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I slogged through the first half of last night’s main-stage-closing set by Roger Waters–which was billed as “Roger Waters Dark Side Of The Moon“–partially out of masochism, partially in the interest of sociological research, and partially because I didn’t feel like dragging my ass over to the stuffed-to-capacity-all-weekend dance tent to see Modeselektor, who were the only other act playing for the first portion of Waters’ set. While it was interesting in a “so this is who he lured out to the desert” sort of way, it was also infuriating, and at one point a friend said to me, “I can hear your eyes rolling back from here.” But no portion of the evening filled me with more rage than the pre-show, which had as its visual an old-timey radio, a model airplane, and a tumbler of whiskey; every so often, a hand would reach into frame to change the station and/or refill the glass, and the stations that the hand hit on, for the most part, had a playlist that lulled the classic-rock fans in attendance into a state of self-righteousness: Bob Dylan, “Hound Dog,” and “My Funny Valentine.” There was also a “humorous” bit when the radio somehow was all-ABBA, all the time, and hand man couldn’t escape from the tyranny of radio! ABBA! I mean, could you believe the nerve!
Anyway, that little interlude made me wonder if our readers would be as dismayed by the fake radio offerings as Disembodied Hand Man was–so here’s a poll.
I’m pretty sure that this is going to be lopsided in one direction, but hey, I may be wrong. The one good thing about Roger Waters’ set, though? It made me appreciate the greatness of Black Mountain even more. Holy balls were they fantastic.
If you wrote about things you actually liked, I’d probably stop reading. So please, by all means, keep the hate coming. It’s far more interesting than mindless praise of the latest Hipsters In Sweaters album.
And come on, all those bands crispy listed do suck except Floyd, who half sucks, half dominates, and NIN who are respectable but not my cup of tea. And if you can’t see a common thread between the bombastic, downright maniacal Roger Waters lyrics and the pseudo-spiritual babble of Jim Morrison, you should try looking harder. Let me guess – Maura also hates (or dislikes, to put it in friendlier terms) Genesis, correct? HOW DARE YOU NOT LIKE THE BANDS THAT I LIKE! I am so going to start a thread on Classic Rock Magazine’s forum telling them to stop coming here for the latest analysis of Roger Waters, Phil Collins and other dead or dead for all intents and purposes artists.
Oh, sweet lord. Are you implying that Maura should edit her writers opinion pieces so that they jibe with hers? I’ve never seen the woman in person, but I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t look Jann Wenner editing a Hootie review. Why should I take your opinions on music writing seriously?
Also, are you implying that The Doors, Angels & Airwaves, and Coldplay aren’t overrated?
@extracrispy: I don’t dictate my writers’ taste. And I guess you missed the past few days’ praise of the breeders, santogold, portishead, kraftwerk, and the band that I praised at the end of this post. Or does that not matter since you don’t like those bands? Just checking.
@extracrispy: If you think that’s a burn, you’ve been listening to Roger Waters for too long.
@extracrispy: I’ve been reading this blog for nearly two years and I can only name two artists that Idolator genuinely likes
I fully believe this is as much as you can remember.
I voted for post-Syd era Floyd, but it’s really a “lesser of two” situation for me.
Had you said Erasure, or even closer just a mix of vintage discopop – I’d take that over Waters in a heartbeat. Or ABBA as heard on The JAMs’ “1987.” That’d do nicely.
As far as Idolator goes, this place has been great. As for these – what do the kids call them nowadays – haters? I say balderdash!
@JohnDoe: R. Kelly hasn’t written some of the best R&B of the last 20 years.
@Chris N.:
I guess you just haven’t been paying attention
@KinetiQ: Actually it just occurred to me that I’d probably listen to a loop of “It’s Raining Men” equal to the length of Waters’ set. If anyone wants to set that up, let me know.
Also: when you take dense psychy prog and add hooks and grandiose song writing, you get Peter Gabriel which is just awesome. I just found the “Secret World Live” album again recently and it’s uh… yeah, k, I’ll shut up.
@Maura Johnston: I’m not suggesting you dictate anyone’s tastes. But as the editor, you set the tone. And an “everything sucks” attitude permeates Idolator. I can only assume it was born of the Gawker Media missive to point out at least one negative thing in every post.
As for the bands you mention, I happen to like 4 of the 5. I spent the last hour viewing Portishead clips on YouTube. Your post about Portishead, if I recall, turned into a rant against airplane advertising and didn’t even bother to mention a single track they performed. How was “Machine Gun” live? It looked pretty fierce from the tiny clip I saw. Your post about the Breeders began with a dig at Lilith Fair. Does your opinion of Sarah McLachlan change now that Prince has deemed her cool?
So no, I didn’t bother commenting on those posts.
Portishead? Sucks. Kraftwerk? Sucks. Santogold? Sucks. The band you praised at the end of this post? Sucks. I demand that you stop writing about all these sucky bands immediately, and stick to the two topics we can all love: Jonas Brothers fan fiction and Rick Rolling.
@extracrispy way to change the argument’s parameters midstream. And for someone who’s been reading idolator for so long, you seem to have forgotten why I have a distaste for Lilith fair. It has nothing to do with Sarah and everything to do with the idea of solidifying what a woman in rock can be, I.e. Only a singer.
@extracrispy: Um, I don’t like these bands either: The Doors, Nine Inch Nails (well, lately), Angels & Airwaves, Muse (?!), Coldplay, etc. I think Muse is terrible. I sent the ?! back to you.
@KinetiQ: I loved the Secret World Live tour, AND one time, my band listened to It’s Raining Men on a loop for three hours in the van to stay awake. True story. It stopped sounding like music at all after a while. In fact, I feel like I know the song LESS now.
@JohnDoe: Have too.
