Christgau on metal
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You are currently reading a thread in /mu/ - Music
You are currently reading a thread in /mu/ - Music
"In theory, metal is today's real rock and roll--the music of the people. It's basic, it's rude, kids love it, parents hate it. But the closer you look, the stupider and more delusory it seems. Metal isn't basic--it cultivates a pseudo-virtuosity that negates content. The dreams it promulgates are usually foolish and often destructive. Eighty per cent of the "people" who like it are male, and 98 per cent of them are white."
Real talk from a legend
don't believe the 98% white audience part is true, there are lots of asian and hispanic metal fans.
the rest is pretty spot on though.
>>64205192
/thread
Does anyone absolutely hate it when someone says some ridiculously opinionated shit but does it in a fancy, pretentious way, which tricks idiots into believing something of substance was said despite it all being empty, vapid buzzwords?
I kind of hate it.
>>64205153
>listening to a poptimist
>>64205222
>I dont understand it so it must be buzzwords
metal fans really are children
Christgau is a joke
>>64205239
I didn't even use any long words in my post and you somehow managed to completely miss the point. I'm led to believe fuckwits like you follow people like this guy on the basis of "I have absolutely no idea what he said. That means it's smart".
Metal is a joke
>>64205153
>It's basic
since fucking when
>>64205264
>Metal isn't basic
jfc learn to read
>>64205261
are you literally just saying "no u" right here
>>64205264
he said it as a precursor to his point that it isn't basic, and that being a key difference between metal and good ol' fashioned rock 'n' roll. metal is distinctly pretentious, and in most cases unwarrantedly so
>>64205305
>are you literally just saying "no u" right here
Do you honestly expect me to put in more effort into my replies than you do into your shitposts? How would that be fair on me? It's not like you actually addressed the issue.
>>64205305
>>64205317
but why even make a comparison between rock and metal in the first place? They are clearly different, I agree with the pretentious bit, but the whole "In theory, metal is today's real rock and roll--the music of the people" is bullshit
terrible premise
>>64205153
Supercilious, antagonistic and proudly ignorant. Why exactly isn't Christgau /mu/'s senpai again?
He never said that
>>64205357
Because Scaruffi is already all of those and better at it.
Christgau is using the assertion that
> Eighty per cent of the "people" who like it are male, and 98 per cent of them are white
to support the claim that
> the stupider and more delusory it seems
In other words, something can't be smart and honest unless strong, independent womyn of color like it, right? Absolutely pathetic.
>>64205412
no you stupid sexist fuck, the point is it can't be good unless a mix of people like it
>>64205412
I think what Cristgau is trying to get across is that if a genre of music is so strongly associated with a demographic, people are listening to it because they are marketed towards the genre rather than the content of the music attracting a variety of people.
>>64205497
>the genre is marketed towards the people*
>>64205357
Because his taste is beyond god awful
>>64205539
it's another pleb who thought ITCOTCK wasn't overbloated garbage
>>64205554
Get out Christgau
dude is soooooo cucked, but he has some GOAT opinions e.g. hating king crimson and dr dre
>>64205497
How is appealing to the values of a certain demographic bad? Does that make all conscious hip-hop bad, because it puts forward the issues of black communities instead of appealing to everyone from Jim Wong in Korea to Shane the chav over in Glasgow? That's an absolutely idiotic argument. If anything, things designed to appeal to absolutely everyone are bound to be more shallow.
This is large part of why Scaruffi is superior to Christgau. Scruffles may prefer rock that falls under a broad category of "vaguely experimental" over specific subgenres like metal and hip-hop, but he's still able to identify good works within those subgenres (which do exist). With Christgau, you just have a guy who negatively rates all post-rock, metal etc., but will give his highest or second-highest rating to any average punk or modern hip-hop album. (If he does rate a post-rock album highly, such as Emperor Tomato Ketchup, he will then claim that it isn't post-rock.)
Christgau is certainly principled, but he's primarily a consumer guide for people who listen to rock passively, and not a rock critic.
>>64205317
>>64205345
What he means is that metal preoccupies itself with excessive shred and wank, distancing itself from the very essence of rock and roll.
This and the incredibly cheesy themes attract autists to it like flies. It could be a decent genre if it was simply bare bones rock music.
>>64205153
>Real talk from a legend
>Likes The Beatles
I don't know that /mu/ good at joking.
