Saw a piece in one of the papers yesterday asking whether current teen sensations The Jonas Brothers deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles.
Uh, no.
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13 comments:
Whoa, who is thinking that? I mean, are they thinking?
Sure, the Beatles were a popular phenom, but they were also musical phenom. I am making some hires rips of my Beatles records, and I am amazed at what they put on record 40 years ago.
I don't know these Jonas kids, but there is marketing, then there is talent. Sure, the Beatles benefited from marketing, the haircuts, and being cute, but they brought the musical goods.
Today, there are very few Beatles posters, lunchboxes, and other paraphenalllia being sold, but lots of their music.
Trey
Well, I guess they can be mentioned in the same breath. Of course, I can also mention dog food and filet mignon in the same breath.
the answer is NO --- they cannot compare those nothing more than marketing geeks ,to the talent and genius of the beatles
Yes their last dying breath!!! (That's the critic's breath, no teen pop star were harmed in the writing of this reply!)
ROT(Plumber)
My friend John McPartlin just e-mailed me the following:
"In the new Rolling Stone there's a Jonas review that calls the album the best power pop record since Big Star and Cheap Trick. I thought *that* was insane until I saw your thing about the Beatles.
This fits in with that whole "all pop is equal" rage among some critics.
These Disney groups would never have received this kind of coverage 20 or 30 years ago. They would be filed away with Sean Cassidy and Bobby Sherman and Vanilla Ice. Now they want us to believe these disposable records are on par with the Supremes, Jackson 5 or... the Beatles!
Yeesh (as Ben Grimm would say)"
Actually, the review states that the album "is steeped in the fussed-up guitars, three-part harmonies, and cotton-candy choruses of Big Star and Cheap Trick". The reviewer, however, goes on to label the JBs "the commercial saviors...and messiahs...of power pop". Which sort of tells you what audience Rolling Stone wants to market itself to these days.
Anyway, this is the only thing I've ever heard from the band, so I'm not ready to make a qualified judgment on them. The song's basically recycled Hanson, but was inoffensively enjoyable enough to take until that rap interlude. Somebody hand out the memo that that trick is well beyond cliche.
From an interview with Seth Rogen in The Onion:
The A.V. Club: The cover of Rolling Stone calls Pineapple Express the greatest stoner film of all time.
Seth Rogen: It's true. But the Jonas Brothers are on that same cover, so it kind of removes some of the coolness of that, I guess.
Um, they asked the same question about the Bay City Rollers 30 years ago.
And we all know the legendary status they've acquired over the years as pop music icons....
(BTW, I blame Christgau for starting that "all pop is equal" aesthetic. He championed a lot of ephemeral garbage simply because it was ephemeral garbage.)
The best thing about ephemeral garbage is the ephemeral part!
Trey
I made it 55 seconds into the video before the thought "This is bubblegum, what idiot thinks this is power pop" slinked into my brain.
Big Star and Cheap Trick my ass, this is the Archies meet Gary Numan sung by a boy with the delivery of Alanis Morissette.
Trey
Still...the chicks dig it the most--those under 12, anyway.
Uh, no.
Would you believe the DiFranco family?
WTF is it with these kids? They are neither cute nor talented as far as I can tell. What on Earth is their appeal?
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