'Pedestrian bullshit' - Tweedy on Adams

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Dr. Filth: On what occasion would you kick out a fan in a concert for yelling out a request?

Jeff Tweedy: I would never kick out a fan at a concert for yelling out a request.

Dr. Filth: Did you hear about that? [Dr. Filth is referring to an incident that happened at a Ryan Adams concert about a year ago. Apparently Adams demanded that a person in attendance at the concert be removed because he was yelling out for Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69", in some fit of indie rock irony.]

JT: I did. I think it's sad. Actually I don't know very much of his music. I've been very shocked at the stuff I have heard, just how mainstream it is. In fact I was doing an Invisible Jukebox thing for a Dutch magazine where they played me 12 records and asked me to comment on them, and I got 11 of 12. The only one I didn't know was one of his tracks. And when it got done I said, Well I don't know who that is but it's fucking horrible, pedestrian bullshit. And they were like [Dutch accent] Oh yes, you know who it is, and I'm saying No, I don't ! Who is it? And they told me who it was and I said, Well, I didn't know and now that I know I'm glad that I don't. I think he's talented, and he has a good voice, but he definitely has some growing up to do. [Kicking that guy out] was just a dumb, missed opportunity. That guy became the hero. It transferred all the energy onto him. You could either ignore him, which would make him look like a big idiot, or you could laugh him off, which would have put him even further down. [It just showed] a total lack of a sense of humor. But he's got something, you know . . . I just think it's like he's John Cougar or something.

― scottjames23 (worrysome-man), Thursday, 31 July 2003 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

'Black' - Pot on kettle.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 31 July 2003 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

lol, yeah i pretty much agree with tom on this one. all wilco need is an adam duritz collab and their fate is sealed

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Thursday, 31 July 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been very shocked at the stuff I have heard, just how mainstream it is.
uh huh...I mean, there's nothing all that avant garde about any of the Wilco I've heard.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 31 July 2003 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

that is indeed strange coming from Tweedy (hey, Jeff, remember a little record called AM?)
I'll take Heartbreaker over Wilco's debut any day. And I don't even particularly like Ryan Adams.

Even so, I was at a huge outdoor festival where Tweedy & Co. were opening (as it were) for that hunky John Mayer. The boozed-up frat crowd was having a hard time dealing with some of YHF's more experimental numbers, and this kid keeps yelling "Go back to Seattle!!- whatever the fuck that means...
To his credit, Jeff never lost his cool.

― Will (will), Thursday, 31 July 2003 17:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I can ALWAYS tell when it's a Jeff Tweedy song, even if I've never heard it before.

I can NEVER ever recognize Ryan Adams' songs, even when I've already heard them repeatedly, even when I've seen the video.

Make of this what you will.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, I'm not the biggest Tweedy fan but it's hardly pot vs. kettle, he's got a pretty distinct (if not all that interesting, to me) style whereas Ryan Adams always feels pretty generic

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Matos OTM.

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

ryan adams (when he was the singer for whiskeytown) did a great gram parsons cover which is on some compilation, i think the big one that came out a few years ago.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

(Ha! And I even like Adams's music, sometimes. But it is definitely generic.)

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought this was gonna be cheryl tweedy on brian adams.

― michael wells (michael w.), Thursday, 31 July 2003 18:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought this was going to be about Tweety Bird and Don Adams (TV's Get Smart).

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:00 (twenty-two years ago)

That Whiskeytown cover was "A Song For You" and it sounds great. Definitely one of the better (best?) tribute albums out there.

And I'm definitely a bigger fan of Tweedy than Adams. I'd hardly call myself a fan of the latter.

I just don't think Tweedy hit his stride until Being There, well into his 30's. I won't deny him several killer tunes spread across four Uncle Tupelo records and AM, but Heartbreaker, imo, was a mighty strong coming out. Too bad the last two Adams' LP's(save for a few tracks) have been mind-numbingly boring.

― Will (will), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Mellencamp is WAY better than Ryan Adams, at least the Post-"Heartbreaker" stuff. The only Adams' music that really affected me is some of Whiskeytown's young-gun-on-the-go stuff. The most Mellencamp stuff!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Adams is just a whiny cunt, i.e. his insults directed at Robbie Fulks and the Old 97's. Not sure what he said about the latter, but he called Robbie a novelty singer (never heard Couples in Trouble, maybe). Fulks' response was to promise free swag to anyone who requested Bryans Adams songs at Ryan Adams shows (this was after the incident in question).

