John D. of them Mountain Goats speaks on artists impulsively responding to negative criticism

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But such is the nature of the web, and the perennial need of artists to know what others are saying about them, that things have come to this: artists posting bitchy retorts to critics in the 'comments' section of the very site where the review was published. It is a weakness of the medium, I guess. If a print publication runs a bad review, you'll have to write, sign, seal, stamp & deliver your wounded reply; there are numerous points along that continuum where you might stop and see how silly it's going to make you look to follow through on your desire (completely understandable, of course) to guard your own honor. And somewhere within that process, if you're smart, you'll realize that the best way to preserve your honor is to keep your mouth shut and let others share their opinions of your work. They don't like it? They hate it, and want to say so publicly? Well! Welcome to public life! If you don't like it, there are plenty of dishwashing jobs available!

Good stuff.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

a friend of mine is a big Chicago fan, and I guess one of their guitarists lurks/posts to the yahoo Chicago group. He sent me this:

Brian wrote:

Does anyone have that old e-mail from Dawayne Bailey about the firing
of Danny? I've changed computers twice since then and the e-mail is
long gone, but it was a lengthy explanation about Danny's (alleged)
degradation as a drummer in the early 90's.

Of course I can't vouch for the accuracy of the story, but it remains
the most likely explanation I've heard to date.

- Brian

Actually Brian, let me be the first to tell you - there's nothing
alleged about my story about Seraphine and secondly, maybe you can't
vouch for the accuracy of my detailed truth about Seraphine's
departure, but allow me to assure you that I can vouch for it, and
so can everyone else who was there on the plane, in the dressing
room, at Jack Goudie's funeral, at the soundcheck when the fights
broke out, etc etc - I would never lie about any of this. My story
is a bazillion percent accurate.

Just lettin ya know - cheers, Dawayne Bailey

so the guy was kind of a dick but my friend was still pretty tickled by it.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

haha, every critic on the web just got out his promo of my new one and said "really? ok, gird 'em up, boy"

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:28 (twenty-one years ago)

what if the socioeconomic circumstances in which you were born are such that the best you can realistically do is wash dishes? then what?

― the great unwashed, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

given that those are the exact socioeconomic circumstances from which I came, and given how many dishes I've washed, I have no idea how to answer that

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Miccio and Jonathan Galkin to thread.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

most of my jobs have been dishwashing related...and i was heavily criticized at the time for them..Like when I cut my finger on a candlestick I was cleaning the wax out of..The owner of the restaurant wanted me to keep working even tho I was feeling the effects of blood loss and general fatigue..He suggested I wrap it in a towel and move on..I drove myself to the hospital where they assesed my stitch needing situation.

― dan bunnybrain (dan bunnybrain), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Miccio and Jonathan Galkin to thread.

Galkin isn't a member of LCD Soundsystem. He's in their street team.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Can we get a roll call of some of the more notorious examples of this? The only ones I can think of are pre-Internet (Billy Joel vs Xgau), or had nothing to do with the Internet (Ryan Adams vs DeRogo)

― Keith C (kcraw916), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I know, Miccio, it was just the first thing that came to mind, since it was so hilarious.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Paul McCartney wrote a letter to one of the British newspapers about a review of Liverpool Oratorio.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Liz Phair has dropped cryptic letterbombs to SPIN over Guyville and the NYT over Liz Phair

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

didn't Weather Report once write to Down Beat after a one-star review?
(my mem'ry may err here, though)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

At the center of Rafael's monumental painting "The School of Athens" Plato carries his "Timaeus", and at the right is Aristotle with his "Ethics". Not only has Raphael integrated different philosophical schools; he has also included portraits of his contemporaries among the philosophers. Aristotle, the empiricist, pointing toward the earthly space of the viewer, is generally considered to represent Momus. In Plato we see a hidden portrait of M0untain G0at J0hn Darn1elle, whose pointing finger is a characteristic gesture in Darn1elle's own songs and interviews.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

didn't Weather Report once write to Down Beat after a one-star review

I think they actually let the band respond in an lengthy interview in a subsequent issue.

― Keith C (kcraw916), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Jean Grae v. Oliver Wang to thread

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Sting has written letters to the Voice, complaining about reviews. The Swans sent Christgau unsanitary items through the mail, I think. And Lydia Lunch wrote me a HILARIOUS one (which the Voice printed) in the late '80s, after I wrote a long anti-pigfuck-shtick screed (in which I made fun of her) as a lead review; her letter consisting of LOTS OF WORDS IN UPPER CASE LETTERS. And oh yeah, Henry Rollins wrote a goofy whine to Creem in the mid '80s, after I made fun of his Black Flag stage shtick. He started out by saying "I like this Chuck Eddy. He doesn't like me." He said I looked like Woody Allen!

