Friday, February 12, 2010
Cream / Whatevs Falling Out of Love With Music: Where Did the Awesome Go? Sadface.
Posted by Steve Haruch on Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 12:49 PM
To preface: I am 100 percent ripping off the idea for this post from The Onion's A.V. Club. That said, since we've been talking about love -- or at least being a dude-face -- a little bit around here, let's talk about falling out of love. Not with a person, but with music. Just as we have all inevitably looked at someone we once cherished (read: liked sleeping with) and suddenly wanted to pelt them with ice, we have all listened to an album or a band we once thought was awesome and wondered where all the awesome went. I was going to say Bad Brains, but I'm still holding out hope that I was just in a weird mood the last time I tried listening to I Against I. Surely the magic isn't really gone ... ?
After the jump, Team Cream weighs in on stuff it was far worse to have ever loved at all.
Steve Haruch
The first time I heard There's Nothing Wrong With Love, Built to Spill became my new favorite band instantly. It took me a while to get into Perfect From Now On, but I got way into it. Then I saw the band tour behind that album and was subjected to a 40-minute set-closing "song" for which the term "noodling" is both too kind and not nearly evocative of how long and boring that shit was (i.e. it doesn't take 40 minutes to suck down a noodle). I was back in love for Keep It Like a Secret -- an album I was primed for by hearing an early version of "Carry the Zero" at a show -- but in retrospect that was like the makeup sex you have that's 1,000 times hotter because you know you're going to hate each other again in a week.
Tracy Moore
Helium. In the mid-'90s, a band that can boast witchy lyrics, seductively throaty female vocals and a guitarist from Polvo on bass is pretty much a supercool find for any college chick with dyed red hair who smokes cigarettes and fancies herself some kind of complicated femme fatale. Post-'90s? Songs about witches, cheesy faux-naughty come-ons and grungy reverb reek of way too many pitchers at the Boro + cringe-inducingly bad personal choices.
The Cure. When you're 13, holing up in your bedroom and listening to the grandiose swells and syrupy bleak outlook of their mid-'80s to early-'90s oeuvre is like dialing 911 for your solipsism, ennui and existential grief. When you're 33, it has pretty guitar parts and an embarrassingly maudlin stunted immaturity. Seeing a bloated Robert Smith in the same getup 15 years later on the Curiosa tour definitely helps rip off the bandage. (Exception made for late-'70s era post-punk Cure and various '80s pop gems, which remain cool to this day.)
Ashley Spurgeon
One day, when I was in 8th grade, I stayed home sick from school. My small-ass town had just gotten MTV on cable, and I saw the video for "Today." Oh my god, count me in. Up until that point, the only music I'd listened to was stuff my mom liked, or Hanson. Smashing Pumpkins was the first band that was mine, and I was obsessed. I mean box-set buying, lyrics-as-yearbook-quotes writing, thinking-we-could-be-friends fantasizing hooked. I've never told anyone this, but I even taped an episode of Politically Incorrect where Billy Corgan was a panelist. (Sidebar: I was the only 14-year-old I knew with a crush on Bill Maher. I've always been gross.) Then, you know, life happened. Next thing you know I was in college, and exposure to infinitely better music made me realize that maybe cliché melodrama wasn't exactly the pinnacle of pop music achievement. ("Where is your heart? / Where is your heart gone to? / Tear me apart / Tear me apart from you." [LOL, no.]) I still think Siamese Dream has some very good rock songs, and I hope I never stop loving "1979," but by and large, when I think back on my utter devotion or see photos of Corgan gallivanting around like some kind of overgrown sad salamander, I can't help but cringe.
Sean L. Maloney
Sub Pop Records. Nirvana's Nevermind came out about three weeks after my 12th birthday and was a pretty epic revelation. That little Sub Pop logo on the back of the CD was like a gateway into awesomeness. For about 10 years I bought anything and everything with that little black and white rectangle on it - Friends of Dean Martinez, Best Kissers in the World, Six Finger Satellite, Tad, Love Battery, whatever. Fuck, I even have that first Chixdiggit record sitting around somewhere. And then one day it just stopped -- my love affair had evaporated. I blame The Shins and the label's shift toward soft-rock and indie-lite (the scourge of this century, honestly). What had once been an exciting, envelope-pushing label had started putting out MOR crap tailor made for Grey's Anatomy and my mom's CD collection. (Truth be told, though, my mom loved the Velocity Girl records back in the day.) And while I'll admit that I appreciate some of their reissues and that they occasionally put out something worth stealing off Mediafire, I just can't muster the energy or the money to support my formerly favorite label anymore. Kinda sad, really.
