I. Preamble
Writing about music is what made me to want to write for Blogcritics in the first place. I love doing my podcast. I love doing BCRadio. Music is a big part of both of those programs. This column is just another way for me participate in my passion for music.
Some critics write about music with their knives sharpened and minds closed, prepared to hate whatever floats into their ears. It is understandable. Bad music makes me angry. I feel assaulted when I hear bad music and bad music is not in short supply. There is a staggering amount of putrid, vapid shit being pressed on to disc and this is not a new development. It is an inescapable truth that has existed since the first works of art were created. That truth makes it easy to be jaded. It makes it convenient to be jaded. If you assume the worst you will rarely be disappointed. If you can convince yourself nothing worthwhile is being made you can hide yourself from the fountain of shit polluting the musical landscape.
I understand that. I just cannot bring myself to live like that. The truth is I want to discover another new artist. I want to hear another classic album filled with songs that have life-changing powers. I want to like things. I am addicted to the feeling of buying another new CD. I am a fanboy. No matter how many CDs I buy I can always think of one more I want. No matter how many artists I have launched into my pantheon I am always on the lookout for one more. I choose to navigate the rubbish-filled ocean in search of something great.
Finding something great is not an easy task. The Good-to-Shit ratio is discouraging. There is an appalling amount of awful music in circulation. The journey has been worthwhile because the power of the good and the great far exceeds that of the awful. The payoff of finding something magical is worth the risk of being caught in a music store when a John Mayer song is being played. Besides, mocking the bad is a hell of a lot of fun and almost makes the bad shit tolerable.
I sometimes change my mind about an artist. I fall for the slick packaging or think one good song on the radio might be indicative of an album full of even better songs. I have fallen for a fad or a trend or tried to convince myself I liked something that I did not just to have something to buy and to buy into. Sometimes I get caught up in the moment and get hooked on an artist only to find out they have the staying power of a 15-year old boy with a Playboy magazine.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Saleski
fantastic dj.
divorce albums: ever listen to Richard & Linda Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights? amazing stuff.
2 - DJRadiohead
Thank you so much, Sir Saleski. I have not hear the Richard & Linda Thompson CD. I will have to look for it.
Did you ever check out Beck's Sea Change? Another amazing breakup album. It wasn't a divorce but it was the end of a longtime relationship. Stunning.
3 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
listen to Shoot Out The Lights also for Thompson's guitar work, especially the title song--one of the scariest guitar solos I've heard.
4 - Mat Brewster
Very cool DJ. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
5 - DJRadiohead
Sir Brewster, thanks so much for reading and commenting. I was becoming quite surly at your absence lately. You don't call. You don't write. You don't send postcards. I am hoping you are feeling better and hope to see you around these parts more often.
6 - Gio
Get A Life My Friend..Sure, Music is Important but why be such a music snob about it. who are you to judge what is "good" and what is "bad"?! That is the very problem that has plagued "man" for a long time, we like to play god. Mariah Carey and John mayer offer something for everyone, there is nothing wrong with that and they have some good music between the two of them, and Mariah Carey has the voice of an angel and some great songs/albums as well. quit polarizing people, I happen to Like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac and I own all of Mariah's Music as well...you don't have to choose sides you know!
7 - Mark Saleski
i do have Sea Change, it's pretty amazing.
8 - Matthew T. Sussman
Better than a playlist, I'd say.
Keep this up, my man, and I'll see to it that you become a Fanman.
9 - DJRadiohead
Suss has the keys to manhood? How did we let that happen? Thanks for reading it!
10 - DJRadiohead
Gio, if the angels sound like Mariah Carey I am going to have to consider switching sides.
I don't think it amounts to playing a "god" to discern good music from bad music and I don't think divinity is necessary to know the difference. I lay out who I am in the preamble. I am a music fan. I like music and I like to like music. I like a lot of music but in spite of my natural predisposition to like music there is some attrocious shit out there. Knowing the difference doesn't make me a snob. It just makes me mildly observant.
