The music journalism hall of shame thread

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Blackdown

nexKeysound
Esp said:
A major issue I have with so much modern music journalism is the lack of a sense that anyone is getting outside and seeing anything or speaking to anyone.
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i agree but is this a problem with music journalism or just the way modern digital living is going?
 
Elijah

Elijah

Butterz
Esp said:
A major issue I have with so much modern music journalism is the lack of a sense that anyone is getting outside and seeing anything or speaking to anyone.
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Yep happens most of the time still. Having London based journalists asking me about violence at Grime nights in 2012 just makes me bang my head on the table
 
R

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
i saw some ppl footworking at plastic ppl and village underground. they werent bad actually. i think i almost broke out into a footwork move myself but then saw sense and stopped. i prefer to think of myself like traxman who said something like 'i might not dance but in my head im always dancing'. ie you dont have do dance to know how to make/'get' dance music.
 
E

Esp

Well-known member
Blackdown said:
i agree but is this a problem with music journalism or just the way modern digital living is going?
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I thinks its a combination of the way modern living is going and the economic realities of running a magazine/website in 2012. I'd imagine that very few if any of the magazines operating in the house/dubstep/grime spheres would have the money to commission investigative, embedded journalism. I can imagine a lot of the better Quietus/Fact contributors being able to do brilliant work if given those opportunities, I definitely dont think its a lack of talented or inquisitive writers.

Elijah said:
Yep happens most of the time still. Having London based journalists asking me about violence at Grime nights in 2012 just makes me bang my head on the table
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You cant blame this sort of thing on a lack of finance though, its just pathetic really.
 
outraygeous

outraygeous

Well-known member
Is there some fuss with EDM? I see less music things on twitter now seeing as I have started following more food vendors. They are less moany.

Was going to make a new thread but seeing as all the best music journo are on twitter most of the day this fad will pass in about 24 hours. Like when Scuba said something about girls. Who remembers that classic?

(nearly as classic as when wiley made a war dub for the people of Uptown Forum. Guy was so forward thinking)
 
outraygeous

outraygeous

Well-known member
I def dont like modern living in regards to music. Some tunes get big on the internet before they get big in clubs?

Thinking about that is that like tunes getting big on radio before clubs?
 
P

paolo

Mechanical phantoms
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
What Paul Morley did to The Cure.

This sort of thing, combined with Iconoclastic Svengali maneuvers and marriage to Claudia Brücken at the height of her power and beauty, make Morley look cool, retrospectively. I mean all the new books and the Guardian articles are empty and energyless and (essentially) silly, and even Tony Colston-Hayter managed to make him look like a flabby and self-content arse on TV once upon a time (but that was 1989). Nevertheless.
 
Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
craner said:
What Paul Morley did to The Cure.

This sort of thing, combined with Iconoclastic Svengali maneuvers and marriage to Claudia Brücken at the height of her power and beauty, make Morley look cool, retrospectively. I mean all the new books and the Guardian articles are empty and energyless and (essentially) silly, and even Tony Colston-Hayter managed to make him look like a flabby and self-content arse on TV once upon a time (but that was 1989). Nevertheless.
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lol

although to be fair giggs is pretty difficult to interview he usually just giggles and says 'mmmmnhnmmm' a lot.
 
F

Frankstah

Breakfast Is For Wimps
most of fact, specifically one mr macpherson, should hang their heads in fucking shame. fucking rich boy writers trying to be super double-thumb cool. shit cunts.
 
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SecondLine

Well-known member
actually to bring this thread back on topic a bit (although not really)

I've been thinking lately about how great record reviews can be when they give you no sense of whether the reviewer likes or dislikes the album...when they express a really insightful opinion on it but you couldn't really extract from that a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down', let alone attach a star rating to it. Cos, you know, life isn't binary, it's much more complex and confusing.

One that springs to mind is the David Toop review of the Bobby Womack album in the latest issue of the Wire. Not too intimidatingly toop-y (when he goes in on the literary references I always get lost), and well worth a read. I wondered what other people's thoughts were on this - should a review give a strong yes/no opinion - is that its purpose - or not? and does anybody have any examples (good or bad) of this?
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
i'm also intrigued by the types of reviews you mention, although they can be a bit frustrating at times as well. maybe it's the difference between a good critic/writer and a so-so one: the former does it in a thought-provoking way, the latter just makes you think "wtf, just tell me if it's worth getting!"

also, i'm probably nitpicking here but...personally liking something is a separate issue from critiquing whether something is good or bad, isn't it? i can be knowledgable about a topic and have the wherewithal to determine if an album (or film, or book, etc.) is successful in achieving what it sets out to do, but that doesn't necessarily mean i like it myself.
 
S

SecondLine

Well-known member
Leo said:
also, i'm probably nitpicking here but...personally liking something is a separate issue from critiquing whether something is good or bad, isn't it? i can be knowledgable about a topic and have the wherewithal to determine if an album (or film, or book, etc.) is successful in achieving what it sets out to do, but that doesn't necessarily mean i like it myself.
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I don't think you can unpick the two really - or at least it's never that simple: if you try to separate 'objective quality' and 'my subjective taste' then you just end up with a whole mess of other considerations on which those things are basically contingent. So you can do it, obviously, and sometimes it turns out great, but I don't think you could say it simplifies things particularly. Personally I find writers much more convincing when they really embrace their own subjectivity rather than acting as if they can see past it/disregard it.

I don't mean being needlessly partisan, just being as honest as possible I guess
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
SecondLine said:
I don't think you can unpick the two really - or at least it's never that simple: if you try to separate 'objective quality' and 'my subjective taste' then you just end up with a whole mess of other considerations on which those things are basically contingent. So you can do it, obviously, and sometimes it turns out great, but I don't think you could say it simplifies things particularly. Personally I find writers much more convincing when they really embrace their own subjectivity rather than acting as if they can see past it/disregard it.

I don't mean being needlessly partisan, just being as honest as possible I guess
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yeah, that makes sense, there's more passion in the writing of a subjective reviewer (although they can sometimes go overboard and be blinded by their personal preferences). i was just saying the two can technically be separated. considering the current mass-market dubstep/EDM scene, for instance, i can probably judge a "good"/successful skrillex record from a "bad"/unsuccessful one, but i can still personally dislike skrillex's music. which i do.
 
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