Jimmy Thing

I sometimes wonder if Jim DeRogatis is even capable of just writing about the band he's ostensibly writing about. This time, it's a review of Jesus Lizard in which he feels it necessary to spend the last three paragraphs slamming The Pixies. A little while back, I think it was his review of U2 where he inexplicably wondered why U2 couldn't be more like The Flaming Lips.

Obviously, this is DeRo's style. He talks about bands he likes when writing about bands he doesn't, and vice versa. But it just sits wrong with me, and always has. Why take the cheap shot at The Pixies? Why invoke Flaming Lips or Jack White in every other piece you write? It winds up being so much more about Jim's aesthetic than that of the bands he's writing about, and while I totally buy into the notion that the reviewer and his or her preconceived notions are a big factor in the content of any review, Jim just seems to take it to an entirely uncomfortable extreme. Sometimes I think it ends up being a disservice to the reader.

Which is part of why I've become a big fan of Brent DiCrescenzo over at Time Out Chicago, because he spends a lot more effort actually describing the music much more effectively than either of the guys at the big daily newspapers, in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm not expecting Jim to change any time soon, and his biases can certainly be entertaining at times, but I needed to rant.