Jay Reatard (RIP 2010)

terror visions is worth a listen, but maybe not to buy it

hes like 27 i think

You should get in on his new 7" series on Matador, it just started! The first one, "See Saw" b/w "Screaming Hand", is really great and still available. There will be five more this year in gradually decreasing quantities--ah, collector-baiting.

My friend took the cover photo for Blood Visions, haha.

i know a place/don't let him come back 7" is worth buying. 2nd the matador single too http://www.shangri.com/front%20page/new%20releases/retard.jpg

I like the Reatards "Grown up Fucked Up" too, but the solo stuff is more vital. Favorite Lost Sounds is Rats Brains and Microchips, I think.

I'm not enough of a collector scum to track down all the Mataodor releases, but I'm excited for the inevitable CD compilation of them. Dude really keeps growing on me.

Also check out the Night of Broken Glass single.

Nervous Patterns album is pretty good, on the mellow side for him. I think it came out post-Lost Sounds and has a similar new-wave vibe to most of his stuff. Goner had it on CD the last I checked.

I've heard good things about Angry Angles, too. Haven't gotten the chance the check em out. The Final Solutions are good, I think he's their drummer. The Goner store in Memphis is pretty great.

the past few singles and the track on the matador sampler (from single #3 i think?) are all a little more subdued, and not as amped/punk as blood visions or NoBG. is jay's solo career gonna follow the trajectory of andrew wk's????

I've either seen live or owned something from every project with which he's been involved, but I won't front: Blood Visions and the handful of singles (cf "Night of Broken Glass") he's put out during this 'solo' incarnation during the last couple of years are definitely my fave.

Second Matador single is "Painted Shut" b/w "An Ugly Death", out May 20th

Details here: http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/?p=1548

The cover of Blood Visions is so damned classic.

I heard a new song on a Matador sampler comp called "Always Wanting More" the other day. SOO good.

I remember being pretty impressed with the Angry Angles song on the GonerFest DVD/CD (the whole of which rocks).

I love his new, poppier direction. Once you write "No one stands me", there isn't much left to do in the mean mean punk vein, I guess. An Andrew WK-ish path would be awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zOA8i9UnEQ&eurl

whatta dick

Pretty good punch for having a guitar on his back

Was anybody at his show in Toronto last week? I missed it but supposedly some dude rushed the stage, apparently messed up some of the equipment, Jay punched him in the face, more madness ensued, and they just stopped the show 3 songs in.....and of course, more madness ensued from there.....sounds like fun, some of it's on youtube....

and now I realize that said youtube link was just posted....

The dude's undeniably a douchebag; this is hardly the first time I've heard stories of him going nuts.

the pitchfork.tv clips were awful

fuk thats a brutal punch

Read his blog before you jump to any conclusions. I laughed pretty fucking hard watching that video of him knocking the kid out.

ur likely an asshole tho

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc142/GoonRamerez/12313.jpg

Last night's show in Toronto got completely fucked up. The Silver Dollar holds 190 people but Craig Laskey the promoter let 350 people in there. That's cool if there's some sort of security or crowd control - we don't need people getting so wild they jump on stage and smash our gear - but that's exactly what happened. Right when we started playing someone pushed the monitors right on top of Stephen and on to his pedals - breaking them, people were throwing beer bottles at us, a someone jumped onstage and smashed my pedals, another guy took a full pitcher of beer and dumped it all over the rest of my pedals, and then threw it right at my Flying V, breaking the pickup and the input electronics. After three songs all our gear was smashed and unusable. Even when shit gets that crazy at Circle Jerks show there's at least some security but when I asked Craig Laskey about it before the show he told me "I thought you guys were a garage band." When we couldn't play anymore I hung out and talked to people, refunded people's money out of my own pocket, and tried to borrow gear and finish the set a bit later but Dan Burke wouldn't get off the stage, too busy talking trash about me.

I'm getting really sick of shit like this happening. We'll come back in Toronto soon and do a free show to make it up to the real fans in Toronto. And we'll steer away from greedy promoters who don't have any control of their shows and who don't care about doing right by the audience.

no mention of punching a dude who took three steps on stage w/no evidence of breaking anything - they were playing a song yet all their gear was "smashed and unusable" hmmmmm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gj1SSoWWhA the hospitals meet dan burke

Both punches in both videos seem entirely justified to me, and after reading Jay's version, even more so. Despite what Fugazi tells you, there damn well fucking SHOULD be a 'barrier' between audience and performer.

For consistency's sake, can someone link to the youtube vid of Rollins beating the crap outta some douchebag who was trying to grab his mic at a Black Flag gig?

This vid's a bit clearer than the 1st one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhCiEl4RK4&NR=1

Jay a reactionary hothead sure. The tales are all true.

The kid so had it coming to him, though. I don't care if rushing the stage is the norm as this kind of show, as soon as you let one kid get away with it, ten more will follow suit. Bravo.

no mention of punching a dude who took three steps on stage w/no evidence of breaking anything - they were playing a song yet all their gear was "smashed and unusable" hmmmmm

-- jhøshea, Monday, April 21, 2008 8:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

His guitar cut out 1) when it got unplugged (duh plug it back in) and 2) when he paused to tune and 3) when Jay packed up his gear, otherwise his shit seemed to be working. And I didn't see anyone else but him throw the pitcher. Pretty suspect story.

Taking care of business vs. sore cunt temper tantrum.

(the punch I don't care much about, it's the whole packing up and leaving and being a big baby)

Anyone see the video of Duane Dennison punchin the hell outta some guy?

why is there no talk of this?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ufaSYGz8L._SS500_.jpg

it's fantastic!!!!!!!!!!

I'd already heard all of this but it's good stuff, especially "it's so useless" and "don't let him come back."

What else is worth tracking down?

the angry angles singles, the bad times lp, and everything by the final solutions.

New album is "out"...
At first I wasn't sold, now I'm on it's dick hardcore. I am under it's spell. Sounds like the Rezillos or some shit. Sounds like Trent Reznor wrote the lyrics. AHAHAHA. A ton of "life sucks whadda am I gonna do" sentiments. Don't know. Good stuff. Massive doobage.