D. Patrick Rodgers
Much to the chagrin of my fellow "sad grampas," I'd have to say Wilco don't mean to me what they once did. Sure, I can absolutely still get behind most of the songs on Yankee Hotel and Summerteeth, but, these days, the rest of their catalog bores me -- as I imagine it does with nine out of 10 rock 'n' roll listeners. I thought YHF was the best thing I'd ever heard when I was 19. There was something about the way Wilco honed in on their sound with Summerteeth and then completely deconstructed it on the following record that really impressed me. It was like, "Wow, these guys will never stop exploring their own potential." And then, you know, they kind of stopped exploring their own potential, and their back catalog, as it turns out, wasn't enough to keep me enthralled for all eternity. Nowadays, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would probably land in my Top 50 ... probably. By the time I'm actually a sad grampa, I might not even like it anymore. I'm the Benjamin Button of Wilco fans.
Adam Gold
Ten years ago, if you had asked me to name my all-time top 10, I probably would have included The Police without hesitation. Don't get me wrong: I grew up on their bourgeois white reggae, and the band still holds a special place in my heart. So much so that I saw them TWICE on their overpriced cash-grab of a reunion tour, on which they inexplicably played to a click. I still think tracks like "Man in a Suitcase," "Synchronicity II," "Message in a Bottle," "So Lonely," "Truth Hits Everybody," and "The Bed's Too Big Without You" are fantastic, but let's face it: The Police are far too inconsistent, hence they are banished from my top list of top rated artists.
Even their great albums aren't really great. They're a total "song band" -- they definitely knew how to pick the right singles, but they also have some of the worst filler ever committed to wax. "Masoko Tanga," "Does Everybody Stare," "Shadows in the Rain" and "Omega Man" are simply too bad to have been made by a legendary band in their prime, and the Andy Summers-penned "Mother" can only be seen as a "fuck you" to Sting. Even their first three albums (the good ones) are weighed down by throwaway moments, Synchronicity -- the pop juggernaut -- is only worthwhile for the singles, and Ghost in the Machine, with its dated production and confused attempts at sounding progressive, is just awful -- except for the three hits that lead off the record. Then there's the lyrics. For every jaw-dropping Stewart Copeland lick, there is a hackneyed Sting lyric there to stupefy you. Need an example? "Hey Mr. Dinosaur / You really couldn't ask for more / You were God's favorite creature / But you didn't have a future." I rest my case.
Seth Graves
I was a massive Chili Peppers fan from middle school on up until I decided they sold out when I was no longer the only kid in school sporting their T-shirts. But this isn't the love for which I speak of. At some point in the late '90s, I discovered guitarist John Frusciante's (then-only) two solo records and that shit resonated all to hell with me. Frusciante was always my favorite member, and (still is) my all-time favorite guitarist, and now I'd happened upon his heroin-fueled lo-fi home recordings at a time when I myself was obsessed with making drug-fueled lo-fi home recordings. At my live shows, I mimicked his chords and off-key caterwauling. I posted regularly on an online forum. I traded bootleg tapes and videos online, read every interview available, and soaked as much of him in as I could until I really started to become quite a douche. Frusciante had this whole shtick, even before he kicked heroin, about how art was his only purpose in life. He didn't concern himself with news, cars (he still doesn't have a driver's license) or television, but rather immersed himself entirely in creativity, which allowed him a heightened sense of perception regarding beauty and his ability to be inspired by it. I ran with this. I'd be drunk at college parties rambling about how I'd closed my eyes to the ugliness of the world, and that even the coffee table I was standing on was inspiring me. I called art my religion and said a lot of really embarrassing things in support of this. Fortunately, by the time J.F. released his fourth record, this phase had mostly passed with the help of a girlfriend and blossoming social life. He then released four or five more records all in the following year and I became increasingly uninterested by each. I had no clue his 2009 album existed until I read of it on a list of the year's worst albums. And while I may still spin one or two of his records once a year, I've got some bootleg VHS tapes for sale if anybody wants 'em.
