Gen Xers tweak geezers' sacred cows

Albuquerque Tribune ^ | 7/9/04 | J.M. Baról

[qam1]

Like any organized religion, rock 'n' roll has its own dogma.

Rolling Stone magazine is the gospel.

Any male singer with big lips is worth glorifying.

To be a true guitar player, one must learn the intro to "Stairway to Heaven."

Elvis Presley was, is and always will be king.

With those tenets come a slew of albums as holy as the Bible. "Born in the U.S.A.," "Tommy," "The Dark Side of the Moon" and - amen, hallelujah - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

But it's time, says a restless group of music critics, to look those canons straight in their beady little platinum eyes and flick them off their pedestals.

In the new book, "Kill Your Idols: A New Generation of Rock Writers Reconsiders the Classics," that's exactly what they do: debunk - no, annihilate - the myth of rock ¹n' roll righteousness.

"Rock 'n' roll's the devil's music, right? So it's absurd to treat it like a religion and have this canon that it's made of saints that we can't criticize," the book's creator and co-editor Jim DeRogatis says in that jaded, edgy tone only a rock music critic can get away with.

Thirty-four music writers - mostly in their 20s and 30s and mostly under the Spin/Rolling Stone readers' radar - took on the challenge of debunking society-in-general's cherished albums.

"Call it a spirited assault on a pantheon that has been foisted upon us, or a defiant rejection of the hegemonic view of rock history espoused by the critics who preceded us," DeRogatis writes in the introduction.

One of the book's contributors is Leanne Potts, a former Tribune reporter who now writes about pop culture for Albuquerque's morning newspaper.

Her target of choice? Lynyrd Skynyrd's debut album "Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd."

What? How could one of the most memorable rock albums in history, one that includes "Gimme Three Steps," "Simple Man" and "Free Bird" - hello! "Free Bird"! - be on anyone's worst-album ever list?

For Potts, 38, her contempt for the 1973 album is less about its sound - although she writes that Ronnie Van Zant's lyrics "lack the sort of telling details that make a good song great" - and more about the Southern stigma that came with it.

"I didn't like the whole American-by-birth, Southern-by-grace-of-God ethos that had come to be associated with Southern rock bands like Skynyrd," writes Potts, who was born and raised in Alabama.

"I wanted none of Skynyrd's talk of down-home values. It sounded like Moral Majority code speak, and this teenaged member of Greenpeace and fan of musical minimalists such as the Ramones and Devo was having none of this Confederate-flag-waving, axe-wielding mob of rednecks in bell-bottoms."

And just like that, Potts buzz-saws through an institution no critic has had the gall to berate under his or her breath, let alone in a much-anticipated 300-page paperback - a book that received tyrannical criticism on the Internet weeks before its release.

Potts admits she was only 7 when the album came out and didn't start listening to it intently until she was 15 - a ploy to impress her Skynyrd die-hard boyfriend.

But she resents the notion that just because she didn't grow up with the baby boomers, she wouldn't know what Lynyrd Skynyrd or any other music of the time was all about.

"It sticks in my craw that rock is so skewed to the boomers," Potts says. "Like 'You don't know; you weren't there,' in this condescending tone, like we were born too late.

"Skynyrd's album is the one I thought of partly because of the southern connection. Because they were classic rock and because I lived in the South, they were gods. They were always there."

One of the writers - DeRogatis' wife, Carmel Carrillo - chose not to efface an album. She instead came up with a list of songs each of her ex-boyfriends cherished, therefore killing their idols.

It's important to note that just because the writers protest their least favorite album doesn't mean they dislike that band. DeRogatis, for example, who targets the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," says one of his all-time favorite albums is the Fab Four's "Revolver."

The majority of the book is criticism of albums from the '60s and '70s, a few '80s and '90s releases, and one from 2003.

So what's the gripe with classic rock?

"The business of canonizing things is a real particular baby boomer trait," DeRogatis says from his home office in Chicago. "It's the generation most reluctant to give up their youth and their place in history.

