… I deem it both meet and right to speak about the music and related things I loathe. In an underrated essay from Neil Tennant that appeared in a mid-1992 issue of Details, he discussed hate as a motivating factor for creation and sense of self. To quote: “It tells you, by elimination, what you’re about. Sometimes you can only define yourself by what you hate. Hatred becomes an inspiration, it makes you think, ‘What I’m doing now I totally believe in, and I don’t care what other people say.’ Guided by hatred, you don’t have to follow the herd.”
Thus:
THE BANDS I LOATHE:
Rage Against the Machine
Gene
The Black Crowes
THE HYPERFANS I LOATHE:
Those who blindly and without any sense of control worship anything and everything by:
Belle and Sebastian
Sebadoh
Elliot Smith
And, most especially, Jeff Buckley, nobody’s martyr and the new dead pin-up to wank over now that all the liars are done shafting Cobain’s corpse.
THE ATTITUDES I LOATHE:
Where to begin?
THE MUSICAL ATTITUDES I LOATHE:
Feeling the need to always be clever.
Feeling the need to never be clever.
Feeling the need to justify every musical move made instead of just releasing the damn thing.
THE CRITICAL STANCES I LOATHE:
Being told to like something because it’s good for me.
Being told to like something because it’s not good for me.
Being told to like something because it’s by a craftsman. If I want that, I’ll go to Renaissance Fayres and shout “Huzzah!” at the damn leather mug makers.