Saddest letter I ever got, though, came from John Waite, who thanked me for giving a Bad English album a "B" (not even a "B+") in Entertainment Weekly. I mean, letters are one thing, but rock stars of John's stature should not be thanking people for mediocre grades (especially in handwritten letters, sent through the U.S. mail!)

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

that's sweet actually...what's sad about it?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, sounds like a real gent.

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, yeah, I thought it was both very sweet and polite. It made me think he's a wonderful guy. What made me sad is that he has probably gotten so many grades lower than "B" in his life that the "B" actually made him happy enough to write to the critic. (And why is that sad? Because John made great records, with the Babys and solo! He deserved better! But by the time I wrote that review, I got the idea that he had resigned himself to getting only mediocre reviews.)

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I always found that letter Slug (Sean Daley) wrote into the voice in response to scott seward's el-p review pretty amusing. I sort of agree with him (and i like scott's writing, normally!)

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

"her letter consisting of LOTS OF WORDS IN UPPER CASE LETTERS"

Haha, she used to write reviews for Forced Exposure ALL IN CAPS!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Prefuse 73 to thread.

― cdwill, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

dont say that; he'll come

― David Allen (David Allen), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

haha good to hear yr voice Momus, I see you're still in love with your binary oppositions

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

When the Rolling Thunder tour ends, J0hn, come back and thunder here!

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

It says more about me than the grade that I don't particularly consider a "B" to be mediocre, right?

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

chuck is the pitchfork to John Waite's Arcade Fire

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Miccio and Jonathan Galkin to thread.

My first thought as well.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Darnielle and Momus, you did see Nabisco's Pitchfork article yesterday about you two, right?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Said article.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah M I miss a lot of stuff from here but am kind of allergic to saying anything quotable under my own name here, should I come back fulltime keep your eyes out for Walter Pater and his Fabulous Dancing Pre-Moderns

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 18:46 (twenty-one years ago)

what up john! what the hell happened to kerry wood today?

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I have the sneaking suspicion that if I was making music I'd be the self-critical bastard that sent anonymous letters to people who reviewed my music too glowingly.

J0hn! Great to see you around these parts, you're still loved - much like in Ames, despite whatever unfounded fears you may have had.

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Darnielle and Momus, you did see Nabisco's Pitchfork article yesterday about you two, right?

Ha, so none of you clicked my link to the School of Athens?

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

us americans don't know no culture.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Many, many years ago I got what was supposed to be a humorous form letter from the Washington Squares, in response to a negative review. I think I wrote back, asking them to consider what it said about their career that they'd actually concocted a form letter to deal with bad press.

― J.D. Considine, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh god, the Washington Squares, why did you have to remind me of them?

I assume, J. D., that the only quality responses any musicians should have sent you regarding negative reviews would have been only one word long.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:23 (twenty-one years ago)

were the Washington Squares the beatniks?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah, the equation of indifference with cool. Typology of poses musicians strike on this issue:

1. Nick Cave is so cool. Of course he doesn't read reviews. He doesn't even listen to the records he makes himself, after they're finished. But he lets us listen, thank God.

Momus comments: NOT COOL, Nick! If you don't even like to listen to your own records, why should I?

2. "We just make music that we want to hear, and if anyone else likes it, it's a bonus."

Momus comments: YOU BORING GITS, TURN TO FACE THE AUDIENCE WHEN YOU SPEAK TO THEM!

3. "Morrissey used to be my hero, but then one day I saw him jumping out of an expensive car and running into Tower to check if they had his record."

Momus comments: Did you really like Morrissey all that time without realising that he's the world's biggest narcissist? Have you actually heard a Morrissey record?

4. Artist X cares what every little website writes about him, and responds to every last comment on his blog. What a loser!

Jesus comments: Not a sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing
about it.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

god doesn't bitch out the sparrow though

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

He writes an angry letter to Himself asking how he could be so mean, perhaps.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

were the Washington Squares the beatniks?

Inasmuch as the cast of the MSTed idiocy The Beatniks were also beatniks, yes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:34 (twenty-one years ago)

See, Ned responds to comments. Ipso facto, Ned is cooler than Nick Cave.

― Momus (Momus), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

are the washington squares that goofy musical topical satire act?