Comments (96)
Showing 1-50 of 96
Nashmellow
August of 2002 a group of four close friends decided to start sharing their stories and experiences with one another on a private online forum entitled: Nash-Gig Last Night.
Over the next few months more Nashville indie musicians began to join the invitation only bulletin board posting all the crazy stories about the live shows they were playing around Nashville in various bands. Horrible house sound systems, drunk doormen and extremely obnoxious club owners were only a few topics of interest among the posts, not to mention the so-called best bands in Nashville.
Somewhere around 2005 the locally well known publication Nashville Scene introduced a new group of inner website blogs including the now infamous Nashville Cream. Or as original members of Nash-Gig Last Night friendly refers to them as The Hipster Gazette.
After much secrecy in keeping a lid on the underground local grassroots forum just shy of eight years, the Nash-Gig Last Night crew are ripping back the curtain, turning up their blogging amps and about to melt some eyeballs up in this Creamy Scene!
http://bit.ly/c3a0bu
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Nashmellow
August of 2002 a group of four close friends decided to start sharing their stories and experiences with one another on a private online forum entitled: Nash-Gig Last Night.
Over the next few months more Nashville indie musicians began to join the invitation only bulletin board posting all the crazy stories about the live shows they were playing around Nashville in various bands. Horrible house sound systems, drunk doormen and extremely obnoxious club owners were only a few topics of interest among the posts, not to mention the so-called best bands in Nashville.
Somewhere around 2005 the locally well known publication Nashville Scene introduced a new group of inner website blogs including the now infamous Nashville Cream. Or as original members of Nash-Gig Last Night friendly refers to them as The Hipster Gazette.
After much secrecy in keeping a lid on the underground local grassroots forum just shy of eight years, the Nash-Gig Last Night crew are ripping back the curtain, turning up their blogging amps and about to melt some eyeballs up in this Creamy Scene!
http://bit.ly/c3a0bu
Nashmellow
August of 2002 a group of four close friends decided to start sharing their stories and experiences with one another on a private online forum entitled: Nash-Gig Last Night.
Over the next few months more Nashville indie musicians began to join the invitation only bulletin board posting all the crazy stories about the live shows they were playing around Nashville in various bands. Horrible house sound systems, drunk doormen and extremely obnoxious club owners were only a few topics of interest among the posts, not to mention the so-called best bands in Nashville.
Somewhere around 2005 the locally well known publication Nashville Scene introduced a new group of inner website blogs including the now infamous Nashville Cream. Or as original members of Nash-Gig Last Night friendly refers to them as The Hipster Gazette.
After much secrecy in keeping a lid on the underground local grassroots forum just shy of eight years, the Nash-Gig Last Night crew are ripping back the curtain, turning up their blogging amps and about to melt some eyeballs up in this Creamy Scene!
http://bit.ly/c3a0bu
Nashmellow
August of 2002 a group of four close friends decided to start sharing their stories and experiences with one another on a private online forum entitled: Nash-Gig Last Night.
Over the next few months more Nashville indie musicians began to join the invitation only bulletin board posting all the crazy stories about the live shows they were playing around Nashville in various bands. Horrible house sound systems, drunk doormen and extremely obnoxious club owners were only a few topics of interest among the posts, not to mention the so-called best bands in Nashville.
Somewhere around 2005 the locally well known publication Nashville Scene introduced a new group of inner website blogs including the now infamous Nashville Cream. Or as original members of Nash-Gig Last Night friendly refers to them as The Hipster Gazette.
After much secrecy in keeping a lid on the underground local grassroots forum just shy of eight years, the Nash-Gig Last Night crew are ripping back the curtain, turning up their blogging amps and about to melt some eyeballs up in this Creamy Scene!
http://bit.ly/c3a0bu
Just checked out Nashmellow, and it's pretty embarrassing. Impenetrable writing, grammatical errors a-plenty ... they try to shit on the Cream for "tired" topics like Missed Connections posts, but their topics include "Opinion Poll: Best Club in Nashville" and "Do You Give It Up on Every Date?" Ha!
