Thursday, September 27, 2007

Washington City Schmaper

When I was preoccupied with my new job and move to Atlanta, the Washington City Paper's blog Black Plastic Bag decided to take down Advancement. I was defenseless at the time, but luckily Val Kilmer came to my rescue in the comments section. Here's what the writer had to say at the end of a long post about the theory:
At heart it’s a method by which music writers can overthink old artists, expend ridiculous amounts of energy showing off what they think of them, and assign more weight to them then they deserve.
What was interesting to me is the writer read Chuck Klosterman's article about Advancement "about a dozen times." I've seen this a lot. I'll tell somebody about the Advanced Theory and they get really upset about it. Then they keep asking, "Is he Advanced?" and "What about so-and-so." Usually the anger comes from not really understanding the theory. But then they finally catch on and are eventually converted. You'll come around, Black Plastic Bag.

One more thing: He also calls Lou Reed pretentious, but is pretentiousness any less difficult to prove than Advancement?

(Thanks to Matt for pointing out this blog post.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

yep, what a dummy... soon to become an adament proponent of Advancement theory, which would be soooooooo overt!

mister ecks said...

that Black Plastic Bag article reminds me of those scientists who scoffed at plate tectonics or denied that meteors came from space...

Anonymous said...

and he doesn't even mention you or britt, the creators of the theory! it's like discussing marxism without mentioning groucho and chico.

Unknown said...

now that's the best tasting pickle I've ever heard.

Anonymous said...

would you say that radiohead is an advanced entity, while the members are of average standing? thom yorke is not advanced, Johnny Greenwood is in question, radiohead just did the most advanced marketing ploy of all time.
Radiohead is a genius.
The members are blokes.

Anonymous said...

i think johnny greenwood could be advanced (his reggae compilation disc is fantastic)

anonymous, i get what you're trying to say by using the words "marketing ploy," but i don't think the "pay what you want" thing is advanced, i think it's way overt. making a decision that basically every music fan in the world (except really jaded people like me) loves doesn't seem advanced to me - in my estimation, advanced artists make decisions that don't immediately seem like good ideas. interested in everyone's thoughts, though.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Henry. Remember what Chuckie said....." When a genius does something that appears idiotic, it does not necessarily mean he suddenly sucks. What it might mean is that he's doing something you cannot understand, because he has Advanced beyond you." I don't see what Radiohead did as being idiotic." I actually see it as an EXTREMELY Overt act.

Teacherfriend

P.S. Jase......WHERE ARE YOU? I know things are hopin in the ATL...don't leave all the junkies hangin yo!