Comments on: “Blender”: A Look Back

By: evo-forum

evo-forum — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:58:05 +0000

The major recession that began in 2008 has had a profound effect on the auto industry, and even insurance companies have paid a heavy price for the downturn. While legitimate insurance claims have shrunken a bit since fewer jobs mean fewer motorists on the road, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) claims that fraudulent claims from staged accidents jumped 46 percent from 2007 to 2009.

By: Juancho

Juancho — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:53:43 +0000

I'm going to miss this magazine quite a bit.

I remember the first time I saw it back in '02, not only was it a cousin of Maxim that seemed to be of quality, at the time they had a pretty decent new book reviews section!

I have to agree with Chris, I had a comp subscription and it was one of the few magazines that was always worth reading. In fact, I may have paid for it if I needed to.(The same could not be said of Spin, on both counts.)

And even if you weren't a fan of scantily clad pop or movie stars, at least the photography was top-notch.

By: natepatrin

natepatrin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:16:46 +0000

@Cam/ron: Wow, somewhere along the line Rollins turned into Gene Simmons.

By: Chris N.

Chris N. — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:10:27 +0000

@ Chris Willman: At CW I make do with 105. Although to be honest sometimes it’s difficult to think of even that much to say about some records.

By: Rock You Like An Iracane

Rock You Like An Iracane — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:08:18 +0000

@saturn: The exception was that "500 Songs" list, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I never subscribed to Blender (well, until just this year, when I got a free subscription) but I bought a few issues (like that one) on newsstands, and read the blog.

Despite tipping towards typically overblown reviews in its later years (Coldplay's X&Y earned five stars, for example), Blender did pop culture and music with a sort of earnest hipster vibe; sure, Arcade Fire are cool and all, Blender said, but so is Lil Wayne. So are Clipse. So are these indie bands that we enjoy.

I once told some friends that if I were ever a writer for a music magazine, I wanted it to be Blender. Now I won't get that opportunity, and, though my feelings aren't as strong as they were when I first thought that, it makes me a little dusty.

By: Weezy F Baby

Weezy F Baby — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:01:19 +0000

still the only major magazine that’s given me any work. they sent checks out quickly, they paid well, and everyone i encountered there was super nice. RIP.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:05:00 +0000

I was pretty ambivalent about Blender – seemed like a watered-down version of Q, in some respects – but it wasn’t awful, by any means. Sure, a lot of their lists were of a questionable quality (as such things tend to be), but every once in a while they’d really nail it. And I also appreciated their efforts to cover the lesser known acts, even with Kanye or Ashley Simpson on the cover. The ‘Download This’ section was pretty solid in the early days, too.

One thing I’ll always remember and respect them for – they gave Tom Vek 4 stars.

By: Cam/ron

Cam/ron — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:00:14 +0000

Don't forget the online cartoon of Henry Rollins bragging about his money and sexual experience while trashing Blender for listing him as one of rock's worst songwriters.

[www.blender.com]

By: saturn

saturn — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:55:24 +0000

@Dan Gibson: This reminds me of something else I liked about Blender. most of the time, they published their top X lists in descending order, to that you'd have to read the whole article to get to number 1. So many magazines start with 1, which takes all the fun out of it.

By: Chris Molanphy

Chris Molanphy — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:26:17 +0000

@Dan Gibson: Thank you for covering me on that! I've been mostly offline since posting my comment and missed the requests for the list.

@Poubelle: It's a blast to play start-to-finish, and it's actually a carefully curated list -- you can quibble with lots of the individual choices but not the totality of it. (There are songs I like better by the Cars and the Cure, among others.)

What really makes it work is its small-C catholic definition of what "new wave" is. The Blender guys understand how that term morphed to absorb all manner of post-punk mini-genres, from "stylistically wandering punk" to "economical guitar rock" to "minimalist synth-pop." And it manages to throw in post-2000 songs that don't feel like pandering at all. Seriously, I play this thing every other month or so.