My longstanding theory is that white people think R. Kelly must be a genius because he’s so weird.
@extracrispy: Please. Idolator is full of praise. When you attempt to call the site on its “everything sucks” attitude, it’s clear you’re just sore because their own favorites are being criticized. It’s a sign of insecurity.
But hey! Two solutions for you. #1: Turn off the Internet and it all goes away. #2: Start your own website (try GoDaddy or Blogger).
Woah, woah..why would you read a blog for two years if you disagree with 90% of its output? Where else can you read about the KLF and Jonas Brothers fanvids on the same blog? Don’t blame Maura for saying something we all secretly know is true but are too scared to say, it’s 2008 people! (Maura, I even forgive you for missing Modeselektor so you could shine a light on this Roger Waters paradox)
Actually, one of the reasons I like Idolator so much is that it *isn’t* gratuitously snarky (OK, not most of the time) for the sake of generating traffic (in sharp contrast to other Gawker sites — maybe that’s why it was sold?), and Maura and others actually seem to care greatly about the music they write about (whether they’re praising or dissing).
And yes, anything that punctures the pretensions of classic rock dickheads, indie dickheads, and gives some lip service to what’s on the radio, is A-OK in my book. Not that I’m sucking up or anything like that.
@mike a: I do have my own website. We’ve logged 6.1 million pageviews so far today. Great suggestion though. Very helpful. We haven’t tried the “running off your audience” tactic.
@moomintroll: That’s a good question. I guess it’s out of habit and some loyalty to Brian Raftery.
@extracrispy: what, no link?
@extracrispy: yes please link:)
@extracrispy: Yeah, I need a link, too. You must be working really hard to rack up the pageviews posting on io9 all the time.
@extracrispy: Anonymity is such a tired game on the internet. I’d rather just talk shit and face the repercussions.
@extracrispy: If only that were true.
@Dan Gibson: As much as I hate Jann Wenner, I at least believe the man has moved out of his mother’s basement. Extracrispy, on the other hand…
I was really hoping I could start a debate about R. Kelly.
OK – I’ll try again another time.
@extracrispy: You’re really Jann Wenner, aren’t you?
@mike a: Jann Wenner is a science fiction fan from Phoenix?
I’d just like to say that one of my favorite things about Idolator is that after 221 votes, there’s only one ballot separating ABBA from Pink Floyd. Both are important, and totally worthy of critical praise, and yet 80% of ballots cast probably loathe one and love the other.
Shit. I still like the Doors and I’m not getting all bent out of shape about what Idolator thinks. Everyone’s entitled to their guilty pleasures and their tastes, but don’t get all peevy just because people don’t bow down to your particular faves…
well, I was glad that we went to see new stoner rock instead of more old stoner rock. if abba reunited, it would totally rock the 10th anniversary coachella.
No way does RollingStone.com get 6 million page views a day. Unless they have their own kiddy porn cover this month. But I have to hand it to crispy for making the most outrageously false claim I’ve ever seen in this comments sections, then slinking away quietly into the mist from whence he came.
Gosh! Really!!?? ABBA vs Pink Floyd? How… modern.
Gosh! Really!!?? ABBA vs Pink Floyd? How… modern.
@GhostOfDuane: He also has a model girlfriend that lives in Canada.
@Nicolars: He met her at camp. You wouldn’t know her.
@extracrispy: I had no idea I was a part of an “everything sucks” attitude. Man, this changes my perspective on EVERYTHING.
Nice try. I’ll stick with my anonymity, thanks.
Besides, I don’t write about music (any longer) so you wouldn’t be interested anyways.
@extracrispy: wow, how did i know that you would scurry away when asked to back up your “i get SO MANY PAGEVIEWS” claim? and you say *i’m* predictable.
[mirror.servut.us]
You can take my comments as objective criticism or not. But hey, I’m not the one who recently got dumped by my publisher.
@extracrispy: No, you just stopped writing about music mysteriously. Funny, that.
@extracrispy: i don’t take them as ‘objective criticism’ so much as i take them as ‘incessant complaining based on a very selective, overly sensitive memory.’ but, y’know, to each their own.
Zeppelin Ruuuules!!!
@extracrispy: Also: Barenaked Ladies get hated on a lot.
i remember hearing ABBA before he came on as we made our way over to the modeselektor/SMD/chromeo/justice tent and thought how epic it would have been if abba was playing instead of waters
Maura you are a f*cking c*nt who probably likes Sh*tney Sneers. ABBA? Those damn Swedish jackasses were so boring, lame and cheesy. They were a studio creation. I like every era of Pink Floyd equally and I don’t do any drugs. However, their music did suffer on The Final Cut as it was a Roger Waters solo album as David Gilmour and Nick Mason were used sparingly and Rick Wright was absent. ABBA haven’t been relevant since 1979/80. They had a few hits but were not a big deal in the US as opposed to Europe. Thank God us Yanks had rock bands like PF, Rush, Queen, Genesis, The Eagles and Zeppelin hijacking the airwaves on FM rock stations back then. Portishead s*ck b*lls, Sh*tney is a c*nt, Lauryn Hill is a racist piece of sh*t and you are a jackoff!
@FLOYDFANATIC111: wow. nice knowing you, dude.
@GeorgeLang: ABBA, mentioned or compared compared to Pink Floyd is an atroscity! Roger Waters is a fucking inspiration, Abba churned out formulated three minute annoyances that were purchased by utter numb skulls and had no no meaning what so ever. They had no variation and explored nothing musically. It’s a ridiculous idea to even attempt to compare them to Floyd, yes they both have huge fan bases, and im sure between all of those Abba fans out there, they may even scrape together a couple of brain cells.
And also, The Final Cut, although indulgent of Waters is a great album, The Fletcher Memorial Home is one of the greatest songs ever written.