everybody’s doing it
So I’ve been thinking for a while now — ever since the Sony drop, really — about adding a new ‘feature type’ to our roster of features (‘About the Album,’ ‘Who Is…,’ ‘Six Degrees,’ etc) that would be called ‘In Defense Of…’ Pretty much all of us in editorial genuinely like at least one straight-up Top 40 pop record, and some of us like more than one (I rep very hard for the last two Fall Out Boy records, the last Panic at the Disco record, anything My Chemical Romance, and assorted other pop artists).
I haven’t done this yet for a few reasons. First, I was afraid people would think we were being ‘ironic,’ and nothing makes my teeth ache more than smug irony about pop music. Secondly, and I’m speaking completely candidly here, I was worried people would think we were shilling. Which is closely connected to the first thought, actually — the idea that there is no way someone could seriously like, say, the Cassie record, and so there must have been some kind of weird deal that resulted in a feature on it.
But I can’t get away from the fact that I often find it very interesting to read writing on music that I may not especially like — or to read someone pointing out the merits of something I may have just dismissed out of hand. I (unfortunately) haven’t read it yet, but the premise of Carl Wilson’s lauded book on Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love is that millions of people love this record, so there’s got to be something about it that’s attractive to them. Sean recently listened to the Susan Boyle record for the same reason: when something is culturally massive, and you’re at least passively interested in culture, it’s hard to just dismiss it out of hand.
But it’s a balancing act, and our heartbeat has always been, above all else, exposing the unexposed and underexposed, and that is exactly how we’re planning to stay (to wit: I’m writing this while listening to the new Caribou, and the new Rotting Christ album soundtracked my morning commute). But still, I can’t help but toy with the idea of courting interesting writing on popular records from time to time, because I still find it fascinating from an intellectual/cultural standpoint.
I dunno — feedback? Thoughts? Would just love to talk about this for a while.
The reason I’m thinking of this: Todd Burns recently submitted a review of Jewel’s 0304 at my behest that got me thinking about the topic all over again. And since I’m never gonna feature this as Review of the Day, I thought I’d share it here, and maybe open the topic up to larger discussion: are you guys interested in reading writing, in any context, on records you may not necessarily like or be interested in?
Also, consider this a warning: sometime in the very near future you’re gonna be subjected to a very long blog post by me about why Panic at the Disco’s Pretty Odd is the best Kinks record of the last 10 years.
Jewel
0304
(Atlantic)
I can’t help but have a soft spot in my heart for Jewel. She helped get me a job. After an interview at eMusic, editor J. Edward Keyes mentioned that he needed to go review a show of hers in Long Island. I mentioned that I loved her work, and after the show I spent the long ride home back to Brooklyn trying to convince him of her relative worth. He wasn’t convinced, but I think he realized he could — at the very least — tolerate having me around eight hours a day in an office. As long as I kept my mouth shut about Jewel. I can’t blame him. Most people don’t want to hear about what makes Jewel great — especially people who take music “seriously.” She fancies herself a poet. Her music is resolutely lightweight so as to allow more room for said poetry. And her dyed-in-the-wool fans? Let’s just say that they don’t often go by “J. Edward” or “Todd L.,” and leave it at that.
0304, Jewel’s fifth full-length, is the easiest album in her discography to hate. At the time of its release, I obliged. Billed as the Alaskan-born singer-songwriter’s dance-pop record, it was a marked sonic shift from her previously acoustic-heavy outings. Working in collaboration with ill-fated-urban-update-producer-to-the-stars Lester Mendez, Jewel offered up the laughable idea that, in the run-up to the Iraq War, people were looking for music that was going to make them feel happy. That 0304 had a direct lineage from big band records from the World War II era. That people that listen to Jewel would “want to crowd into a room and press up against someone and feel young and sexy,” as she put it in an interview with Elton John’s legendary songwriting partner Bernie Taupin at the time.