>>64205153
>muh white males
>>64205328
metal fans ladies and gentlemen
>>64205953
>likes metal
>makes fun of the beatles
lol
>music has to be accessible to be good
yup, i'm on /mu/
>>64205846
scaruffi is a pretentious dilettante desu. He offers no meaningful insight into anything he reviews. He reviews for the sake of reviewing which is pretty stupid.
>>64206030
I don't even like metal, but support such a narrow-minded, lame critic ? Yup, maybe you still joking.
I don't think that people in this thread fully understand what he said, or why he said it.
>>64205317
Go back to ribbit
>>64205264
he didnt say it was basic. he said that it's virtuosity and complexity serves as a placeholder for meaningful, compelling content. it's his opinion. the guy is very open about his biases: metal, irish music, classical all do zilch for him.
>>64206190
Meant for
>>64205328
and also, remember, this was written in 1988. metal is much more of a global force now than it used to be. And not just the Scandinavian weirdos - latin america is metal crazy. theres also some up and coming bands in the fliippin middle east, who must have some justifiable rage to go along with the uniformaly aggressive music
>>64205153
DROP THE FUCKER DEAD WHO IS THAT OLD FART
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEnrFU8SxYs
>i pull statistics out of my ass
>>64206205
Happy now, you dumb meme loving fuck?
im with him in the sense that metal in large part does nothing for me, emotionally or otherwise. The last thing i liked was that Baroness album - which I could tell was written for melody loving plebs like myself.
Metal fans are very close minded. They have an unwritten rule book and if you step out those rules you're shit.
>>64206292
like most insular communities (ahem mu)
>>64205153
>Eighty per cent of the "people" who like it are male, and 98 per cent of them are white."
>SJW's will defend this blatant racism
>>64205192
>>64205213
>>64205239
>>64205262
>>64205305
>>64205317
>>64205357
>>64205478
>>64205497
>>64205554
>>64205617
>>64205940
>>64206016
>>64206030
>>64206126
>>64206292
t. Christgau
Get out you samefagging fuck
>>64205239
You're making non-metal fans as pretentious as metal fans say we are. Stop.
>>64205153
>same guy who thinks M.I.A. is the greatest artist of the 21st century
laff
>>64206399
she's better than any metal act of the 21st century though... comfortably
>>64205412
>>>/pol/ goodness white men are insecure
>Eighty per cent of the "people" who like it are male, and 98 per cent of them are white.
>>64206399
Uh I can actually see that. She's really good and groundbreaking.
>>64206419
>You must be /pol/ to not like racism against whites or sexism against males
>>64206292
Says the guy generalizing an umbrella genre who hasn't explored said genre in depth. You could say the same thing about punk, but you'd be ignoring unique punk music and branches of the genre like post-punk. Compare these to innovative metal like murmuure and gorguts and you'll realize it's nonsensical to suggest these metal albums have less content than your average experimental rock or hip-hop album.
>>64205153
"metal is always angry and destructive" is the same as "rap is dumb shit for niggers"
>>64205478
Well metal has a huge, varied fanbase so that point is moot
>>64205940
> It could be a decent genre if it was simply bare bones rock music
What is: a lot of metal if you actually take the time to listen
>>64206419
Strawman fallacy
>>64206452
good point,
>>64206452
Thank you. Trying to make a blanket statement about metal is fallacious as fuck, it's way too diverse.
>>64206497
It's pretty much the same for every genre anyways, except maybe for cookie cutter top 40 pop garbage.
>>64206452
This. Plenty of gooks and spics like metal
t. gook who has spic friends
>>64206497
one thing we gotta keep in mind is he wrote this in the late 80s. I for one have no clue what the scene looked like in the 80s, but i imagine it was stylistically and ethnically less diverse than it is now....if for no other reason than you'd be hard pressed to find a genre that isn't.
>>64205153
You're talking about a dude who thinks that Soulja Boy's debut is a better album than 90% of what's discussed here and essentially every metal album.
All memes aside, the dude may have a point but it's tarnished by his idiocy in appreciating different forms of music.
>>64206541
genre that *wasn't. scuse me grammar
>>64206541
You know, I had actually forgotten that even though I saw someone else mention that in this thread too. Fair point, I guess his statements have to be taken in the context of that time.
>>64206548
Reminder that this is a man who automatically discards everything he doesn't like as "art rock".
>>64206485
>What is: a lot of metal if you actually take the time to listen
I do listen to a lot of metal desu.
There is good metal and bad metal.
>>64206548
hes a 75 year old man, I can give him a pass on being a little autistic on some calls. I thought it was pretty endearing when he devoted an entire two weeks to young thug releases - he got so excited over the dude.
