So This Is Why We're Not Too Keen on Pitchfork...

...because according to this study "Indie fans have low self-esteem and are not very hard-working." Hence, all that whiny music. Ah, it all makes sense now, doesn't it?

Of all musical genres, indie fans are the only one who rate low self -esteem. (Interesting how they separate 'indie' from 'rock'n'roll.' No details on how they make that distinction.) But riddle me this Batmen - isn't 'indie' derived, however distantly, from punk, an extremely proactive and hard-working movement? That was one of it's selling points, that it galvanized the weirdos of the world into taking pride in being an outsider; that it shook up hippie complacency and took on the corporate music world with its own record labels, 'zines, alternative radio etc. How did we get from Iggy declaiming "I got a right" to, er, Bon Iver?

Is it all Nirvana'a fault?

Well, yes and no. Not the reviews, but many of Pitchfork's interviews (not all of them, but many) would make great subjects for those TED talks. Christopher Owens (from the band Girls), for example: listening to some of them go off an a tangent is like listening to one of those TED talks with Brene Brown or Seth Godin. If Pitchfork got out the "review" business and focused solely on interviews, they could - maybe - maybe be a cooler TED.