What are the thoughts heeeerrree?

Aint Gonna Save Me is awesome. An explosion of poptastic goodness. Be warned though: it is devilishly catchy.

The popness is still less obvious live. Posted on an Adverts thread about seeing Jay and his band back up TV Smith on some Adverts covers recently. Fun stuff.

there's a rumor circulating that he died?! unsubstantiated.

jayreatard

1. I will give anyone a hundred bucks per tire that they pop on the band liquor stores van ! Yes I'm serious 12:42 PM Jan 11th from TwitterBerry

Alive as least of 48 hours ago?

Um I'll just pretend that was a real sentence.

I just heard the same thing, from a reliable source... apparent drug overdose.

There's a banner up on the Goner Records site saying Jay Reatard RIP...

Oh shit. RIP

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/jan/13/memphis-musician-jay-reatard-found-dead-midtown-ho/

Well, fuck.

crazy. i really like watch me fall. RIP.

This is awful.

oh man. sad to hear it. that was really one of my favorite records last year. and somehow he seemed too smart to end up dead young, for all his badboy guff. but i guess there are different kinds of smart. r.i.p. :(

I saw and loved Lost Sounds more than once.

Talent + drugs = tragedy :(

His music has truly sucked since the amazing Blood Visions but I'm still shocked to see this. I always thought he seemed like a pretty cool guy despite his "asshole" reputation. Was hoping he'd return to his former Reatards/early solo heights, but I guess not anymore. Didn't know he was big into drugs either...interviews suggested he's done a little coke but not really into much of anything.

ugh yeah, shit sucks. i loved the reatards, haven't even heard his solo stuff, but...RIP.

rip... Blood Visions was a great record.

jesus

Was under the impression that he'd been a pretty big caner for years and then knocked it on the head, but only from, er, interviews

RIP for real, here's to 2010 finishing off what last year started and dispatching every single fucking exciting rock musician on the planet

Such a shame.

shit fucking fuck shit.
My best friend was in the lost sounds, he's probably taking this pretty badly.
Should give memphis a call.

RIP so hard

^^^

oh no!

fucking hell

Still hoping it's some dumb He Who Cannot Be Named-style stunt

jeeze. RIP.

Still hoping it's some dumb He Who Cannot Be Named-style stunt

Was thinking this, but neither faking it or actually dying fit with my impression of the guy.

what the fuck

RIP

jesus like the current musician most emblematic of my past three years, i remember being so stoked for all those singles and everything. i was fucking arguing with him on terminal boredom last week for his shattered record club being a ripoff. i know he had drug problems, and i assume that was involved here, but like jesus. this is stunning and really sad.

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2010/01/13/jay-reatard/

v.sad

RIP

RIP to a good Tennessee boy.

Holy fuck! Just heard about this from P4k. Jesus.

RIP

Holy fuck. Wow. I'm shocked. Jesus fucking christ, this is a blow.

what... no.

he seemed unstoppable. really stunned by this.
RIP

Awwwww..........

:( x 1,000,000

I didn't even know he had a drug problem. :(

it wasnt his defining characteristic, but yeah.

When I last saw him he was on the wagon and doing well. He flipped out sometime in the middle of last year and all I heard coming out of Memphis were Jay-is-on-the-warpath stories.

yeah, all the band breakup stuff and the crazy tweets and termbo posts raised some red flags

Never heard his music but sad when anyone this young dies.

wait sorry for my ignorance, but i didn't know what a caner was, so i looked it up and apparently it doesn't mean what i figured it meant (cocaine-r)
what is a caner? how on earth did this guy die?

I really loved his recent LP, and heard nothing from his old bands. He was truly talented, and it's a real shame, he could have conquered the world with another good record like 'Watch Me Fall'.

La Lechera: caner - A person who indulges in excessive bouts of drug or alcohol use.

To cane something is to go overboard with it.

oh ok. pls excuse me, i just can't believe that he's just *poof* dead.

I don't know if another Watch Me Fall would have been the ticket, but given all the talent he displayed through all his other projects, it did certainly feel like he had a world-conquering record in him. He had a grasp on pop that very few people have.

I'm reminded of how devastated I was after the Exploding Hearts tragedy.

Sorry for lol Britisher slang - just general purpose term for someone who ingests a lot of drugs

Playing 'Singles 08' now tbh and in the interests of fair and balanced reportage I would like to put forward that His music has truly sucked since the amazing Blood Visions (from up there) is some straight rongness that you will be the better for ignoring

at first i thought the thread title had always been this bah

There's no evidence of it being drug-related so far. It's easy to assume when it's someone so young, but, for example, a friend of mine died in her sleep of an aneurysm. She was only 26.

I'm reminded of how devastated I was after the Exploding Hearts tragedy.

Yeesh, freaky -- prompted by the mention I go to the Exploding Hearts thread and read this:

pretty soon people are gonna realize that jay reatard is power pop

― otm in new york (G00blar), Friday, April 10, 2009 1:46 PM (9 months ago)

He was pretty much power pop at heart!

omg. i thought this was a (bad) joke when i saw the thread title. rip.

"I would like to put forward that His music has truly sucked since the amazing Blood Visions (from up there) is some straight rongness that you will be the better for ignoring"

DJ Mencap OTM

Yeah, I was just ignoring that line.

I never got around listened to his music, but always meant to. I guess Blood Visions is the place to start.

xp dude's name is REATARDS UNITE it shouldnt surprise people that he'll staunchly defend the early material

Wow, I'd been not clicking on this thinking it was some hilarious internet fake rumour. RIP

xp I don't think it should have to be a faceoff but I hear ya

he was definitely power-pop, in fact he reminded me of if jack white did power-pop. he did power-pop the way the buzzcocks did power-pop.

I will be paying tribute to Jay and all his bands and some of his influences on Holy Victrola tonight.
KOPN.org from ten pm to midnight central. It will be archived (eventually) at holyvictrola.blogspot.com
Jesus, been doing too many tribute shows lately.
TBH I'm all tore up about this, too. I had some really good times with Jay but was always a little bit wary of his manic side.
Just sucks.

