The Sounds of Silence

Last night I was going through my music collection to put together a new mix. I wanted to listen to a certain song before I started. I was browsing through my collection to get to that song. I came across The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel. I had the sudden urge to stop and listen to the song. I sat back, lowered the lights in the room, and turned on the visualizer. I found myself so wrapped up in the song that before I knew it I had listened to two more Simon & Garfunkel songs.

That got me to thinking. Where would they be if the internet were around back in the 1960’s? Where would they be if a pretentious site such as Pitchfork Media were in existence. I bet they would not be around. I bet they would have never made it past their first full length album. Pitchfork’s pretentious failed rock critics would have ripped Simon & Garfunkel a new one. They’d probably call their lyrics the equivalent of third grade poetry. The critic would have told us how his 9 year cousin writes better poetry.

That also got me to thinking. What bands were stopped in their tracks thanks to the pretentiousness of Pitchfork Media? These so called critics are great at influencing the large masses of indie kids. The same kids in the 60’s that would have loved Simon & Garfunkel. Did we lose this generation’s Simon & Garfunkel thanks to some moronic critic at Pitchfork Media? That’s a tough question to answer. We may never know.

We are talking about a site that loved The Decembrists. Then the lead singer came out with an solo album. They gave it a 0 rating. The indie kids avoided it like the plague. One can only imagine what they would have said about a classic like The Sounds of Silence.

The other day they posted a short paragraph about the release of Clarity Live. The writer wondered why people would get the live album. Was it for the kids who didn’t yet own Clarity? I bet this critic’s attitude would have been different were Broken Social Scene to release a live album. This critic would have written a long, glowing article about its release. But oh no a borderline mainstream album is being released live. Why would someone want that? Forget the fact that it turned out to be a highly influential album.

Personally I think the music critics at Pitchfork Media have lost touch with music reality. They have to find obscure bands and write glowing reviews about their albums. If a band has any mainstream sound to it they have to give it a low review. These Pitchfork critics are nothing more than failed mainstream music critics. They couldn’t get a job at Rolling Stone or Spin. You give them a guitar and they wouldn’t know which end is up. Yet they have no problem ripping apart a real musician with talent.

I wonder what Lester Bangs, considered one of the greatest rock critics ever, would say to the Pitchfork Media jackasses. He’d probably look at these Pitchfork idiots and tell them to pull their heads out of their asses. Get over their pretentiousness. Music is meant to be enjoyed. It doesn’t matter whether it panders to the masses or not. How hard is it actually sit back, relax, throw aside any preconceived notions, and enjoy?