Music Reviewing Over the Years

I've posted the preface to Music in a Word, Volume 3: Whippings and Apologies on the Trouser Press Books site if you care to read it. The book is available now from Amazon.

Music in a Word V3 / preface



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2022 03:24PM by ira.

This is excellent, Mr. Robbins. Thank you for posting this, and thanks as well for all the great writing you've given us through the decades. I cannot imagine a world without Trouser Press in it!

Well done, boss. That quote from Gregory Sandow is truly terrifying. Granted, the long defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner was always in the shadow of the LA Times, but it’s still amazing that they would hire a critic who doesn’t believe in criticism. After all, Mikal Gilmore did some good work at the Her-Ex.

I have noticed you’ve reconsidered past negative reviews like that Damned album, and when we all ganged up on you for dismissing Jim Carrol. Don’t back down on your Nirvana “nevermind” review for RS - I got your back on that one!

Another phrase to be added to the Ira Hall Of Fame: “bug-eyed calumny.”

Subjects for further research: stoopball, Chinese handball, skelly, Johnny on the Pony.

Really enjoyed reading this. Ira was the older brother I never had, suggesting records and artists on a monthly basis that were off the beaten path but worth pursuing.

Was really good to get a glimpse of the thought process and motivation behind those suggestions. Over the years I myself have tried to avoid dismissing entire genres, but have gotten better at determining what I like, what I don’t, and why. But in my case, it still is a moving target.

I do know I’m more willing to embrace (or less likely to vilify) artists that younger Bip might’ve sneered at out of hand. My wife, a speech pathologist, has mentioned that studies show that as people age, their taste in music gets less complex, more simplistic. Good God, is that what’s going on here?!? I DID spend this summer forcing myself to be familiar with the current top 40….

With age, I too have grown more chill about music I dislike. However, a big part of this is that I never listen to commercial radio, and after the pandemic, I'm far less likely to spend time in places where I hear Maroon 5 or Imagine Dragons. Part of the monoculture's decline has meant that you have to seek out all but the most popular music (except at the grocery store checkout line!)

There's definitely a large degree of conformism and toxic positivity to current music criticism, but music writing from the past often makes me think "you thought were a rebel, but you sound like a reactionary ass."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2022 01:42AM by steevee.

> Part of the monoculture's decline has meant that you have
> to seek out all but the most popular music (except at the
> grocery store checkout line!)

I'll admit that I've occasionally included a song I've overheard in the store to my Friday night setlist. The most recent example is "Florecita," by Aterciopelados, this past Friday. I heard it in an ice cream shop. (Shazam is my friend at times like that.) I also distinctly remember hearing Talking Heads' "I'm Not in Love" one morning in Safeway, and deciding it would be a good addition to the set.

Oh god, I use Shazam all the time. I’ll be sitting in a Marshall’s etc w/ Mrs Bip and hear something unfamiliar and catchy. Shazam! I’m no DJ but I could make a pretty good set list of ‘all found through Shazam’ tracks.

I do have an understanding that Shazam is probably seen as uncool (akin to a tourist referencing a street map in NYC) so I do try to use it discreetly. Holding my phone in my outstretched hand, pretending to yawn and stretch when I’m actually trying to get my phone closer to the overhead speaker.

Hey it ain’t easy being a music fan nerd!

> I do have an understanding that Shazam is probably
> seen as uncool (akin to a tourist referencing a street
> map in NYC) ...

I have done both. Never lost any sleep over it. Once the class nerd, always the class nerd.