2/26/08

The Detritus Review: Off-Topic! (Sort of.)

Detritus’ first ever, and perhaps only, pop-related post! Apologies, but I could not let this shit go.

A critic for Maxim magazine (they have music criticism? Jesus!) has been taken to task for his review of the new Black Crowes album.

I wonder why? Surely Maxim upholds the highest standards of journalistic integrity (in between pages of soft-core porn). Who gets their music reviews from a crappy frat-boy skin rag, anyway? (From Yahoo!):

The review in Maxim's March issue gives the Crowes' "Warpaint" a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five. The band posted an exasperated statement on its Web site last week saying the Maxim writer hadn't heard the entire album because advance copies weren't available.

He…could not have listened to the whole album. Because he didn’t have it. And yet, he published a review? What was he thinking?

The Crowes' manager, Pete Angelus, said the magazine explained that its review was an "educated guess."

Wow. I…wow. That is some fucked up shit right there.

Maxim editorial director James Kaminsky responded Tuesday with this statement: "It is Maxim's editorial policy to assign star ratings only to those albums that have been heard in their entirety.”

Really? That’s your policy? Because it kind of seems like common fucking sense to me.

“Unfortunately, that policy was not followed in the March 2008 issue of our magazine and we apologize to our readers."

That is unfortunate. Perhaps “readers” is also a mischaracterization.

Maybe we in the "classical" music world don't have it so bad after all.

4 comments:

Empiricus said...

We may be spoiled, but "interstitial tenderness" is still inexcusable.

Anonymous said...

There's a rumor that circulates in the modern music ether that a certain critic working for a large, East Coast newpaper was caught sleeping during a concert hu* was reviewing.

* (not a typo, the gender-neutral pronoun 'hu'-- just learned this one a few months ago... gold.)

Murderface said...

Cut the Maxim guy some slack, man! Do you really think there are any surprises coming from the Black Crowes at this late date? And do you want to sit through an hour of southern-fried Joe Cocker retreads to find out that it was exactly what you expected?

The Black Crowes should be thanking this guy. No one would be talking about this album otherwise.

Sator Arepo said...

@Murderface: No slack for hacks, Black Crowes or no. Still, your point is well-taken.

@anthonys: Stop using the gender-neutral pronoun "hu" immediately. I know where you live!