NME: The Enemy (Dear Indie Barry…)
Blogged on July 10th, 2007 at 12:17pmSo, I’ve been into Lostprophets ever since I discovered rock music, really. They recently performed at T in the Park in Scotland, and I watched one or two songs of their performance on the BBC’s website (link). I thought it was pretty good myself, given that they’re a terrific live band unlike some others that were obviously forged in the studio instead of somebody’s basement.
Anyway, I stumbled upon a very closed minded and ignorant ‘critic’ of NME’s blog post attempting to slate their performance with, as it seems, no prior knowledge of who the band is and what they’re all about.
Quoting Barry Nicholson (hereafter referred to as ‘Indie Barry’);
Who likes Lostprophets? No, really. We want to know. Because the field is absolutely rammed for their hair gel-obsessed RAWK set and we can’t figure out why.
Hmm.. first of all, I don’t know where hair gel plays a part in the influence of their music or lyrics. Infact, they’ve written some pretty kickass meaningful songs that, well, have a slightly deeper meaning than VO5. I think it’s pretty safe to say I’ve listened to all of their songs, bar a few hidden demos and bootlegs, but songs like Everyday Combat and Rooftops are powerful songs with powerful lyrics and powerful riffs. What’s more, people can think about them which shows their lyrics are inspiring, and perhaps have a sense of ambiguity, which is what provokes this speculation.
I’ve only mentioned songs off their latest album. Being an NME ‘critic’ of a calibur such as your own, you’d probably only be interested in what’s the latest. If you ever do get past your own arse and have a listen at their more ‘vintage’ work, have a listen to For Sure and Ode to Summer off The Fake Sound of Progress.
Their work goes a little further than RAWK. It’s unique and mixes lots of different styles. Their first album, The Fake Sound of Progress, for example, has got some nice hip hop influences and samples that make their music sound that little bit more exotic.
Oh, I must also say that Ian Watkins can definitely sing in tune. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the same can’t be said for those dozen-or-a-thousand recycled indie vocalists. I won’t name names, as my knowledge doesn’t span too far into indie but I won’t be slating anybody with unfounded knowledge like you do.
Quoting Indie Barry;
‘Last Train Home’ and ‘Fake Sound Of Progress’; are admittedly great - though it pains us to say it - but the rest of their performance is like having our hearing raped. Wave the white flags; the idiots have won.
Is it? And why is that? The problem with your opinions is because you don’t back up your (dumbfounded) statements with justification. Perhaps if you’re looking for some eardrum rape, listen to The Handsome Life of Swing. Oh, screaming! Indie kids can’t take that, it’s just too intense! Pfft.
Wait a second, if you’re so into indie music, why the hell has NME made you report on a rock band? It’s a different genre.
“Wave the white flags; the idiots have won.” Bad move there Indie Barry, given that they arguably had the biggest crowd over the entire event (lacking citation, admittedly), you’ve just insulted a couple thousand people.
Who is the real idiot here, given that it appears you’ve never listened to any of their music before and you are now the face of NME, slating an amazing band with no justification? What exactly do you call yourself? A critic? A journalist? To be honest, you are neither: you are an asshole.
Should NME really be employing closed minded and ignorant people to post on their blog? It’s not giving them a good name either, especially when someone like Indie Barry may have non-meaningly included his colleagues by using the words “us” and “our” throughout the blog post, especially in the same sentence as the word “raped”.
I’d like to give props to the following people who left similar comments in response to Indie Barry’s musically blasphemous and dumbfounded rant: Rachael, Catherine Bishop, Emma-Louise.