The Daily Swarm

Flavorwire:

Revisionist rock criticism is a bona fide trend this year, with Slate’s Jonah Weiner vindicating the likes of Creed and Limp Bizkit, and Vulture defending the legacy of Third Eye Blind. Now that everything bad is good again, critics are getting to work dismantling the houses they built. Enter Spin’s new feature: “16 Rock Myths Debunked.” The magazine takes apart the idea that Nirvana destroyed hair metal, tells us Marilyn Manson is a fairly normal guy and reveals that Ozzy Osbourne never bit the head off a bat. But the #1 rock myth of all time, according to Spin, is this: “Radiohead can do no wrong.”

Strangely, writer Chris Norris’ is the second high-profile attack on Radiohead this month. A few weeks ago, The Fiery Furnaces’ Matt Friedberger rocked the web by making fun of the band’s newish song, “Harry Patch (In Memory Of).” Then, to make sure no one misunderstood him, Friedberger issued a press release reaffirming that he doesn’t like Radiohead. What’s weird about all this is that the band hasn’t put out an album in over two years, and it’s not like they’re out picking fights with indie rockers. So, what’s the deal with the current backlash?

Picking on Radiohead is somewhat subversive, so it causes a stir. And that’s a good way to get people to buy your magazine or write about you on their blog. (And dammit, it worked on us, too!) So, at a slow time for music — and late November-December always is, as publications start compiling their best-of lists and labels hold off on releasing major albums until January — an outrageous pronouncement will surely keep the news cycle moving.

You can find The Daily Swarm’s post on Mr. Friedberger’s not-really shit talking here.

Spin:

They’re the vanguard of music, a post-rock think tank, the absolute state of the art.
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They’ve also been righteous, giving a confused music world a moral center. So we sit, wearing headphones and frozen grins, and continue denying that guilty, nagging feeling that actually, in some ways, when you think about it…Radiohead kinda blow.

Few, save for Liam or Noel Gallagher, dare speak this heresy aloud, instead couching it in longings for a “back-to-basics” album or a “return to form,” despite the fact that Radiohead are at their critical and commercial peak. Civil (by Internet standards) discussions reside on Yahoo message boards with titles like “Why Did Radiohead Become Dull and Boring?” But while such almost apologetic criticism typically hides online or at water coolers, sometimes the elephant isn’t in the room, but onstage.

At last year’s All Points West festival, as their thin, stubbly faces filled massive video screens, Radiohead began their set with In Rainbows’ “15 Step”: an open-ended groove with a quirky electro beat, two-chord motif, and airy, abstract singing. Then they did the 2001 song “Morning Bell/Amnesiac”: an open-ended groove with a quirky electro beat, two-chord motif, and airy, abstract singing. Then they kept going, one groovy tone poem into another, masterfully weaving beats, sound-washes, and misty vocals into an immersive experience of sound, light, pattern, rhythm, and utter, paralyzing boredom. By the encore, it was obvious what Radiohead had become: an exceptionally well-dressed jam band. That you can’t even dance to.

Also noteworthy, Beck has recorded a new song, ‘Harry Partch’, in a sort-of response to Matthew Friedberger’s previous comments.