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Henry Rollins tells Rolling Stone he likes real music

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K

Kaladin

Member
Did you pay attention to any new music this year?
Absolutely. I can't keep up with all the records I buy. I get letters, like, "Dude, music sucks now." Not on my show, not on my stereo. I finally, forensically listened to the new David Bowie record. I put in a pair of good earphones and really sat down with that record on a day off.

You loved it?
It's way better than I thought it was the first time around. I don't know why he uses those heavy-handed studio drummers for everything, but the songs are pretty amazing lyrically and there's a lot of great backing vocals and some really smart overdubs. It took me a long time to get into modern David Bowie. I was such a fan. I got up really early this morning and listened to Station to Station and just went aw. Those records, those Bowie records to me are just about as good as a record can get.

Anyways, the new Marnie Stern record, Chronicles of Marnia — I love that new one. Ty Segall is a huge part of my radio show, and I play a lot of Ty. I'm a big supporter of labels. Like, when I watch a movie, I watch it for the director. When I buy a record, it's usually a label thing. I'm into artists, certainly, but there's labels I support, like Castle Face, John Dwyer and his band Thee Oh Sees. And I buy one of everything from Johnny. Anything Castle Face puts out. I have one LP and one CD of it. You know, CD for the radio show and portability's sake and the LP to listen to.

Did you follow any of the bigger things, like Daft Punk or "Blurred Lines"?
I've never heard Daft Punk; I've never heard a track of theirs in my life. They're the two guys with motorcycle helmets on?

Yeah, they dress up like robots.
You know what, you will take this any way you will. That to me is like Rolling Stone music. It's the shit that's in your magazine. And it's like, that world. . . I'm so glad that you all have found your people, but that world is so alienating to me. Anything that gets on the Grammys or the American Music Awards. . . like, was Miley Cyrus on the cover of your magazine?

She was.
Yeah, see, I like real music. John Coltrane's my favorite musician, what am I doing reading Rolling Stone? You know what I mean?

You don't give a shit about her.
Well, I don't. She's part of that bigger world of music I was just talking about. All of it to me is like, long may it wave, I don't have anything against anyone doing their thing, but it's just not for me. And Robin Thicke, is that the guy? I have no idea what he sounds like. I've never heard Kelly Clarkson, I just, I live in a different musical world.
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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...cover-in-rolling-stone-20131219#ixzz2nxrIUhVF

A bit pretentious, but he does have a point. If you're not into mainstream, you won't find much to enjoy in an issue of Rolling Stone. There are other avenues out there for your musical pleasures if you don't like to watch Miley Cyrus.

Of course, he could be lying.
 
T

temp

posting on contract only
"Those people I don't know anything about, I don't like them." - Henry Rollins
 
S

Sai-kun

Banned
lmao, who touts their musical ignorance like this? imagine not even giving music a chance because of how popular it is, and then bragging about it

:lol to the max

to be fair, if he legit doesn't like disco/house, then there's no reason for him to get into daft punk. but writing them off because it's not 'real' music is fuckin dumb
 
S

Stet

Banned
If Henry Rollins spent less time trying to be a hardass and spent more time writing better music, maybe one day he too would be in Rolling Stone.

Edit: Holy shit, he says he likes Marnie Stern. That is fucking telling, she is awful. I saw her open for Deerhunter and she was the worst shit I've ever seen live. She actually made me respect Deerhunter less for making me sit through it.
 
J

John Dunbar

correct about everything
a quick image search tells me david bowie has been on the cover of the rolling stone at least seven times, so he does like some of their mainstream stuff.
 
J

JCX

Member
I can't wait until I'm old enough to dismiss all current music and just cling to the music of my youth, like all people ever. Must be sad never being able to look forward to new music.
 
A

andymcc

Banned
Stet said:
Marnie fucking Stern ha ha ha ha ha
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I think she's pretty good.

His dismissal of electronic music, which he says is talentless and amateurish, has always struck me as sort of odd because his initial fame was with a band that was sort of amateurish. that was kind of the strength of early punk, it was inclusionary despite some bands not necessarily having musical chops.

i love damaged
 
P

Pickles the Firecat

Banned
John Dunbar said:
a quick image search tells me david bowie has been on the cover of the rolling stone at least seven times, so he does like some of their mainstream stuff.
Click to expand...

It's funny because David Bowie is like the definition of some shit Rolling Stone likes.

You Google Rolling Stone + John Coltrane and A Love Supreme was #47 out of their top 500 albums of all time. I mean come on.

You can shit on Rolling Stone, that's fine. But you can't shit on Rolling Stone and then say it's because you like some really out there music that they would never cover. And then back that up with fucking Coltrane and Bowie? What? And even the other shit--Ty Seagall and Thee Oh Sees? Both covered on Rolling Stone!
 
R

RobotChant

Member
Magazines use mainstream acts on the cover because they're in the business of selling magazines. They still cover less popular acts. Not enough, but you should be listening to good music, not reading about it. If you like music it's not hard to take the little coverage you find and go explore it for yourself.
 
C

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Kusagari said:
It must feel great for people like Rollins to be able to so proudly flaunt their ignorance.
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I don't think Rollins' dismissal of generic pop garbage is as bad as a gaming-side GAFfer who once claimed he'd never heard of Queen.

