Rob Thomas moaning about being uncool in the new GQ

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Has anyone else seen this? It's not online, but I read it a friend's house yesterday. Rob Thomas has a little one-page thing in GQ where he talks about how he's been made painfully aware that Matchbox Twenty is an uncool band, as celebrities from Leonardo DiCaprio to David Cross have turned up their noses at him in public. Also, he's disappointed to find out that his "hero" Jeff Tweedy disparaged him in print. On one hand, he seems amused by it all in the way only a millionaire can be (he says that rappers like him because they respect his sales figures) but you can tell it kinda hurts him, too. Also, he makes sure we know that he thinks Scott Stapp sucks.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:22 (twenty years ago)

CLASSIC.

― Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

Cool Bands Don't Sell Records

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

if those particular celebs were snubbing me, i'd feel pretty a-ok about myself

― jones (actual), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Rob kind of needs to watch his videos and then watch Wilco's and then take a big long think.

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

How To Regain Cool In The Face of Supposedly Cooler People Dissing You: Kick Multi-Platinum Recording Artists In The Nards On Their / Your Way Down.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

"Let's stand in an alley! And shake the camera!"

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

haha jones otm, if leo dicaprio went out of his way to declare me uncool i'd be sitting pretty

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

I've often wondered whether people like Rob Thomas realise how uncool they are. I mean, cool's over-rated, but it must sting when you find yourself the butt of crappy SNL jokes.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

Also, he makes sure we know that he thinks Scott Stapp sucks.

Now THERE'S an up to date attack.

Rob kind of needs to watch his videos and then watch Wilco's and then take a big long think.

Carefully phrased.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

No shit.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

has an artist ever been as uncool as Rob Thomas and then somehow pwned cool?

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

B-b-b-but 5 years ago, he was saying the opposite about the same exact (Leo DiCaprio) scenarios:

http://www.matchbox20-fans.com/Articles%20Archive/spinmagazine0700.html

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

xpost -- Not without appearing on Behind the Music after the overdose, and even then it's questionable.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

that's more like pwning hooker money from VH-1

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Maybe he should start writing good music. That's pretty cool.

― Nigel (Nigel), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)

I hate that new single.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

I LOVE the new single. With this and "Unwell," Robbie earns the right to appear in the sequel to I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

Rob's earned his adult contemporary inescapability (I'll buy the hits comp, no question - he does sadsack pretty well) but the dude's a fool if he thinks he's ever gonna have his vh1 cake and eat it too.

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Also, he makes sure we know that he thinks Scott Stapp sucks

Scott Stapp moans about comments from Rob Thomas in the new Esquire; bashes on Fred Durst.

And so it goes...

― Cunga (Cunga), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

When is that Scott Stapp solo album gonna come out already? Dude's been working with 7 Aurelius! THE PEOPLE NEED THUMP!

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:56 (twenty years ago)

Does Stapp do more than moan? If he does, it's not very Christian of him.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 23 May 2005 19:59 (twenty years ago)

I dunno if there's ever been an unequivocally, across-the-board, well, good M20 song--I guess "Push" and "Bent" are close (kind of?) but for some reason I just can't let myself sign on to their being good songs. Just doesn't quite gel.

That said, the two songs he's done away from M20 are both phenomenal, genre-bending (almost?) smashes, so it's entirely possible he's capable of more.

But Jeff Tweedy? Uhhhh...Johnny Rzeznik this guy ain't.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:12 (twenty years ago)

Wait, what do you mean by that? I know Rzeznik is the Goo Goo Dolls guy, but I don't get what you're saying.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

oh man

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

When is that Scott Stapp solo album gonna come out already? Dude's been working with 7 Aurelius!

Ha, I thought he was working with the Tea Party?

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

I heard that new Rob Thomas single when watching an NBA preview yesterday and all I could think about was how pissed I'd be if I were in the NBA and somehow edited into that montage with that song. it made Shaq look as dangerous as Shawn Bradley.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:23 (twenty years ago)

Because Rzeznik, like Tweedy (and at least a half-dozen other major 90s alt-rockers) did his time at the Westerberg School of Pop/Rock Adult Alternative Urgency, and was eventually rewarded for his efforts. Thomas's half-committed, usually sorta vague vocals and lyrics just aren't in the same league, for better or worse.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:23 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Both "Lonely No More" and "This Is How A Heart Breaks" suggest to me that Rob Thomas thinks he's Lindsay Buckingham. I find this admirable but I'm not sure if he pulls it off.

The lyric in "Lonely No More" that goes "I don't wanna be lonely no more/I don't wanna have to pay for this" is a bit unfortunate I think.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:41 (twenty years ago)

Ha, I thought he was working with the Tea Party?

The horror... the horror...

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

I love how esoteric this would read to future or past generations. Miccio is NOW!

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

The lyric in "Lonely No More" that goes "I don't wanna be lonely no more/I don't wanna have to pay for this" is a bit unfortunate I think.