:(

Good luck with your show Sean.

Now my favorite Jay song, "Death Is Forming," will never sound so joyous and cut-through-all-the-bullshit ID-like again. Or maybe it'll sound even more so. Can't listen right now. RIP, buddy. :(

FUCK.

A year and a half ago I wrote an article about him for the local paper. I had read that he was kind of crazy and an asshole with little patience, so I expected the interview to be a terrible mess, but, and I've said this multiple times ever since, he was by far the nicest, most genuine and most interesting musician I ever interviewed, and later on at the show he was super sweet (oh, and the set was incredible).

This is terrible. Sorry Tripmaker and everyone who knew him. RIP Jay.

Listening to Teenage Hate right now and it is twisting me up.

RIP. He was real good.

As of 7:53 PM eastern time, the #2 google search in America is Jay Reatard

http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

"Goner Records" is #3!

man, what? damn, RIP

the #2 google search in America is Jay Reatard

that's not how googletrends works fwiw: hot trends are uncommon search strings that are outliers from the normal search string patterns.

12. "shart"

anyway. this is really sad. dude was always perfectly pleasant to me (he did make fun of one of my friend's dancing tho, justifiably). and he was damn talented. I was really looking forward to watching him mature as a writer/ performer.

good riddance to bad rubbish (idk who this is)

oh yay, cankles

yeah, all the band breakup stuff and the crazy tweets and termbo posts raised some red flags

― 69, Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:04 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah just by reading the internet it really seemed like his life was spiraling out of control - very weird and sobering news anyhow

went to this show last summer in the middle of Stuyvesant Town, with some confused elderly tenants on the fringes. Fun performer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVUZ9ROkoL8&feature=related

A bunch of friends of mine were hosting Liquor Store at a house show and last night they were all complaining about how jay was sending members death threats and I kept saying "oh shit lo-fi drama!" and then today he's dead.

Apparently could be flu-related

in re power pop, i think watch me fall is the first album of his that's really power pop, but you could see him headed there from early on.

shit... this sucks, right when I was just starting to get into his stuff. RIP

Fucking fuck. A friend e-mailed me about this around 2 this afternoon, and I've been bumming ever since. Listening to Lost Sounds and not drinking beer. RIP, Jay.

this is probably the only celebrity/musician death i've ever really cared about, and it fucking SUUUCKS. like yeah michael jackson wrote some good songs a few decades ago, but this guy was on a shit-hot winning streak.

Wow. Damn. Stupid. RIP.

Blood Visions & Singles '06-'07 are my favorites, the perfect synthesis of anger/frustration & catchiness.

Damn, R.I.P. I only have Matador Singles 08 I think (the one with him in the bathtub on the cover, covered in his records) but I really like it and it is a shame for this dude to die. I thought he had bags of potential.

I really enjoyed "Watch Me Fall", and would have liked to have seen him do a show. RIP.

I always wanted to get into him, but the sound clips that I heard never quite squared with what I had expected to hear, based on reviews and shit. Last night though, I watched the clip above with the pitcher throwing and fistfights and thought the band sounded pretty good. R.I.P.

Also, was his last name just pronounced "retard" like normal? Or was it more like Ree-ah-tard?

Jay Ray Tard?

Saw him just before Christmas, playing a staggeringly sparsely attended show in London, part of what was apparently a disastrous UK tour. He was great. Couldn't tell whether it was schtick, or he really did have the personality of an angry teenager. Was hoping I'd get to see him play again

Yeah so, I just compared the link that Morbs posted above with a clip of that song from his album. Once again, the album version sounds so listless to me. I think I'll make my own Jay Reatard album by ripping audio from youtube clips.

not a bad idea. may i suggest pretty much all of the Goner Store - 5/11/2007 clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klv9JLjJ4DI

like yeah michael jackson wrote some good songs a few decades ago, but this guy was on a shit-hot winning streak.

Nothing against either MJ or Jay, but this is backwards.

Saw him just before Christmas, playing a staggeringly sparsely attended show in London, part of what was apparently a disastrous UK tour.

Same here although the show I went to was quite busy. He played about 5 times in London in the space of a week or 2 though, the one I went to was at the Lexington.

RIP, but fuck, you mess with drugs what do you expect?

I played Mainliner on my tribute show last night and considered adding Nanjo's viewpoint that "if you do drugs you better be prepared to die" but since I'm not 100 percent sure that Jay's death was the result of drug use I decided not to.
Here's the playlist (some stuff didn't make it onto the playlist, like another song from Teenage Hate. Really wanted to play "you fucked my dreams" but decided that it wasn't worth the wrath of the station heads for dropping the F-bomb)
1 Reatards Memphis Blues Teenage Hate
2 Lost Sounds 1 + 1 + Nothing 1 + 1 = Nothing
3 Jay Reatard It's So Easy Blood Visions
4 The Lollipop Shoppe You Must Be A Witch Nuggets
5 Jay Reatard Hammer I Miss You Singles 06-07
6 Wire the 15th 154
7 Pink Reason Throw It Away Throw It Away
8 Elastik Band Spazz Nuggets
9 The Dead Boys Not Anymore Young, Loud And Snotty
10 The Lost Sounds Frozen In Time Rats Brains & Microchips
11 Germs Manimal Germs (MIA) - The Complete Anthology
12 The Lost Sounds plastic skin Black Wave
13 Mainliner Last Day Mainliner Sonic
14 Jay Reatard an ugly death Matador Singles '08
15 David Bowie Black Country Rock The Man Who Sold The World
16 Lost Sounds Ship Of Monsters Memphis Is Dead
17 Q65 Cry In The Night Revolution
18 Jay Reatard Fading All Away Blood Visions
19 Devo smart patrol/mr. dna Duty Now for the Future
20 Jay Reatard Searchin/Haunting You/Let It All Go Singles 06-07
21 Pere Ubu Final Solution Terminal Tower
22 Wire From The Nursery Chairs Missing
23 Lost Sounds living in the ice age No One Killer
24 Wipers taking too long Youth of America
25 The Stooges I wanna be your dog The Stooges
26 Memphis Goons sweet love Teenage BBQ
27 Rolling Stones torn and frayed Exile On Main Street
28 Thin Lizzy Fight Or Fall Jailbreak
29 Buddy Holly Rave On From the Original Master Tapes
30 The Nerves hanging on the telephone One Way Ticket
31 Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers gov't center The Modern Lovers
32 The Dovers what am I gonna do Nuggets
33 Jay Reatard oh it's such a shame Blood Visions

Didn't even play anything from Watch Me Fall but it's really not my fave.