I see this too often. Anytime a person expresses an opinion you get the, "Who are you to offer an opinion?" That is balls. I can't get to that place. If you think my opinion is wrong, I can live with that. If you think my analysis is faulty, I can live with that. If you just like Mariah Carey and don't understand why everyone else doesn't I will pray for you but that is fine with me as well. The idea, though, that it is snobbery to express oneself or that one must achieve some arbitrary qualification to do it just goes up my ass sideways.
Still though, thanks for reading my column. I hope you check out others in the future.
11 - Mat Brewster
DJ a music snob? Dude he worships Elliott Smith and wrote this piece about Tom Petty. You've got to be one f-ed up snob to write about Tom Petty.
I was only absent to get you all nice and surly. I like you that way. It makes for a better cuddle.
12 - Steve
Hey, DJ, we've got about the same number of songs in our collections!! I've got about 12,204, but they aren't in an ipod. Not a huge Petty fan myself, though he did have a few tunes I liked, I've got a couple of tunes of his, I guess, but missing some of his good ones.
13 - Glen Boyd
I confess to being a bit of a "music snob" in a former life. You know those guys behind the counter at the record store who snickered condescendingly as you brought your copy of Journey's Greatest Hits to the register?
Yup. That was me.
By the way DJ, I used to know those guys from Bubble records. Not sure if they are still around or not though.
Nice review. Looking forward to more.
14 - Glen Boyd
Wow!...that's a great idea for an article.
"Music snobs".
You can check Blogcritics probably round this time tommorrow for that one.
Thanks for the inspiration.
I'm all over this one.
15 - Steve
So, Glen, how were you saved from musical snobbery??? Don't tell me...read tomorrow's article, right?? lol.
16 - Eric Berlin
Outstanding work, DJR, great in depth and personal piece leading into substantive notes and sketches on a very good album easily forgotten nowadays.
Wildflowers is far and away my fave Petty album. I bought it right around the time I bought the greatest hits package that you mention, and I've always far preferred the former to the latter. There's a melancholy and attractive glow that permeates the record, making is very easy to sit with it all the way through.
17 - Vern Halen
Personally, I would consider Petty's early work his most interesting, even if it's for the most part long forgotten. Pick up You're Gonna Get It! and realize where TP sat in the vanguard of the New Wave - or if he did at all.
18 - Glen Boyd
It's up now Steve.
19 - Steve
Cool, Glen.
20 - DJRadiohead
Glen, Steve, Vern, thanks for checking this out and commenting. I think this is a series I am going to enjoy writing.
Glen... enjoyed your column quite a lot.
Vern... I have the Petty Playback box set and agree he did some very interesting stuff in his early years. I would like to go back and hear more of it.
21 - Steve
You're welcome, DJ.
22 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
DJ, from one fanboy to another, this was sublime. so much i could relate to, man, even though i ain't heard a lick of this record, far as i know. Just wonderful, you got all a fella needs to know about the record, and even better, the kinda analysis and personal anecdote gets a lad like me all quiverin round the giddy glands every time. Wondrous.
23 - DJRadiohead
Thanks, Duke. So pleased you found this one. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on V2 which was my Oasis experience.
It's hard to say that a record that sold upwards of 3M copies could be underappreciated so I will just say it's still worthwhile a dozen or so years later.
24 - Ace225
I'm glad to see someone else was so moved by "Crawling Back To You." That track is definitely my favorite, from what I consider to be one of my essential albums. I also agree that the lines you refer to as "the gospel" ("Most things I worry about, never happen anyway") are some of the best ever written. Those words helped me through a rough time in a relationship where I let fear and paranoia get in the way of reason. Tom Petty is an American treasure.
25 - DJRadiohead
Ace, so glad you found my column. It's great to hear from a fellow Wildflowers enthusiast, especially one who also loved "Crawling Back to You." It is a great album.