SINGLE REVIEW: Go: Audio
- Posted on August 4, 2008 2:07 PM
- 2 comments
Go:Audio
‘She Left Me’
Review By Matt Killeen
Why are you such a moody git Matt? Why are you so negative? Why do you have to hate everything?
Music matters. It is capable of such beauty, such magnificence, such unadulterated joy that it rates amongst the very best of experiences in our short lives. Bad music takes up room. It consumes creativity. It spreads a virus of mediocrity that is at best an irritant and at worst a cancer in the lungs of the whole art form. I’m not some obscurist fantasist. Good pop is glorious. Toni Basil’s ‘Hey Mickey’ is one of the most stunning examples of this. It’s meaningless, disposable perhaps but a true work of art nonetheless. Disposable like Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ in fact.
I don’t hate everything. I just inevitably hate most things because the music industry squeezes out such nasty, exploitative and derivative rubbish. People with no imagination chase fabricated trends while others cling stubbornly to a predictable avant-garde, celebrating their narcissism in front of a mirror. Like the endless beat of a funeral drum, myopic short-termism destroys artists that need nurturing and seeks fresh meat for the grinder. These turkeys voting for Xmas, hands thrust in the air, me sir me sir please sir, endlessly trying to contrive something desirable to the gods of indecision.
Contrived. It’s a word that means artificial, false and unnatural. It brings us neatly to this excuse for a song. Everything about this record is sterile, antiseptic nastiness from the band logo to the cover art. All the elements of a pop song are here, all the bits of punky sub-Busted lyrical self-effacement from the sing-along chorus to the piano break but like a realistic sandwich made of cardboard it has no intrinsic value and will not sate. There are no insights here, no real moments where you can smile and say, yes I’ve felt like that, no turn of phrase that sheds new light on a familiar emotions. If this was just a boy band in the Boyzone tradition you could dismiss it but the lack of creative thought and genuine emotion of any kind is all the worse for the appearance of musical credibility.
Who should we hate more? The A&R man that signed them, the producer that rendered them the TCP of rock or the band themselves for creating this turgid, banal handjob for their record company?
Have you no pride? No self respect? Any of you? Thought not.
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Comments (2)
jr
this is a really harsh review, this song is true to many people and this is the only bad review I have read which sounds so hateful, I really like it a very catchy summer tune which a lot of people are loving. And these boys are even better live unlike a lot of established bands I've seen live this band are quite amazing get the crowd going. So matt i don't know why you are so negative and why you hate everything? You sound like an arrogant musical snob with a poker stuck up ur backside
Posted on August 17, 2008 9:37 PM
Lina
What a genius review -
This IS a pathetic song and an even more pathetic band that represents a string of similar bands that all contribute to this big monster machine of mediocrity and bullshit that the music industry insists on feeding us. The saddest thing of all is that there are people who will gladly consume it, buy their records and go to their shows. (like our buddy jr) This is the ultimate downfall...
So this is not hate - this is true music journalism that is scarce if not, non existant in mainstream music publications.
Thanks for letting me know that I am not the only one who feels the same way.
Posted on September 11, 2008 2:35 AM
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