"Gen X never believed the hype."

DeRogatis, a 39-year-old pop music critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, shopped the book's concept for a couple of years but soon realized publishers weren't interested in books of all-negative reviews.

"But one of my favorite books is my colleague Roger Ebert's collection of all his pans," says DeRogatis, who finally landed with Barricade Books. "When I read a negative review it makes me think about my own perspective. I'm looking for another idea. I'm looking to be challenged."

Delve into DeRogatis' history as a writer, and it's no wonder he took on such an edgy project. According to reports, in 1996 DeRogatis was fired as a senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine for writing a blazing critique of a Hootie and the Blowfish album. His review was replaced by a much happier one.

"I'll confess that in the midst of editing this collection, I had a brief crisis of conscience when I wondered if this book was too much of a childish exercise - the rock-critic equivalent of the bratty kid wiping his snot on the blackboard in feeble protestation of the injustices of third-grade life," he writes.

But in the end, "Kill Your Idols" happened, and DeRogatis "couldn't be prouder."

"It was a labor of love," he says. "It's an odd thing to say about a book about bands these writers hate."

So does even DeRogatis have his own sacred cows?

"I may have had a problem if someone in the book tried to take apart Kraftwerk or Black Sabbath or Velvet Underground," he admits.

For Potts, two of her all-time favorite albums are U2's "The Joshua Tree," and Nirvana's "Nevermind" - two albums that showed up in the book.

But she's OK with it.

"I love the spirit of argument," she says. "I don't understand people who get angry about music. Part of the benefit of music is we sit around and talk about it."

*** TARGETED IDOLS

The following albums are taken to pasture in "Kill Your Idols."

"Pet Sounds," the Beach Boys (1966)

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beatles (1967)

"Smile," the Beach Boys (1967)

"Sweetheart of the Rodeo," the Byrds (1968)

"Tommy," the Who (1969)

"Kick Out the Jams," the MC5 (1969)

"Trout Mask Replica," Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band (1969)

"Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs," Derek and the Dominos (1970)

"Ram," Paul and Linda McCartney (1971)

"Untitled ('IV')," Led Zeppelin (1971)

"Harvest," Neil Young (1972)

"Exile on Main St.," the Rolling Stones (1972)

"Desperado," the Eagles (1973)

"Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd," Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)

"The Dark Side of the Moon," Pink Floyd (1973)

"GP/Grievous Angel," Gram Parsons (1973/1974; rereleased in 1990)

"Blood on the Tracks," Bob Dylan (1975)

"Born to Run," Bruce Springsteen (1975)

"Horses," Patti Smith (1975)

"Exodus," Bob Marley & the Wailers (1977)

"Rumours," Fleetwood Mac (1977)

"Never Mind the Bollocks . . . Here's the Sex Pistols," the Sex Pistols (1977)

"Double Fantasy," John Lennon/Yoko Ono (1980)

"Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables," Dead Kennedys (1980)

"Imperial Bedroom," Elvis Costello and the Attractions (1982)

"Born in the U.S.A.," Bruce Springsteen (1984)

"The Best of the Doors," the Doors (1985)

"The Joshua Tree," U2 (1987)

"It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," Public Enemy (1988)

"Nevermind," Nirvana (1991)

"Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," Smashing Pumpkins (1995)

"OK Computer," Radiohead (1997)

"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," Wilco (2003)

[Glenn]

Selfish X'ers will get their day.

I hope they decide that killing one another is the most expedient way to parity.

[NYC GOP Chick]

You must be LOTS of fun at parties!

[Melas]

That's one of the many benefits of being a big well-armed broad. :)

That and you're a Texan. One of the more interesting observations I've made about Free Republic is that the people I like the most, and the people I like the least, tend to be Texans. That reflects well on Texas

[NYC GOP Chick]

I've been getting my 4-year-old daughter to say "Hay, mayun, play me sum Free Bird!" in the car.