He's just a gigolo
And everywhere he goes...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:45 (twenty years ago)

"Lonely No More" is plainly one of the singles of the year. Not the least of its many charms ("Open up to me/like you do your girlfriends," yum) is that it's clearly about the travails of being caught in bed with Tom Cruise.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 13:55 (twenty years ago)

Rob Thomas was apparently a huge acid-head back in his younger years. Who would have known?

― Christian, Wednesday, 6 July 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

At 12, Thomas went to live with his mom in an Orlando, Florida, trailer park. He started sitting in front of a mirror with a guitar that had no strings, pretending to be in a rock band; he liked the Cure, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb

Wild, but not unsurprising either. He was homeless for a while, too. His old band Tabitha's Secret (who ended up releasing their own, more wistful if just-as-streamlined version of "3 AM" before they disbanded/morphed) used to play concerts at Floyd's Music Store here constantly, with no-one paying attention at all.

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Funnily enough, Creed played a lot of concerts around the same time. I'm willing to bet they shared a bill with Tabitha's Secret on more than one occasion.

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

he liked the Cure, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb

WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

Rob Thomas should learn to sing.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Matchbox Twenty's final album was great great great. I remain firmly opposed to all of Rob Thomas' other work.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Rob Thomas should learn to sing.

Rob Thomas should forget how to breathe.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:01 (twenty years ago)

I would say that the above story exactly raises my opinion of Rob Thomas, but it does lower my opinion of David Cross and Leo DiCaprio.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

since Tom Cruise reckons Rob is pretty cool he should stop worrying about DiCaprio.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I mean, I don't think Rob Thomas is "cool" either, but I don't need to think someone is cool to find something to talk about with them at a party.

― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 7 July 2005 01:37 (twenty years ago)

why must Alfred be the only one to speak the truth

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 03:28 (twenty years ago)

Even Dan Fogelberg had his defenders.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 July 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

Cool Bands Don't Sell Records

This was totally a SPIN cover 5 years ago. Or am I losing it?

Rob Thomas is in that same category of rock star as John Mayer - shockingly intriguing personality who happens to make very bland music. I thought everyone knew this by now.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Thursday, 7 July 2005 03:42 (twenty years ago)

It's really not that good of a song, GDB.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 7 July 2005 03:44 (twenty years ago)

The Fogelburglars

― tackleberry (deangulberry), Thursday, 7 July 2005 03:50 (twenty years ago)

has an artist ever been as uncool as Rob Thomas and then somehow pwned cool?

justin timberlake.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 7 July 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)

I've often wondered whether people like Rob Thomas realise how uncool they are.

they absolutely know. most of 'em do anyway, and it's a common subject in a lot of their interviews, from people like jon bon jovi, who's always sounded a bit hurt (kinda like rob t), to people like kid rock, who's always made his uncoolness a point of pride.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 7 July 2005 04:08 (twenty years ago)

has an artist ever been as uncool as Rob Thomas and then somehow pwned cool?

tom jones
black sabbath

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 7 July 2005 04:09 (twenty years ago)

wrong. or actually, right. There's a difference between "uncool" and "shitty" and Thomas, Bon Jovi, and Kid Rock basking in "uncoolness" isn't pathetic and cute, it's the height of self-flattery and a springboard to another stage of their own personal myth. It's their only 'out' at any rate, I don't blame em for using it. Which is, uh, cool and all but doesn't get any cool points from me.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Thursday, 7 July 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

i think it's sort of a fascinating predicament. i mean, does he think he makes bad music or just uncool music? and if he thinks he makes good music that's uncool, why then does he think the music is uncool? since on some level he seems to respect/value that idea of 'cool.' does he have any distance between his own ambitions and the music he makes? does he think 'this guitar figure here, this use of compression, is uncool' but does it anyway because it's the sound that's been successful for him? does he just have a really poor sense of taste, whereby his attitudes toward music in general just can't translate successfully into actual musical gestures?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 7 July 2005 05:21 (twenty years ago)

and if so, what accounts for the blockage? why can't he hear what others hear?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 7 July 2005 05:21 (twenty years ago)

But why should he?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 7 July 2005 10:22 (twenty years ago)

It's really not that good of a song, GDB.

yeah it is! It keeps getting better. The lyrics are questionable (the "wait till I feel you move inside of me" one is my fav) but that's half the fun. I might be a little biased due to totally being bowled over that RT had an ounce of funk in his bad self, but goddamn if he doesn't bring it.

Great video, too.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

See halfway down.

― Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 7 July 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

both of which traffic in reworked Santana-isms and almost Creedy grunts and hip thrusts.

"Creedy grunts and hip-thrusts"?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 14:50 (twenty years ago)

here's how i see rob thomas: picture yourself in nowheresville, OH. he's the coolest guy there. he likes nitzer ebb, he drops acid, he might be a little chunkers, but he gets the girls because he pretends to like depeche mode. one day he leaves. he still thinks he's super hot shit. he winds up in some band that has a hit single. now it's 2005 and he's pretending to be a dork, when really, REALLY, he's thinking that in 1991 he was the coolest mothereffer in nowheresville, OH.

not that he's from ohio, but he reminds me of people from my hometown. i'm not saying who.

