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April 11, 2007
e-l-l-i-o-t
there is an album that was released in 2000 by damon gough - better known as badly drawn boy. the album i'm speaking of is the hour of bewilderbeast and i love this record for one thousand different reasons and i mention it here because for me this album encapsulates everything elliot smith (who i have so recently expressed disdain for) spent his whole career trying to achieve but was never able to pull off. and it's not just that the badly drawn boy album is flawlessly arranged and sonically perfect. it is those things but it also posesses a complete lack of pretense that i find so off putting in elliot smith's catalogue. every song literally screams listen to how dark and disturbed i am and ridiculously talented to boot!
and yes elliot smith was talented in the same way that beck is talented albeit to a lesser degree. i got into an argument a couple of weeks ago with a friend who made the statement that beck was a musical genius and i was all i don't think so - beck has never sculpted an original moment in his life. that being said he excels at cobbling together the best pieces of other artists work and making it work. i'm not a fan of beck but i can see the appeal in his music.
but getting back to elliot smith - maybe his fatal flaw was that we was so in love with alex chilton and nick drake and the beatles that all of his albums sounded just like theirs. i'm not saying this makes him completely worthless as an artist - it's just that his re-interpretations do nothing for me. i would never suggest that elliot smith is the worst musician to ever live and no one should ever listen to him. ever. i would and do say these things about coldplay and/or dave matthews and/or red hot chili peppers. and i feel that i must because people are idiots. this is why 98% of the albums in the i-tunes store are rated 4.5 stars. it's also why andy richter can't catch a break with a prime time television series.
music is such a personal experience it's pretty impossible to come up with a standard of what consitutes truly great music. but i like to think of myself as a fairly discerning listener. i know what i like. and what i like includes alot of crap to go along with my more elitist tastes. and i've learned that it's okay to admit that i hate something. and more often than not i tend to bristle at music that sounds like something else i've already heard...i was thinking of listing off a few but that might be a whole new can of worms. that doesn't necessarily mean i'll always hate it but it's important to have an opinion. and i'd like the record to reflect that i am not easily swayed by the reviews. i find myself disagreeing heartily with the self proclaimed vangaurds of hipster culture sometimes referred to as pitchfork media. i like alot of things that they pan and vice versa. source tags & codes is a perfect 10? seriously? are we listening to the same record? i like it and all but it's all over the place. all this to say - elliot smith's music might make me think horrible and violent thoughts but i won't judge anyone else for listening to him. much. because hey - i still listen to def leppard. and i do so unironically.
in conclusion i thought it might be a fun exercise to list off top overrated artists of all time. folks that critics laud and the masses weep for reasons that escape logic. and i'm putting this out there even though i know niche is going to list wilco 1-5. but no matter - here in no particular order are my top five.
1. elvis costello
2. fiona apple
3. u2* post unforgettable fire
4. carlos santana - seriously. it's the same guitar lick over and over people
5. randy newman
| By young_christopher | 6:45 PM
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Comments
Actually...I'm going to agree with a couple of your points here. 1. Damon Gough released a beautiful (though a bit bloated) debut album with Hour of the Bewilderbeast. As I heard one person say, it's the perfect "autumn" album. (Incidentally, I happen to think that Source Tags and Codes is a superior album. Not deserving of a 10, but maybe a 9.2 or something.)
2. Elvis Costello blows. People keep comparing Ted Leo to him, and it ticks me off, because Ted Leo does what Costello *tries* to do, and he does it so much better.
Also overrated: The Strokes, Television, John Mayer (but he's a good guitarist! Seriously! yeah, so is Yngwie Malsteem), The Doors, The Velvet Underground, Eric Clapton, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Death Cab for Cutie.
Criminally underrated musicians: Damien Jurado (excellent storyteller), Starflyer 59 (consistently good for almost 15 years. not many musicians can claim that), King's X (3 of the greatest rock 'n roll musicians ever. Queens of the Stone Age owe everything to them), The Walkmen (one of the best live shows I've ever been to), Richard Swift (opened for the Walkmen, just as good) and the Wrens (fantastic band that nobody's heard).
Posted by: Nick at April 12, 2007 12:56 PM
It would be nice if Elvis Costello didn't record an entire album every time he had a song's worth of ideas.
Posted by: No Man Is an Island at April 15, 2007 8:27 PM
Nick, I've both heard of and enjoy the music of the Wrens (I think Hopeless might be my favorite song, but that whole Meadowlands record is pretty great).
Panic! At The Disco might be the most oddly over-hyped band right now, but thankfully there are a few music critics who've caught onto just how silly they are.
Chris, I also think you should start reviewing records on iTunes...pretty soon rock gods from all over will be coming to 4808 for just a taste of your wisdom.
