The End of the War Against Silence. (ceasefire? truce?)

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So, apparently there are 4 weekly issues left until #500, which is the magic number.

Let's talk about whether we'll miss crazy Glenn Mcdonald or not. I've always enjoyed checking in; I still don't get his taste, but I love to read him. The only bit of music writing that I've printed off for my dad that he's subsequently enjoyed is Glenn's piece on Simon and Garfunkel - http://www.furia.com/twas/twas0352.html

He was here once, and left because he couldn't stand the mood or summat, iirc?

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:17 (twenty-one years ago)

A very interesting, articulate writer with tastes very similar to mine. His proselytizing about some pop albums (Shania Twain's "Up" the best example) and brickbats for others (the Vanessa Carlton one) are convincing and airtight. And witty, too. I looked forward to his yearend lists and if he stops writing, he'll be greatly missed by me.

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Breadth Or Depth?

The NYLPM link probably doesn't work now because I've changed the archives.

There's also a thread where Glenn gets into a big argument with everybody and leaves.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

We Hate Music

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:28 (twenty-one years ago)

agreed, very articulate. I also like his tendency to write in a complete vacuum, without reference to critical opinion or reception, and focus solely on his own reactions and connections. Solipsistic, perhaps, but wonderfully intimate, as well as charmingly humble.

Oh, and I loved his Sloan saga, too.

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Clearly Glenn was happy in his little nook of listening and writing, and solipsism fit him like a glove. For his narrow depth, he did very well, and if I wanted a personal take on (insert "black-sounding" artist here) I'd go elsewhere, but how many other well-read crits admit to liking Roxette?

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 29 July 2004 06:31 (twenty-one years ago)

snobby git.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 29 July 2004 09:21 (twenty-one years ago)

How exactly is he any more snobby than other specialised writers who explicitly shun HIS preferred genres?

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 29 July 2004 09:30 (twenty-one years ago)

well, he did what he did very well, and i respect him for sticking to it so long, but i couldn't help but feel that he'd seriously limited himself as a critic by choosing only to write about stuff he found immediately appealing. good as they are, most of those reviews read pretty much the same: very detailed track-by-track rundowns of why glenn mcdonald is very deeply attached to this week's slice of middlebrow pop, preceded by four or five paragraphs about his car.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 29 July 2004 10:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i have to confess i've always found this guy pretty unreadable

― artiste, Thursday, 29 July 2004 11:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Fun, but dangerous to use as a resource. I always thought that the *real* motivation to read TWAS was to see if the all-powerful creator of a perfectly sealed-off critical world would ever start dating. Since he has, I've lost most of my interest.

― dlp9001, Thursday, 29 July 2004 11:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I think, by far, that he is the most brilliant Big Country fan who has ever lived. Is it still true that he refuses to write about music for money? How punk rock is that? I confess I haven't read the site in a while. I would love an anthology of the best stuff.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

that review where he proposed to juliana hatfield (which he printed out and gave to her after a show) was prolly my favorite thing ever to appear on that site.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 29 July 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I loved his article about My Favorite's The Happiest Days Of Our Lives. Sad to see him go.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Thursday, 29 July 2004 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

When I was fourteen/fifteen I went out and bought lots of things that Glenn McDonald loved - Big Country, Marillion, Jane Siberry, The Loud Family, heaps of others. His writing was effective enough to convince me that I enjoyed all of these for at least a short period (and some I still love).