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

2. "We just make music that we want to hear, and if anyone else likes it, it's a bonus."

Alot of us less-talented types don't have any other option than to have this attitude!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that's the Capitol Steps. argh, I can't believe I answered that.

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

are the washington squares that goofy musical topical satire act?

They lack the biting elan and savage wit and talent of Mark Russell.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I think that's the Capitol Steps. argh, I can't believe I answered that.

xpost

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

cool. I don't know how I did that...

― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah M this is a point on which I'm surprised how blinded you are by your own engagement! it's just a question of manners. Let's imagine the whole field elsewhere: sex, say. You might be a great lover (I dislike the word "lover" but whatevah). Know how you can make yourself a worse lover without actually changing your technique at all? By talking about what a great lover you are all the time. While I'm not of the opinion that discussions cheapen the thing discussed, I am fairly certain that what artists have to say about their own work is of no interest to me; nor do I think it ought to be of interest to anybody, if they've thought the matter through for a minute. Naturally artists tend to find their own opinions of the work they've made of supreme importance; such narcissism is what made them artists in the first place. But they should have the good manners to not impose their narcissism on others (beyond sharing their art, which ought to give them sufficient gratification) and to not stifle open discussion by dragging the Creator-God into things, which is exactly what an artist does when he enters a discussion of his own work.

So, my own point being: of course artists care about what's being said about them; naturally they do, nothing wrong with that, they need make no secret of it! Still, they should shut the fuck up. (not meaning to criticize you specifically old bean, you know it's all love from me. Just saying, as I've said before, that it's in poor form for an artist to regulate the reception of his work; it cheapens the work, in my opinion, and my main man Blanchot sez the work is all that counts.)

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

are the washington squares that goofy musical topical satire act?

They lack the biting elan and savage wit and talent of Mark Russell.

So call it debatin'
or legislative playa-hatin'
the Congress starts a quakin'
I've think they've got a case a'
them old Fil-i-buster blooooooooooze!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

One of teh Washington Squares was rock critic Trixie A. Balm.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Can criticism aspire to the level of art? John you've mentioned Pater jocularly but the influence of certain critics/arbiters such as Ruskin or Lamb has been so large as to actually affect the arts, which, in some kind of conceptual way could be construed as an obscure art form. I keep thinking of Borges's 'Book of Prefaces' in which he wrote prefaces to imaginary books but I'm not sure exactly how it ties in here.

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

oh certainly - of the papers I wrote as an undergrad, the one I remember most fondly is the one where I contended that what Paul De Man is doing in "The Resistance to Theory" amounts to stand-up comedy (nb not that he didn't mean what he said, and not that what he said wasn't valid, but that the point of his exercise was as much virtuoso performance as anything else)

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

So call it debatin'
or legislative playa-hatin'
the Congress starts a quakin'
I've think they've got a case a'
them old Fil-i-buster blooooooooooze!

I have to hurt you now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Did De Man write you back and tell you that you totally didn't get it?

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

J0hn reminds me a little of B@rry B0nds.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Momus, I love you.

And didn't Castiglione basically start the indifference/cool equation?

― gor gor the hill giant, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost: with better knees.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

He would've said it's a question of manners.

― gor gor the hill giant, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to hurt you now.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), April 13th, 2005.

DON'T SHOOT ME I'M ONLY THE PIANO PLAYER!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Go here and vent your spleen, Mr. H.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

de Man is totally a poet not a critic. Possibly even a performance poet.

― alext (alext), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

It took me sixty seconds to get Eppy's joke and then I was like oh my God

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 22:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Miles Davis turned away from his audience when he was onstage.

Thousand Yard Stare always turned eagerly towards their audience when they were onstage.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 April 2005 07:26 (twenty-one years ago)

thousand yard who?

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Thursday, 14 April 2005 07:43 (twenty-one years ago)

precisely

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 April 2005 07:45 (twenty-one years ago)

If you dropped a bomb on this thread, there would be fewer critics! Of course, this would be a very, very bad thing.

― moley, Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

"Today, on NPR's Morning Edition, noted critic/musician John Darnielle, author of the new collection `Lectures on Literature & Society...."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 14 April 2005 10:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"...SPEAKS!"

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 14 April 2005 11:40 (twenty-one years ago)

hray!

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 14 April 2005 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Killing Joke's sack of liver dumped in the reception of the NME office always struck me as an decent way to accept criticism. They made their point, and the NME got some free liver. It's not like it was manure or anything.

