Letters to the Editor
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Like Rodney King might have said...
I wish everything didn't have to be perfectly packaged for MML to find favor in GB. Many times painful insides shouldn't translate into tragic outsides. Why do they have to be "taken seriously"? Can't it be art for art's sake, and clown costume for clown costume's sake?
Like Rodney King would have said about GB, "Can't we all just like a song?!"
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Wow, maybe it is all about race
A couple of black guys can't put out a good album without people wondering whether they are pandering to white audiences or mining white music history by being too angsty or covering 80s teen-angst music. Anyone who has lived for the past 25-40 years can't have escaped the influence of John Hughes movies, new wave, etc. Last time I checked, the black people made up about 20% of the US population. That means alot of influence from the other 80% as well as alot of sales going to non-black audiences. Just because a black person is influenced by or enjoys something created by a white person doesn't mean they are pandering if they tip their hat in that direction. I think it would be far less sincere to try and seem all street when their interests are actually far beyond typical hip-hop. you only have to look at Danger Mouse's other collaborations and the fact that he got his start in Athens, GA to realize where he's coming from.
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Music critics' biggest clown
This title would have to go to Miles Marshall Davis. Comparing Gnarls Barkley with the Beach Boys and Depeche Mode?!?! What did you find this guy? Crying in the street after being fired from his PR intern job at Sony Music. Even though I cannot claim to know or ever met Dangermouse or Cee-Lo, I can pretty much guarantee that they were not influenced by the music of the Beach Boys. And to even suggest that this duo is pandering to white america just because they have found a large audience is laughable if not right out offensive. This is heartfelt, innovative music being made by to guys who have a wealth of knowledge about the history of American music drawing on blues, gospel, hip-hop, folk, punk, goth, and emo all with the flair of an eighties hair band. That have woven a tapestry of fun intriguing beats and melodies all juxtaposed against the depression laden, not teenage angst, lyrics in order to provide a portrait of what it is to live in that all-American city of St. Elsewhere. So I ask Salon, for you own reputation, please seek a new music editor because this guy can only be described as a "dolt".
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Hip Hop?
I don't think that Cee-Lo Green has been a hip-hop artist in years, he re-invented himself as a soul (not r&b) singer a long time ago... and soul music has always been full of angst. I just hope he and dangermouse can cook up a song as hooky and killer as "Crazy" again - even if everyone was sick of it by the end of that summer.
PS: prytania with a keyboard - YAWN
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The author obviously has never heard of the
Insane Clown Posse!
Juggalo???
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Come To Think Of It..
Hip Hop has always been full of angst, too - why is Miles Marshall Lewis so surprised? I didn't realize that angst was the exclusive province of suburban folks.
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GET A GRIP!
"it is clear that Cee-lo is targeting the same post racial audience that pundits have discribed in the wake of Barak Obama."
What the fuck does that mean? Did Cee-lo walk into a recording studio thinking that because of the Obama phenomenon it would be ok to record music that might appeal to white folk and they'd buy it? This is a classic case of over analyzation, or at the very least, someone thinking like some record exec with his head stuck up some marketers ass! Music is music! Good music appeals to everyone. I don't think "Crazy" was a fluke. It was one of the most original recordings to emerge in years. From one of the most original artists to break the staid, tired mode of "popular" music. Thinking like Mr. Lewis' (where Salon get this guy?) is representative of the profound problem with American popular culture, music in particular. Corporations are so worried about how they are going to sell shit, categorizing shit, they don't really listen to it! Good shit sells itself. Quirky though they may be, Gnarls Barley's music is no less valid because of it. Not anymore than Amy Winehouse with her ten foot beehive, or Macy Grey with her helium voice. All terrific musicians who deliberately differentiate themselves from the standard pop personas of stripper sluts and pretty boys. And seem to have a damn good time doing it.
Cee-lo is a classic R&B singer, with a voice remniscent of the great Sam Moore (Sam and Dave). This paired with the spacey, ethereal arrangements of Danger Mouse makes for a truelly bizarre and intriguing union. And some damn good music that I certainly wouldn't classify as hip-hop just because they both have embraced that medium in previous endeavors. The fact that they both happen to be Black artists is totally irrelevant to the universal concerns in their music. Who isn't angst ridden in these disturbing times? With a moron about to vacate the White House and leaving an horrific legacy, one can only hope that the future holds promise. And I welcome the future as long as original aritsts like GB help provide the sound track!
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"(W)iggers" waaaaaaaay out of line, eds.
Would it be acceptable if Lewis were to write "white niggers," of which "wiggers" is a colloquial contraction?
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"Wigger"?
What is wrong with you people? I expect better than to see what amounts to the N-word in an analysis article.