"I find it embarrassing that adults are like, 'Taylor Swift is very talented.' She's not. She might be cute, but she's horrible," he told the magazine.I've written before about the cultural implications of Ms. Swift's popularity and the stark contrast between Swift and her more tawdry peers. Here, Robinson attacks Swift both for her presumably concocted good girl image as well as the seeming vapidity of her music. As to the first criticism, perhaps we shouldn't credulously accept Ms. Swift's demureness considering the five year ruse Britney perpetrated on the American people. As to the second, Robinson makes the oft-repeated claim that artists like Swift lack depth, emotionality, and authenticity. First, let's take a quick gander at lyrics from "You Belong with Me" and "Love Story":
But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirtsBefore you think I'm making Robinson's point for him, a HuffPo reader (!) comments:
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you wake up and find
That what you're lookin for has been here the whole time
If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me
That you were Romeo,
You were throwing pebbles,
And my daddy said, "Stay away from Juliet."
And I was crying on the staircase,
Begging you, "Please don't go".
Instead of spending her teen years writing cute songs about high school romance, she should have descended into a drunken/drug-fueled haze and written songs about her angst-ridden outsider status. Angry and defiant, she should have written wasted odes to blurry buzz-induced poetry slams, and then...and only then...she'd be taken seriously as an "artist." Shame on Taylor Swift for not being a tortured, drug-addled anti-social poster child for addiction!”The music industry mostly accepts the notion that "real" artists only write about struggle - generally related to some type of drug addiction, criminal activity, or violence. Take the praise showered upon Eminem for his recent return from years of pill popping, the lauding of Madonna for singing candidly about her salacious affairs, and the American Dream narrative projected onto rappers like Jay-Z and 2Pac. The topics broached by these individuals, drug use, broken families, violent death, and other social pathologies, somehow imbue the artist with authenticity not present in Ms. Swift's tales of adolescent love and heartbreak.
We see this meme arising more generally with such derisive buzzwords like "sheltered", "spoiled", "daddy's girl", "rich boy", and "trust-fund baby". Of course, these terms don't merely denigrate New England prep schoolers, but regular middle-to-upper class suburbanites who grow up in nuclear families with two employed parents. You see, this normal, healthy background has actually become stigmatized by our larger culture - one that glorifies Murphy Brown, The Kids Are All Right, Modern Family, and gangsta rappers. So Ms. Swift, an artist who epitomizes this supposedly "sheltered" upbringing (sheltered from drug use, neighborhood shootings, divorce??) and sings about stuff all suburban girls go through is considered shallow.
Our society is eager to normalize destructive behavior because doing so frees blacks, Hispanics, and women from moral upbraiding. White middle-class suburbanites, the class engaging in what was once seen as good and normal, are considered "sheltered from the real world" and somehow not privy to "real experience." Thankfully, not all of us have fallen for this idiocy.
31 comments:
How old is this guy? 50? His outlook is as if he's in high school.
We may never know but is he a fan of clean middle class music if performed by a woman with the voice of Mariah Carey? It's possible Mariah was clean cut until her talent thrust her into the big city, as Jay Z said: good girls gone bad the city's filled with em.
"Chris Robinson, the slovenly, pseudo-hippie lead singer of Black Crowes,"
The Black Crowes "bad boy" image is equally concocted and vapid.
Taylor Swift isn't that talented. She's definitely a production- and marketing-driven artist.
Cute, yes.
Clean and suitable for kid listening, yes.
Talented, no.
BTW, Kanye West's career may be dead, just like Lauryn Hill's. Lately he's apologizing over and over again to try and repair his image (i.e. try to get white kids to buy his albums again):
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/09/04/kanye-west-pens-apology-song-to-taylor-swift/
I'm an occasional country music fan. When I first heard Taylor Swift's breakout hit, "Tim McGraw," my question was "Who wrote that?" Somebody was directing an obviously classic country song to an unknown teenager, as best I could tell.