Fucking Queen.

I really hope he was just trolling though.
 
S

see5harp

Member
I love the artists he cites, specifically The Oh Sees, but there is plenty to like about modern music of all genres. I read a ton of Rolling Stone magazine throughout my childhood and the magazine put me up on a ton of great music and writing. Yea John Coltrane is your favorite musician and I'm sure a lot of people have written about John Coltrane in Rolling Stone magazine over the years.
 
N

NinjaFridge

Unconfirmed Member
JCX said:
I can't wait until I'm old enough to dismiss all current music and just cling to the music of my youth, like all people ever. Must be sad never being able to look forward to new music.
Click to expand...

Modern music is shit. The music from back in the day? Now that was great, no such thing as a bad record in those days. And definitely no stupid gimmicks, especially in the 70's, 80's and 90's.
 
S

Sai-kun

Banned
NinjaFridge said:
Modern music is shit. The music from back in the day? Now that was great, no such thing as a bad record in those days. And definitely no stupid gimmicks, especially in the 70's, 80's and 90's.
Click to expand...

image.php
 
P

Pickles the Firecat

Banned
see5harp said:
I love the artists he cites, specifically The Oh Sees, but there is plenty to like about modern music of all genres. I read a ton of Rolling Stone magazine throughout my childhood and the magazine put me up on a ton of great music and writing. Yea John Coltrane is your favorite musician and I'm sure a lot of people have written about John Coltrane in Rolling Stone magazine over the years.
Click to expand...

Not only have a lot of people written about John Coltrane in Rolling Stone over the years. Not only is David Bowie like sacred cow #1 at Rolling Stone. If there is any single complaint a person could have about Rolling Stone, it's that they're too stuck in the past. They're too dad-ish in their approach to music and what they like. They focus too much on specific eras and genres of music. Just like Rollins. Rolling Stone and Rollins are like the same fucking concept of music in two different bodies. Everyone he listed is Rolling Stone wrapped up in a neat little bow. Ty Seagall and fucking Thee Oh Sees are like exactly who Rolling Stone are going to be on top of in the next few years.

Only ironically, Rolling Stone is more open to genuinely new music than Rollins. Like for real I never thought I would be able to say that about Rolling Stone in comparison to another person or company. But there it is!
 
S

see5harp

Member
Angry Grimace said:
I get the impression he just tries to act like a hard ass all the time.
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Not anymore. The problem I have with his statements are that they come from a place of complete ignorance. Like I'm sure he said the same thing about Ty Segall and The Oh Sees also, until one of his cool 20 something year old assistants put him on. Henry Rollins is old. The Dirty Projectors version of their album will be more important than the Black Flag version 50 years from now. He has a right to an opinion but one would think you'd listen to something before judging. He'd probably say the same shit about Arcade Fire until someone mentioned that Bowie worked on vocals. O this James Murphy guy worked on a remix for Bowie? Must be cool then. If you need someone to vet a band before you like them, then you are a sheep, same as the MTV audience.
 
G

GuitarAtomik

Member
Dr.Acula said:
"Bowie's the best!"
"Do you like Daft Punk?"
"I'm not crazy about musicians with crazy costumes."
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Lol. It's hard to not see the irony in that.

Nothing wrong with liking what you like but the concept of "real music" is dumb to me. All music is art whether you like it or not. Even the most packaged and commercial music was written by someone or a group of someones and in the end is music. If a painting is painted by multiple people does that suddenly not make it "real art"? The Sistine Chapel ceiling was a commissioned piece, produced for the masses. Is that not "real art"? Why is it any different with music? At some point, someone talented had to put it together and create a piece. You may not like that piece like you like others but can't you say that about all art?
 
G

gibi

Banned
I like how he knows the exact names of people, yet has never heard a single song from them. Bullshit.
 
R

ReturnOfTheRAT

Member
gibi said:
I like how he knows the exact names of people, yet has never heard a single song from them. Bullshit.
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I wouldn't take his comments at face value. He's well aware of who those people are and why he feels the need to avoid listening to them moving forward.
 
R

ReturnOfTheRAT

Member
Stet said:
Because otherwise he'd lose credit with the people who count themselves as his fans?
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I don't know how Henry Rollins fans roll. They might be pushing out their chests, feeling real good right now if their main man partially feigns ignorance about Paula Patton's husband, Miley, and Daft Punk.
 
A

apocalidiot

Banned
see5harp said:
Not anymore. The problem I have with his statements are that they come from a place of complete ignorance. Like I'm sure he said the same thing about Ty Segall and The Oh Sees also, until one of his cool 20 something year old assistants put him on. Henry Rollins is old. The Dirty Projectors version of their album will be more important than the Black Flag version 50 years from now. He has a right to an opinion but one would think you'd listen to something before judging. He'd probably say the same shit about Arcade Fire until someone mentioned that Bowie worked on vocals. O this James Murphy guy worked on a remix for Bowie? Must be cool then. If you need someone to vet a band before you like them, then you are a sheep, same as the MTV audience.
Click to expand...
This post is all kinds of idiotic
 
J

Jenga

Banned
if daft punk weren't around since at least the late 90's i'd kinda see what he's talking about, but okay not really not at all
 
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