the one with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the cover. What? You didn’t know? Yeah, Spin is hipper more now than ever before, in fact, it might be more hip than that indie rag you‘re reading; it‘s just that hip. See, as Rolling Stone became a political agenda under the guise of a music resource, Spin snuck up and tried to grab the reigns of their target demographic. So now, RS is for a matured audience, while Spin is for the cool audience. Open it up, there are so many people just like you inside. Are you cool enough, “well, I smoke and drink and, oh, I thought that was enough, it got me through high sch…oh, I see, things have changed.” Now, before I start getting called out for anything, I will say that while I read Magnet cover to cover, it isn’t far behind in terms of explaining how to be hip. My beef seems to be that while Magnet has always been this way, Spin are doing it for strictly business reasons. Yeah Yeah Yeahs weren’t getting any words in the magazine I remember, which is a great segue.
In the new issue, there is an article titled, “Here They Come to Save the Day: 25 Rock Underdogs.” The point of the article is to show 25 bands that have received critical praise, tell why they’re underdogs, then explain why they shouldn’t be. I agree with the airtime given to Broken Social Scene, the Firey Furnaces(whom I’ve never heard of before), Jean Grae(ditto), and Rilo Kiley (a band I know of only because Jenny Lewis [The Wizard] and Blake Soper [Salute Your Shorts, Boy Meets World] are in it; I went on my first date to see The Wizard, still a big fan of that movie). Now comes the part where I begin to disagree. Drive By Truckers, I didn’t know they were underdogs, they seem to be doing all right, playing sold out shows; alright, on the fence about them. Now, The Shins, Ryan fucking Adams, Conor Oberst, Death Cab/Postal Service, My Morning Jacket, how do these bands make the “underdog” cut? Because they haven’t been on the cover of the magazine? That’s the mag’s fault, and I’m almost positive at least one of those has been. Because they haven’t had their songs appear on the WB? Good for them, though, you know, I’m not getting into that one. Because despite every mainstream music magazine hailing these bands’ latest offerings as great, touting them as the next big thing, etc., we all know that the press will turn a blind eye in their direction as soon as next month? Well, yeah. The Shins have been all over the media, Ryan Adams was going to save rock n’roll, Jim James was going to be the new Dylan, and so on.
This is just a rant, no solutions, just a rant. The press isn’t going to change and I’m honestly happy that some of these bands are getting the exposure they deserve, but this “next big thing,” “up and coming,” bull shit has to stop. Remember when Fountains of Wayne were nominated last year for Best New Artist at the Grammys for their second album? It’s just ridiculous, though, despite how aggravating it is, I guess it does give a little peek behind the curtain, showing that the wizard really doesn’t give a shit because he was never paying attention in the first place.
I’m going to sit outside for a while now, rest up for the show tonight, look around to see if Sarah Lewitinn happens to be strolling by. I figure, she’s everywhere else, why not in my neighborhood? I expect to turn on the television one day only to find that she was really just sitting inside it the whole time.
I’ll say, “um, hi.”
“Thanks for the words.”
“…yeah, well…”

posted by beta at 6/05/2004 01:59:00 PM