Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Cream Calendar Paramore's 'Antebellum Charm and Grace'
Posted by Steve Haruch on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 1:13 PM
Today, the new Paramore album, Brand New Eyes, is officially available in its intended quality. MTV has a pretty big crush on this band, and spent some time with them kicking around Franklin, riding bikes, thrifting and generally noting how they don't act like rock stars even though they could. But what really struck me was this statement:
....no other band could've made Brand New Eyes. It's an inherently Southern record, and not in the Skynyrd way. Rather, there is an antebellum charm and grace to it, a refined (and admirable) restraint, even when the guitars are interlocking to the heavens, the backbeat is walloping against the walls, and Williams is singing for the rafters. There's small-town sentiment and big-town ambitions. [Emphasis added.]
Not in the Skynyrd way? Fine. But "antebellum charm and grace"?
Never mind for a moment how problematic the phrase "antebellum charm and grace" is, because that's a whole other jar of chow-chow. Let's focus (for once, I know!) on the music. Now, I don't think a band has to sound like Skynyrd* to be Southern, I'm all for expanding the whole notion of "Southern" and I don't think anyone should be pigeonholed as having to be this or that because they're from the South. But I'm just not sure how "Paramore" and "antebellum charm" got into the same thought.
If you haven't already, watch the video for Paramore's song "Ignorance," then tell me how "inherently Southern" it is, on any level. Maybe I'm just missing something. There are times when we music writers confuse the music we're talking about with the people who make it--and the better the performer, the easier it is to make that mistake. So maybe that's what happened here.
* Nearly 100% of all people (in my very informal email/Twitter research), when asked "When I say 'Southern Rock,' you say...." responded with some variation of "Skynyrd," "Fuckin' Skynyrd!" or "FREEEEE BIRRRRD!!!"
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Comments (23)
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I think it's all the Stephen Foster covers on the new record. But I'm just guessing.
Sounds like some shitty journo's were seriously reaching while trying to find a new way to describe mall rock.
There are times when we music writers confuse the music we're talking about with the people who make it--and the better the performer, the easier it is to make that mistake. So maybe that's what happened here.
I'd say that's exactly what happened.
That's like saying Al Roker is an inherently black weatherman. Technically true, but totally unrelated to the context.
Maybe the journo is trying to re-define what "Southern" rock is. I don't know what "antebellum charm and grace" means, seems like he could have been equally served by saying "charm and grace." Charm and grace didn't disappear from these parts after Appomattox.
Anyway, if this guy's definition of Southern-ism is "charm and grace" and "restraint" and "walloping backbeats" and a big voice, then, to him, this record is Southern. Those are all traits that people have attributed to Southerners.
What it means is that MTV's got its tongue all up in their arseholes, and they employ writers who don't know what the fuck they are talking about. Shock!
Being southern by birth, I've suffered all kinds of indignities at the hands of the media. So, on the plus side, at least the article doesn't namecheck any of the usual stereotypes...
'Murmur' by REM is loaded with antebellum charm and grace. I always thought that record sounded particularly southern without a hint of "southern rock"
Having listened to this record via the interwebs, I can say it's not really charming or graceful.
Depending on where you are in the South, playing this record in public could get you a swift punch in the pie hole.
Anyone writing about someone from the south (and the writer isn't from here), and likes whoever they are writing about, automatically attaches '....charm and grace' - the fools have no idea what it really means, how it should be applied, or how stupid they sound writing it.
ignorance is currently number one AND number two on iTunes charts. eat shit creamers.
I think we've firmly established that the leading demographic of music purchases is 12 year old girls. Being atop the charts these days puts you in the company of kidz bop. I'm sure P-more is laughing all the way to the bank but let's not fool ourselves into thinking anything culturally relevant is happening here.
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