― bg (creamolafoam), Thursday, 14 April 2005 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Killing Joke's greeting to Paul Morley as he arrived to interview them for the NME in 1980: "THE ENTERTAINMENT HAS ARRIVED!"

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 April 2005 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)

When I read the original article I totally thought he was speaking directly about Momus.

― David Allen (David Allen), Thursday, 14 April 2005 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Was Jaz wearing a crown & ratty cape & pulling meat off an oversized turkey leg w/ wine dribbling down his chin when he said that?

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 14 April 2005 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't there a thread (maybe I started it) about actually physically threatened over bad reviews? And how rarely the musicians actually follow through on their threats? The Internet has just sped up that process, except now we can instantly circulate your nasty letter to the whole world and laugh at you.

― mike a, Thursday, 14 April 2005 12:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Once again I have to mention (with some amount of pride) that Ryan Adams bitched me out from onstage at First Avenue for giving a withering review to his opening act, the Stills. My one regret is that I have no idea what the specifics were of what he said.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Thursday, 14 April 2005 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

My one regret is that I have no idea what the specifics were of what he said.

That's what you get for missing a Ryan Adams show, dude...you always gotta go from now on.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 14 April 2005 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

My first bit of crit-inspired hate was in high school, when my 2 out of 10 review of Transistor appeared in the local paper (teen page) the day of their concert with opening act Sugar Ray - whose only hit was "Fly" at the time. Allegedly Mark McGrath went to a huge tirade about how some idiot in your paper is an idiot or something. Irony of course being that I am now probably as big a Sugar Ray crit booster as they've got. Is it possible that crits can't help but adore the bands who call them out? I mean Xgau's A button is stuck for Lou Reed, Public Enemy and Sonic Youth even though he's a toesucker with unbelievable hype they killed with their big fucking dick.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 14 April 2005 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

when did pe call out xgau?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll be fucked if I can find it now (was it in the Ego Trip book? argh) but I swear I read somewhere that "Don't Believe The Hype" was directed at Tate, Xgau et al at the Voice.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

are you sure you're not thinking of "bring the noise" and john leland?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Gordon from Ballboy slagged me off at the SL records Christmas gig a couple of years ago for comments I'd made on NYLPM.

I was banned from writing for the school paper after giving an extremely negative review of a school band. They were shit though, and later came to agree with what I'd said.

― alext (alext), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

are you sure you're not thinking of "bring the noise" and john leland?

Gah, yeah I wondered if it might be Leland.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean pe were always worrying about their press (which is kinda crazy since they probably got more good press than any rappers besides the 86 bears)(though i guess this was when they were on the cover of the ny post, etc. too, so not all critfawn) so it wouldn't surprise me if they had more than one song on that album (hell on that side of the album) calling out critics (and 'don't believe the hype' is very much 'you motherfuckers got something to say?').

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I always liked Chuck E.'s comparing of "Don't Believe" with "Did You No Wrong" -- Chuck D. threatens to grab notebooks but Lydon says he'll smash the typewriters.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm pretty sure that the Voice would be the first place to explode if they actually decided to assassinate the media The Xgau/Tate/Chuck interview ain't exactly Hall/Farrakhan - on either side.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

second - first would DEFINITELY be the ny post.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I knew I read it here. From the Ego Trip Book Of Hip-Hop Lists (which was in the pile of books by the bathroom - natch!):

'One of P.E.'s greatest singles was composed in sardonic dedication to longtime Village Voice rock scribe Robert Christgau and Spin's then-hip hop columnist John Leland, for their misrepresentation of Chuck D's lyricant bent. "Suckers, liars get me a shovel/ some writers I know are damn devils," an incensed Mistachuck fumed.'

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

lyrical bent

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

The gentleman who works across the desk from me once got a late night call from Vice's Saroosh for badmouthing the Stills. Besides not really caring for their music, I feel kinda sorry for them, as everyone gives them shit here, mostly because of that "former ska band" albatross hanging around their neck, or maybe it's just that Canadian fear of cross-border success and idolation of mediocrity that Gavin McInnes used to harp on about.

― Jay Watts III (jaywatts), Thursday, 14 April 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't Boy George once mail a box full of his own poop to a critic who gave him a bad review?

― Fa Fa fa FA, Fa fa Fa fa FA Fa (poop), Friday, 15 April 2005 06:35 (twenty-one years ago)

seventeen years pass...

https://boingboing.net/2023/03/05/you-can-buy-a-life-sized-cardboard-john-darnielle-for-69-97.html/

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 6 March 2023 16:30 (three years ago)

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