Posts by Ken Double
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Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers, in reply to Dean Papa,
Yes, as a regular reader and knowing Simon's tendency to veer in and out of deadpan I never thought the women-and-music article was anything but a wind-up, however outrageous it may look out of context. In fact the extent of its outrageousness is probably evidence of that. Were it otherwise his wife, a writer herself, would be the first to box his ears believe me.
I didn't agree with his Lorde rant, in fact I think it was an ill informed hatchet job he may come to regret, but what most here do not acknowledge is the considerable value he has as the consummate outsider. He cultivates no connections at all with the music industry. He's just not interested. It may lead him to go proudly, arrogantly off the deep end every now and then, but some of us actually value any opinion unswayed by industry baubles, junkets and - that most insidious of all inducements - access.
Russell is a very principled journalist but even he likes to warm his toes by the fires of the biz on occasion. He has mates. So be it, that's how you get stories. Simon doesn't do that. Look at him less as a critic - he's not a great analyser truth to tell - and more as a musical diarist and passionate fan, and you can see he performs yeoman work. Let's face it, no one else is prepared to make themselves that unpopular.
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Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
The hardest subject in all of pop music ever is the mature, happy marriage. Even Paul McCartney couldn't get that nag out of the gates. It's why Neil Finn drives me fookin' insane. Shit, that's my passport revoked.
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Simon is fun most of the time. He knows his stuff and he's a good provocateur. Unfortunately he does have a tendency to see bad faith when really it's just bad music. He likes to stage a wee show trial which can either be funny or exasperating depending on your feelings about the record in question.
The problem with his Lorde piece is that by insisting the whole thing is a Universal-orchestrated hype/scam/lie, he takes her record away from her. As far as I can tell, her EP is exactly what it appears to be - a record made by a teenager from Devonport reflecting the worldview of a teenager from Devonport. A little callow maybe (duh) but also pretty smart. She had help from a grown up, but so did the Beatles. Myself I think it's a hit and some filler, but that's one more hit than most, so kudos.
I don't get the sexualisation thing at all. I think it's an unfortunate symptom of his fever dream. He'll calm down later.
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Hard News: Game Lorde, in reply to Danielle,
You can have an amen on that every time I hear "Sugar Sugar". Don Kirshner slipped it out under the phony Archies name because The Monkees were entering their snooty period and refused to record it. Revenge is a dish best served on every AM station in America. Good motivations have so little to do with good music, or however Robert Christgau phrased it.
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Hard News: The shaky ground of…, in reply to wasabicube,
Hmmm. I'm disappointed by your lack of a cruel and arbitrary methodology but I'm sure this is just a wrinkle we can iron out later. Tell me more about these pop quizzes with no validity whatsoever.....
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I'm fully inspired by this thrust to streamline business decision making and get it out of the hands of the room meat. I intend to develop my own weapons-grade psychometric booby traps that I can summon to destroy all those who displease me. Once l have purged every Queen-loving, gluten intolerant golf enthusiast from my immediate vicinity there will be nothing to hold me back.
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I was living there at the time too. It was apparent that having crippled the union movement Thatcher was going after the Left's remaining power base in the councils. The poll tax was pure insanity, so egregiously inequitable it boggles the mind that anyone beyond a fox-hunting Tory peer would have given it the time of day. But she wanted to see the utter destruction of socialism, to have that as part of her legacy. It overrode every sensible consideration. That was her mode of governing, increasingly unrestrained as she went on. Just like Muldoon really.
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Hard News: The Public Address 2012 Word…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Possibly legendary, certainly lost. How are ya Mr D?
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The Yanks have been good to us. I enjoyed ROMNEYSIA very much this year but W.O.T.D. has to be the masterful and universal TRUTHINESS.