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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: Lily Allen |
| Date | Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:37:19 -0500 |
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Settle down, Sparky. I just thought your original statement about
"Motown and disco records" was hilariously clueless. I'm not going to
pretend that I recognized the bits of old Jackie Mittoo and Duke Reid
records that are listed in the songwriting credits -- I doubt even
Gabe Fuentes would recognize them on first listen -- but I'm sure as
heck not very likely to confuse ska with disco as a genre!
Furthermore, based on Allen's live performances on SNL and Conan in
the last couple weeks, I must say that drum machines must have made
tremendous strides in technology recently, given that the "drum
machine" behind her band looked just *exactly* like a big sweaty guy
playing the drums. Come to think of it, her band also includes a full
horn section, guitarist, bassist and keyboard player...which seems
like an awful lot of extra guys to have on the payroll if her music is
entirely created out of samples, doesn't it? (And seriously, if
you're not hearing hooks in the choruses of songs like "LDN" and
"Smile," then we have hugely divergent ideas of what constitutes a
hook.)
So...yes, you're right, you are one hundred percent entitled to your
opinion. And I'm entitled to my opinion, which is that it sounds to
me like you decided that Lily Allen's music was crap before you heard
a note of it, given how erroneous your original description of it was.
Nobody's asking you to like her music, although I'm pleased to see how
many other Auditeers have already chimed in positively about the joys
of this album.
It's just that your description gave the impression of someone so
fundamentally disinclined towards this entire style of music that you
didn't even *hear* the music before your mind was made up about how
awful it was. It's pretty much exactly like if someone came on here
and started talking about how they hated Fountains of Wayne because
their entire sound was ripped off from old Black Sabbath and Iron
Butterfly records.
S
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrar Hudkins" <fhudkins@gmail.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 17, 2007 12:28 AM
Subject: Re: Lily Allen
> As I said before, I merely stated my opinion and forgot to label it
> as
> such. That's the whole point of this e-mail; if you have extra time
> on
> your hands, read on -- otherwise hit the 'delete' key and you're
> done.
> Cheers!
>
> Well ... I'm sorry, S, but I don't know who you are, so I don't know
> if you were being sarcastic or not. I'll reply to the list in case
> anyone believed you and thought that I was being petty and saying
> that
> I didn't like something because it is popular. I dunno what 'indie
> cred' is, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a total stranger
> would ascribe petty motives to a statement of opinion on my part,
> considering that I forgot to say that 'it's only my opinion.'
>
> First, I had never heard of Allen until this afternoon when they had
> her on ATC. They introduced her as having a massive following in
> England and having millions of hits on her MySpace page every day.
> That wasn't the reason I was turned off by the tunes they played,
> though. The reason I don't like her voice is, simply, I don't like
> her
> voice. There are a lot of voices I don't like, including some really
> popular ones. She doesn't fit my *personal* definition of 'insanely
> great pop.' The reason I don't like her using samples and drum
> machines is, really, I don't like samples and drum machines. I
> didn't
> like it when Digital Underground sampled Parliament, and I don't
> like
> it when Fifty Cent samples the Jackson Five. It sounds to me like
> someone got lazy. That's my opinion.
>
> Second, I may be a bit biased since I work at an NPR affiliate
> station, for which I apologise in advance -- but the reason I think
> NPR should stay out of the mainstream is because I am given to
> believe
> it came about in the early 1970s to offer an *alternative* to the
> mainstream. I may have been misinformed; regardless, it's my opinion
> -- nothing more or less.
>
> Briefly: Something can be great music to eight billion people around
> the world, and there's no guarantee that I'll like it. Peer pressure
> doesn't work on me. Some things that are popular (e.g. 'The
> Simpsons')
> I like; some things that are popular (e.g. 'Scrubs') I don't. That
> doesn't make me petty -- it just makes me strange. :-)
>
> I guess I should issue an apology to the list: I was unaware that
> saying I didn't like something was 'bashing.' Sorry about that,
> guys.
> I'll only pipe up for bands I like from now on.
>
> I hope I don't ruffle any (more) feathers. Good night.
>
> Farrar Hudkins
> (c)1979-2007
>
>
> On 2/16/07, Stewart Mason <craigtorso@verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Farrar Hudkins" <fhudkins@gmail.com>
>> > And today I heard one of the most useless -- an interview with a
>> > British singer who spontaneously composes her half-spoken songs
>> > in
>> > the studio. Hm, I guess that's why she has yet to come up with a
>> > hook, and why her 'music' is ripped from Motown and disco records
>> > and an old TR-81 drum machine. And also why it is crap.
>>
>> Except that it, erm, isn't. Lily Allen's ALRIGHT STILL is probably
>> the best album I've heard so far in 2007, and her first single
>> "Smile"
>> was one of the top singles of last year by a mile.
>>
>> So sad to see reflexive bashing of talented singers just because
>> they're not someone's little pocket secret no one else knows about.
>> Not for the singers, mind, but for the listeners. It must be
>> tiring
>> to survive solely on indie cred.
>>
>> S
>>
>>
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