Of course, I now know that Taylor Swift broke into Nashville as a songwriter, not as an artist. Her family was just middle class, but she had some connections, and she was getting paid for her songwriting in her early teens. She wrote "Tim McGraw" herself. The themes aren't drugs and crime, they're the pain of teenaged love lost with an undercurrent of social class differences. There's money to be made singing such stuff.
Here's my call: Taylor Swift is a smart and pretty young woman who's been lucky enough to get a break. She can carry a tune. If we're lucky enough to have a United States with country music in forty years, I expect that Taylor Swift will be hosting the CMA Awards, and that she'll be regarded the way Reba and Dolly are regarded today. Smart and pretty can get you a long way once your foot is in the door, especially if you don't screw up your life.
I expect that Chris Robinson, if remembered at all forty years from now, will be the subject of questions in the last row in the Double Jeopardy! round. I hope that, if such a day ever comes, he takes a moment to chuckle at the irony of his having once explained how Taylor Swift lacked what was needed to succeed.
Ice Cube once said "The American dream isn't for black people." This from a man who has become very rich selling crap to the masses, prectically the definition of the American dream.
Because black people can't be criticized their pathological behavior comes to be seen as normal by the less disciplined and organized segments of society, who have become, as you might say, "negrified." Lower class white people have largely adopted black norms.
I can't count the number of times I hear that third world poverty is the norm, and that I don't live "in reality" because I live in a majority white (not for long), clean, crime-free neighbourhood. It's a reality for me. Or at least it was.
I saw the Black Crowes a few years ago; while I enjoy their music and enjoyed their performance I couldn't ignore how effeminate Robinson looked on stage. His hand movements were the tell. He would clap with very short hand movements up close to his face and he would shimmy around like a chick. I think I saw him deep-throat the mike once too. It seems as if he is just jealous of Taylor Swift's cuteness.
Regardless, there's nothing all that deep about the Black Crowes or musicians in general. This is one of the great fallacies that popular culture tries to thrust upon us - that musicians like the Black Crowes can impart some metaphysical wisdom that nobody else can. He's a gate-keeper, and he buttresses his status as such with such metaphysically artistic hits as "High Head Blues".
Robinson thinks that what he's doing is art and that Swift is a sell-out. But I believe he could cite any number of more dangerous sell-outs. Britney Spears has already been named.
The Black Crowes breakout hit was their ham fisted cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle". Look up Brendan O'Brien, who produced/played on their first and most popular album. His influence was hugely responsible for its sound.
"They have stylists who dress them, they make records with producers who play a chord into the computer and it all comes out the same. ..."
That describes 90% of all female pop stars, as well as about 50% of the male ones.
"The Black Crowes breakout hit was their ham fisted cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle".
I remember that song. Its lyrics were largely incomprehensible the way Robinson sang them, but I just looked them up on YouTube:
Baby here I am
I'm the man on the scene
I can give you what you want
But you gotta' come home with me
I have got some good old lovin'
And I got some more in store
When I get through throwin' it on you
You gotta' come back for more
(Chorus)
Boys and things that come by the dozen
That ain't nothin' but drugstore lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle
'Cause mama I'm sure hard to handle, now,
Gets around
Action speaks louder than words
And I'm a man of great experience
I know you've got another man
But I can love you better than him
Take my hand don't be afraid
I'm gonna prove every word I say
I'm advertising love for free
So you can place your ad with me
Oh, the poetry! The subtlety! The layers of meaning! Remember, that's the crap he will always be remembered by. And it's not even his.
It's not unlike the things construction workers yell at women during lunch breaks, only more long-winded and self-absorbed.
The anti-Swift - What pop music has become (in Britain!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjPx40r5WaA&feature=topvideos
"I can't count the number of times I hear that third world poverty is the norm, and that I don't live "in reality" because I live in a majority white (not for long), clean, crime-free neighbourhood. It's a reality for me. Or at least it was."
