A few years ago the folks at the now defunct online mag Jaguaro went down this road and we called them on it. Recently, it was UK newspaper The Guardian’s turn to publish a similar list. Entitled “Sgt Pepper Must Die!” the article takes the Jaguaro model and gives it a shiny new look. You see, those opining this time were not lowly music scribes but artists themselves, taking on the alleged musical shortcomings of their brethren. Here we go...
While some points in this dissing of a baker’s dozen worth of rock and roll sacred cows and/or critical darlings are arguable and valid—and we feel that anyone has the right to criticize that which they have an issue with—the likes of Eddie Argos from Art Brut and Tjinder Singh of Cornershop should take a long, hard look at their respective bands’ rather feeble catalogs and contribution to music before slagging The Stone Roses’ self-titled debut and The Dark Side of the Moon, respectively. The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne—whose own The Soft Bulletin was derided and ridiculed in the Jaguaro piece—goes to town on Nevermind, calling Nirvana's landmark album “a poisonous, pernicious influence” and believes that those coming to it now for the first time would likely mutter to themselves “‘Who is this band that sounds just like Nickelback? What are these drug addicts going on about?’” Pretty rich coming from a guy whose band’s key musical ingredient is someone who was a raging junkie for a decade. And Wayne, didn’t you write “She Don’t Use Jelly” and perform it on Beverly Hills 90210 (not to mention the Lips’ appearance on "Top of the Pops" in the UK with Justin Timberlake on bass)? You know, glass houses and all that. Jeez.
Draw your own conclusions here, people.