>>64206583
Then why would you imply it wasn't a decent genre?
>>64206607
Because a lot of it is also shit, and also the cliches. Metal is really wrapped in its own tropes as a genre.
The worst part is when a metal band stops being aware that they're just a rock band, and makes pretentious prog wankery that they equate to classical music.
>Industrial's edge on metal is anonymity--unlike major-brand sonic barrage, it presents itself as resultant rather than expression, music/noise emanating from a society/culture. It's objective; it doesn't imply a subject. This illusion boosts the music/noise's impact and authority while rendering it virtually indistinguishable from itself.
>>64206419
> goodness white men are insecure
commenter is clearly a self-hating white male himself
>>64205153
robert "you're a fucking white male" christgau
>>64206792
little simplistic dont you think?
To be fair when Christgau is talking about metal he's really talking about the hair metal of the eighties - dumbfuck macho bullshit like Motley Crue. Though I do agree that he's a bit of a bellend for making supposedly objective statements about something he's admitted is a personal bias in the past.
he's not wrong
for once
>>64206841
Makes more sense that he isn't referring to Gorguts
Christgau is the biggest fucking plebeian in the universe, but mainstream metal is literally shit-tier pop with heavy distortion so he's right about that
>>64206824
sorry i didnt manage to come up with a non simplistic name calling
>b. 1942
nobody from that generation likes metal
>>64205153
>and 98 per cent of them are white.
The fuck does that have to do with anything?
>>64205153
Kill yr Idols, OP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8LYpyXerDg
>>64207003
he likes lil wayne or something though
>>64205153
nothing screams beta faggot like being white and dismissing something for being too white
I killed Christgau with my big fucking dik
8===============================D
>>64207069
yeah, but disliking him would be racist.
>>64205153
For once I actually agree with him.
>>64205153
did he actually say this?
because if he did I have a little more respect for him now
>>64205153
More like robert bigfaggot.
>Metal isn't basic--it cultivates a pseudo-virtuosity that negates content.
sort of like his writing style
> The dreams it promulgates are usually foolish and often destructive.
sort of like hip-hop (hip-hop is worse {true by the way})
those were his only attempts at argumentation in this blurb
>>64207866
>sort of like his writing style
#rekt
Critics are generally some of the worst writers (besides canonical literary critics and essayists of course).
>>64207773
*twitch*
>>64206366
>nobody can have an opinion different from mine
fuck off underage chink
based scaruffi likes metal, robert "toefucker" xgau BTFO
>>64205153
The virtuosity argument lost a lot of traction with death/doom, sludge and -core genres picking up traction since the 90s. These genres (with their own avenues to pretentiousness mind you) eschewed the usual mentality of having baroque compositions and relying on what amounts to exercises in practicing your instrument as the way of writing songs.
In terms of 'tech' metal you have an annoying amount of periphery clones who think that counting makes you smart (most of the polyrhythms in these songs have to fit within the context of going into a more conventionally timed breakdown). There's also dweebs like in Ayreon who conflate meandering melodrama for operatic composition.
One band that has called to my attention in being enjoyable through technicality has been Fog of War. A few of their riffs take some getting used to so as to play them yourself, but layered with more conventional riffing so that the songs maintain a consistent thrash feel.
>>64208314
>mfw Tool wrote some song in 13/8 and they insist honest to god that they made it in 6.5/4 and that it's NOT 13/8
poly-rhythms can serve a song and they can be just wanking, and I don't get the point of music if you're just wanking
Discipline sounds dope as fuck with every instrument playing a different time signature, Take Five's whole groove is so unique because it's in 5/4, but some sort of technical mess that is played in some incredible 14/9 or some crazy shit is just that, a mess
>>64205153
who gives a shit
>>64205153
He's not wrong but "people" is a bit uncalled for. And rock was also a white and male genre.
>>64206196
What kind of asshole doesn't like Irish music?
He's right about metal tho.
>>64205222
Sorta like what you just said right there?
>>64207866
for what it's worth Christgau tends to dislike hip-hop that trades in misogyny and materialism. also, his writing is pretty cool. i think he's lost the plot as of late but before my time he was p terse and incisive to boot so that's nice.
>>64210471
>that
>fancy
I take it the most complex thing you've ever read in your life was the front of a reese's puffs box?
>>64210501
his writing is good
his opinions and taste suck ass, but he expresses himself very well
Do all of his reviews come down to him being a wimp and wanting things to personally cater to that fact, as well as to his politics?