Hey, whatever happened to creating your own reality? Isn't that what whites did in the USA?
word verify: fly in ash
Excellent post. I am quickly becoming a big fan of this blog and your perspective. It shows that conservative thought is truly based on reason. I feel more comfortable as a conservative non-religious person every time I read things like this. Keep it up.
... and that I don't live "in reality" because I live in a majority white (not for long), clean, crime-free neighbourhood. It's a reality for me.
I heard the same thing about most of the schools I went to. They weren't real because there was too much studying* and not enough knife fights.
Ice T (the son of Ice Cube and Mister T, I guess?) always used to say that his music was banned due to "reality". "Reality" meaning violence. The two ways of looking at the world, for Mr. T (that's Ice T, not Mister T), were "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Body Count"
* There was very little studying.
Brilliant! One of your best writing yet. I wish I'd written it!
And let me add, that the Beatles at the start of their popularity wrote songs like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," and "Love Me Do" ... not exactly "edgy" material.
As Whites rapidly become a minority in the US, expect folks like Swift (two-parent middle class family prep for success, or Sarah Palin for that matter) to become replaced by folks ready to fight at a drop of a hat, against non-Whites just the way La Raza and the Nation of Islam do against Whites. I suspect the Black Crowes guy won't like that too much.
FWIW, Machete got deported to #3 at the box office, and even the winner Clooney with The American only did $16 million, with Machete getting $14 million.
There is still an audience for Taylor Swift among girls, as commenters above noted. Class difference/longing, sells. Hard times, turning White America into the modern day Okies, with no money/jobs, are going to erase the desire for "edgy" and emulation of Black family dysfunction. Instead the dream will be that two-parent family, happy kids, a safe suburban home. Because that suburban home, nice and safe, will be paradise lost.
The phenomenon to which you refer was once labeled by Daniel Patrick Moynihan as "Defining Deviancy Down" (exalting the Lady Gagas and Britney Spears), and by Charles Krauthammer as "Defining Deviancy Up" (trashing the Taylor Swifts).
Camlost: "Talented, no."
Taylor Swift writes her own songs. Britney, Miley, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson etc. do not.
Listen to the songs of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, are they edgy, provocative, rebellious, and full of angst-ridden sentiments?
Heaven, I’m in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek
Irving Berlin "Cheek to Cheek"
We see this meme arising more generally with such derisive buzzwords like "sheltered", "spoiled", "daddy's girl", "rich boy", and "trust-fund baby". Of course, these terms don't merely denigrate New England prep schoolers, but regular middle-to-upper class suburbanites who grow up in nuclear families with two employed parents. You see, this normal, healthy background has actually become stigmatized by our larger culture - one that glorifies Murphy Brown, The Kids Are All Right, Modern Family, and gangsta rappers.
You're right. The are no negative terms for drug users, sexually promiscuous girls, men who go to jail and people who live on welfare. Only those happy, smart and healthy get called names.
You've discovered yet another amazing trend!
First, the mere fact that terms like "sheltered" exist is, in and of itself, a telling sign of the times. The good (two parents, no crime neighborhoods, etc...) has actually become somewhat stigmatized!
The are no negative terms for drug users, sexually promiscuous girls, men who go to jail and people who live on welfare. Only those happy, smart and healthy get called names.
And the zeitgeist is trying to undermine the social stigma related to these:
Slut: http://www.amazon.com/Other-Double-Standards-Every-Should/dp/1580052452
http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/what-is-slut-shaming/
Men who go jail: instead of "in jail" it's "incarcerated", I posted about giving felons voting rights, the specious claim that most people in jail are there for non-violent drug offenses, the whole idea of a racist justice system
People who live on welfare:
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Americans-Hate-Welfare-Communication/dp/0226293653
People on welfare AREN'T lazy (I've read numerous articles like the ones below)
http://www.anitra.net/homelessness/columns/anitra/eightmyths.html
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1999/06/06-15-99tdc/06-15-99dops-column.asp
This also taps into the glorification (or lack of denouncement) of single mothers.
