The music journalism hall of shame thread

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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
i used to like neil kulkarnis stuff in plan b iirc but he does digress quite heavily. some of his columns on the quietus ive found really hard to read cos they seem really indulgent in terms of the writing, even when ive sort of agreed with his basic sentiment.
 
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SecondLine

Well-known member
hah indulgent might be a word for it I guess. Can be hard work but also moments of sheer brilliance. You almost never find writing that willfully erratic & wayward in the 'blog' generation as far as I can tell, maybe that's a shame.

He put this writing advice up on his blog that was originally published on DiS, pretty relevant to this thread

http://fuckyouneilkulkarni.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/for-new-editor-of-nme-whomever-it-may.html

some choice quotes, not that I agree with necessarily but that stick in the mind:

only by first accepting your inability to change pop, your lonely impotence amid the cogs and gears, do you realise that your words shouldn’t be measured, considered, or anything approaching reasonable. The self-abasing degrading shame of being a critic doesn’t paralyse, it frees you up to write what the fuck you want rather than what you feel the ‘job’ demands, disconnects you from anything approaching favours, but keeps your overarching pomposity (for if you don’t have this what the fuck are you doing being a writer anyhoo?) in check.
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If you don’t regret what you’ve written after you’ve written it, or find in revisiting past work an occasional INTENSE embarassment (and equally intense pride) you’re probably not doing your job properly.
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NEVER Google yourself.
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Leo

Leo

Well-known member
Patrick Swayze said:
fair enough I just signed up here so don't really know the conventions/unwritten rules. that said I thought what I said was quite restrained, I often get banned from forums for being too inflammatory when making a point.

plus I (at least used to) quite like uk rap and felt like blackdown's piece was slightly dishonest in its presentation, but had impressed people on here. only skimmed the thread. nothing personal or whatever.
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no problem, welcome.
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
You almost never find writing that willfully erratic & wayward in the 'blog' generation as far as I can tell, maybe that's a shame.
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true. the web seems to have inspired a neater, modest writing style (well unless youre reading hipster runoff or whatever, which is the other sort of webby prose). or as this is dissensus, you also seem to get simon reynolds tribute acts, more academic and ultra serious etc. kulkarni seems to write in a way thats closer to that old 'new journalism' kind of mode.

btw, i know this thread is meant to be about stuff people find questionable, but i really like the stool pigeon music paper. totally diff tone to so much music journalism these days.
 
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SecondLine

Well-known member
rubberdingyrapids said:
true. the web seems to have inspired a neater, modest writing style (well unless youre reading hipster runoff or whatever, which is the other sort of webby prose). or as this is dissensus, you also seem to get simon reynolds tribute acts, more academic and ultra serious etc. kulkarni seems to write in a way thats closer to that old 'new journalism' kind of mode.
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oh, one younger guy (I think he's younger) that I just thought of who writes in an NJ-ish style is John Calvert - though for me his writing is often too much, has the characterful lumpenness but without the lightning bolts of brilliance...or maybe the lightning bolts are just much rarer
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
thats very fashionable to say but people still want to do it (they just dont expect to get paid).

btw patrick theres more discussion of road rap/that road rap piece in the road rap thread.
 
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Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
rubberdingyrapids said:
thats very fashionable to say but people still want to do it (they just dont expect to get paid).

btw patrick theres more discussion of road rap/that road rap piece in the road rap thread.
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yeah I know, I tried my hand at it for a bit have to say it all falls under the 'painfully embarrassing' category when I read it back now, very sincere and political lol.

cool didn't know there's a thread, thanks.
 
Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
yh cool just posted. blackdown might have this dream that in 02 everyone was listening to old jungle tapes and dreaming of getting a reload but the reality is they were bumping the lox and wishing they could be a famous rapper.
 
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juanroberto

Reprezenting the Latinos
Patrick Swayze said:
yh cool just posted. blackdown might have this dream that in 02 everyone was listening to old jungle tapes and dreaming of getting a reload but the reality is they were bumping the lox and wishing they could be a famous rapper.
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that's the spirit Patrick. The whole point of this thread (and by extension forum) is to slag off people we know are probably reading it and goading them into arguments.

So how about that Tom Lea eh?

http://www.factmag.com/2012/05/07/t...t-rapper-is-switfly-becoming-its-most-boring/
 
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rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
ouch, fact goes popbitch! not really got beef with tom lea but not sure how she can already have become boring just cos shes an irritating, beef-hungry tweeter. thats pretty much EVERY rapper in the last 10-odd years. ill wait to see how boring her album produced by paul epworth is (im guessing quite boring - has he ever produced rappers?).
 
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perhower

Perhower
It is certainly self-promotion, but it is not without shame, believe me, I would rather not have to do this. All I can say is that I genuinely believe that what I posted is worth checking out (if you are interested in music). I'm well aware of how quickly msg board communities can gang up and eat you alive, but, just so you know, I'm only trying to reach people in order to give them something fun and full of real human craziness.
 
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