Music Crits too tolerant? What's Indie? Informed opinions? Target audiences?

A post by Mike Barthel on Idolator yesterday, which starts off asking why it is Metacritic's average scores for records is higher than they are for movies, then proceeds to guess it has something to do with a indie mentality: "The indie audience and the critics that spring from it have become so catholic in their tastes that they can see the good in almost anything that's not bad on a very basic technical level." (My highlights).

And the piece kind of sprawls from there, taking in questions of how one can write about music without knowing enough "to have an informed opinion" with an "audience for my review" that "would be people that are highly informed".

The comments are all over the place too, but I liked Matos' point: I'd rather read a critic who's actually made an effort to understand something and then dismissed it gleefully and with malice aforethought (...) than "are you kidding?" disdain for something the writer plainly isn't getting."

If I had more time, I'd join in on the debate, and there may be some points, either made by Mike or in the comments, that I'm missing here.

But if there was one thing I'd hope would come out of the poptimist/rockist debate, whichever side you were on, it was that people would stop having such hangups with genres. And they're back at it here. Broad taste is defined purely by genre, as one commenter says " But I see kids with everything from Modest Mouse to Jack Johnson to Ciara to Trace Adkins to Mastodon. There's a healthy mix (...)".

One who calls himself RaptorAvatar is on to something: "Even if you're like me and know that you're partial to a certain set of values that often crystallize most readily in indie rock, chances are that you have at least an ethos-level sense that you should maybe listen to "Year of The Gentleman (...)" (=Ne-Yo's latest, my comment).

Only I'd add to his "indie rock", jazz, rap, pop, r&b... See, what I've found over the years is that the values and expressions I seek and like - not only in music but in literature and films as well - are not confined to one genre specifically (though I may concur that some values, which RA touches on, are probably more likely to be found in one genre over another). Similarly, what I don't like in music can be found in alomost every genre as well. E.g. indie as a genre does not in and of itself express one coherent set of values, nor do indie bands and musicians express them equally well. The same goes for any other genre.

Before I'm labeled as a relativist here, let me just say in one respect, one can claim that my taste is actually very narrow in that I know exactly which kinds of values, expressions etc. I like and dislike - though music has a way of surprising you sometimes.

This, I maintain, is what gives me the right to have an opinion on almost anything I want to write about. What I take the time, and money, to write about is another matter all together.

(A belated and retro-influenced Songs of the Week will appear shortly).

Songs of the Week 45/08

• Mostly Other People Do the Killing: "Allentown" (Billy Joel-cover)(Hot Cup/CD Baby)
• Billy Joel: "Allentown" (Sony)
• Taylor Swift: "Fearless" (Big Machine)
• Britney Spears: "If You Seek Amy" (Jive Records)
• The Widow Babies: "Mike Watt Created the Universe With a Bass Solo" (Sounds Are Active)
  

Reagan, PATCO, and the Minutemen

A few weeks ago, I did a talk at my University about Ronald Reagan's handling of the Air Traffic Controllers' Strike in 1981. Talking about the aftermath and legacy of Reagan's firing of the strikers, I was able to weave in some music, more precisely the Minutemen. The following is an excerpt of that section.

The notion that Reagan's strict line towards the PATCO strikers weakened labor unions and made it easier for employers to fire dissenting employees in the ensuing years was reflected in other aspects of American culture as well. In 1984, the politically aware punk and folk inspired rock band Minutemen released a video for their song "This Ain't No Picnic", taken off the album Double Nickels On the Dime, which was released that same year. The song is one of the groups most striaght forward: it has what I would describe as a rampant or charging beat, and the chorus is shouted more than sung in a style that can be likened to protest calls at a rally. The lyrics describe the tension between a working man, his work and his employer. Below is the second verse of the song.

"Hey mister, don't look down on me
for what I believe
I got my bills and the rent
I should pitch a tent
but a man isn't free
for what he believes
so I'll work my life away
in place of a machine"

The video for "This Ain't No Picnic" takes into use black and white footage of a young Ronald Reagan in a World War II fighter plane, intercut with old footage of factory workers and footage of Minutemen outside of what appears to be a factory. The band lipsync the words of the song, shaking their fists in the air while singing the chorus, "This Ain't No Picnic", as if they were having a protest rally. As the video progresses, the fighter pilot in the guise of Ronald Reagan starts to fire the plane's guns. The footage shifts back to the band on the ground being fired at. There is an explosion, and we finally see the band, or the protesters, laying in the rubble. The image is quite striking: the protesters have effectively if violently been defeated at the hands of Ronald Reagan.

(Video for "This Ain't No Picninc" (SST Records, 1984))

Songs of the Week 44/08

• The Bronx: "Young Bloods" (Witchita)
• William Parker: "Freddie's Dead" (AUM Fidelity)
• The Muslims: "Parasites" (1928 Recordings)
• Los Campesinos! "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" (Witchita)
• Black Milk: "Bounce" (Fat Beats)

Fingers crossed

(Via Destination Out!)