Something i thinks he alludes to is the sheer escapism of metal.
The most intelligent metal still rarely raises itself above sophomoric social commentary. Even then, content is subservient to the aesthetic. It gets pathetic, often hilarious when metal feigns pathos.
Same problem applies to the much touted "musicianship". Yeah it's there, but it's warped to fit a deliberately dumb, Micheal Bay-esque assault on the senses.
>>64210527
his taste doesn't even suck, it's just outmoded and particular. he's partly responsible for the canon of classic and alternative rock. so what he isn't a space cadet or a metalhead. I guess I don't really care if I agree with a music critic because I'm only really interested in seeing if they can illuminate something for me about the records they review. So his ability to express himself is dope.
>>64210695
I just don't think a music critic should review genres that he universally hates, I don't see the point. But then again people love to see a critic roast a work.
His reviews of King Crimson I find interesting - I love all the albums he hates, and yet I can't quite disagree with his thoughts.
I can just imagine what you look like.
For fuck's sake, FUCK SOCIAL COMMENTARY.
>comment is subservient to the aesthetic
Aesthetics are EVERYTHING, you fag
>>64210794
this was aimed at you: >>64210682
>>64210794
I'm not >>64210682 but I don't think he was even arguing for deft social commentary as the ideal. The important part is that the aesthetic is delivered ham-fistedly as escapism.
>>64210760
>I love all the albums he hates, and yet I can't quite disagree with his thoughts
yeah, he generally describes records as they are and offers a personal critique of those things as they are even when he hates them. so I see him as fair.
>>64206392
Nobody should care about the opinions of metal fans.
>>64211108
I think metal has a genuine romance and glory and tragic quality to it that something coming from where Christgau would want it couldn't achieve
Not grounding that in some Marxist-influenced idea of social realism doesn't make it any less relevant - it speaks to unconscious drives and archetypes - if I were to use more modern terms - but since it does this through unashamed primal sexuality or 'unproblematized' warrior aesthetics or mythology people like him don't want to recognize it because it doesn't express these things in ways that comfortably gratify his politics. but they're much older, one might even argue 'realer' forms and techniques in my opinion than his very narrow and very late conception of the real
>>64205478
This is the dumbest post I've ever read in all my time on hear
>>64211395
*here, lol
>>64206399
better than any metal ever you tasteless dunce
I think it's hilarious how he puts "people" in quotes as if people who like metal don't even qualify as a person.
>>64211579
Yeah, smug af
>>64211579
More like
>I think it's hilarious how he puts "people" in quotes as if people who are white and male don't even qualify as a person.
>>64211579
no i think he's making light of metal's limited appeal, and was probably responding to some praise of the genre as the new 'people's music' (thusly, the new punk rock, which he often champions and had real cross-gender appeal). He believed that was a delusion, and metal was really an insular, insecure white male community. I dont think he'd deny they were people. REMEMBER THIS WAS 1988. the metal he is talking about might not be the metal that we know. (although I still think xgau has no interest in the genre, even he would probably admit its appeal is international at this point)
>>64210250
i know i like irish shit too. i think he likes the pogues, thats about it
>>64205153
>In theory, metal is today's real rock and roll
And whose anus was this "theory" extracted from? This guy's whole rant is based off a false premise. Metal isn't trying to be the "music of the people."
Master of Puppets [Elektra, 1986]
"I feel a distinct generation gap between myself and this music. Not because my weary bones can't handle its power and intensity, but because I was born too early to have had my dendrites rewired by progressive radio. Admittedly, the speed and momentum of this band can be impressive. The problem is that the image of heroes metal usually conjurs up is that of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan the Barbarian, all flowing hair and huge pecs. That's certainly not the revolutionary heroes I envision and I feel no more entitled to feel heroic from listening to this music than I would the 1812 Overture. B-"
And Justice For All [Elektra, 1988]
"On the plus side, it's more self-aware than their previous albums. On the down side, it's twice as long as their previous albums which tends to be the end result when your stock-in-trade is compositions rather than songs. C+"
Metallica [Elektra, 1991]
*bomb*
Load [Vertigo, 1996]
"The good thing about being old is that I'm neither wired to like metal nor templed to fake it. Just as I suspected, these Johnny-come-latelies meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss can no more do grunge than they can double-ledger bookkeeping. So regardless of what riff neatniks think, this is just a metal album shortened to radio-friendly song lengths. Which is good because it consolidates their playing, bad because it results in more singing, which they can't. C+"
>>64212197
2/3 "reviews" of the "albums" are more focused on him as a personality rather than the actual music. All 3 focus entirely on image and how it reflects on the listener.