As time has proven, like Elton John, Jewel is a songwriter. (Not a folk artist as so many had thought due to the enormous success of her debut album.) And when viewed through that prism, 0304 works about as well as any other album in her catalogue. There are some gems: “Intuition” deservedly soundtracked a commercial and sounded just as phenomenal that fateful night in Long Island sans dance beats, “Doin’ Fine” finds room to inject poetry into sugary pop and “Haunted” is a monstrous anthem that finds Jewel unleashing a banshee wail. There are some stinkers: “Sweet Temptation”’s toytronic production gets in the way of its clumsy phrasing, “America” is a song that can only be loved by fans of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and “U&Me=Love” is marred by Jewel’s hit-and-miss habit of inserting pop culture references into the mix. (Old Spice? Really?) Quite simply, some of this hasn’t aged well.
On the other hand, she did get me a job. So I guess I shouldn’t complain that much. Thanks, Jewel.
Sincerely, Todd L. Burns.
The sell-out begins: Beyonce – B’Day
let’s talk about it:
http://www.emusic.com/album/Dixie-Chicks-Taking-The-Long-Way-MP3-Download/11481108.html
let’s fucking talk about it!
http://www.emusic.com/album/Ciara-Goodies-MP3-Download/11479533.html
It’s Britney, bitch!
Joe, I’m torn, and I think it is the same issue you describe dealing with. On the one hand, some of the eMu/17dots editorial stuff that I enjoy the most is the stuff outside of my usual listening realm. On the other hand, the reason I’m here is because I like to learn about things I don’t see everywhere else, and I can find reviews of Jewel albums all over the place.
I guess my concern is that the effort to view a Susan Boyle or Celine Dion in a different light will use up resources that I’d rather see go to “indie” (for lack of a better term) stuff. Even the time spent listening to Top 40 albums for a review is time not spent listening to a Caribou, and even with the best intentions will necessarily cause a band I’d want you to tell me about to slip through the cracks.
To put it plainly, even though I might be interested in your views on Fall Out Boy, I’m more interested in not missing your views on Nneka, so I’d be against what you propose.
Craig
Yes you can find reviews of Jewel albums all over the place, but for me a review is useful when I know a little about the reviewer. Based on what you know about the reviewer tastes, you could say that a review is useful or not.
For example let’s say you found two reviews of a new Camera Obscura album, will you have more trust in the review of someone who listens mainly metal/hard rock music or in someone who is a fan of indie-pop/twee-pop? The answer is not always the most logical (ie indie-pop fan) because if you’re in hard rock you have a higher chance to have the same opinion than the metal fan.
For me this kind of review/article is good because it lets me know more about the taste of an emusic reviewer and will help me check eventually this album if I didn’t knew about it or his other reviews if I liked this album.
For example if Yancey has said something good about this Jewel’s album, it’s pretty sure that I would have avoided it, but if it was Anna, I would have checked it.
I say go for it, I love to read about things I don’t know. There’s two reasons I think I like this:
1. Writers tend to try a little harder with something that they’re slightly embarassed about – they’re selling, they’re trying to convince me, they’re a little bit defensive, and that makes for more interesting reading. Case in point; while I skim through 99% of the reviews I read, I read all of Todd L.’s Jewel review.
2. I can pretty much chart my own course in the areas of things I like and know, but I’m just way way way way out of the loop on pop – I don’t know who most of these people are. So there’s always a chance, a pretty good chance actually, that I’ll find something new to love.
And re; Jewel; I once saw her in concert, circa 1995, opening for Peter Murphy of all people. Yeah, that Peter Murphy. Odd. She had an interesting yodeling song.
More pop please. I always check out when you guys point out a pop album, and it’s pretty good hit-to-miss ratio for me. (Ex. I totally dug Cassie but couldn’t get into the Brandy from a few weeks back; but I don’t think I would have checked out either without the heads up). And the more worthwhile writing there is about pop out there, the better.