RIP, but fuck, you mess with drugs what do you expect?

To get high, of course.

Maybe too high.

plz take stuff that takes decades to kill you, friends.

what do you mean backwards, ilxor?

That stuff gives me gas, though. xp

"Artists React to Jay Reatard's Death"

http://pitchfork.com/news/37582-artists-react-to-jay-reatards-death/

what do you mean backwards, ilxor?

While I'm not a big fan of either, saying that MJ made a few good songs while Jay was on some sort of unstoppable hot streak seems like the roles have been reversed a bit. I'd say the opposite about each!

ah ok. well in any case i don't think it's even possible to argue mj was on a shit-hot winning streak in 2009.

Sisario in the Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/arts/music/15reatard.html

“I’m just trying to get the idea out before the inspiration is gone,” he told The Times last year. “Everything I do is motivated by the fear of running out of time.”

Talk about a money quote.

yeah thank God the writer jotted that quote down so when Jay Reatard died you could point out the irony of it

color me clueless but up until this point i had thought that jay reatard was some pitchfork approved john mayer type, not a garage rocker from memphis

xp Exactly.

gbx check out blood visions--it will give you blood visions

you thought a dude named "reatard" was a john mayer type?

i never said it was rational!

ok que

maybe not john mayer, maybe like jason mraz or something, a guy with a funny name playing cute songs

I'm having trouble squaring "Pitchfork-approved" with Mayer OR Mraz.

a guy with a funny name playing cute songs who is approved by Pitchfork

i guess now we know who the real "reatard" is

a guy with a funny name playing cute songs who is approved by Pitchfork

Jens Lekman?

"Jay" MC Reatard

Kid Millions of Oneida shares his thoughts:
http://enemyhogs.com/site/index.php?s=kid

\(O_o)/

man, leave it to kid millions. that guy rules hard.

from my favorite band-dude c.2003-2005 to my late favorite band-dude c.2007-08.

Despite the fact that his records esp his last one were really dark the guy always seemed so vital and driven I did not really see this coming at all. A big shock. He leads off the Chris Knox Stroke album that might just be the last thing he did/ recorded before this happened? Last record felt like a transition record and while it kind of lacked the coherence of Blood Visions still contained some hellish good songs. I'm going to mow the lawns. Very Sadly.

Will miss you Jay Reatard.

J "Reatard" Dilla.

i knew i had a coupla of his songs in shit i dl'ed, i just didnt know what they were. so i went into the library and played them-- oh yeah, i remember an ugly death and my shadow. theyre good, i meant to get more of him.

rip.

being investigated as a homicide

http://pitchfork.com/news/37592-jay-reatards-death-investigated-as-homicide-by-memphis-police/

wha? No drugs but murder????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

WTF??!?!??!?!?!??!

Hmmm. The Memphis FOX story that P-fork linked to now seems to be completely gone.

So weird. There are still internal links on that FOX site to the "Murder Investigation" story, but all the links are now dead.

To be fair, plenty of deaths are temporarily investigated as homicides; it's a routine thing, just going down the checklist to make sure the authorities don't overlook anything. I'd be surprised if it's actually a homicide.

same here, but still...

i mean, the guy did have some enemies!

"Homicide" as a manner of death doesn't mean the same thing as in other contexts, and is definitely not the same as "murder." It could mean lots of things.

I already wrote about this elsewhere, but it's pretty sad to see someone who'd dedicated that much of his life to music, and seemed to be in a really transitional period (in terms of his music, his audience, probably a whole lot of his life), not get the chance to finish that trip.

Ah, wait, sorry, we're talking about police investigation more than cause/manner of death -- I don't know exactly how the two things trigger one another, but yeah, it doesn't necessarily mean a ton.

I'm listening to the version of 'searching for you' off of the in the dark ep and it's so affecting and poignant right now.

^^says the poster with 'I can't turn my face into a shart' as his handle

prime suspect in the murder of mr. jimmy lee lindsey a.k.a jay reatard

http://www.magnetmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/wavve366b.jpg

er,

http://www.magnetmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/wavve366b.jpg

?

who is that?

just saw this being investigated as homicide. just . . . wow.

dude from wavves, bad joke xp

that's the dude from wavves

I don't get it

battle for the biggest lo-fi musician covered by P4k

I thought No Age already had the crown...

just listened to watch me fall today, for the first time in months. i don't get why people don't love that record, but i guess if you like him as a noisy punk then maybe him as a smart loud-fast-pop guy is too much of a shift? anyway, it sounded great and "there is no sun" seemed like a sadly otm closer.

Gorgeous song! I had never heard it before. Here it is if other people want to listen to it: http://lala.com/zG1q

I always thought that There is no Sun should have been a second single. Was there ever one?

i'm pretty sure it was a heroin overdose.

He made that Nirvana song his own.

its a really great cover version

Presumably this In Utero tribute album is the one that Robotic Empire have been putting together for like two or three years?

Sky Larkin: "The flying V never looked more at home than in his hands"

This is on the motherfucking money.

I mean, between him and Rudolph Schenker, but it worked for him in a very different way, obviously.

OTM re: "There is No Sun." That's by far my favorite song of his.

Never saw this vid before (apols if it's already been posted):

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=61533697

Thanks for that link, I hadn't seen that one before.

Yeah, that's poignant, the stuff he says at the end.

So- what's the latest here, anyone know? Overdose? Still confusion? An update would be appreciated.

