The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

COMMENTARY

McGinn: I'm right, you're wrong, your music sucks

McGinn

Symphony lands another live one
11/6/09
McGinn: If your name is Nikki, please pay your car bill
11/5/09
Howie Mandel coming to Kuss: Look, but don’t touch
11/5/09
Air Force Tops in Blue concert is Nov. 25
11/4/09
Rock garden restoration ongoing
10/29/09
> More headlines

By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer Updated 12:49 PM Friday, June 12, 2009

After about the 63rd or 64th comment informing me that I suck, that I’m a hater, that I’m negative and, yes, that I suck some more, I’ll admit — I began to wonder about myself.

Was I wrong?

Nah.

Then again, it’s fairly easy to see why people were peeved.

Nobody likes to read that their favorite singer — to borrow a popular verb — sucks.

To be fair, though, I wasn’t specifically that critical of former “American Idol” winner David Cook when he played Kuss Auditorium last week to 1,499 shrieking fans.

Technically, there were 1,500 people at the show.

The one other person was me.

The critic.

The guy who has to have the guts or the stupidity to tell people that what they just paid good money to see was, well, just OK.

Not great.

Not bad.

Just meh.

Obviously, Cook is a guy with a loyal fan base. The show, after all, sold out in just three minutes.

So you could see this one coming.

What I wrote — that while Cook entertained his fans, his music is awfully generic — didn’t sit well.

They voiced their displeasure on our Web site, which is cool. I put my opinion out there, so it’s only fair that you get to respond by recommending that ANDREW MCGINN NEEDS TO BE FIRED NOW.

The good ones are always in all caps.

But after the review racked up 71 comments, I couldn’t help but wonder why critics are perpetually at odds with things that are, you know, popular.

I don’t have a problem with “American Idol.” It’s just that most of the people on it are so painfully mediocre.

Do we even know what real talent sounds like anymore?

If Frank Sinatra or Jimi Hendrix showed up today, would they even get a record deal?

I’d like to like the songs on the Billboard Hot 100, but use of the vocoder should now be punishable by death. (I’m sorry, but that Jamie Foxx song “Blame It” sounds like something he would’ve once parodied on “In Living Color.”)

I dunno what it is.

Maybe we have a snobbery gene that sets us apart.

Maybe we just hear music differently.

Maybe we’re secretly out for revenge for the time Lynn Wills said no when we asked her to the homecoming dance freshman year.

Um.

Maybe that’s just me.

But it was David Lee Roth who once famously said that most critics like Elvis Costello because most critics look like Elvis Costello.

I like Elvis Costello.

I also thought Van Halen was at its best when it was fronted by David Lee Roth.

Tons of people, though, loved Sammy Hagar more.

So seriously, how can we always be so wrong about music and movies?

How can 11 million people be so wrong? That’s how many people bought the Creed album “Human Clay.”

Seven million? Nickelback’s “All the Right Reasons.”

Four million? Daughtry’s first album.

Kenny Rogers has sold 51 million albums and Toby Keith has sold 24 million to the late, great Waylon Jennings’ 11½ million.

And most of Waylon’s was probably from the “Dukes of Hazzard” theme song.

Celine Dion has sold 50 million albums to, comparing her with a much cooler Canadian, Neil Young’s 17½.

Kenny G has sold 48 million to, well, let’s just say John Coltrane would’ve just assumed he got some bad heroin had someone told him his records were selling anywhere near that.

Movie critics are seemingly even more out of touch.

When was the last time a movie like “Fast and Furious” won an Oscar? How about one of those Madea movies?

Actually, let me rephrase that — when was the last time anybody actually saw a movie that could potentially be nominated for Best Picture?

Are we the only ones who realize that when a movie isn’t screened for critics in advance, it’s because the studio knows it’s a dud?

Everybody else just goes anyway. More and more movies, they say, are “critic-proof.”

So go ahead. Waste your money on a remake of “Slumber Party Massacre” or a live-action version of “Gobots.”

Every so often, though, our tastes do collide.

Like the Beatles. Or the “Lord of the Rings” movies. Or, uh, I’ll think of something.

The rest of the time, I suppose it’s perfectly healthy for us to debate whether I suck.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

Hmm. We've got some tight editing software or something on here! If you're wondering who **** Dale is, I guess I'll have to rephrase it: "Richard" Dale. :) King of the **** guitar. Sorry. Surf guitar.

McGinn
9:18 PM, 6/12/2009

REPORT ABUSE

Dang skippy he does, Nero. (So we at least see eye-to-eye on Link.) And so does **** Dale and Gram Parsons and, man, we could go on forever.

Andrew McGinn
9:11 PM, 6/12/2009

REPORT ABUSE

You don't laways ****. I actually like most of your columns. I just don't always agree with you. But, "Ain't that America?" Sorry.
Link Wray belongs in the rock and roll hall of fame.

Nero Sagittarius
7:49 PM, 6/12/2009

REPORT ABUSE

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.