May 16, 2004
COUNTERPOINT
To keep things interesting, let's turn it around. Let's act as if I'm wrong; let's say that my results do not hold up because they are drawn from an either non-representative or too-small sample. Let's see what it feels like to believe that, on this day in rock history, Merritt just happened to not like OutKast ("innocuous" music for suburban teeangers), Beyoncé (just an outfit), Britney (just an image) and Justin (just a sex symbol). Merritt just happened to pick a bunch of sort-of-OK records by white folks for his Playlist because, like anyone else might, he's describing his personal jukebox. Let's add this interview, courtesy of Douglas Wolk:
"a bit from an interview I did with Stephin M. in late 1999:
'What I'd like to see in the year 2000 is the abandonment of music being categorized by the race of the artist, or the perceived race of the audience. It's disgusting, and I would like to be amazed that it's still happening... [Eliminating] racism and sexism would be major improvements, and it would make an enormous difference in the music industry. It would be really nifty if black people were allowed to make records that didn't have to constantly refer to very recent
traditions of black radio. It's absurd, and at this point, it's as though the only thing the American public were allowed to hear were "coon songs" and ragtime. It's worse, I think, than it was in 1899.'
He went on to wish that there'd be more top 40 stations, & noted that the only stations that presented themselves top 40 right now generally didn't play hip-hop, & therefore didn't count as the real thing."
I need to go to a birthday party, marinate on the above, check for jerking knees, re-holster my revolver, put some ice on my dome. etc. I will return tomorrow with that semi-new shit, be it chastened, revised, renewed or refried. Your input is welcome, as always.