Point being, there was a ton of talk about this then POOOOOOF! Nothing has been said.

I'm betting overdose. Mainly cos my friends were good friends with him and kinda thought that at first. I hope not but I think so...

It's really a shame. I know so many people that have died so young from overdosing. I only met him once but he was a really nice guy. That shouldn't happen to nice people.

i assume they're waiting on toxicology tests. that can be a weird thing, you hear somebody died and it's news for a few days but if the cause-of-death report takes too long people lose interest and it just becomes a brief blurb that's easy to miss.

rest in piss

From this story linked to from the AV Club's Twitter feed:

Cocaine toxicity, aided and abetted by booze, did in musician Jay Reatard, according to the results of an autopsy released this morning.

helluva toxicity

fucking sucks.

Memphis music writer Andy Earles wrote a great piece that I haven't seen linked here, so check it out
http://www.spin.com/articles/jay-reatard-remembered

How much coke do you have to do to overdose? Alcohol is obviously a bit contributor, but is it common to overdose? I've heard that you have to consume a ton to end up killing yourself. I could be wrong though.

depends on purity too, no?

I think you're wrong but i'm sure it depends on the person. Mixing with alcohol is a surefire way to tip the scale.

Yes, mixing a stimulant with a depressant = not good.

you guys all watch the wire, i thought you knew this stuff

Arts, Briefly
Drugs and Alcohol Cited in Death of Jay Reatard
by DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: February 3, 2010
A medical examiner said that cocaine and alcohol had contributed to the death of Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., the punk rock musician better known as Jay Reatard, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis reported. After an autopsy Dr. Karen E. Chancellor, the medical examiner of Shelby County, Tenn., told The Commercial Appeal that Mr. Lindsey, above, had died from “cocaine toxicity, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in his death.” Mr. Lindsey, a prolific musician whose recent albums included “Watch Me Fall” and “Blood Visions,” was found dead in his home in the Cooper-Young section of Memphis on Jan. 13. He was 29.

I hear the toxicology reports were filed from specialists at the University Of No Doy

Twitter comments, both lol-worthy and sad:

ladho
Mp3 hipsters jump at chance for puns on hearing jay reatard died of cocaine od; a drug they only know from movies (divx)
3 minutes ago from txt

tipsheet
JAY REATARD's Death Ruled a Retarded Mix of Cocaine & Alcohol http://bit.ly/cNsObh
17 minutes ago from EasyTweets

MissAnnThrope
Jay Reatard Cause of Death Revealed: http://bit.ly/93udIp - JR died of "cocaine toxicity and alcohol"... Sad.. what a f'n reatard... :(
28 minutes ago from web

ADebutant
Turns out Jay Reatard died of cocaine toxicity and alchohol abuse...What kind of (pardon my obvious pun) reatard couldn't figure that out?
43 minutes ago from web

_patriciam
Jay Reatard: why?! Cocaine is for jerks.
about 2 hours ago from web

tine_cms47
RT Watch him fall indeed; unnecessary & sad @gigulate: Jay Reatard Died From A Mixture Of Cocaine And Alcohol [MTV.com] : http://is.gd/7DAHn
about 2 hours ago from UberTwitter

Kiki90210
RT @pitchforkmedia Jay Reatard's cause of death revealed http://bit.ly/dg77lg -What a waste. Glad I no longer ride the cocaine train!
about 2 hours ago from twidroid

debasieur
"cocaine's a hell of a drug" - jay reatard
about 3 hours ago from web

jseremet
News: Jay Reatard's autopsy reveals death occurred due to cocaine toxicity, alcohol and just plain sucking. http://bit.ly/8ZvzpE
about 3 hours ago from Brizzly

SRN_lol
anyone want to do a Reatarded amount of cocaine?
about 4 hours ago from web

Mp3 hipsters!

indie music is wasted on the fucking dullards that listen to it

indie music is wasted on the fucking dullards that listen to it

MissAnnThrope

^^uuuugh

lol at 'reatarded amount of cocaine.' is it not sad anymore just because he OD'd? i feel like "nice goin' moron now i won't get to hear any of the new songs you would have written and it's your own stupid fault" is a pretty offensive way of reacting to this. who are these people?

that spin article was pretty great. but warning, it does make you feel like this all just happened yesterday, and it will bum you out all over again.

lmao this guy is roasting in hell right now

Is that funny or something? Way to contribute to the (generally) overwhelming pettiness of comments boards. The internet has bummed me out a lot this week ...

wait a second grandavis, perhaps you just don't appreciate cankles' sophisticated sense of humor and also did you know that he is on the sports threads so don't push sb on the old cankles no way dude

Nah, I have never and will never SB anyone (I don't think), as I am not really a regular poster here. Seems a bit much for the most part. Just not really into this kinda thread taking this direction. And it just wasn't funny, if that was the intent. Perhaps cankles will represent better in the future. Geaux Saints.

I have never and will never SB anyone (I don't think), [...] Seems a bit much for the most part.

Real talk.

just sb'd all of you tbh

And after I recommended songs to make your niece a better person...

Perhaps cankles will represent better in the future.

I lolled

the flames of tartarus lapping at his vintage jeans

I hesitate to post this but...

I'm definitely saddened by Jay Reatard's death and I bet he had a good heart, and he was a human being who deserves respect like any other... I just find it a bit hard to get offended on his behalf now that he's dead. He was full-on dedicated to being as obnoxious and offensive and disrespectful as possible when he was alive. It's just kinda weird to get all "How dare you call Jay Reatard a retard!" now.

Not saying anyone's really doing that here either...

Jay reatard would probably buy a cankles album.

Plus who cares what Jay Reatard would do or say? Druggie musicians do and say a lot of awful shit. That doesn't mean I wouldn't have bristled a little if someone said the same bullshit right after like, Warren Zevon died or something.

