Get Henry Rollins on the line...
Published February 19, 2004
It's the meta-bitter reader review roundup, by your favorite purveyor of bitterness herself, Shannon of bitter-girl.com!
Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo.
Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo?
Someone call Henry Rollins! The title alone needs to be smacked around. Though it seems the Amazon reviewers are doing a fine job of that on their own...such vitriol! It's renewed some of my lost faith in American readership. For that reason alone, I think we need to salute these fine Amazonians. First, though, let's laugh at the editorial review quote from Blender magazine:
"This thoughtful, inquisitive book is, like the genre itself, really all about the fans...It's Catcher In The Rye with guitars."
Uh-huh. Catcher In The Rye with guitars. Gotcha. You were out drinking last night, weren't you? A reader from Central Florida writes:
The very concept of this book is ridiculous. It's almost a self-parody. The author, it seems, is too dumb to realize quite a few things:a) the bands discussed in this book are on the same corporate caliber as the bands it denounces.
b) bands like Jimmy Eat World, Thursday, and Dashboard Confessional are not elusive indie acts, they are millionaires and any rock radio station you tune into will gladly cram them down your throat.
c) Said bands do not fall under the true category of emo.
d) Obviously publishing a book like this will only further exploit and distort the popular image of the very music it supposedly holds sacred.If this book looks like it would even remotely appeal to you, do us all a favor and waste your money on it.
Ok, that was a nice bit o' bitterness, my Floridian friend, but you had to ruin it with (c) — emo defensiveness makes it tough to mock the bad-emo book. Mike B. Brody, though, wins the Best Review Title award: "Carson Daly wrote a book?!", further commenting:
He spends about 1% of the book talking about the actual history of "emo", which is the only interesting part of the book/genre! It's almost like he's relieved to get that part out of the way and start writing about what he really knows about: Dashboard Confessional. And I'll bet that's about when he started listening to "emo". The writing drives me nuts. Every sentence has to contain something like "like a diabetic in a candy store" or something else a high school kid would write.
- Get Henry Rollins on the line...
- Published: February 19, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Books
- Writer: Shannon Okey
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Comments on this articleComments
I love Emo.I thought his synth work with
Roxy Music was great.Ditto for the first
three solo albums esp: "Here Comes The
Warm Jets" and "Another Green World",the
ambient stuff is OK & all but...oh wait
Emo,I'm thinking about Eno,never mind
I much prefer his comedic stylings, such as the unforgettable:
"The toughest time...in anyone's life...is when you have to kill a loved one just because they're the devil."
Oh, wait, I'm thinking of Emo Phillips.
Oh, and another thing, if you're gonna capture my attention by putting Mr. Rollins in the title of your post, you could at least mention that Greg Ginn is the best guitar player around, except for the guy in the gorilla suit who plays the solo in the Beastie Boy's "No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" video. That dude could tear Mr. Ginn a new one, and Mr. Ginn would thank him for it!
Yeah,Ok good pernt Bricklayer.But who's
the better drummer Robo or Biscuits???
Dude, that is a tough call, but I'm gonna have to go with Robo, since he didn't go on to play with the elfin Danzig. Wait, I can't decide. I will get back to you.
Biscuits: Minus 1 for the Danzig.Plus 2
for The Circle Jerks and DOA.Robo plus 1
for the Flag.This leaves us with Robo &
Biscuits in a dead heat.Been playing the
first side of "Damaged" & "Bloodied But Unbowed" by DOA all day long mo confused
than ever now...
I think The Simpsons had the best review:
Lisa: It may be bleak, but this music is really getting to the crowd.
Bart: Eh, making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel.
-- "Homerpalooza"
Hey Craig, you talkin' to me? Specifically "This just in. There is nothing wrong with Dashboard Confessional. I bet you were a fan until they made it."? I didn't write the reviews profiled above, the Amazon readers did. I just thought the book title was hilarious and something dearest Hank would tear a new one...as in that spoken word bit he does about Ronnie James Dio.
Bricklayer, you killed me with your Emo Phillips line. I was referencing him that way back in '02, as in this post on my site. ;)
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/12907)
Nothing is better for street cred in the indie/emo crowd than having a snarky comment about the popular thing to backlash against.
This just in. There is nothing wrong with Dashboard Confessional. I bet you were a fan until they made it. Jimmy Eat World's album was great despite who put the thing out. You know we love these bands and then we get upset when they even get the tiniest bit of success. It really is a bit crazy.
By the way, if you think Thursday are millionaires I think you are a bit delusional. What do you think their advance was? How much do they get per tour? How much is it after splitting it 5 ways? Oh and how much do management expenses cost? And the road crew?
I haven't read this book yet. I have it sitting at home in my pile. Maybe it is crap, but the holier than thou attitude of the indie/emo scene is really obnoxious.