HOT: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. is Hard
Conservatives are once again owning the libs by disrespecting one of those “cultural icons” they hold up on a pedestal so high and fucking up seemingly every attempt to pay their respects to the late Aretha Franklin. Or at least it feels like it’s intentional. After Fox News screwed up a graphics card and America’s narcissistic king Donald Trump tried really hard to say something nice and not make it about him — he failed miserably by making sure to include a reminder that Franklin once worked for him — a writer for the conservative bastion National Review decided to provide his own critical analysis of Franklin’s talent in an obituary. That would have been bad enough, but the writer showed he had the music-criticism perspective of an 8-year-old when he wrote that Franklin wasn’t all that because, “Kelly Clarkson and Linda Ronstadt come to mind as more versatile across musical genres and more varied in their emotional resonances.” Don’t worry, when Charlie Daniels kicks the bucket, they’ll show us all the right way to honor a genuine American hero: “ The ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ performer — who was right when he took Taco Bell to task for making light of the very real and dangerous Illuminati — finally got his angel wings and is flying to heaven in first class.”
WARM: Queen Not Consoled by Consolation Prize
Critics don’t much factor into how well new music performs on the charts these days, so the lukewarm critical response to Nicki Minaj’s latest album doesn’t explain Queen’s No. 2 bow on the most recent Billboard chart. Minaj, who would’ve been the first female Hip Hop artist to have three straight No. 1 albums, offered a few theories to explain how Queen came in behind Travis Scott’s new one. On social media, she accused Scott of gaming the system by including his Astroworld with ticket bundles for his upcoming tour, saying she spoke to the rapper and he agreed he didn’t deserve the No. 1 spot; she also claims Scott’s social media superstar/partner Kylie Jenner posting about the tour spiked sales (she wrote, “I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & (their child) Stormi. lol. (I’m) actually laughing”). From a less personal, industry-related reason, Minaj said she felt Spotify punished her for playing the new music on her Apple Music radio show minutes before it posted to Spotify, suggesting they tamped down playlist promotion in retaliation.
COLD: Smash or Smashing?
After Smashing Pumpkins performed “Fly” with Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath at a recent concert, frontperson Billy Corgan may have been trying to recalibrate his ’90s AltRock cred recently when he started some low-level beef with Smash Mouth. On Instagram, Corgan remarked that the Pumpkins were the first artists asked to provide a song for Shrek’s closing credits, an honor which, of course, ultimately went to Smash Mouth. The “All Star” crew took the high road, posting on Twitter that, after denying the offer initially, the Shrek team pursued the band for a month until they relented, adding, “If it feeds Billy’s ego to think they (were) first let him think that.”
This article appears in Aug 15-22, 2018.