Ian S: Rock and Roll Journalism Was Destroyed by Lester Bangs =

Weird Weird War frontman gives diuretics a bad reputation. They're actually more fun than reading most "rock journalism" these days. But then I guess this bloggie thing is a weird personal diary/diuretic and it's also glib and stupid.

Excerpts from a non-glib but still stupid interview with Ian Svenwhatever from Weird War in the Weekly Dig:

Rock & roll journalism is a real problem because of Lester Bangs. Before him, I think people maybe talked about the music that they liked, why they liked it, and why [a certain record] did or did not fit their criteria. Now it’s become this kind of weird, personal diary/diuretic. It’s too glib and stupid.

If nothing else, people like their rock to have a good back story.
Right … and you know, rock & roll is many things, and one of those things is a kind of consumerist religion that was constructed top-down and promulgated as a replacement for Christianity. In a consumer society, the old American archetype of being a pious, autonomous cowboy was no longer useful to the ruling class. They needed the opposite of that—a helpless consumer bewitched by the latest gizmo. So rock & roll kind of apes religion in its structure, but it replaces self-denial—which is the Christian ethos—with consumerism.

I read an interview where you said “I hope Weird War is an absolute failure,” but I couldn’t tell if you were joking.
What I meant is that everyone is just kind of a sad hack in a way. They all emulate the great examples of art. But the interesting things happen when people fail. The paradigm example is Gang of Four trying to make funk. It was an abysmal failure, and that’s why it’s interesting. But when people try to emulate Gang of Four, it’s pretty easy to do, and it’s no longer very interesting. That’s the thing with the post-punk revival—it’s so accessible and attainable.

Previously on Vinyl Mine: Ian Svenonius's David Candy = Bad Career Move