The putrid narcissism that surrounds music critique makes me sick.
that master of puppets review is fucking amazing - and i love that album
>>64211395
btfooo
>>64212255
would you rather a state of feigned objectivty? the kind that mu desperately pushes? at least the guys honest about his biases.
>>64212255
i personally fucking hate when nu-pitchfork refuses to write negatively about something. even a low 6 or a 5 will be met with feigned enthusiasm and pats-on-the-back for a job nearly well done. its all lateral motion to evade the fact that the writer refuses to be honest about their predispositions.
>>64212318
>would you rather a state of feigned objectivty?
I mean I'd much rather avoid music critique in general because usually, as this thread displays, it's all a complete joke. But if I were to choose, then yes, I'd prefer feigned objectivty because that would mean the author would be forced to at least put SOME thought into how people of differing views would see the music and touch on some qualities that don't conform to his preferences, instead of making the entire piece something that is purely about getting to know the author as a personality rather than the music.
>>64205153
Christgau is based. I like metal, but he's got a point.
Black Sabbath [Warner Bros, 1970]
"All the worst excesses of the counterculture on a plastic platter - drug-impaired reaction times, lengthy solos, bullshit necromancy. They claim to oppose war, but if I don't believe in loving my enemies, then I don't believe in loving my allies either and I've feared that something like this would happen ever since I first saw a numerology column in an underground newspaper. D+"
Paranoid [Warner Bros, 1970]
"I suppose I could learn to enjoy them as camp, the title track is certainly screamworthy. Besides, they can't really be serious about that Satan bit, can they? I've always suspected that horror movies catharized stuff I was too rational to care about in the first place. C-"
Master of Reality [Warner Bros, 1971]
"As a spearhead of the Grand Funk Railroad revival--in case you missed the switch, the new Rock Critic position on GFR is that it's a 1971 good old-fashioned rock and roll band, although I don't know anyone, myself included, who actually plays the records--I feel entitled to put this down. Grand Funk is like an American white blues band of three years ago--dull Black Sabbath is English--dull and decadent. I don't care how many rebels and incipient groovers are buying. I don't even care if the band members believe in their own Christian/satanist/liberal muck. This is a dimwitted, amoral exploitation. D+"
>>64212508
yeah see i disagree. thats too liberal a view. it's all personal! once you expand you're critical horizons to encompass all potential views and dispositions what happens to your writing? you lose you're edge, you compromise your positions, and you become p4k. knowing that xgau hates metal means that you never have to pay attention to a single one of his metal reviews. you can trust that he isn't to be trusted. thats so much better than reading reviews of people that are just feeling compelled to give music they hate a 'fair shake' for the masses.
>>64212558
And there it is. This 'man' is IRRELEVANT.
>>64212597
>you lose you're edge, you compromise your positions
YOUR edge and YOUR views are irrelevant shite. As a critic it is your job to inform the public of the works, how they compare to others in their field, and what qualities an audience that engages in said genre can take away from it. Anything else is pure, shameless indulgence in ego that serves absolutely nobody but the author itself. Just becase pitchfork does a bad job of doing it right by employing people with little knowledge of a genre to write about said genre doesn't change this.
>>64205153
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>>64212683
youre idea of criticism is so boring and bone-dry, I'm thankful theres still writers out there for whom it doesn't apply. scott creney, lee adcock, maura johnston, xgau, everett true, greil marcus hell even scaruffi - all writers that would probably be shaking their heads right now.
>>64212854
*your
>>64212854
>youre idea of criticism is so boring and bone-dry
Then go read some fucking tabloids instead of the actual news because that shit is much more exciting too! I mean who needs informative articles about music when you can have glorified bloggers writing about what special snowflakes they are all the time.
You goddamn mongoloid.
