I’m a self-described music geek, and have been for a number of years. I’ve noticed something about a lot of music geeks: rather than geeking out about great music with as many people as possible, we are derisive toward new fans, snobbishly clinging to bands as if their music was some kind of sacred knowledge of which, only we are worth.
This is wrong.
It is also stupid. I plan to fix it.
No one, no matter their musical tastes or knowledge, can have possibly listened to every good, important, or influential piece of music. There is no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed that you’ve never listened to Neutral Milk Hotel, or Elvis Costello, or The Smiths. There are thousands of great albums that I’ve never listened to (and I’m excited by that fact, all this new music waiting to be discovered!)
With this in mind, I hope to bring to the table a new style of music reviews. Myself and a team of reviewers (spanning four generations and several countries) are going to review “classic” and “iconic” albums that we’ve never heard, or never listened critically to, with fresh ears. In doing so, we hope to introduce each other and the rest of the world to some of the greatest albums ever recorded.
We will write about the music first and foremost, considering the cultural significance and impact of the tracks as secondary elements. (The climate in which a song was written is important, but it is less important than the quality of the song on its own merit.) We will devote equal time to best-sellers and hidden gems. We will shine our spotlight on as many bands and genres as possible, often from multiple view points.
We will be critical when we feel an album deserves criticism, we will give praise when we feel praise is deserved. We will dole out each of these things according to our own experiences with the music (instead of simply bowing down to popular opinion of an album.) Expect multiple, dissenting, well articulated takes on every album we cover.
It is my hope that, together, we can show a world of “music-snobs” another path, and along the way we can turn “What do you mean you’ve never listened to London Calling?” into “You would really like The Clash!”
So pull up a chair, put on some headphones, and lets dive in.