Why am I *not* surprised?! ;)

[SoCal Pubbie]

Sorry, if you were born in '63 you're a boomer.

[Melas]

Selfish X'ers will get their day. I hope they decide that killing one another is the most expedient way to parity.

Can you say "Issues"? I knew that you could.

[SoCal Pubbie]

I can't believe there's been almost 150 posts and no one has taken these twits to task for daring to criticize Led Zeppelin!

[NYC GOP Chick]

Are you thinking of Annie Potts?

[Xenalyte]

That is intriguing! I'm gonna have to go look where my buds are from.

[familyop]

"Darn. I thought this article would be about something substantial, like intelligent young folks opposing the socialist behemoths SS and Medicare."

They are, by refusing to listen to old hippie/hillbilly/druggie tunes, getting good haircuts,...

[Xenalyte]

No, it's one of those FR fund-raiser pics. Those swap out when you refresh the thread. It's this woman in a red straw hat, with bad hair and makeup. I think she's trying to look coy.

[Melas]

Sorry, I'm not. Actually, I looked it up after typing my reply, and there is no real agreement as to exact time frame for the baby boom. The American Heritage Dictionary for example: Baby Boom-- A sudden, large increase in the birthrate, especially the one in the United States after World War II from 1947 through 1961.

Either way. There is no way anyone with half a brain could credibly maintain that someone born in 1947 and 1960 is of the same generation. All the important, landmark events that define the former, mean nothing to the latter. JFK's assassination, Woodstock, the Democratic convention of 1968, George McGovern, Humphry, etc etc, all belong to a generation that I was just peripherally aware of between naps.

[humblegunner]

Kerry Rocks!
He rubs guys on the arse, too, but I'll not address that here.

"Got a crazy feeling I don't understand
'Gotta get away from here
Feelin' like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground
Waitin' for the sun to appear

Mamma's gonna worry
I been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' that I enjoy

'Cause you can't see what my eyes see
(I can see it, I can see it)
And you can't be inside of me, flying high again

I can see through mountains watch me disappear
I can even touch the sky
Swallowing colors of the sound I hear
Am I just a crazy guy (You bet)

Mamma's gonna worry
I been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' that I enjoy

If you could be inside my head
You'd see that black and white is read
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again come on and join me"

What a stiff.

[SC Swamp Fox]

Those born from 1965-1981

Darn! I missed the cut by 13 days.

[familyop]

"Selfish X'ers will get their day."

I'm a Baby Boomer. There's no generation more selfish and vain than that of Baby Boomers. More of our kids are far less selfish than we are/were. Notice, for one thing, how much less effeminate Gen-X men look than we did. And notice how much more intelligent and masculine the current Metal is. In our time, Metal sounded more like it came from transexuals. ...remember the Rod Stewart joke, AC-DC, Queen?

[qam1]

I can't believe there's been almost 150 posts and no one has taken these twits to task for daring to criticize Led Zeppelin!

Neither can I!!!! I've been trying to work it in but I'm trying to do 10 other things also.

But not that I'd agree but I can see maybe thinking Stairway, Black Dog and Rock N Roll are a little over played, But the rest of the songs on that album are equally awesome. Anyone who can listen to those 3 plus Battle of Evermore, Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks, Going to California, When the Levee Breaks and not come away realizing they just listened to one of the greatest albums of all time just does not know music and can not be taken seriously. If they are going to attack Zeppelin then they should be attacking Coda.

[Xenalyte]

Look at that mack daddy GO! He sure knows how to handle that axe, eh?

[The Scourge of Yazid]

And failing miserably.

Don't you just love those blonds who try to look demure?

(Ducks incoming china and loose, blunt instruments being chucked at head by offended blond freepers.)

[Xenalyte]

For some reason, I don't loathe Zep like I do Skynyrd, and said fiance was equally adamant about both. Zep has done so much musically intriguing work . . . every Skynyrd song sounds alike to me.

[Xenalyte]

You're lucky my brunette roots are growing out, or you'd have a cap popped in you, boyee. ;)