Makes little difference what the fuck you assholes say.;-)

A day or two after his death one of his press ppl in the UK was laying into eBay sellers who put his rarer stuff up there for inflated buy it now prices like immediately on hearing of his passing... I realise this isn't classy behaviour but you know how "it's what she would have wanted" became a meme re: Princess Diana (maybe you don't), well I literally think it's what he would have wanted

Ha! I'm so glad I didn't know that. Except now I do. Goddamn it.

Why can't you call someone stupid who willingly indulges to excess a number of toxic substances that are known to be lethal in large doses?

i think it's just a respect for the dead thing, like you can call a junkie a moron when he's alive but to just up and "lol you od'd" rubs me as kind of an evil thing to do. it's right below insulting people who commit suicide in my book. like the mature thing to do is just to gravely nod at the sadness of the situation, not to point fingers of call names. i dunno.

You're right, I should have said "What he did was stupid", because ultimately you do have a choice if you're going to go down that road. Whether it's easy or hard to make is dependent on the individual.

I've just gotten sick of how celebrated booze and hard drugs are in the punk rock/underground scenes or whatever. Some people will go to the funeral of their friend who OD'd and will be doing lines that night at a party in remembrance of him. It's sick.

ick of how celebrated booze and hard drugs are in the punk rock/underground scenes or whatever

don't think this "celebration" is limited to just punk rock/underground music

Some people will go to the funeral of their friend who OD'd and will be doing lines that night at a party in remembrance of him. It's sick.

it's called being addicted to drugs

Real talk.

A day or two after his death one of his press ppl in the UK was laying into eBay sellers who put his rarer stuff up there for inflated buy it now prices like immediately on hearing of his passing... I realise this isn't classy behaviour but you know how "it's what she would have wanted" became a meme re: Princess Diana (maybe you don't), well I literally think it's what he would have wanted

― kinda sad that everybody gets a blur band (DJ Mencap), Thursday, February 4, 2010 6:45 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

seriously true. i can think of nothing jay wouldve LOLed harder at than his death's effect on the collector scum

He was full-on dedicated to being as obnoxious and offensive and disrespectful as possible when he was alive.
Sure seemed that way sometimes, but he really wasn't.

A day or two after his death one of his press ppl in the UK was laying into eBay sellers who put his rarer stuff up there for inflated buy it now prices like immediately on hearing of his passing...

this is pretty the way the art world operates fwiw!!!! dead artists' work $$$$$$$ >>>> living artists'

Jay reatard would probably buy a cankles album.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, February 4, 2010 1:11 PM (4 hours ago)

*smiles*

cankles is dead? RIP : (

he had so many jew jokes left to make.

RIP cankles :(

cankles is up in heaven, laffing @ jay while he burns in eternal hellfire

"He was full-on dedicated to being as obnoxious and offensive and disrespectful as possible when he was alive."

Yeah i want to take issue with this perception. I've seen and read tonnes of interviews, and yep he is self confident and speaks his mind often but what also comes across is an uncompromising love of music and authentic expression. I know he could be obnoxious but not all the time and I certainly don't think it was a pose.

He did seem sensitive and sometimes bitter about stuff, but then sometimes thats how it goes.

Compared to Mark E Smith he was kind of a saint.

lol so he...hated people but loved music. there's a hero

no no. never said he was a hero. just that he wasn't dedicated to being obnoxious offensive and disrespectful. i think this misrepresents who he was and what he did while he was alive.

Sorry you take issue with it - I didn't know the guy and even if I did I couldn't really know what he dedicated himself to, so forgive me for presuming. Just saying his schtick often came off as obnoxious, offensive and disrespectful to me - and that's all part of why I heard about him, and why I was interested in him...but it's hard not to find it a bit ironic when people are offended by wisecracks about his death. I'm not making those jokes myself, and I can totally understand how if you knew him it would be different.

The guycalled himself Reatard and played in a band called The Final Solutions. He got attention for being a brat. He was a punk. Just like tons of musicians I love. Nothing wrong with that at all. I just feel it's a little bit of a "live by the sword, die by the sword" thing when people get all obnoxious and "look at me I'm laughing at a dead guy" about him now.

I'd also probably feel less this way if I hadn't read his post on the Terminal Boredom forum after Nikki Sudden's death:

Re: Nikki Sudden RIP
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2006, 10:21:08 PM »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vint I fucking know from a junkie that was in his band for a while that the dude was a god damn junkie so stop being so serious . Herion is pathetic.. so people that do it on and off and on and off dont get much sympathy from some folks when they fucking croke..
http://terminal-boredom.com/forums/index.php?topic=1752.msg27802#msg27802

oh snap

yes. snap.

Why can't you call someone stupid who willingly indulges to excess a number of toxic substances that are known to be lethal in large doses?

because you end up looking like this guy? http://www.habitationofjustice.com/wp-content/uploads/simpsons_nelson_haha.jpg

Re: Nikki Sudden RIP
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2006, 10:21:08 PM »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vint I fucking know from a junkie that was in his band for a while that the dude was a god damn junkie so stop being so serious . Herion is pathetic.. so people that do it on and off and on and off dont get much sympathy from some folks when they fucking croke..
http://terminal-boredom.com/forums/index.php?topic=1752.msg27802#msg27802

― Brio, Friday, February 5, 2010 10:31 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

well, that puts the end to that argument

knew it was cocaine - the last picture he posted on his facebook page was an action figure holding a coke straw + bag of coke

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs127.snc3/17455_256153967824_680082824_3349848_4101544_n.jpg

Last Active: January 10, 2010, 09:08:02 PM

the caption is

Turlte party ! Hit that nuke nigga
Mobile Uploads by Jay Reatard
Added 10 January

wth

ugh

is that the last picture of him?

In this thread, songwriters confuse TMNT and Robocop, with fatal results.

hey I had that toy. Would prolly have thought it to be TMNT one myself.

i had that figure too haha

Mutagen Man!

its a TMNT figure

do not recall it coming with cocaine accessories though

Yes, but "nuke" is probably a Robocop II ref.

oh yeah, totally. i thought YOU had confused Mutagen Man with the robot Cain from Robocop 2. my bad.

lol we are such nerds

mutagen man!!!

