Stupid Kids
Blender Magazine just published one of those meaningless-yet-addictive "Worst Records" lists - the kind of thing I could sit and write for days.
The list itself? Just fine.
We Built This City is the single worst single ever constructed, according to Blender's ranking of reeking tunes.
You have to go down a few grafs to find the creeping idiocy.
Blender editor Craig Marks starts off OK:
Starship's 1985 anthem, the runaway No. 1 stinker, "seems to inspire the most virulent feelings of outrage," editor Craig Marks says.
It was an outrageously bad song (although it's not as bad as the accompanything video).
But then he steers into the weeds:
"It purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism. It's a real reflection of what practically killed rock music in the '80s."
I'm guessing Craig Marks was born in 1970 or so.
Of course, it depends on how you define "rock" and "commercialism", but Marks - like most music critics - is wrong. The '80s were not only one of the better decades in the history of pop music - but the last decade where rock was a viable form of music.
"Rock" - or rock and roll - is basically dead today. And whatever "rock" there is is either controlled by one of five or so immense music conglomerates, or so "independent" that it doesn't really matter except for the bands' tiny coteries of fans.
The eighties - or, let's be accurate, the period from 1981 to about 1986 - were a period where the line between "alternative" and "Top 40" blurred, when "do it yourself" bands could still dream of getting somewhere.
Can you imagine a group like the Replacements coming out of Minneapolis today?
No. You can't. Since the eighties, it's really not been possible. Oh, there's a thriving little indie scene, but how many of the boutique-y labels and electronic-huh groups and KUOM-fodder indie bands will ever grow to have any influence beyond their hardest-core fans?
None. It hasn't happened since...
...the eighties.
Posted by Mitch at
April 20, 2004 06:59 AM
I just listened to "We Built This City" yesterday. It's in my 80's playlist. I love the 80's.
And, don't forget Limited Warranty!
Posted by: The Eye at April 20, 2004 08:20 AMI remember the first time I heard that damn song. It was an "Exclusive New Music Premier" on the only radio station I could pick up at work at the Shore. We had four tapes, The Big Chill Soundtrack, Squeeze Singles 45 and under (chicks dig that record), Bob Marley and the Wailers, Live (starts with Trenchtown Rock), and a 90 minute mix of the Replacements , the Alarm, Thomas Dolby, and the Cure. We could burn through those tapes in half a day, so when there were no chicks to impress, we listened to the damn radio. They played that abortion, the DJ told everyone it was going to be a HUGE HIT, and after I cleaned up the vomit, my boss tasked me with finding a new radio staion. I found the oldies AM station out of Philly. The Geator with the Heater, mounds of sounds and stacks of wax, the guy used to sing along with the records, and not well.
But it was an improvement.
Posted by: terry at April 20, 2004 08:49 AM