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Thursday, 29 July 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

That was always part of his appeal to me. He listens to and loves SO MUCH music that I would never listen to, have never listened to, never appealed to me. or that I've never even heard of. It's like he lives in a completely different rock universe. Which is why I loved reading 5000 words on Big Country b-sides that I will probably never here. It was like getting a transmission from another planet.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

TWAS Greatest Hits.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it another planet, though? I think of it this way -- we could all talk about things that most of other people we know wouldn't give a care about, however much they mean to us. Seeing Glenn only through a lens of 'wow, he likes only stuff that nobody else seems to talk about' makes for a bit of a value judgment -- it's an understandable reaction, I felt the same once, and I'm accusing nobody here of only seeing it that way, but we have to avoid patting ourselves on the back for liking music more well-known/obscure (pick whichever route applies, or both). As Tim notes, what matters is how 'effective' a writer he is -- the solipsism may seem too much, but I'd honestly rather dip into TWAS here and there than I would into Proust.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Proust is great to dip into, Ned!

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

But yeah, I get your point. I mean, I wouldn't be reading 5000 words on Big Country if he wasn't such a good writer.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I just should have used a Bizarro-world reference. My point being: I listen to rock and pop and indie stuff and so does Glenn, but almost never ever the SAME rock and pop and indie stuff. And I just much prefer reading good writing on stuff I know nothing or next to nothing about then stuff I already have heard/love/know about.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

On that I think we can all agree. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

For example, his best-of 2003 page. I've heard two of these albums:

Aberdeen: The Boy Has Gone Away
Atom and His Package: Attention! Blah Blah Blah.
Ballboy: A Guide for the Daylight Hours
BUMP OF CHICKEN: sailing day
Dear Leader: War Chords
The Delgados: Hate
Dir en grey: VULGAR
eastmountainsouth: eastmountainsouth
Ben Folds: Speed Graphic
Gackt: Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume
Gackt: Crescent
Garnet Crow: Crystallize
Chitose Hajime: Nomad Soul
HIM: Love Metal
Jewel: 0304
Ted Leo / Pharmacists: Hearts of Oak
Ted Leo / Pharmacists: Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead
Loveless: Gift to the World
Meat Loaf: Couldn't Have Said It Better
Muse: Absolution
The New Pornographers: Electric Version
Liz Phair: comeandgetit
The Postal Service: Give Up
Puffy AmiYumi: Nice.
Rainer Maria: Long Knives Drawn
Runrig: Proterra
Sloan: Action Pact
The Steinbecks: Branches and Fronds Brushing the Windows
The Weakerthans: Reconstruction Site
Wheat: Per Second, Per Second, Per Second...Every Second
Chris Whitley: Hotel Vast Horizon

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

How many people could make me read THAT MUCH about stuff that I will never end up buying? Therein lies his genius.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I've only heard 7 of them.

― edward o (edwardo), Thursday, 29 July 2004 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Finding out that TWAS is shutting down after ten years is one of those "holy shit I'm old moments" for me, as I began reading TWAS (& started websiting / ur-blogging) during TWAS Year 3. His tastes vaguely overlapped w/ (and possibly subsumed) mine @ first, but I haven't followed him in recent years as my browsing habits have changed & my musical tastes have shifted away from glenn's particularly ornate niche (though not that much, really) (if anything, they've probably fallen more in line w/ them, at least in the pop sense).

Ned & Scott are OTM re: his effectiveness as a writer. & I'm glad to see that he's leaving the way that he is.

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 29 July 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Well it's sorta like the Dave Sim-but-not-an-asshole approach, isn't it? 500 issues.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 29 July 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

oh, that Juliana Hatfield saga was so harrowing to read.

It makes me almost irrationally happy that he's getting married.

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 29 July 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

this is sad, and not just because he gave my band the best review we'll ever have.

― purple patch (electricsound), Thursday, 29 July 2004 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

C'mon, be happy for the guy

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Friday, 30 July 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

this is sad, and not just because he gave my band the best review we'll ever have.

Don't speak too soon: I haven't gotten my package yet.

― dlp9001, Friday, 30 July 2004 01:44 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost

At the risk of kicking off five or seven more threads:

Most brilliant Big Country fan ever to live: Dave Eggers

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 30 July 2004 06:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never heard of this guy before tonight.

"I saw something sparkle in one of your eyes"?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 30 July 2004 06:42 (twenty-one years ago)

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