I’m with Craig. There’s no way I’d have discovered all those killer Soundway and Strut records if you weren’t talking about them both here and on eMusic proper. They’re the kind of comps that could easily fly right under the radar, but you all have been awesome about promoting them, reviewing them, providing great analysis. I’d like to see the resources continue in that vein. And besides, the 6 Degrees always have some nice pop curveballs that make me think differently about a pop album I may not have previously given a chance.
I think the sentiment here is good, but I have some of the same qualms that Craig mentioned above, namely “the effort to view a Susan Boyle or Celine Dion in a different light will use up resources that I’d rather see go to ‘indie’ … stuff”. However, it is indeed helpful to know a reviewer’s likes/dislikes/style/leanings, and so I would certainly be interested in reading such reviews. Maybe the best way to balance these ideas is not to have editors pick immensely popular pop albums that “have to be popular for some reason since so many people listen to them” and either laud/pan them, but rather to select particular pop albums that would likely appeal to the typical eMusic subscriber for some interesting reason. That is to say, as much as I enjoy reading scathing reviews, if you have to spend editorial time/resources on pop albums, I’d prefer that you pick and choose the good stuff, where ultimately the definition of “good” is up to you, of course.
I couldn’t agree more with the points brought up in this article. It’s a bit troubling to me that some people seem to think that the entire purpose behind what is called “indie” is to hate anything and everything not considered as such. I love what music can do to and for people, and it wouldn’t be fair or useful to ignore the fact that bands I don’t like do for some people what The Mountain Goats or Neutral Milk Hotel do for me. What does seem useful is gaining some insight as to why that is, so that my own tastes can be expanded. Second to your “exposing the unexposed and underexposed” mission, that is what I love about eMusic.
Feedback has been awesome so far guys, thanks – keep it coming. We like hearing what you have to say.
personally, i really enjoy when albums are reviewed by multiple people on the same site/reviewing entity. As long as the main bulk of reviews is dedicated to the gems that only reviewers have access to pre-release, the multiple reviews destroys the consumers’ perceptions that you’re shilling. One could like it, one could hate it – we’re done here. Or heck, both could like a new Blink182-esque record and then it would deserve a second look…
I understand that this is a gargantuan task, but it is my dream
Does Scritti Politti count? I WORSHIP Cupid & Psyche ‘85 and Anomie & Bonhomie…
No matter what the scenario, Jeremy, Scritti Politti always counts!
i think this is a great, great idea.
I love this service almost unreservedly. I’m okay with the idea of a “Defend The Indefensible”-type column, but I’m very — very — wary of it, and I’d only like to see it in small doses. When Sony arrived, my biggest concern was a shift in editorial emphasis toward mainstream pop/rock material. You quickly eased my concern, e.g., posting a lengthy 17Dots post within days of the Sony drop, focusing on a newly-arrived Soundway disc, and you wisely gave Sony titles their due, and then moved on. They are now just another label in eMusic’s collection, albeit a significant one.
This type of column could be great. But if it’s overdone — or if it foreshadows a broader change in editorial focus toward mainstream material — I’d be against it. To be clear, (a) I think you’ll do a marvelous job with it (eMusic has the best editorial staff of any music publication I’ve seen, online or in print) and (b) I like mainstream pop and rock. In fact, I’m very hopeful you’ll add more major labels in the near future! But having said all that, I’m a little wary of this idea.
In any event, this is my “parade of horribles.” I don’t think it will come to pass. But I figured I’d mention it, FWIW (I know, I know — not much). Apologies for the (inarticulate, incoherent) rant.
Wow, I screwed up one sentence there. I meant to say this:
Apologies again. (This may all appear out of order, BTW, since my first comment is “awaiting moderation” before it is posted (I think that’s the result of a computer glitch that happens when there are a lot of lengthy comments posted on the blog)).
or if it foreshadows a broader change in editorial focus toward mainstream material
Definitely, definitely not. Cannot emphasize that enough.
This feedback has been great – lots to think about, and am really enjoying hearing from everyone.