― The Landlord's Daughter (The Landlord's Daughter), Thursday, 7 July 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

alfred and gdb are notm

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 7 July 2005 14:59 (twenty years ago)

OMG EPPY

― no tech! (ex machina), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

alfred and gdb are notm

I got excited for like half a second

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

ROB THOMAS
Something to Be
Atlantic

Think you know Rob Thomas? Think again! The husky-voiced Matchbox Twenty singer who came to greater prominence from his vocals on the Carlos Santana track "Smooth" has just dropped his first solo album, and hold on to your hats folks, ‘cause it's a doozy!

Oh sure, he's made some concession to commercial pressures with passable first single "Lonely No More" as well as leadoff track "This Is How a Heart Breaks," both of which traffic in reworked Santana-isms and almost Creedy grunts and hip thrusts. But then "Ever the Same" rolls around, and suddenly your ears are bombarded with an impossibly high squeal in the left channel and a soul-destroying bass burst in the right, and that's just the intro to a song that sounds like Kid606 producing Steve Reich on a year's worth of amphetamines in a cornfield filled with crop circles and active landmines.

After two more tracks of sonic punishment in various guises (Lightning Bolt gone J-pop and a punch-drunk Wolf Eyes' attempt at doing a Björk production), you start to realize that Thomas has taken the bold step of filling his album with as many different experimental breaks as possible - a veritable greatest hits of modern music's abrasive sounds - all in an attempt to forge a "bold" new persona for himself as the Madonna of experimental noise dudes. Something to Be, indeed! This is not for the weak-hearted, but if you're willing to be challenged by music rather than coddled, Rob Thomas is your guy.

― no tech! (ex machina), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

Rob Thomas is The Sexiest Man Alive.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

that blather reads like Rob Thomas sings

(xpost)

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/198/1552/640/HPIM0692.1.jpg

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9708/11/matchbox.20/link.thomas.jpg

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

Rob Thomas is The Sexiest Man Alive.

he even attempts dancing in the video!

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

http://getout.amarillo.com/images/reviews/031105/robthomas.jpg

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:16 (twenty years ago)

Camouflage Cowboy....a future Rob Thomas composition?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

SOULSEEKING

― no tech! (ex machina), Thursday, 7 July 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

Hahaha that review was either a joke or someone downloaded RIAA-fucked tracks.

― no tech! (ex machina), Thursday, 7 July 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Rob Thomas is in that same category of rock star as John Mayer - shockingly intriguing personality who happens to make very bland music. I thought everyone knew this by now.

Add Dave Grohl to that list as well.

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 7 July 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

http://dukemason.com/Rob%20Thomas.jpg

― no tech! (ex machina), Friday, 8 July 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

WOW. THAT GUY IS REALLY SHORT.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Friday, 8 July 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

nah, his earrings are just real big

― Michael Burble, Friday, 8 July 2005 23:39 (twenty years ago)

he looks like a fleshed-out version of Gareth Keenan from The Office in that pic

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

How To Regain Cool In The Face of Supposedly Cooler People Dissing You: Kick Multi-Platinum Recording Artists In The Nards On Their / Your Way Down.
Can't wait for Rob to turn on his "allies"
"I still love Carlos Santana as a guitarist, but as a person he's a nipple, and if I you're watching, Carlos...... 'Nih-pul!' "
or to hear him start a tabloid insult battle with...I dunno...his "peers"....I wanna see him get into a fistfight with Dave Matthews and bitch incessantly about John Popper.

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

he's already got a whole album of diss tracks floating around slsk

― Michael Burble, Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

he looks like a fleshed-out version of Gareth Keenan from The Office in that pic
-- ken taylrr (or...), July 13th, 2005. (ken taylrr)

Actually, I was thinking of:

http://dukemason.com/Rob%20Thomas.jpg

vs.

http://www.wensleydale.co.uk/images/wg2.jpg

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

this is one of my all-time favorite ILM threads.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Could Dave Matthews take Rob Thomas in a fight? I haven't made up my mind. Rob looks wiry but femme, dave looks slightly rugged, but he probably hits like yer grandma.
The winner has to fight the singer for Sugar Ray.

― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

"Lonely No More" is one of the best choruses in, what, ever? Needs a better opening five seconds, though.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 11 August 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

The line "I don't want to be lonely no more / I don't want to have to pay for this" still cracks me up.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 11 August 2006 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

you guys over at stylus need to air out the office a little bit, i think there's a carbon monoxide leak.

― gear (gear), Friday, 11 August 2006 20:09 (nineteen years ago)

I've come to realize that "This is How a Heart Breaks" is the better song.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 11 August 2006 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.