There isn't a shred of critical analysis or originality on the entire thing. They don't even talk about any bands. The whole site appears to be predicated on insulting this "Hipster Gazett" (are you spelling "gazette" wrong on purpose?) or perhaps creating a rivalry, but in doing so, they forgot that people aren't going to read it if you're not fucking saying anything. That's some boring, non-Internet-savvy, critically flaccid shit right there. Enjoy your grand total of 0 comments. Your writing makes you guys seem old.
Does Everbody Stare > Born In The '50s
I renounce: The Promise Ring, Shellac, Pennywise, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Basically bands beginning with P or S. Fuck them.
P.S.
Pulley
Bad Brains: Still love em. Even liked the new record.
I guess for me it would have to be Tool. Undertow was the early teenage beacon of hope that got my attention. Metallica had begin to suck after Master Of Puppets and I LOVED the video. Then Aenima and puberty hit and all hell broke lose. We used to cruise around east NC blasting that shit, FEELING the angst and TRANSFORMING our inner auras (or some shit) into whatever it was Maynard was hollering about. '46 and 2' was about, like DNA or something and the bassline was epic. Then Lateralus and hallucinagens appeared at the same time and I spent a good year spiraling out. A fond lack-of-memory that is. I was never a 'metal' person, don't let the long black hair fool ya, but there was a certain arty element to their music, and even though Danny Carey plays the fuck outta the tubs, they seemed unconcerned with the oneupmanship that often accompanies that kind of music. Saw em live a few times, loved it, etc etc...
Then got a little older, fell in love with jazz, reggae, dub, weirder but mostly happier kind of stuff, got a good job and stopped doing drugs. Recently came across the old Toolsters and it just wasn't the same. I instantly got flashes of Puddle Of Mudd fans. I no longer think the whole worlds a spiral dream or whatever the hell they're talking about, and I'm just not bothered enough with life to listen to that shit anymore. Goodbye old friend.
I fell out of love with Dumb and Dumber. Otherwise, I still have the musical tastes of a 14 year old.
@Matt S. Dude, that soundtrack is awesome1 Freedy Johnston AND Primitive Radio Gods, how can you not love it?
Wow, I couldn't imagine holding such a grudge against a blog that I feel the need to start my own blog and troll the blog I'm grudging upon. Seems like a gaggle of clown shoes to me. If it were me, I just wouldn't read Le' Cream. Or I would just make my blog decent.
I love how people think the Cream is like some "hipster" site. Being a hipster in Nashville is like going to community college -- those credits don't transfer outside of here.
Ima hafta take the side of the Hipster Gazzet on this one: advertising on every post about your anti-blog on said blog? Posting your grammatically suspect teaser 4 times? They like a lot of stupid shit on this site but they take the abuse on the chin. And besides, Nashvillerock already did it, and did it well.
Tracy and Co.: the 20's dude thing was hilarious. When I saw the post I had my doubts but that shit was priceless. Forget music journalism, do stand-up.
You guys are way respectable with your "fell out of love with" stories. I'd be talking about the day I stopped caring about Pat McGee Band, or the night I realized seeing Barenaked Ladies wasn't worth getting showered with the powder from a Kraft Dinner cheese packet.
I don't get what you mean about the powdered cheese. Is that a Rocky Horror-type thing that happens?
Yup, it's in "If I had $1,000,000." "We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner" = dry cheese shower.
My greatest 'falling out' was also with Smashing Pumpkins. It culminated with a sold out show at the Target Center in Minneapolis. As I watched tiny pleather covered figures soullessly plug their way through bloated anthem after bloated anthem I realized:
1) I was bored
and
2) I had wasted $40 on something I could no longer relate to.
Shortly thereafter I:
1) burned, crushed or destroyed my entire Grunge/Alt rock collection and
and
2) bought my first Fugazi, Archers of Loaf and Built to Spill albums.