Also, as long as were throwing out names for the perpetually overrated, I'll add a few:
1) Matchbox 20 (that includes you, Rob Thomas)
2) Cake (They Might Be Giants you're not)
3) The Rolling Stones (I think this speaks for itself)
4) The Who (stop swinging the mic, Roger...)
Posted by: Micah at April 17, 2007 8:35 PM
5) The Killers (even if I like two of their songs) are probably just as overrated as any of the above, if not more. I could deal with never hearing any of their music ever again...
Posted by: Micah at April 17, 2007 9:36 PM
Another criminally underrated band: Spoon. Girls Can Tell is a fantastic album. How those guys aren't bigger, I have no idea.
Posted by: Nick at April 18, 2007 2:13 PM
Oh, and Micah, glad to see somebody else appreciates the Wrens. They're not half bad for being from Jersey.
Posted by: Nick at April 18, 2007 2:16 PM
the reason that spoon aren't more widely recognized - they go by the name of spoon.
top five bands with names so bad there's no way their music could be any good.
1. tv on the radio
2. clap your hands say yeah (worst. sophomore album. ever)
3. stars of track and field (if you must name yourself after a song - make sure said song is at least 15-20 years old - and also don't use the damned title)
4. bloc party (great debut record removed them from this list - horrid follow up brings them back where they belong)
5. spoon (there is no spoon)
Posted by: young_christopher at April 18, 2007 5:23 PM
You know, my friends and I used to say the same thing about Jimmy Eat World. Then they got huge. Plus, how do you account for bands like Nickleback and (shit) Staind? Or Limp Bizkit? Those are pretty horrible names right there, but those guys are huge.
Posted by: Nick at April 20, 2007 2:45 PM
nice examples nick but for my money tv on the radio still has to be the dumbest band name in the history of rock and roll and then they turned around and named their album return to cookie mountiain - if this is the best they can come up with i'd be horrified to hear what they actually sound like.
Posted by: young_christopher at April 20, 2007 6:19 PM
Should I list my overrated bands? Probably not.
1. Eagles--including all solo material
2. Weezer--enjoyable one song at a time, once a month
3. Smashing Pumpkins--a.k.a. Billy Corgan and the People Willing to Submit to Him
4. James Taylor
5. Nirvana--Other grunge bands were better, except for
6. Alice in Chains--Although I find myself pitying Layne Staley a bit more.
7. Sublime--Almost forgot these guys. Everything early is spotty, and their major-label album gets old pretty quickly.
Let me go on the record as a fan of TV on the Radio. I wouldn't say they've made a great album yet, but their oddity keeps me listening.
You know what band names suck? Stone Sour, Adema, Mute Math, Hoobastank.
What about the best band with a name that makes one cringe? I'm nominating the New Pornographers. I love them, but it's difficult to recommend them in polite company...
Posted by: No Man Is an Island at April 20, 2007 7:41 PM
Didn't the Wrens have a little popularity surge at the same time that the Shins were getting big because of Garden State?
Also....Puddle of Mudd.
Posted by: heidi at April 20, 2007 7:59 PM
How can you say that when their name has that superfluous "d"?!?
Posted by: No Man Is an Island at April 21, 2007 4:46 PM
i'll admit when i was younger i went through an eagles phase. probably because all those christian videos accused them of worshipping the devil...one of those videos even claimed that the cover of desperado depicted jesus with a noose around his neck...somehow i don't think the devil would even want to claim the music of glenn frey.
Posted by: young_christopher at April 22, 2007 9:33 AM
No Chris, but the devil did go down to Georgia. I'm sure that he got suckered into buying, at the very least, a cassette copy of The Eagles' Greatest Hits at a truck stop somewhere outside of Macon.
Posted by: Nick at April 23, 2007 5:39 PM
I don't know about that, Heidi. If the Wrens are on that soundtrack, that's the first I've heard of it.
Chris, you really owe it to yourself to get the new TV on the Radio album. Dumb name aside, it's pretty damn good. At the very least, pony up 99 cents and get the song "Wolf Like Me," you won't regret it.
"Charge me your day rate
I'll turn you out in kind
When the moon is round and full
Gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mongrel mind"
Posted by: Nick at April 23, 2007 5:45 PM
Oh, I didn't mean that the Wrens were on that soundtrack, I just seem to remember hearing about the two bands around the same time.
As for TVonTR, I think their album is good, but a little repetitive. I went to a show, and it was the same thing. Good, but not great - I think they definitely could be great, though. I don't really care about the name.
Nick, Jimmy Eat World is my most hated band name ever. Yuck.
Posted by: heidi at April 24, 2007 11:41 AM
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