Music Banter - Worst music critics

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Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo (Post 711728)

For me it was them giving Obscured by Clouds 2 stars and Ummagumma a goddamn 3 and a half, even though it seemed like they gave the former a warmer review than the latter, then again they didn't actually review Ummagumma, they just gave a description without any opinion whatsoever. It's like they rate albums solely on popularity and they just don't give a f*ck if it's consistant with the review or not.

Maybe that is really what they do. The reviews are reviews and the star ratings show relative popularity/consensus opinions.

I don't know. It doesn't matter to me anyway, because it's never as if I'd make a decision about anything just because someone else likes or dislikes something.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweet_nothing (Post 711697)

Robert Christgau, does this guy even like music? Honestly every review Ive read by him he makes the album sound like its crap yet he gives it an A. I dont think I've ever read anything by him saying something positive about an album. Fuck this guy.

Sometimes I don't even know what the heck the guy's saying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JGuy Grungeman (Post 1724482)

Sometimes I don't even know what the heck the guy's saying.

I haven't read a ton of Christgau's reviews because I don't care for him, but re what I have read, I'd say I don't know what the heck he's talking about maybe 80% of the time. He's one of the people I had in mind re "frustrated creative writing ambitions."

short for "with respect to"

Now, creative, I might argue. If by "creative" you mean inserting the song titles of the album in random-ass places, yeah.

Read his L7 reviews.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo (Post 711695)

I used to say Christgau was the absolute worst, that is until I found this guy.

Only Solitaire: George Starostin's Music Reviews

This guy is a linguistics researcher and apparently one of the brightest in his field. But yeah, being smart at one subject can't prevent you from being a total retard at another. As this guy's other hobby as a music critic clearly proves.

So let's see. He rates artist's whole careers on letter grades. And thus The Beatles, Stones, Dylan and The Who are the only A grade artists in rock music history. Black Sabbath, The Residents and Pretty Things are a D, and Syd Barrett is an E. And ABBA a C. What more needs to be said? :laughing:

His reviews are even worse, I won't quote them, I let you find out for yourself if you're willing to endure the blinding stupidity.

BooBoo. I am surprised that you have such a negative opinion of Starostin as a music *reviewer*. I have found Starostin to be enormously helpful in regard to finding music I like. Starostin did not just praise or diss various artists. He *reviewed* their albums. He gave *reasons* for his evaluations of the artists. You may not agree with Starostin´s tastes, BooBoo - that seems to be the reason you diss him - but he explained why his tastes/evalutations were what they were.

I like the fact that Starostin, like me, perceives a distinct melody and strong hook as being the most important attribute of a good song.

I myself to not agree all the time with Starostin. I do not evaluate the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and the Who as highly as he does. I only agree with Starostin that The Beatles are wonderful. But the best thing about Starostin´s massive site is all the background information he provides about the artists he reviews. Wading through Starostin´s site was a learning experience for me. And I thank him for it.