As someone who has been critical of some of the moves around here w.r.t. major labels, I appreciate the heads up. I think it goes a long way to avoiding the speculative conspiracy theories that sudden changes have sometimes brought on. All that said, I say do it to it. I love reading positive reviews of records I’d never have thought to check out, and one of the strengths of emusic is that for a store you have such personalized editorial content.
But don’t stop with Top 40. I’d like to see an “In Defense Of” section that would include records often critically disliked AND unpopular, but which someone on staff feels like they can defend, like, oh I dunno, Travis Morrison’s Travistan or that Walkmen Nilsson cover record.
Man, I’m all for this.
I came to the States in ‘94 and a story I always like to relate is about the first 3 CDs I ever listened to, or remember listening to. My brother bought D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar, La Bouche’s Sweet Dreams and the album that I would nominate for some sort of review or recognition,
Crazysexycool
I lived off these albums for at least a year. I understood none of the content as I was 8 and couldn’t speak the language. But all those great pop moments stuck. I have these 3 CDs and I still love them. What I’m trying to say is: before I explored and opened myself up to underexposed music and before I became very cynical toward pop music, I loved it without question. I think it would be nice to come back to that feeling. Just sayin’
Travis Morrison’s Travistan or that Walkmen Nilsson cover record.
NIce – yeah, I like the idea of bringing critically-derided indies into the mix, too.
I guess on a related note, we launched a new feature recently, “Hidden Treasures” — essays on records we were afraid would fall through the cracks. The first entry: Douglas Wolk on The Chills’ spectacular Submarine Bells
Also, Ilya, the story is awesome, and I can only imagine the english you learned from Crazysexycool.
As someone who has listened to Solange and The Dixie Chicks as well as Frightened Rabbit and Gigi in the past week, I think this is a great idea. As others have said, I do not listen to pop radio (it’s XM/podcasts in our car) so I’m behind on hearing about excellent new pop records that I might like. I often don’t know when they come out or if they’re even on emusic–I don’t think to search for those things necessarily. I think as long as it’s presented in a journalistic way, with a nice, thoughtful write up, it won’t seem like shilling.
I also love the suggestion of revisiting critically disliked records. Maybe I missed out on something because I read a bad review.
I ingest so much music that sometimes I need a little nudging in another direction. You get into habits, you know? I just want to find things I will listen to and enjoy, indie or not. I’ve bought so many things that I listened to once and never put on again, but I know the words to every Dixie Chicks song.
Also, LOVE that Hidden Treasures section–I found a lot of great music when you ran those guides to underrated music a while back!
I’d love to see Emusic staff write something about every album on the site. The fewer AllMusicGuide reviews I see, the happier I am.
So I definitely encourage this.
I’m all for it. I think a lot of “indie” music fans turn their noses up at music that is actually well-made, just because it’s popular. I know I’ve done it. I also know I’ve been schooled by friends who’ve made me listen to these so-called “guilty pleasures” – I have to admit, some are really great. I don’t see y’all snubbing the new Loney, Dear to review a Justin Timberlake album; they’re not mutually exclusive. So I’d love to be able to find some on-the-radar stuff I’ll like from my most reliable source for under-the-radar stuff. Go for it.
Due to the laws of subjectivity, everything is defensible. You’re already shilling for “indie” and other obscure genres, so why not shill for everything else? I love the music available on emusic, but seriously dislike most of the editorial content. Regardless of what you decide on, I would read a feature on En Vogue, and I’m not being ironic about that.
When I was a teenager and The Carpenters were the best-selling group on the planet, I hated them and considered their music indefensible on every level. Then sometime during the nineties I saw a bootlegged copy of Todd Haynes’ “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” and had an epiphany. Now I’m older and consider Karen Carpenter one of the great pop singers.
As far as Jewel’s music goes, I think she can really sell coffee. But my point is, who knows? If you live long enough, eventually maybe even Celine Dion sounds good. Is that an advertisement for early death? You decide.