my vibe on '60s-'90s entertainment writing and media lately is they had cachet and infrastructure the '20s coulda gotten a lot done with if not for the entire playing field tiling anti-intellectual.
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yeah, it's hard not to feel like the last decade was full of people strategically lighting their own infrastructure on fire to make sure that no one ever did anything smart or meaningfully subversive
aug 25, 2025, 4:14 pm • 4 0 • view
in UK the infrastructure for a music press was lit on fire by fucking toddler brains the NME and Q were the "papers of record" and could've built huge online brands - over the course of the 00s, Connor McNicholas and Paul Rees respectively turned them into clown car garages because... no reason
aug 25, 2025, 4:31 pm • 4 0 • view
i was a big nme reader in the arctic monkeys and post punk revival years but that ticked down for late aughts yep. we had some pubs with legendary archives fumble that jump here as well. i guess i never what if'd it. it was more like a sand hazard to miss while trying to score a gig as a writer.
aug 25, 2025, 5:01 pm • 1 0 • view
the fact that McNicholas made the age of N*E*R*D, Goldfrapp, Dizzee Rascal, Soulwax into "the post punk revival years" - or as he liked to put it, "the NEW RAWK REVOLEWSHUN FOR DA KIDZ!!!!!11" was exactly the problem ditto Rees boiled the mainstream down to U2 and Coldplay and NOTHING ELSE
aug 25, 2025, 5:06 pm • 4 0 • view
not to disparage the Arctics, Rapture or whoever, but the clanging branding and reductionism of it all was utterly mindless
aug 25, 2025, 5:07 pm • 1 0 • view
what i liked is how excited they seemed about something new. could be quite cloying and some of the bands were foolish but that "no you have to understand this is the greatest thing out" was refreshing even when i was laughing about it.
aug 25, 2025, 5:11 pm • 1 0 • view
"seemed" being the operative word, when in fact it was cynical toeing of an editorial line to hype up any white man in a trilby tangentially this has just made me cry
aug 25, 2025, 5:52 pm • 1 0 • view
It was, of course, The Bravery, and if anyone believed that Mark Beaumont was sincere in calling them the greatest band on the planet off his tits on a freebie trip to NYC I feel even sadder
aug 25, 2025, 5:56 pm • 1 0 • view
excited to rethink how i received the era and any time i can let the air out of the little bits of aughts nostalgia i do have
aug 25, 2025, 6:03 pm • 1 0 • view
It was an exciting time though! I was DJing regularly and professionally writing for the first time.... which is precisely why I became rapidly very bitter that the titles I'd grown up on didn't reflect what I was seeing at all.
aug 25, 2025, 6:07 pm • 3 0 • view
they had ground to act like that on. people thought it was cool. i think everything from akademiks to zane (in very very different ways) that wins off kid gloving one or several or every celeb is mirroring sweetheart fan/artist engagement. lot of terrible pop writing wants to plug into that juice.
aug 25, 2025, 4:19 pm • 14 1 • view
always so melted reading up on the old legends going "yeah i simply walked into [radio station or newspaper] and got a job" like we could possibly never now
aug 25, 2025, 4:23 pm • 13 0 • view
That's my problem with music writing the last 10 years– all fandom, no criticism.
aug 25, 2025, 7:17 pm • 0 0 • view
there's still straight shooters but there are a lot of logistics to consider like to get laser specific 2020 tremors in ad revenue in media trickling into layoff waves and freelance freezes. about exactly 10 years ago there was a bravado about cash to burn.
aug 25, 2025, 8:01 pm • 0 0 • view
thattt being said, every few weeks i find myself vexed by not seeing choppy points i felt should have come up at any cost at a spot that had the resources to have gotten into it.
aug 25, 2025, 8:05 pm • 0 0 • view
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they did exist
aug 25, 2025, 8:06 pm • 1 0 • view
I equate it to the 'celebrity' DJ timeline. I also miss interviews that aren't soft lobs.
aug 25, 2025, 8:05 pm • 0 0 • view
speaking of, i am also thinking about how ak as streamer and joe as pod guy were website editorial decisions to center that tone
aug 25, 2025, 8:06 pm • 0 0 • view
Wow 🤔
aug 25, 2025, 8:07 pm • 0 0 • view
OK now THAT needs some unpacking 🤔
aug 25, 2025, 4:12 pm • 2 0 • view