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Winning Critical Acclaim
Alex Reynolds writes "'Are pop critics doing a good job? What does it mean to do a good job as a pop music critic? What is the difference between good and bad pop music criticism?' Loren Jan Wilson's innovative Pitchformula project takes the archives of music criticism and journalism from the popular Pitchfork web site and analyses them for commonalities in content, determining what attributes make for a 'good' or 'bad' evaluation. From this data, Wilson sculpted his compositional and performance technique to write rock music that should win critical acclaim."
What is the difference between good and bad pop music criticism? ... From this data, Wilson sculpted his compositional and performance technique to write rock music that should win critical acclaim.
Anyone else see the problem here?
This guy is saying for the most part society in general is pretty damn predictable and if you know how you can produce something that is "pleasant". i.e. it fits well within the mainstream and can be said to have some mildly controversial elements (ha! controversational) while not really offending anybody.
Essentially you can bank on being able to sell something if you're prepared to make pap. Is it any sort of news that tastes in music can be estimated as easily as tastes in food?
McDonalds anyone?
A good music review will leave you NEEDING to hear whatever it is that was the subject of the review. After reading Psychedelic Reactions and Carborateur Dung (the finest collection of rock criticism ever) I needed to run out and listen to Bowie and The Clash and the MC5 and James Brown and The Animals and The Velvet Underground. And I hate Lou Reed. But damn Bangs is convincing.
Some of the best reviews do exactly what you suggest, they hint at what has gone before (isn't that what all music does anyway?)...it can be difficult to describe a band in words without referencing the influences because the basis for your commentary is also the basis for the music. So, stay away from reviews that say: "I deem this album 3.5 stars because I am able to determine what's good." (I don't think David Fricke of Rolling Stone has ever written a good review. And Greil Marcus stopped being good when he stopped emulating Lester Bangs.)
A good review is objective: "This album sounds like Aphex Twin, Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails got together, kicked each other's asses, and then had torrid, violent make-up sex." Or "If Tom Petty and Willie Nelson wrote a Counting Crows song, it wouldn't sound anything like this, but the words might be similar."
ps. You still BUY albums??! Loser.