Line Out - Comments on You May Be Right; I May Be Crazy http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy Illo by James Yamasaki So yeah, I love Billy Joel. Actually, I used to love Billy Joel. Now I cherish his music like a first kiss--an awkward memory that I'm happy to own, glad I got past, and hardly ever... Copyright 2008 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:38:59 -0800 Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:03:33 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Paulus Dude, Christie Brinkley happened sooo after he had already jumped the shark.

]]> Paulus http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy#c845015 http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy#c845015 Love Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:17:42 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo This highlights a phenomenon I was thinking about when I saw that Blender list of the supposed "Worst Lyricists" a while ago. Namely, that the writers who they seemed to punish the most harshly (with Sting topping the list) were those whose efforts at penning "serious" lyrics earned them a "pretentious" label. As far as nostalgia goes, it seems to favor songs that were intentionally vapid over songs that tried to be deep.

Witness Elton John versus Billy Joel: Bernie Taupin's lyrics sound good, but when you think about them they're actually borderline infantile. "Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids?" The fuck? And yet Elton has enjoyed a much loftier role in our collective pop consciousness than Joel on the strength of his melodies and arrangements, unencumbered by any dated attempts at relevancy.

This preservative effect of vapidity is the only rational explanation I can come up with for why I still hear a song like "Everybody Wang Chung Tonight" on a regular basis.

I'm not sure how Springsteen ended up getting a free pass, but I suspect it's because he never recorded "Uptown Girl."

]]> flamingbanjo http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy#c845018 http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy#c845018 Love Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:20:53 -0800 Comment by rkpetersen Well, I loved Springsteen, John, and Joel back when they were in their prime. It was the kind of music my friends and I all listened to then.

I don't listen to any of them anymore. Oh sure, I still have some of their best songs on my iPod. But I'm as likely as not to skip them if I'm listening in shuffle mode.

And Springsteen's new album: Same old same old.

]]> rkpetersen http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy#c845340 http://lineout.thestranger.com/2007/11/you_may_be_right_i_may_be_crazy#c845340 Love Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:03:33 -0800