Blood Visions is great, I only had heard of this guy because of Oblivians. Reminds me a lot of The Adverts and even early Supergrass at times!

I'll, keep searching for you...

I have been dancing in the penny arcade.
I'll hug the symbols of my apathy.
And hog the taste of anarchy and animosity.
It's any means of escape...
For those of us who wait.

That is all.

yeah

R.I.P. this magnificent musical genius

still think about this dude from time to time. :(

"It's So Useless" = all-time jam.

always sad when his tunes pop up on the ipod.

like, what a stupid fucking waste.

ive only just got into this dude :( hes awesome, has kind of an nz pop thing happening? reminds me of chris knox

Jay's cover of "Pull Down the Shade" on the Chris Knox tribute compilation would confirm that he was listening to NZ indie.
He also claimed The Verlaines as his favorite band at one point. The Clean were also a big influence on the solo records.

torn between sadness and "fuck you you fucking fuck." still can't handle listening to watch me fall.

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7916-jay-reatard-in-memoriam/

Thats a fantastic piece.

Haven't had a chance to read it here at work.
I should wait til I am at home, anyway.

Zac Ives: Jay was always really good about being organized and getting shit done. For recording sessions, everything would be set up before you got there. For tours there would be a tour book printed out with maps to each venue, guarantees, contacts. He knew his business was music-- and he took it all very seriously. For years he was his own manager, booking agent, PR agent, licensing rep, engineer, producer, A&R man, packaging guy-- he did it all. It's part of the reason he did ultimately get to the top, because he managed to do all that for himself. But because he didn't have money growing up, I think it took on a different meaning for him. He had no choice-- he never had a real stable home-- and he's been on his own since he was 15. This sense of self-preservation was necessary, but it would get in the way of things if he let it. He had to fight for himself and his business a lot, and so sometimes he put it above friendships and relationships and common sense. As long as you understood that about him everything would be fine and you'd make up the next day. But I think it was something he constantly struggled with.

damnit, he deserved better. rip.

