Sabbath = the great deaf-spot (auditory and ideological) of the Last Waltz/Stranded generation of rockwrite
Every generation of rockwrite has one, and has to have one. It's the essential by-product of having a value-system, a metrics of valorization.
So what was ours? (I'll leave the "us" of "ours" open-ended for now).
Thought: the vitiation of contemporary music-write = its attempt not to have any deaf-spots ... none at all, not one.
Given his recent book, I was just thinking about Cameron Crowe's evasion of that 'value-system', and how it plays now versus how it played then - then, his acceptance of everyone from the Allmans and Yes to Station to Station era Bowie to Joni Mitchell was viewed, arguably more than his utilitarian prose, as his ultimate failing; now, it make him look more 'modern' than many of the more respected critics then
ReplyDeleteCrowe is probably the chief example of 'second-tier' rockwrite of that era also lacking a recognizable 'system', which has minuses and pluses, I think
The way the question is posed leaves so many interesting paths open.
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, as a rockwrite-reader in the late 80s/early 90s, I found a really striking contrast between US and UK critics. At that time it seemed like the "great deaf spot" in the US was just about anything that came along after, oh, 1978, while in the UK there was deafness for anything *before* that year. I'm picking a somewhat arbitrary year, I know, but as a reader it just seemed like those were the two dominant value-systems on either side of the punk/post-punk divide, and they excluded a lot.
(Greil Marcus crosses over, beautifully, but much to my chagrin I didn't discover that until I started reading his stuff after 2010.)
More specifically, if we're talking about bands, I'd nominate Rush as the band critics in my lifetime have inexplicably ignored. I don't even like Rush, really, but I'd have thought a band with their longevity, chops, and brains-- backed by a loyal and surprisingly huge following, endearingly captured in "I Love You Man"-- would have gotten a lot more ink.
And since it's Friday and I'm feeling frisky, I'll throw in an undoubtedly partisan opinion about another band. So many of the younger artists and critics I read these days trip through the field of "mental health" in some way or another-- every goddamn record is a therapy session, every young critic wants to "platform" people to share their "journeys", everyone's got trauma and sickness to broadcast-- and yet there seems to be a deaf spot for the one band which, for better or worse, laid a lot of the groundwork.
I'm talking about The Smiths. These days they're unceremoniously dumped in the same "80s legends" bucket as your Cars 'n' Cures. I'd have thought they're due a wee bit more serious critical attention. Of course, there's no mystery as to why they don't get anything but cursory mentions: the singer is problematic. Amazing to think that a figure who in the Reagan/Thatcher 80s stood for non-binary sexuality, feminism, anti-capitalism, vegetarianism, unashamed avowal of illness, and loving acceptance of self should be totally ignored today. (If he'd just had one more "anti" on his resume...!) It's an interesting form of ideological deafness, and I'm sure there are other cases.
I dunno, I think Smiths have a pretty strong half-life as a cultural presence among the young, even with Morrissey’s political turn turning off so many. Indie-ish young types discover the music in perpetuity, like with The Cure. The DNA entered emo.
DeleteI suppose it depends if we distinguish between fandom and criticism - with the latter being the focus of my point. Maybe you are right then about them dropping off the critical radar, a de-canonizing drift out of centrality.
I definitely have the sense that trying to embrace everything (especially if it's popular and made at least 15 years ago) is one of the main problems with contemporary music criticism. Really, it's OK to hate Nickelback, Creed and Limp Bizkit! For heaven's sake, the Guardian ran an op-ed accusing everyone who dislikes Nickelback of dishonest contrarian posturing. You can really feel the hand of the market here.
ReplyDeleteIt is also okay to feel un-engaged by Taylor Swift.
DeleteAt one of the EMP rock write conferences there was a push to celebrate or at least rescue from condescension the Mediocre - rhe idea being that the hamburger helpers of rock like Nickelback or Staind were valid and meaningful to many.
They are easy to spot in hindsight. For the post-punk / soul / jazz / funk NME crowd of the early 80s, it was the NWOBHM and its antecedents: Saxon, Maiden, Motörhead Whitesnake. Status Quo. IIRC US punk was completely ignored, too. Black Flag, Minor Threat, the early stirrings of Husker Du. Bad Brains. And then a lot of indie music. As I remember it, the real hipsters absolutely hated the Smiths. And I think the feeing was mutual.
ReplyDeleteThen of course the inkies insulted or ignored hardcore techno in the early 90s and UK Garage in the late 90s, with Simon just about the sole defender.
As you say, though, for reasons both ideological and commercial, it is really hard for those blind spots to exist today. In a world where the new Taylor Swift album can get a 100% grade from Rolling Stone, there seems to be no music that won’t be championed by somebody.
(Although apparently everyone has decided it’s OK to hate the new Tame Impala album, for reasons that are not really clear to me.)
Actually the NME had a contingent of US hardcore supporters, that is how I even heard about groups like Black Flag Flipper Minutemen Angry Samoans Negative Approach Descendents etc. and i am pretty sure the second wave punk championing Sounds gave similar coverage to US hardcore.
DeleteThe Smiths were one of the most lauded and critically analyses groups of the Eighties. There were a few people who sneered ar Morrissey as a wet wallflower miserabilist but The smiths were constantly on the front covers of the music papers. Indie generally was NME’s bread and butter.
Iron Maiden were not celebrated outside of Sounds but i suppose my question is really ‘what innovative and seminal band was unrecognized in its own time by the alleged cognoscenti?’. I don’t think Iron Maiden and their peers count. I am wondering what massively significant, genre-birthing band of recent times got undeservedly (from a hindsight-wise perspective) neglected and demeaned.
Pitchfork recently made an argument for Enya as being a disrespected significance. And there have been attempts to auteur-ize Sade.
Sabbath (deservedly) enjoyed a critical rehabilitation during the 90s (Led Zep too) - the similarly reviled Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon et al remain in critical purgatory, and one suspects if reassessment was going to happen, it would have happened by now.
ReplyDeletePaul McCartney's early solo work seems to be enjoying new found respect though - I've seen "Ram" hailed as the first ever indie album.
My sense is that Status Quo are ultra-hip these days: the Norwood Neu and all that. Of the class of NWOBHM proper, Venom and Diamond Head are key influences for speed metal and everything that came after, including the Young Gods. Speaking of which, Def Leppard also became very cool, although admittedly for their later studio experimentation rather than their early 80s breakout. I personally have a soft spot for Saxon: Wheels of Steel points the way to Band of Susans, and does it better.
DeleteIron Maiden, I will admit, have yet to achieve critical rehabilitation. But their music does play a key role in the fantastic Netflix thriller Rebel Ridge.
Judas Priest got into the Wire magazines albums of the year recently if I recall right. Or maybe it was reviewed positively.
DeleteI don’t know if being sampled by Young Gods really counts as beinf an influence on Young Goda. Thats just them cannibalising auto parts - repurposing a riff. In other respects the aesthetic impact of Diamondhead is not really discernible in the Franz Treichler vision.
I suppose the only real way to stay in a deaf spot nowadays is simply to be ignored, and that is hard to do if there is anything at all interesting about you. Geese were a minor cult last year, even though their Strokes-play-Beefheart music was pretty cool. But this year they have been everywhere, to the point that they have apparently recorded a Bruce Springsteen cover for an Xbox ad.
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