The irony is that Counting Crows were so lame that they make Swift's music look sort of good by way of comparision.
"The American dream isn't for black people."
He's right, how can people with an average IQ of 85 acquire high paying white collar jobs and purchase homes in nice safe neighbourhoods?
Re: Taylor Swift
Let's just say that I'm not in the market for her music. Nor am I in the market for Jay Z*. Ultimately she doesn't seem that attractive to me, but as anybody knows, my preference is for porn girls, not Southern girls next door. Regardless, my musical tastes are eclectic, but I prefer catchy, upbeat pop songs and dance remixes and lyrics aren't of much use for me as it's hard to synthesis the words as I listen to the song in most cases...
*But Sex & Violence by the Scissor Sisters sets a frame of reference for riding the ICE in eastern Germany.
Rock and Roll has its roots in Country and Blues. Country has the nice clean face. Blues has the rough, image. Both images are icons of the United States born out of its history, like it or not.
Black Crowes were definitely more on the blues side.
Pop stars like Swift will always have a ready audience of tweens and young teens who will buy their repackaged formulaic songs because they have no reference.
Judging by the level of wisdom shown on this blog, I don't think most of you are old enough to remember the 90's when an artist had to make it on their own and hope to get discovered. Now, some producer just plucks the cutest kid with talent, throws them in the studio, starts the media hype machine and boom - multi-platinum recordings! It just kills a middle-of-the-road guy like Chris who's stuck doing reunion gigs.
The irony is that Counting Crows were so lame that they make Swift's music look sort of good by way of comparision.
The Black Crowes are not the same as the Counting Crows. Which group are you referring to as "lame"?
The "real world"? "Musicians" today are typically ignorant and puerile. I may not be a fan of pop, but I commend Taylor Swift for not conforming to some counter culture norm, and accusations of being "sheltered" are not fair.
I have been to the "real world" and I know what it is like. There are minorities who spend their entire day looking for a job to avoid the social stigma of unemployment. I have also watched the movie "Stand & Deliver", and it was a telling story into the world of Latino/a majority California public schools.
“I don't think most of you are old enough to remember the 90's when an artist had to make it on their own and hope to get discovered.”
The 90's were pure? Yeah, right. The sanitized, corporate band of nobodies has a history going back to at least the 60's. Example: The Monkees.
The Monkees kicked ass. Check out "Tapioca Tundra".
I love how "pure" has both become a curse word and the all-purpose strawman.
"Good morning!"
"What's so pure about it?"
>The Black Crowes are not the same as the Counting Crows. Which group are you referring to as "lame"?
The Counting Crows.
Okay, I get it now.
For The Black Crowes' lead singer to get on Swift's case makes some sense.
The 90's were pure? Yeah, right. The sanitized, corporate band of nobodies has a history going back to at least the 60's. Example: The Monkees.
uh, right. The 90's had their share of corporate-sponsored music but the Black Crowes weren't one. They played for years before getting signed.
Anyways, sheltered in this case means childish. What Robinson is saying is that it is a sad reflection on the level of sophistication today that adults even want to listen to her, or Justin Beiber for that matter. The music and lyrics are targeted at the 8 - 13 age group. You might as well listen to The Wiggles. Now THERE'S talent.
After I was orphaned I went from sheltered to a lot of places and situations I would spare my own children. I'm not willingly exposing my kids to entertainment that glorifies sex, violence, drugs and crime. My daughter isn't having her head filled with the liberal feminist bullshit that is systematically destroying our families by encouraging promiscuity, abortion, disrespect of men, and disdain for traditional family values. Morals and manners are quickly becoming a thing of the past and I'll do everything I can to ensure that they survive in my family for at least another generation.
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