@Janet: The Internet really doesn't want to hear my story about liking Bryan Adams as a kid. Trust. Get me drunk some time and I'll tell you about the time I lip-synced "Heaven" in front of a girl I liked.
Woops. Sorry, Internet!
@tracy
" Being a hipster in Nashville is like going to community college -- those credits don't transfer outside of here."
haha. thank you. i've been giving that explanation in a much wordier form, but never knew how quite how to articularte it until now.
"Burned, crushed, or destroyed?" Are you sure you don't still relate?
He had just gotten into Fugazi, so it was in odd time signatures.
@Ashley
WATS THAT? I CANT HEAR YA. LISTENING TO STARLA. ITLL BE DONE IN 10MINUTES.
I can't wait until 10 years from now and newer, faster, younger bloggers (evil robot us') say, like, Ben Gibbard.
Hey Ashley, I bought and enjoyed Death Cab's Photo Album when I was 16. I used to like Zooey Deschanel a lot, too.
Now? Totally over those fools/mildly embarrassed by my former fixations.
No one should love Soundgarden as much as I loved Soundgarden. I really, really loved Soundgarden.
'Your Pussy's Glued To A Building on Fire' by John Frusciante is easily one of the greatest song titles of all music. ever.
I like it here. Let's never Nashmellow again.
I can't type 'Nashmellow' without backspacing the 'v'.
'Nash' can only live with 'v' or 'b' after it.
I need to know when Jemina Pearl is on camera, because that Dirty Laundry vid was better than going to the zoo. Nashvmellow wants to take that away?
What is with the hipster as a threat? It's like hating dinner for being too much food. I like that there are people who can't decide what not to buy and are simply covered in things they like and may soon discard for not liking them. No real consequence there...
nashmellow=total snorefest.
if youre gonna attack something as fun to read as the cream, you should at least make sure you have something to read.
i remember the day i fell out of love with smashing pumpkins... now if i could only trade someone all my billy corgan posters for a six pack.
I was gonna contribute one, but seeing as how I'm currently in scenic Hammond, Louisiana and didn't have access to a computer when the call was made, I'll have to comment this sucker.
Jello Biafra. When you're a teenager, you don't know anything. Arguably, especially if you read Tracy's piece about how us twenty-something dudes are idiots, I don't know anything now but that's beside the point. I know as a teenager, I was easily swayed by the allure of punk and the political leanings that go along with it. I saw Jello Biafra speak at Mercy Lounge sometime in 2003 and I was so into it that I later bought books by Howard Zinn and some of his spoken word CDs. There’s something about easily grasped Orwellian political theory that made me feel like I knew a thing or two (I totally didn’t, FYI). But now, I can’t listen to those CDs, not just because they’re so outdated, but because they don’t make a hell of a lot of sense any more. At the time, I appreciated his candor but now I just find it unsubstantial. Little Hamilton’s zine room is a great example of something I could get down with when I was 16, but now find exhausting. It’s thick with good intentions, but the “celebrate people’s history” posters and anarchist politics do nothing for me now. I saw Jello speak just a couple years ago and I felt nothing. Ok, I laughed when he mocked Vandy’s newspaper, but the rest of it felt tired and without any real meaning to them. Sorry Jello, but unless you’re talking about Joey Ramone or singing Dead Kennedys songs, I don’t have the energy to consume your politics anymore.
Very fun indeed kids! Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at nashmellow!
"not to creamy, just about write"
I hear ya, man. After festooning my high school room with DK shit, I wound up giving all my Dead Kennedys CD's to one of my friends in college because they were just too draining to even have around. Jello's cool when you're young and need to know which direction to shake your fist, but that stuff sours pretty fast. Plus, it was kind of weird to be young and pissed off at Ronald Reagan and Oliver North in 1999.
Speaking of youthful messianic fervor and old 80's East Bay shit, Crimpshrine is one band from my teen years that I no longer love, but still can't quite shake. I mean, they were embarrassingly idealistic/clueless, but when I was 15 they were like Walt fucking Whitman to me. They'll pop up on Shuffle all abrasive and throat-yelling but totally pure-hearted and optimistic, and it's like Lenny is tapping me on the shoulder saying "Tell me about the chickens, George." I'm sorry, Lenny. We can't live in an abandoned school bus in Oakland with all of our awesome punk friends. The dream has died, dude.