Heartbreaker is good, but he's hopelessly mediocre and generic even taking that into account.

Mellencamp is better than Adams, true.

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I need to hear Pneumonia, but "Waiting To Derail," "16 Days" and a bunch of stuff on Strangers Almanac are like Uncle Tupelo songs that MAKE SENSE, so I love 'em.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Robbie Fulks is a novelty singer!

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 31 July 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Robbie Fulks has some novelty songs, but he's also got some heartbreakers (and some flat-out scary songs too -- "Cold Statesville Ground" gives me the creeps). I actually listen to my Robbie Fulks CDs more than my Jeff Tweedy or Ryan Adams CDs. And I once saw Tweedy act like a real dick in concert, too.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Thursday, 31 July 2003 20:05 (twenty-two years ago)

mellencamp is better'n the two of em put together. his new single is great!

― Truck Turner, Thursday, 31 July 2003 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

mellencamp >>> tweedy >>> adams

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Thursday, 31 July 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Fulks is far from a novelty singer, and if one has heard his last album know this already.

Even having said that, his first several albums are quite good, even if they're more tongue-in-cheek. Still better than Adams, either way.

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Thursday, 31 July 2003 23:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Ryan Adams = music made by a guy who makes music, in order to get laid.

― David Allen, Friday, 1 August 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

thank god he's the only one

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 1 August 2003 01:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, his is the most glaringly obvious, to the point where it obstructs the music. Much moreso then any 80s hair metal band.

― David Allen, Friday, 1 August 2003 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

How does that manifest in the music?

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 1 August 2003 04:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Tweeedy's songs convey the impression that NOTHING would seriously rattle him, ever. Does he do heroin? Even if he doesn't, I like him. (Of course, this is coming from somebody who rates 'Desertshore' and 'Erotica' in his top 3)

― dave q, Friday, 1 August 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

If he was only making music to get laid he probably be making a lot less of it.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 1 August 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Robbie Fulks is awesome. He's not afraid to be funny when he wants to be, without necessarily being mean, which is what happens when most rockers think they're being funny.
"Nickels and Dimes" for example, COULD be a Novelty number, but I think that he really likes pocket change THAT MUCH and in THAT WAY.
I only have Country Love Songs, but I've always meant to get more. I had read quite a bit about him before I'd heard, and then he sounded not at all like I'd expected him to. Which, in the long run, is a very good thing.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 1 August 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe Fulks is a misunderstood novelty singer like ROger Miller?

Have we had a Roger Miller thread yet? If not, starting one is U&K.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 1 August 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

"Go back to Seattle!!

haha, that's great

― Sam J. (samjeff), Friday, 1 August 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I have several of his albums, including his "Very Best of..." compilation, which is really just B-sides and rarities. And "Couples In Trouble" is his latest, and it's a really dark collection of downers.

Couples of weird ones: his ode to Bloodshot Records, 'Bloodshot's Turning Five' on "Down to the Promised Land: 5 Years of Bloodshot Records". Hilarious tune. And his vox on "Across the Alley From the Alamo" on that Bob Wills tribute the Pine Valley Cosmonauts released a few years back, which will bring yer neck it swings so hard.

― ham on rye (ham on rye), Friday, 1 August 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

The part of me that wants to like Adams even more because of this thread is my worst enemy, but i cant help it!!

"Generic" is a terrible criticism of a singer/songwriter; they all are! Ryan Adams is generic like David Bowie!

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Friday, 1 August 2003 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

"...that little turd is a drunk, lonely, Paul Westerberg wannabe" -- Ken Bethea (1998) (Old 97's)

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 1 August 2003 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

are "drunk" and "lonely" really acceptable criticisms of a musician?

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 2 August 2003 22:32 (twenty-two years ago)

two weeks pass...

Why did Jay Bennett leave Wilco again?

― Spinktor the Unmerciful (mawill5), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:11 (twenty-two years ago)

he got sick of the repeated beatings

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

oh no hang on that was Metallica

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Why was Metallica repeatedly beating Jay Bennett?

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

He killed Walt Disney.

― Spinktor the Unmerciful (mawill5), Monday, 18 August 2003 23:35 (twenty-two years ago)

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