Quantcast
 Everett True

Simon Reynolds | The guv’ner

Simon Reynolds | The guv’ner
Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page

Browsing through some articles and papers for my PhD research, a couple of Simon’s quotes around music criticism in Paula’s excellent chapter on the subject in Specialist Journalism took my fancy. I’m guessing you can guess the reason why:

“The writer, who most likely in person is not terribly impressive or commanding a figure, manages to create a kind of charismatic effect through language and through the creation of a persona, a sort of super-self [like] fronting a rock band, or… being a rapper. There’s a whole range of personae – fabulously hip and in the knew and ‘down with the scene’, or an authority in terms of knowledge, or a prophet with a messianic line of patter, or the gonzo persona who’s a little out of control and brutally honest (Lester Bangs to Everett True), or wry, ironic…”

“What I find disconcerting is how many young writers are very reasonable and sane in their approach, and overly fair-minded. It’s not what I want to read, at all. I’d much rather read a very fierce denunciation of something, even it was attacking something musically dear to my heart.”

Simon Reynolds (2010), as quoted in ‘Music Journalism’ (Hearsum, 2013).

HEARSUM, P. 2013. Music Journalism. In: TURNER, B. & ORANGE, R. (eds.) Specialist Journalism. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

One Response to Simon Reynolds | The guv’ner

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.