The voice-mail response critic Jim DeRogatis got from Ryan Adams after Jims not-so-positive review of one of Adams shows. Using discography as video, but the audio is the point...
Some quotes from the review: "Note to Ryan Adams: Wish you were anywhere but here"
"Adams can release three CDs in a three-week span, but the fact remains that he still can't write one song as original or as heartfelt as anything by Jeff Tweedy."
"Absent an historical musical context or a functioning b.s. detector, it is possible to mistake Adams for being as talented and clever as he thinks he is. But then there are plenty of people who can't tell the difference between plastic flowers and real ones, until they bend over to take a whiff."
"The fans (who skewed younger than Adams) ate it all up, but you had to suspect that it was because they'd never seen the real Courtney, much less the Replacements or even Wilco."
borrowed completely from YouTube.com
My Trusted MOGs
maaaaan, i miss when the ryan adams website played this, instead of the crackmonkeyinsanity that's going on over there now. that was brilliant.
that recording always makes me giggle. and i still love the ryan. but having seen him play a less than mediocre show in the last six months (ryan, darling, put down the marijuana, walk away from the doobie, the dead are not your friends nor inspirational), i get DeRogatis' point.
And he has written things just as heartbreaking, if not more so, that Mr. Tweedy, and in a shorter period of time. DeRogatis forgets to name check the Whiskeytown songs that he's probably closed bars to, and the Wilco songs that left him with less than a good taste in his mouth (i love nels cline, but needless to say, the washing machine bit wasn't for everyone). He also fails to mention that the reason he loves Wilco is because he'd rather be humping Uncle Tupelo's collective leg than try and give anything in the more modern alt-country movement a positive nod.
But you know, what the fuck ever. I don't see DeRogatis playing shit, anywhere, that i'd care to listen to, and he sure as hell doesn't look that good in a pair of jeans.
My Trusted MOGs
You had me.....right up until the jeans. Just kidding. Thanks for the insight. Truthfully, I know next to nothing about DeRogatis, but in my opinion, he should leave personal politics out of his reviews. Be neutral, like a reporter should be, Seems like he just wanted to incite a flame war, really.
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Is there any genre of music that doesnt have "beef" battles going on?
My Trusted MOGs
C'mon. Give the guy a break! Ryan Adams shouldn't be compared to anyone. His body of work has carved it's own niche, much as Jeff Tweedy's done. That he has the occasionally lack-luster performance speaks to his only bein' human. That said, his songs are well written, thought-provoking, and witty. His mastery of many styles and his obvious love of all music will renew him as it has in the past. We know he likes to keep busy.!!
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for the record, have you ever seen him in a pair of jeans? live? in person? like, standing across from you? its undeniable. then again, it was three years ago, last time i saw the man and he wasn't high and channeling the ghost of gerry garcia. hehe. my boyfriend even agreed with me.
and DeRogatis wants to be Bangs. its all it is. Bangs pissed everyone off without pissing anyone off, he made these waves that came back on no one except him, i mean, you don't leave the house in a t-shirt that reads "The Last White Ni**er" if you're looking to make friends, much less attract an adoring public, but we're still reading Bangs, and he's still getting the ten cent references because he believed there was such a thing as a less than three star review and he told everyone who was anyone to go fuck off, and then he listened to their records, and pretty objectively at that. Its not DeRogatis' fault he's an asshole, he's got a complex he'll never be able to talk or write his way out of, so instead he picks on people who are undeniably brilliant by trying to insinuate that those people are imitating something greater, here, the Adams trying to be Tweedy, when really, DeRogatis is simply wallowing in his own shit because he, for the duration, has been attempting to be Bangs, but is still just DeRogatis, not realizing that he's a pretty decent rock writer, he's just not the one he always wanted to be.
And that, that is pretty much all you need to know about Jim DeRogatis. in a nutshell. don't read him, his opinions color everything in an unfavorable light. Greil Marcus and Lester Bangs would spin in their graves if they knew the sort of exposure the literary git gets these days.
My Trusted MOGs
fucking awesome, thanks!