The Darkness Vs NME

but those planks at the NME, are still publishing news stories on the Dork-ness/Darkness: today, quoting Xfm sources on darkness album 2

http://www.nme.com/news/107560.htm

There's a germ of truth in this. Despite it not really being any of his business, the Il Duce of music journalism has been known to throw his weight around on this issue. It was especially tricky when he had to do one himself last year (The Sleepy Jackson/The Basement) and absolutely hated it!

Can understand his point, though. What's the point in putting on what you consider to be the best new bands and then saying, "Actually they're not much cop, are they?"

the darkness are crap.

dido is a parody of the sensitive female singer songwriter.
the darkness are a parody of heavy metal.

it's a LAFF, DO YOU NOT SEE?

MY LIFE IS FOR RENT AND NO, NO, I DON'T WANT TO BUY!!!

If they're the best new bands, why would they not be any cop?

If they aren't any cop, and yet your magazine has proclaimed them the best new band, don't you think audiences will then question your authority? and question it further when told by the mag that a shit performance was actually great?

Do you not think people would rather buy a magazine that doesn't treat its readers like absolute fuckwit morons, and credits them with a little intelligence?

Stevie I've seen some of the acts you like (according to your rather good magazines) and if you listed the 'best new bands' then around 90% of the time they would be no cop whatsoever (according to me). They would very likely never have even flirted with the concept of cop. Which is completely fair enough.

And which is why the tactics Suzy's talking about upthread are entirely sucky, obv.

(Not really, it's just that his taste simply isn't mine, and I suspect most music press readers - if not letters page correspondents - have the wit to realise that one paper can print different opinions on the same band or record, because they emply -gasp- different writers.)

that's exactly my point, tim... but, when i was at NME (and i suspect now as well) that kind of conjecture was being erased from both the mag and the letters page. i don't think i've ever once read a negative view on the strokes in NME, and this is a conscious thing in many ways (and why reading such consensus is just rilly fricking dull).

Gene??? Wasnt that like 200 years ago???

obviously, however, a world tailored to exactly my tastes would be a wonderful wonderful thing indeed.

i wasnt aware that you lived in any other world, stevie.

not quite sure what you mean doomie. not quite sure you do either.

YA GOT ME STEVIE.

*plays tune to deliverance on me banjo*

i read reviews because i want to know the reviewer's opinion of the gig, not what their boss has told them to write. is that too difficult to understand?

but saying a gig put on by the NME was good because it was put on by the NME, not because the writer/reviewer themselves thinks so, is not INFORMATION. it is DISINFORMATION.

but saying a gig put on by the NME was good because it was put on by the NME, not because the writer/reviewer themselves thinks so, is not INFORMATION. it is DISINFORMATION.

DISINFORMATION is INFORMATION, STILL. listen i'm just saying that i'm not like two-face who needs a scarred coin to make decisions - music magazines are not the scarred coin for me - music magazines present INFORMATION. i make up, as do many others, their own opinion after d/ling it.

It's this more honest approach (while still couched in general praise) that you don't seem to get in an NME Brats review or even a general review of a current hypee or reviews generally.

Also, people on the Interweb often forget that there are still a large number of people without P2P/MP3 access.

but i love that you think the fact that i expect a review to contain opinions the reader can either agree or disagree with to be symptomatic of some egomania you consider me to suffer from.

live reviews are not pointless, again, they present information, that is informative and entertaining based on live v. record.

haha x-post

on a related note - i dl/purchase stuff mostly as a result of reviews i read that pique my interest; opinion, whether stated explicitly or implicit in the writer's approach/style, is a key ingredient here. otherwise, how am i choosing what to download/buy when presented with the hundreds of thousands of releases out there?

please!

we agree to disagree.

also, jim robinson otm.

just ask the beatles...

Mind you, even Brian May's weighed in with a rant on his website about how NME are basically a bunch of spotty oiks and he'd never met a musician in his life who took the mag seriously. The millions of quid in the bank still can't compensate for not being liked by the cool kids in school, eh?

(Not implying that they're in any way cool or anything. But you get my point)

i was listening to the stairs last night and thinking - where has this been. but the darkness are on the equivlent of pop idol success. i did not doubt they would be huge. but i do doubt whether they will matter or even sell in a few years ala gareth, will, sam and maark, michelle and hearsay (and i liked hearsay).

got a mention in Mojo's 'lost albums' feature this week.

Mind you, even Brian May's weighed in with a rant on his website about how NME are basically a bunch of spotty oiks and he'd never met a musician in his life who took the mag seriously. The millions of quid in the bank still can't compensate for not being liked by the cool kids in school, eh?

wherein LaticSimon puts his finger on exactly why NME sucked when i was there (buncha public school losers gettiing revenge on the slights they siffered at school by converting office of magazine into superannuated sixth form common room where they could take out long-seated bitterness on idealistic freelancers and anyone who came their way).

the truth is, *everyone* bows down and sucks NME's cock along the way. and NME is so used to it, they can't stand it when The Darkness call them cocks in the press.

mojo?

huh.

ha ha! that's not been my experience. of course i never venture into the nme.

how is it the same thing, doomie? the Darkness toiled in the toilet circuit like every other 'indie' band. they are just a fuck of a lot more financially successful than those they played with.

people who equate Darkness with flash in the pan successes might be surprised in the long run. i can seriously see Def Leppard/Queen type success in their hands. it isn't the NME readers, the typical indie kids, who are buying their albums. the darkness's fans have an affection for the band that runs a little deeper than, the Darkness are this week's coolest band.

and i don't mean this in terms of, they will be respected in the long run. i mean, i think they will continue to be successful albums down the line. Queen never got *any* respect in the press, but remained and remain huge. (and i fuckin loved em).

agreed. and pop music can be great.

i think they think they are rock music.

agreed. and rock music can be great.

they lack the substance and are too ironic and english to be def leppard.

that's cool about the stairs. i was talking to rob who was going to get his hands on the actual lost second album for me to write about.

what thing? HOW ARE THEY THE SAME, DOOMIE, APART FROM THE FACT YOU DON'T LIKE THEM? of course, Kym doesn't have any relation to ian johnsen, so that's one difference.

they lack the substance and are too ironic and english to be def leppard.

i love that. what part of america were Def Leppard (the union jack waving Sheffield rock band) from?

i lovedlovedloved 'weed bus' when it came out, useta get played on the GLR rock show with simon barnett all the time, which i listened to while studying for my a levels.

Dude, Ian and I worked out our difference last Christmas after the last bust up which featured on this board. This has nothing to do with him. And because of our truce is pretty cool i'm going to have to stop talking to you about the Darkness. And it is a shame because I had this neat little story about Hearsay v. Darkness.

O.k.

Stevie, what do you mean when you say 'NME decided, en masse, that they *wouldn't* support Darkness' - to what extent was it 'en masse'?

Ick. Does this mean that writers reviewing bands outside the 'pyramid' aretold to bad mouth their mothers/say they are shit?

ha h.

Argh, this Queen mention again. I mean I see what you're saying in terms of the argument, but Justin what's his bucket sure doesn't seem like the second coming of Freddie Mercury -- or Russell Mael either.

...but that's the point. The thread's about NME missing the boat and that having no effect. It's about indie/rock bands getting big despite NME and NME's reaction when this happens.

But you can find someone who loves anything, even if it's only the bass player's sister.

(I guess I'm not sure on what situation yr talking about, sorry)

Don't forget polishing his telescope!

http://i.imgur.com/EkHz4ED.jpg

What did he say last year?

What does he actually do these days?