>>64206357
>racism
;)
>>64212893
man you just have it so wrong. you cant compare journalistic news to good music criticism. you just can't. two different beasts. nothing more to be said
Smells Like Children [Interscope, 1995]
Unmitigated consumer fraud - a mass of covers, remixes, instrumentals, and genderfuck cover art designed to publicize its well-publicized concert tour. The lyrics to Shitty Chicken Gangbang are nonexistent, the lyrics to Everlasting Cocksucker incomprehensible. Only on F--- Frankie, a spoken word number of a female feigning orgasm, does this record deliver what it promises once you realize that F--- isn't short for Fist Frankie or Fancy Frankie. It's easily the best thing on the record. D+
Antichrist Superstar [Interscope, 1996]
*bomb*
Mechanical Animals [Interscope, 1998]
If only the absurd aura of artistic respectability surrounding this arrant self-promoter would teach us that not every icon deserves a think piece, that it's no big deal to have a higher IQ than Ozzy Osbourne, that the Road of Excess leads to the Palace Theater. Instead, his banned-in-Wal-Mart slipcase job will fade into the haze of records people found interesting at the time. Its strategy is to camouflage the feebleness of La Manson's vocal affect by pretending it's deliberate--one more depersonalizing production device with which to flatten willing cerebella whilst confronting humankind's alienation, amorality, and failure to have a good time on Saturday night. Catchiest songs: "The Dope Show" and "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me). Duh. C+
Holy Wood [Interscope, 2000]
*bomb*
>>64212949
Yes, you can.
>lol if you can't be 100% objective better not try at all :)
I get it. You like to watch some old dude masturbating his ego. That's whine. Different folks, different strokes. Just don't come around parading said solo porn like it has some analytical value.
>Out of Squirrel Bait by Hunglikealbini, a Trojan horse. Extolled for their multipartite songforms and, da-da, dynamic shifts from soft to loud, as well as their intimate knowledge of mental illness, these guys look like unassuming alternative types and in real life may be same. Their sad-sack affect fits right in. But musically--structurally, as one might say--they're art-rockers without the courage of their pretensions. And if you promise not to mention their lyrics they promise to keep the volume down. C+
>>64212955
brutal
>>64213006
oh no mucore under attack! i forget didnt he just put a sad face emoji for neutral milk hotel?
>>64213030
>implying he's wrong
>implying MM isn't a massive con artist who got rich by acting all shocking so edgy 13 year olds would buy his albums
>>64213078
oh no i wasnt implying hes wrong. hes totally right. i was reacting the takedown itself. brutal.
>>64212955
>Its strategy is to camouflage the feebleness of La Manson's vocal affect
He's not wrong. Actually Trent Reznor said that POAAF was strung together from literally dozens of takes because Manson's singing abilities were so bad.
>>64205222
This. Christgau is a master at verbose bs.
Also criticizing music for its fanbase is teenage behavior and it's laughable that he can get away with this.
>>64205153
one thing hes said thats true. although theres tons of metal in asia and certain parts of latin america
>>64205153
>it cultivates a pseudo-virtuosity that negates content
You mean just like your writing, Christgau?
He's also a huge nostalgiafag even though he pretends he isn't (he says his favorite artists are Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, the Beatles, and New York Dolls).
>>64213208
what kind of surname is christgau anyway lmao
>>64213208
Christgau's writing is actually far less superfluous than most music critics.
I read him for entertainment, it's obvious that he doesn't take himself seriously enough to write an entire page of nonsense over an album. He's concise with his opinions and open with his biases, there's no pretense of objectivity, or navel-gazing self centered padding about his personal life that so many garbage critics suffer from.
Reign in Blood [Def Jam, 1986]
I'm not about to check out the complete works of Venom to make sure you can't do better, but anyone who wants to know what gets Washington ladies hot should steal, tape, or purchase this piece of speed satanism quote unquote. Rick Rubin focused, CBS passed, guitar's quicker than a theremin on reverb, and "Jesus Saves" mauls the enemy. Who ain't Jesus--or, damn right, Satan either. B+
>>64213623
is this his highest metal grade? it's Slayer's album, just in case you didn't catch it
>>64213592
This guy gets it. But I will say that when Christgau takes stuff seriously (when he's writing essays on his favorite artists), he shows himself as the GOAT critic.
>>64213592
man where were u when i was fighting with this other anon over the merit of disclosed subjectivity in music crit? the guy wouldnt let up about 'objective' opinions on music
>>64213651
all his long-forms on M.I.A. are probably the best writing about her out there
>>64213656
>merit of disclosed subjectivity in music crit?
That implies his work contains any shred of objectivity or criticism in the first place, which is just laughable.
>>64210526
and anyone who is reasonably literate would say the same about OP's post
do you see the flaw in your argument? that anon baited you hard
your post made it very clear that you hate smart people
>>64213721
To be fair a lot of music critics are extremely arrogant and pretend to be some divine arbiter of taste.
