Comments on: everybody’s doing it

By: Andy S. (aka Drooch)

Andy S. (aka Drooch) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:06:33 +0000

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.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:10:47 +0000

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.

By: nikki

nikki — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:57:48 +0000

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.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:44:12 +0000

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.

By: Mel

Mel — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:21:21 +0000

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!

By: joe

joe — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:40:34 +0000

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.

By: ilya

ilya — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:51:46 +0000

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'

By: Mike Wad

Mike Wad — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:38:35 +0000

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.

By: joe

joe — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:36:04 +0000

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.

By: Daniel, Esq.

Daniel, Esq. — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:46:34 +0000

Wow, I screwed up one sentence there. I meant to say this:

You quickly eased my concern, e.g., posting a lengthy 17Dots post within days of the Sony drop devoted to a newly-arrived Soundway disc; you wisely gave Sony titles their due, and then moved on.

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)).