If Christgau's consumer guide was a high school, and I received nothing but dud grades, I could still get into a decent college

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He rips through Ted Leo's new album (dud of the month) and still gives him a healthy "B". The olde fella occasionally mystifies me. I think that review was begging for a "C".

― Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like what the voice "redesign" has done to the consumer guide (and don't get me started on jockbeat)(rip)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

in an age of grade inflation, quoth Xgau, "read everything from B on down as flunk"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, it's more like grad school, where a B can finish you off.

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Xgau's a fucking ponce. Hearts of Oak is without question my favorite album of the year. But then again, Radiohead's my number 2, and he (obtusely, portentously) ripped them a new one as well.

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

saying something is honorable, even good, but not the Future of Rock /= "ripping them a new one"

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

haha - I wish that had been my dad's definition of 'ripping me a new one' when I was a kid!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

"I told you to clean this room! you are not the future of rock!"

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

That made me laugh so hard I missed my chewing gum and bit my tongue!

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

if only more Radiohead diehards would do the same

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

you are not the future of rock!

this has great meme potential

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually like Hail to the Thief

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually like Hail to the Thief, and said so in YOUR MAGAZINE

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

in a piece YOU EDITED

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

you silly man!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

wtf? He doesn't like Hearts Of Oak? WTF? WTF?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

though he's right in giving a dud to the EP.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe he'll spin his ass around on this like he did on the NERD album. God knows this deserves it more. haha maybe Ted Leo will produce a happy Mekons album or something.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

his argument, basically "I don't like the dude's voice", is one of those that's hard to counter

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:06 (twenty-one years ago)

nonetheless any man who can call an album with "Ballad Of A Sin Eater" & "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?" on it DUD OF THE MONTH...kee-rist.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

oh you know he's luvs to grandstand and swat down a zeitgeist with the dud of the month!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

haha "zeitgeist"

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i didn't realize the rags were swarming with ex-jersey hardcore kids who make powerpop records

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I was just worried it would get 'dud of the month' in the turkey shoot (which it appears we maybe won't get this year unless granpa's been eating sugar babies)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

haha I just realized he has no problem with Julian Casablancas's voice! And isn't that album, like Interpol, more likely to distract the young people from social protest?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Miccio, I thought you knew that "PDA" stands for "Political Discourse Action"

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:19 (twenty-one years ago)

no, it means "pretty dead-assed," not unlike all of Interpol's music

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Interpol would benefit from foliage a la British Sea Power.

― Gear! (Gear!), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

boo hiss snarl

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

(ok, I almost larfed, and considering I'm in prickly STOP HATING MY FAVORITE ALBUMS YOU COCKSNOTS mode, that's somethin')

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm just surprised that the Dud Of The Month didn't look something more like this:

They bitch because everybody compares them to Television, and they're right. It's way too kind, and I say that as someone who thanks Tom Verlaine for making Richard Hell possible. Television struggled against ennui rather than flaunting it, much less wearing it like a designer suit. What's truly depressing is that, just as the hairy behemoths of the grunge generation looked back to the AOR metal they immersed in as teens, these fops tweak the nostalgia of young adults who cherish indistinct memories of much worse bands than Television, every one of them American--Unrest, Tom Petty, The Cars, The Knack. At a critical moment in consciousness they exemplify and counsel disengagement, self-seeking, a luxurious cynicism.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

and don't make me post a pic of Julian's dead-tired ass.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:00 (twenty-one years ago)

probably the DotM didn't look like that because Christgau can write, Anthony.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:01 (twenty-one years ago)

haha read his Interpol review again, shmart guy.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

d'oh!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

anyway, you're still wrong (as fucking usual)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:05 (twenty-one years ago)

(haha he beat me w/my own ammo! the pain! the pain!)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

dude you got punk'd.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I sure did. you win, big time.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

what I want to know is does Mikey roll out the red carpet every time Ex-Gow has to take a dump? Or do his duties cease with the fingernail-cleaning?

― hedda, Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:13 (twenty-one years ago)

what I want to know is how people think I actually (a) like all of his writing or (b) agree with most of it these days.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, the reason I got punk'd is becuase I wanted to swat at Anthony for no other reason than to be a jerk, and didn't even read the fucking review!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:18 (twenty-one years ago)

they probably accuse you of this cuz most people seem to hate him (the only time I ever accused you of anything like that was on the Tricky thread - and I was just so shocked you like the "Dear God" cover I just assumed you were an auterist like Xgau in re: to The Whispering Caliban). I'm a big xgau fan myself but I think the post-9/11 period was a real low one for the old hippie. Hell, I'm shocked he gave such a low rating to Ted Leo cuz it features a great song about an American who didn't think they could hate him now did he! I figured he'd support that WAYYY over the Strokes.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

btw don't be such a meanie

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

they also seem to think liking a critic's writing means agreeing with everything they say. if that were the case I'd never look at Simon Reynolds again! he and I only really coincide taste-wise on dance stuff, and even there it's fairly hit or miss beyond jungle and house.

AM: fair enough, broheems. (hah!) anyway, I like Ted Leo too but I hear what Christgau does--the difference is I don't have a problem (or as much of one) with those things as he does.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:25 (twenty-one years ago)

and yes, truce. I've been really tired-yet-buzzy today (probably because I've spent WAY TOO MUCH time on this thing) so I'll quit being such a meanie now.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:25 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah what xgau notes is there, which is why I would have forgiven if he'd damned the album with a low honorable mention or something (hell, the album is a bit overlong). But I can't believe he didn't even find a Choice Cut or something.

Carey just told me that we're so gay.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

totally gay

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

don't listen to Carey! [[puffs up macho-manly pride]]

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

you two picked out a china pattern yet?

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

nah, we can't agree on who's fucking who.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:33 (twenty-one years ago)

we were going to ask if we could just use your and Blount's registry, actually

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:33 (twenty-one years ago)

ToTALLY gAy
(matos i saw the blonde awk/jj chick last night at rififi)

― Carey (Carey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)

(I responded on the ILE thread, Carey. ah, Jen. what a wonderful, wonderful girl.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)

haha you slut!!

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

b-b-b-but *she* approached *me*! I was powerless, powerless to stop her!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

(needless to say nothing like that will ever happen to me again)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body.

― Carey (Carey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

x post

― Carey (Carey), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

haha i am just a seething cauldron of jealousy

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

have the cow you fucking switch hitter.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:41 (twenty-one years ago)

NOT IN FRONT OF THE KIDS, ANTHONY!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait a minute there are GRADES in grad school??

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

i wouldnt know. i flunked out.

― erico b. rakimington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

They gave out grades when I was there.

― Keith Harris (kharris1128), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Not only do I like Hearts of Oak a lot, but I think the EP is stunning. Best snarly one-man-and-a-guitar renditions of things since early Billy Bragg and that Jam thing with old Weller demos.

― ara, Tuesday, 11 November 2003 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

If Christgau's consumer guide was a high school, and I received nothing but dud grades, I could still get into a decent college

If Emerson Lake and Palmer were a college, you could probably get in with dud grades from Christgau.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

say what you want about mr. christgau, but making ted leo the dud of the month is a point in his favor and not against.

― jack cole (jackcole), Tuesday, 11 November 2003 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Where are you people reading this? Link, please!

― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 12 November 2003 02:17 (twenty-one years ago)

www.villagevoice.com, music section, consumer guide.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

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