i feel sorry for this guy dying, really: but isn't a 4-page pfork article a bit much for a drug OD casualty?

~~~controversial~~~

trolling for bans today?

yes, because no one writes articles about Jimi Hendrix anymore either

thanks for giving me an excuse to use my SB button though

not trolling, sorry-- maybe i should be more clear?

i realize jay reatard put out some great music, sure, but in the case of most musicians passing away in their earlier years, esp. if related to drug OD, i find in retrospect their work gets blown a bit out of proportion. hendrix, kurt cobain, gram parsons, johnny thunders, sid vicious, the guy from sublime-- a lot of them made great music, but most are overrated as well, and their too-soon deaths bring a bit more attention to their music than may otherwise have been merited.

again... not trolling

Don't think it's unreasonable for a magazine that had regularly reported on and acclaimed a musician while he was alive to have a big report on him on the 1 year anniversary of his death.

If you read the article and see just how goddamn prolific the guy was and how many musicians loved the shit out of nearly everything he wrote, you might understand why he is very worthy of such an article.

actually i am reading the article-- it's interesting!

first time i've ever read anything on pitchfork.com

that's a lie

with the possible exception of the last one, all of those people you listed have had so much written/dramatised/otherwise discussed about them since dying that by comparison a four-page feature on a popular indie website might as well be a quarter-page column in a newsprint zine

I think that's why people are jumping to the, clearly absurd, conclusion that you're just saying stuff to get a reaction

if you've read some of his other posts before, it isn't "clearly absurd" to think he might be trolling for a reaction

god stfu ilxor

that was the best article i've read in pitchfork in like forever

like reatard but didn't know a ton about him, and didn't know he had huge oblivions connections.

why don't you go post "i told you so" on some ted williams story

lol 'clearly absurd' was sarcasm ftr

okay okay sorry nevermind. i've made it through the first page of the pfork piece, agree it's good stuff. i will stfu now.

everyone otm

article was great + again makes me sad that i only got into him once he died

I got into him with Blood Visions but I'm really kicking myself for not seeing him live when I had the chance.

yeah for some reason i just thought he was some sort of standard indie hype guy, then one of my friends told me to check him out. like i said upthread, he reminds me of some nz stuff that i love

isn't a 4-page pfork article a bit much for a drug OD casualty?

there aren't words for how much this pisses me off

The only thing that really sucks about going from my old 160GB iPod classic to a 32GB Touch? Constantly having to shuffle stuff on and off and discovering this morning that I don't have any Jay on here right now.

good morning ILX

i actually feel really bad for posting in this thread re: jay, "too much hype post-death" etc., and then clicking over a few threads to find out broadcast's trish keenan has passed away. because now all i wanna do is put her music on a pedestal and lift it to the high heavens. and i know how everyone who ~really~ loved jay must feel about this 1 year onward (i had only a passing familiarity w/ his stuff).

anyway-- sorry, i wasnt trolling but see how i came across like a jerk.

r.i.p.

ah, i don't hate you for it, but it was a crummy thing to do.

thing is, i have the feeling that jay never quite received his due in life (though he was clearly on the verge of it), and still hasn't even in death. there was a bubble of shock and chatter in the wake of his passing, but i hardly feel he's been so absurdly venerated over the past year. if anything, his life and music were trivialized by the circumstances of his death, reduced, as you suggest, to yet another po-faced cautionary tale. he played in tons of bands that i've liked and loved. i've met and bonded with lasting friends over nothing more than our mutual love of jay and his music. i never saw the reatards, a regret, but between the lost sounds and jay as a bandleader, he put on a string of the most amazing, annihilatory and life-affirming rock & roll shows i've seen in my life. it's sad to me that he'll never be any more than an indie celeb "OD casualty" to many of the many people who discovered him on the cusp, just before and in the wake of his death, during the weird bubble of hype that i so wished to see him break out of. i'm sad that you'll never get to see him play, see him bash the world to a thousand bits and come home sweaty, drunk and ringing, with a massive three-day grin plastered all across your face.

Motherfuck

ilxor i'm surprised at you! you have always been such an impotent troll!

ilxor has a heart after all, huh?

no, like i said-- wasn't trolling here, i just find that listeners tend to overrate music by musicians who die young. it's just that hearing the news re: trish/broadcast made me realize i have a tendency to do ~exactly~ the same thing when someone dies that i have a bit more invested in. totally humbling!

I got into him with Blood Visions but I'm really kicking myself for not seeing him live when I had the chance.

o hi, are u me? because that is exactly how i feel too.

ilxor has a heart after all, huh?

― ilxor, Friday, 14 January 2011 17:41 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

when is the brain due to arrive?

Yesterday I listened to my playlist of Jay Reatard youtube rips that I made last year. It was really great and there were a bunch of glitches and stuff and reminded me of how I used to feel listening to some tape I borrowed from a friend as a kid and then dubbed over my little sister's copy of the Grease soundtrack on hi-speed dubbing. I couldn't really get into Watch Me Fall, but maybe I'll have to look around for some of his older stuff.

when is the brain due to arrive?

see, it is subtle zings like this i can appreciate

much better than whiney/deej/some dude trash that usually comes after my posts

why don't we turn this thread into something productive - what other jay stuff is worth checking out besides blood visions and watch me fall? my friend gave me the 'in the dark' ep which is really good, has this stripped down version of 'searching for you' that is just so heartbreaking.

the EP yr talking about is collected (along with a bunch of other stuff) on in the red's singles 06-07 comp, and along with blood visions, watch me fall, and matador's singles 08, that's about all the solo jay there is, sadly.

i loved the reatards, the lost sounds, the angry angles and nervous patterns. maybe not as consistently full-on pop as jay's solo stuff, but all pretty damn great.

nervous patterns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P304mBh4woQ

angry angles (inc a wire cover):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfhEkCXGFH8&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h7bMrERUpU

lost sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzZ1H5XTuTs&feature=related

I was surprised to see that Rhapsody had the S/T Lost Sounds album. I like Clones Don't Love a lot, and will probably check out more...

this guy was sort of a genius

“for me to poop on”

Man someone STOLE* my completely rad Rats Brains & Microchips tshirt and I've been pissed ever since.

*i could've lost it or something

i stole it. no regrets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN4ylDu_Vh0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cduC2DZ7Iyw

that's the song that's gripped me most recently

yeah I always thought "My Shadow" was a highlight

My Shadow was always my favourite of his songs

It's what Jack White covering The Motors' Airport would have sounded like

My Shadow was the one that got me into the rest. Amazing song.

listening to the "Blood Visions" single as we speak. Reatard was Memphis's greatest musical product since Three Six Mafia. RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGv3sVOAUE8

wouldn't mind sitting down to a nice hot plate of scott's mom's spanish delight

Good looks of slight bafflement in this.

This spring, Goner will release a still-untitled 17-track compilation focusing on Lindsey's work with Angry Angles, his band with onetime girlfriend Alix Brown. The combo, which ran between 2005 and 2006, was an important marker in Lindsey's creative evolution as it immediately preceded the breakthrough of "Blood Visions."

http://www.commercialappeal.com/entertainment/music/memphis-music-beat/memphis-music-beat-angry-angles-comp-captures-crucial-link-in-the-late-jay-reatards-evolution-291411-365175531.html

Alix was also in a Atlanta punk band called The Lids with the late BJ Womack around that time period. This was my favorite Lids song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD9C7Kc3M7Y

Didn't know that! I have a Lids album but never made the connection.

Still think Blood Visions is the best punk album of the 21st Century (honourable mention to Fuck Off by Good Throb)

not to dismiss his Reatards/ Lost Sounds/ Angry Angles stuff but man he was really on an unbelievable run there towards the end. can’t believe it’s been 12 years.

It's better than many of the 70s punk records it draws from! I'd easily take it over Crossing the Red Sea. Sorta the way a lot of 80s Nuggets-style garage rock is more solid than the real thing.

^^Take that over to the Controversial Opinions thread!

my go-to JR is a homemade CDR with the "Singles" 2LP plus the Matador singles, what a run

It's better than many of the 70s punk records it draws from! I'd easily take it over Crossing the Red Sea. Sorta the way a lot of 80s Nuggets-style garage rock is more solid than the real thing.

miss this guy

I'm Watching You is the greatest.

ILM poll for him someday would be good.

yep. lots of great songs. I made an amazing homemade CDr that has all of the "Singles 06-08" record followed by the Matador singles (minus the Deerhunter track), all killer no filler

i realize jay reatard put out some great music, sure, but in the case of most musicians passing away in their earlier years, esp. if related to drug OD, i find in retrospect their work gets blown a bit out of proportion. hendrix, kurt cobain, gram parsons, johnny thunders, sid vicious, the guy from sublime-- a lot of them made great music, but most are overrated as well,

Yeah if anything it feels like he’s been largely forgotten :(

Great constructor of rock songs, but especially at the mixing board/DAW. He can makes songs sound simultaneously fuzz-overloaded, overcompressed and crudely mic'd, yet still sharp and dynamic.

he really chose that name at the last possible time it could have been acceptable, may have something to do with it. no disrespect tho

Was gonna say, that surely plays a bit of a part in him not getting reevaluated yet. I wonder how much coverage he would have gotten from say, a Pitchfork, had he come out with that name just five years later (I mean, I'm doubting he even would have picked it by then, but still). I also wonder how much Ty Segall becoming a (well deserved, imho) poster boy for garage rock kept him from a higher profile as well.

Yeah I mean as someone with particular sensitivity to that word (for family reasons), I always recognized his name as a bit of an obstacle to wider acceptance... but, y'know, he chose it when he was a punk kid, stuck with it for whatever reason, and I was willing to give it a pass (largely due to his excellence, I guess).

I also feel like he maybe operated in this space where he became a little too "arty" for the punk crowd, but was still too "punk" for the mainstream indie crowd(?) But I'm sure there are other artists in this vein whom I just don't/didn't vibe with, and so I don't think of in the same light.

xxp in no way undeserved, but I’d bet good money a lot of post-Jay stories about Ty were because he filled that void.