Chris DeLine

To be honest, I was surprised to see the magazine in my mailbox this month. As I normally do, I skimmed it just in case if there was something noteworthy that I should check out. I dearly enjoy Pearl Jam, but the Eddie Vedder interview was bland and covered almost nothing relevant. There is an exception to this however.

Eddie Vedder: (in response to a question about his involvement in the 2004 election campaign) “We raised money for MoveOn.org and tried to honestly motivate people and disseminate information and get out the vote, and that was positive. But looking back, maybe that’s not the way. I’d rather charge a few dollars more for tickets, and without saying a damn thing, take that money and use it in that town for someone who needs it rather than trying to convince someone to be active or not…” Considering how outspoken he was during that time I find his change of stance. For all of the campaigning that was going on during that time I find myself in a similar situation. I strongly stand by my decision to vote for neither George Bush or John Kerry. If I had believed in Cobb’s campaign I would have voted for the Green Party. I voted for a rather outspoken and greatly disputed candidate, Ralph Nader, instead. What would have most appropriately expressed my disgust for the two party system, probably insisting that I will not vote for anyone.

I found it rather interesting that Ian MacKaye was chosen as a member of SPIN’s “20 Greatest Innovators of the Past 20 Years.” Not because I wish to argue with this, Ian MacKaye has completely revolutionized the idea of independent music in my opinion. Rather the company with which he was grouped with.

The Innovators:
Billie Joe Armstrong
Eddie Vedder
Frank Black
Courtney Love
Conor Oberst
Brandon Flowers
Andre 3000
Chris Martin
PJ Harvey
Ian MacKaye
Anthony Kiedis
Shawn Fanning
Noel Gallagher
Chuck D
Trey Parker & Matt Stone
Beastie Boys
Bjork
Tim Burton
Krist Novoselic
Marilyn Manson

Bright Eyes, Coldplay and The Killers are by far the some of the most innovative acts of the past twenty years? You’ve got to be out of your f’ing mind. Innovative?!

I’ll get back to that in a minute…Whenever I get a chance to check out an interview with Ian MacKaye I do, and I suggest you do the same. For instance, this particular interview from Downhill Battle is definitely worth your time.

My favorite moment from the interview comes as follows:

Q. So you have nostalgia for alternative rock’s heyday?

A. No, I’m not nostalgic for that period at all. I’m not a nostalgic person. I don’t think any more or less about ’91 than I do about ’81: that’s just the number that was on the year. You have to understand, I’m not an anniversary-issue guy. I could give a f__k about that. What’s important about SPIN is what it’s doing now. What you should do it put ‘US out of Iraq” on your cover and just declare it, so other people who know and feel in their hearts that this was is wrong don’t have to feel so lonely and isolated. That’s more interesting to me. I don’t think “Oh, those were the heydays.” That’s just boring. You can only imagine how many people come up to me and talk about “back in the day.” The fact is, the most important music in the world is the music being made right now, because it’s the only thing that has a chance of changing things.”

Not only does he spit on them, insinuating that they’re weak in the sense that as a current news magazine they’re resting on their self-proclaimed laurels; but he then blatantly calls them out for not standing by such convictions commonly associated with actual liberal media. I’m not the man for the job, but thank’s for giving me the chance to stick it to your sh__ty zine again. In all fairness I really enjoyed this interview, but, SPIN has really become a piece of watered down, completely un-“counter-culture” dribble. If you’ve made it this far, you already know this.

…And as for you Connor Oberst; you can go back to crying now.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]