Blogcritics: Comments on Mayer, Rice, Gray: Lock Up Your Womenfolk

Comment by Anne

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 22:14:16 EDT

I embark on strange tangents sometimes, Eric. However, I *try* to stay on topic. :-) Well, I know that Michele of A Small Victory likes to mosh to the music of Kerry King and company from time to time, so there have to be some more of us out there. Thanks for the affirmation, though, Craig!

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 19:33:58 EDT

He's also a very fine guitar player

Comment by Joe

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 18:58:50 EDT

Mayer is for real. I saw the man of 1000 grimaii cameo on Chappelle's Show. This isn't some flash in the pan.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 18:05:03 EDT

I think those are pretty good summaries, Tom, but I still think you are too hard on our grimacing boy, who is one of those "popular in spite of" cases like Norah Jones, Say, rather than some calculated product.

Comment by Tom Johnson

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 18:00:44 EDT

Hell, I never listen to the radio and still somehow "Wonderland" got overplayed for me. I'll give you the vulnerability aspect for Gray and Mayer, but I think Rice is far too dark for the mainstream to grasp onto. O is beautiful, and it is vulnerable sounding, but it's a damaged kind of vulnerable, not the loveable vulnerability ascribed to Mayer. He's all teddy-bear "pretty lady, won't you help me pick up the pieces of my broken heart" where Rice is "my heart's been crushed asunder and there's no hope for it now." Gray is more "I'm sad and lonely and now I'm going to be very thoughtful about being at peace with that." At least that's how I see it.

Comment by Mark Saleski

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 15:58:52 EDT

i listened to an interview with Mayer and it was quite obvious to me that he puts a huge amount of time into not only the structure of his songs but also what he wants them to say.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 15:53:56 EDT

It is quite funny that we are variously triangulating between the three: I understand the differences but I like them all and see more similarities than differences in their approaches to music. I don't think Mayer wants to communicate any less than the others do.

Comment by Craig Lyndall

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 15:19:24 EDT

I really like Damien Rice while I don't totally appreciate Mayer or David Gray. I can see your point, Tom, that there are differences in the music, but from the perspective of marketing and the common fan (ie the majority of the people who buy these records) they are all lumped into the same genre. It was like when I had arguments with fans of the band Thursday because I mentioned the band the Used in the same breath as their beloved heroes. Are there lots of differences between The Used and Thursday? To me, yes. To the marketplace? They might as well be the same band because of the number of fans they share and the similar characteristics of the base.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 15:04:31 EDT

Yes, music is a funny thing. Tom, I obviously do see similarities here in approach to music: personal, emotionally vulnerable, intimate. I was trying to be funny about Mayer and the babes, but there is an element of truth to it and the same with all who use this approach, at least to a certain extent. After listening to a lot of Mayer to write this, i ended up liking him reasonably well and a few songs, including the dreaded "Wonderland," a lot. Remember, I don't listen to the radio much so the "hits" don't usually get played out for me.

Comment by Mark Saleski

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:20:17 EDT

now the interesting thing here...is that i like Mayer way more than Gray. i heard tons of praise for Gray, borrowed a copy of White Ladder, and was left completely cold by the stuff. music's a funny thing.

Comment by Tom Johnson

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:14:04 EDT

Man, I definitely have to take issue with lumping the execrable Mayer in with the likes of Damien Rice and David Gray. Mayer's that new breed of frat-boy, the kind who have figured out that it's easier to infiltrate the female form by crooning meaningless ballads rather than showing off the power of his pecs and picking on geeks, as you also illustrate in a different way, but Rice and Gray are most certainly not. In fact, I'm rather stunned by the lumping - it just makes no sense whatsoever to stick Mayer in with people whose main goal is simply to express what they feel, when it's pretty obvious from the ridiculously stupid and disturbing "Wonderland" that Mayer's interests lie south of the button of every sorority girl's low-rise jeans. Oh, here we go - I can feel this becoming the onset of another "artists" verses "entertainers" argument. I think I hear Sandra Smallson running to her computer as I write this!

Comment by Craig Lyndall

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:54:18 EDT

And from a female slayer fan, no less. That absolutely rocks. And here I had ruled out meeting women at metal shows. I guess I need to amend that.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:48:40 EDT

I would not have anticipated that the first comment on this post would invoke the name of Slayer.

Comment by Anne

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 13:35:57 EDT

Mayer's music is not my cup of cappucino, but I'll bet the farm I have his average female fan pegged. On an episode of Snoop Dogg's MTV comedy show last year, there was a parody of some home redecorating program. At the end of it, there was a teaser for the next episode, in which the furniture in the living room of Mayer's #1 fan was moved one-quarter inch to the left. And she was thrilled, jumping for joy as if the room had been completely changed. So what's my point? For instance, I love Slayer, but frankly some people can't handle the aggressiveness of their music. I think a little guitar and some soft drums go a long way towards rocking these people's worlds! Speed up the tempo even a little and they'll have a heart attack.