Rockism : WTF?



Interesting stuff from the NY Times' Kelefa Sanneh today about the prevailing bias in the music critic universe towards traditional guitar/singer-songwriter/indie/moody guy stuff.

A rockist isn't just someone who loves rock 'n' roll, who goes on and on about Bruce Springsteen, who champions ragged-voiced singer-songwriters no one has ever heard of. A rockist is someone who reduces rock 'n' roll to a caricature, then uses that caricature as a weapon. Rockism means idolizing the authentic old legend (or underground hero) while mocking the latest pop star; lionizing punk while barely tolerating disco; loving the live show and hating the music video; extolling the growling performer while hating the lip-syncher.

Over the past decades, these tendencies have congealed into an ugly sort of common sense. Rock bands record classic albums, while pop stars create "guilty pleasure" singles. It's supposed to be self-evident: U2's entire oeuvre deserves respectful consideration, while a spookily seductive song by an R&B singer named Tweet can only be, in the smug words of a recent VH1 special, "awesomely bad."

Like rock 'n' roll itself, rockism is full of contradictions: it could mean loving the Strokes (a scruffy guitar band!) or hating them (image-conscious poseurs!) or ignoring them entirely (since everyone knows that music isn't as good as it used to be). But it almost certainly means disdaining not just Ms. Simpson but also Christina Aguilera and Usher and most of the rest of them, grousing about a pop landscape dominated by big-budget spectacles and high-concept photo shoots, reminiscing about a time when the charts were packed with people who had something to say, and meant it, even if that time never actually existed. If this sounds like you, then take a long look in the mirror: you might be a rockist.

As evidence of this systematic reign of rockist power-brokers, let's have a look at last week's Billboard Top Ten :

1) Rod Stewart
2) Nelly
3) George Strait
4) Usher
5) Ray Charles
6) Jimmy Eat World
7) Brooks & Dunn
8) Celine Dion
9) Hillary Duff
10) Tim McGraw

Though this is but a small sample, it would appear as though rock criticism's old boy network has virtually no impact on wider public tastes (Jimmy Eat World excepted, and I'm not sure you can credit much of their popularity to rock critics).

Speaking as someone who enjoys the Usher CD without qualifications (every time I hear it coming from someone else's car), the Times sure gives a lot of editorial space to an article that should be of great interest to their many millions of music journalist readers.



(Usher : proud to serve as CSTB's token symbol of musical diversity. We like both kinds of music --- death and metal.)

Posted: Sun - October 31, 2004 at 10:52 AM      

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