Future kitch. Its a real hang.
Dammit, if I have to remember that I studied "the joshua tree" more than the bible with my church-praise-band cohorts, I might quit playing music. I still tell myself that one day I'll go back to it and it won't instantly make me gag. Fuck you, bono. Sorry, gold. Its the truth.
Let's not even mention a certain san fran band that's name is a referance to the 6th chakra. I wish I would have known about eastern religion and not the afforementioned band.they suck hard. Real hard.
Speaking of future kitch...date night with "body heat" saturday @ 3 brothers. 8-midnight.
"I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend!" Dude, we all had 3EB's s/t. Who are we kidding, mr. jimmy? I know that's right.
But don't get me started on the bible jams I was pumpin' back in the day.
Gawd, why people gotta be hating on Jello? First of all, the DK albums definitely stand up as great punk/rock and roll records. Secondly, as a comedian/(admittedly juvenile) agitator, he's a fantastic orator and political/cultural loon. Sure he's still pissed in a way that most of us are too embarrassed to be anymore, but it's really nice to see a genuine weirdo and life-long champ of the losers and the confused to keep his head up. HR's nuts, Rollins is Ellen, Dave Nasty is Sarah Palin, and JB is still the serious-minded, light-hearted "elderly" guy releasing weird hardcore records that won't sell and doing punky metal records with the Melvins. Geez, his voice is annoying, but it's hard to hate on a guy like that.
I'll definitely still spin DK records, but the political theater of Jello Biafra spoken word gig wore me down. I just don't think that I relate to it anymore. If I'm going to listen to an aging punk icon yammer for a couple of hours, I'll always go with Henry Rollins (unless he's reading poetry), just because that dude can spin a yarn like no other. I appreciate his ability to tell a story, whereas Jello just kinda soapboxes it up. I think what bugged me most about that second Biafra gig was that he was saying a lot of the things he had already recorded on CD 5-10 years ago. It felt so outdated, even if some of it still held up somewhat that night.
@Mr. Jimmy. Joshua Tree is timeless.
@D.Piddy. Speak for yourself on 3EB. At my high school we used to beat kids up for owning that record.
Also, wasn't Stephen Jenkins just the worst singer ever? Dude sounded like a deaf kid charitably allowed on Star Search. I bet all the people who thought twice about suicide after hearing "Jumper" are dead now.
- MR - i just read this about hipsters recently. thought you might be interested in this quote. later cream.
"An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the "hipster" – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society. " - Adbusters
The irony here is that only hipster douchebags read Adbusters. Howard Zinn is dead, buddy, the bums lost. Get over yourself.
This post is very cathartic. I feel like I just exorcized a deamon or four.
@d.pat I just taught a little girl how to play "lord I lift your name on high". I DO have alterior motives for doing so....teaching basic chord structures...but fuck me, that shit will sneak up and bite your ass.
While we are talking about awesome shit, I just got michael w. Smith's "go west young man on tape". Get on the love crusade! That is kitchy.
@gold. Yes. I keep saying that to myslef.
oh right. ONLY hipster douchebags read that magazine. totally right.
but then i wonder, what's the point of even saying that? i mean, if i write an article on classic sports figures disappearing from our generation of players, wouldn't it get published in sports illustrated? and wouldn't that maybe persuade and mold the players now and the players to come? i think you should take off your fake glasses and read the article yourself Bawston Sean. there is a bit too much truth in there. we come from a group of people who stand for practically nothing. nothing but imitating. and nobody really stands for anything. but you know what, maybe i'm wrong, maybe i should give (nashville scene's proclaimed top act to watch this year) Diarrhea Planet a closer look. maybe i'm wrong.
what went wrong? ohhhh ill tell ya, greed. sounds dumb, i know. but when the best bands in the world switch it up (it being their sound for a cleaner more radio friendly pop!)for $$$ bling bling, shit goes sour. like leavin yo cream cheese out in backyard for dayz.dayz.
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