Comments on: Music Critics: Snobby Jerks, Or Snobby Jerks With Actual Power?

By: nonce

nonce — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:10:36 +0000

Yeah, all of the hot-shit opera composers of today, while they may have name recognition for people who read Pitchfork, etc. (people like Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Laurie Anderson*, Robert Ashley, and, uh, Tom Waits**), they're mostly not getting constant coverage.

Also: wasn't there a 15-year dryspell for Aimee Mann before critics picked her up again?

And: If Elvis Costello pimped out his band members a bit more, more people would know who Steve Nieve is in the first place.

Finally: no matter what it is, if I pick up a CD and the cover prominently lists Sting as a participant, I'm dropping that shit like a hot lute, critical praise or no.

*If you count Anderson's USA as an opera. I do.
**Worked on operas in the '90s with William Burroughs and King of Slo-Mo Robert Wilson.

By: FunkyJ

FunkyJ — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 07:16:52 +0000

I'm sick of this rubbish.

It's the same with games reviewing. "Does the press help game devs, or do they hinder the,?"

WHO CARES?

Look, lets be brutally honest here - the only reason we write reviews is we get free music/games/movies/tickets.

And the only reason other people read our work is because they're bored.

THAT IS IT.

Now move along please. There's absolutely nothing else to analyse or think about here.

By: edisdead

edisdead — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:01:17 +0000

dang even a casual google search shows a review also ran in NYT sister paper Boston Globe. whatever Friedman is smoking, pass it this way!

By: remarkie

remarkie — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:16:19 +0000

*Or*?

By: flathead

flathead — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:03:02 +0000

we always read what we say!

By: backseat_driver10023

backseat_driver10023 — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 06:04:51 +0000

do people even read what these critics say

By: annkpowers

annkpowers — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:28:41 +0000

Something bothered me about this Friedman nonsense, and now I’ve figured it out. I actually REVIEWED “Welcome to the Voice” when it was in workshop at Town Hall in New York in 2000. It was a positive review, for the NEW YORK TIMES. Didn’t that help Nieve? Did Friedman do any kind of Google search to see if the piece HAD been reviewed? And btw I don’t recall ever being serviced the recorded version. So missed opportunity there I guess. This smarty-pants show-off pop critic would have been happy to write about it.

By: Lucas Jensen

Lucas Jensen — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:26:30 +0000

@TheNotoriousT: Everybody knows that? That's ridiculous. If they hated it, it'd get less than a 5. Trust me, it's happened to me recently. I do think there is a bit of big bands get big scores going on there recently, though.

By: Paperboy 2000

Paperboy 2000 — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:25:59 +0000

YouSendIt link for the Robert Wyatt track?

By: NickEddy

NickEddy — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:25:07 +0000

Holy shit! Steve Nieve finally wrote an OPERA!!

Seriously! Ever since his piano on "Long Honeymoon," I've wondered why he hasn't collaborated on an opera with someone.

And he got a reunited Bronski Beat in it??

Oh.

By: Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:18:38 +0000

We might also be overlooking an important point — what the HECK is with that cover photo?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:16:27 +0000

Friedman's argument went from terrible to hilarious after this gem:

In fact, in the current Rolling Stone, Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 listed "Radio Radio" as his personal No. 1 song in the "My List" category.

A seal of approval from the guy who wrote "Fat Lip": music's highest honor.

By: revmatty

revmatty — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:55:14 +0000

You hit the point right on, but I’d like to emphasize it a bit more: This isn’t some breakout album by a member of a popular band. It’s an OPERA. It probably did get reviewed in the classical music magazines (they still print Gramophone, don’t they?). But you don’t generally see Rolling Stone or even the NYT reviewing the lesser works of Johann Christoph Bach or the latest CD by Tan Dun. The author is an idiot.

By: the rich girls are weeping

the rich girls are weeping — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:49:17 +0000

Er, does anyone else find Friedman's writing completely incomprehensible? Or is it just me?

And, why isn't Freidman blaming the label PR, or Nieve's PR people and management (if they exist at all)? I mean, surely the two of them don't actually think that if you put an album out there people will automatically jump with glee to listen just because of the names associated with said project? No disrespect to Nieve, but just being an Attraction and a Rock'n'Roll Hall-of-Famer doesn't automatically give you a bye out of doing the PR thing. Sheesh.

Because, really, we all know the best way to get your stuff out there is to offer an "exclusive" track or interview or both to the Forkcast.

Also, in case anyone wasn't paying attention, there's no audience for modern opera, btw. No matter who's involved.

By: Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:47:16 +0000

What? No. I cry.

By: natepatrin

natepatrin — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:39:08 +0000

Dude, of course music critics are blowhards! I mean, sometimes they use words with four syllables.

By: The Notorious T

The Notorious T — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:34:33 +0000

Everyone knows that a Pitchfork 6.1 means “We hated it but are afraid to say so because this band has `cred’.” Gotta aim for a 7 to placate anyone.

By: Lucas Jensen

Lucas Jensen — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:27:36 +0000

Okay, so this article also doesn’t mention what kind of publicity machine was behind the opera, etc. etc. I think he gives critics too much power. It’s really editors and editorial decisions that make the big impact, and even then, it ain’t music WRITING in general that’s getting people to listen to new music. That would file sharing, the Disney Channel…

By: EnoIsGod

EnoIsGod — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:25:07 +0000

@MACKRO:
Hilarious.

By: gonzosmom

gonzosmom — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:11:30 +0000

Critics of the arts are elitist? Sweet Jesus, Mary and Elvis Mitchell.