What's with the fucking mimes?

December 1, 2008 2:39 PM

Roadrunner Records,home to Slipknot and other chunky, hairy male metal bands has declared singer Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame) uncommercial, refusing to promote her latest single, video and album. One reason why? Her belly is too fat in her latest video.

Fans throw a rebellyon.

posted by FunkyHelix (142 comments total)

Maybe it has something to do with the eyebrows.
posted by eperker at 2:49 PM on December 1, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

I'm having a gee-that-is-such-bullshit-I-am-outraged-and-should-immediately-punish-the-record-label-by-buying-her-new-album-oh-wait-I-mean-support-the-artist-by-not-buying-her-new-album-oh-wait-what-do-I-do-now-oh-yeah-I-remember-just-ignore-it kind of moment.
posted by davejay at 2:50 PM on December 1, 2008 [17 favorites has favorites]

Speaking of Metal: War Pigs has never sounded better, IMHO. Music starts one minute in.
posted by ferdydurke at 2:50 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

There ought to be a TV channel that shows cool music videos.
posted by Artw at 2:51 PM on December 1, 2008 [20 favorites has favorites]

It's clearly time for Amanda to get another label.
posted by tommasz at 2:51 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

WTF? And what did they think they were going to get from Amanda Palmer? Happy simple pop songs?
posted by KirkJobSluder at 2:52 PM on December 1, 2008

I'm imagining a Rampage type scenario, where the execs of Roadrunner are pulled from within their smashed-open high rise office building by a giant-sized Beth Ditto and chewed alive.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:54 PM on December 1, 2008 [10 favorites has favorites]

In the words of Jason Webley, who opened for her last month here in Europe .... This Is An Outrage!! /general fist shaking
posted by mannequito at 2:55 PM on December 1, 2008

Sorry: her eyes and her mouth are way too beautiful for me to want spend even a moment looking away from them and down at her tummy.
posted by lord_wolf at 2:56 PM on December 1, 2008

Whoa, Jason Webley is now big enough to be opening for Amanda Palmer? That's amazingly cool.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to get drunk by spinning around a million times.
posted by piratebowling at 2:58 PM on December 1, 2008 [6 favorites has favorites]

His popularity grows as you head East. Must be the accordion. Apparently he headlined a festival in Russia (Siberia) and they treated him like a rockstar.
posted by mannequito at 3:01 PM on December 1, 2008

I didn't realize Roadrunner was her only "major" label - they were originally with Important Records, then (their own?) 8ft. Records (don't know if they have a website).

With DD's ever-growing following (it's still growing, isn't it? I haven't actually heard Yes/No Virginia), I'd be surprised if she doesn't get offers from a more female-friendly label.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:01 PM on December 1, 2008

Roadrunner Records: Mom-friendly metal since 1980.
posted by baphomet at 3:03 PM on December 1, 2008

I would lavish that belly with worshipful kisses.

Whoever is in charge of this fuckup at Roadrunner Records is a complete and utter fool. WTF? Are they threatened by a strong woman?

Also, the pictures of Amanda Palmer with the dozen-odd markers on a strap is superhot. But I'm just a sucker for a new sharpie.
posted by loquacious at 3:08 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

You'd think they'd at least try to come up with a more PR-friendly reason for their action.
posted by drezdn at 3:09 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Glory glory, Leeds United.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:10 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Whoever is in charge of this fuckup at Roadrunner Records is a complete and utter fool.

As opposed to the fine upstanding gentlemen who run all of the other major labels. Those guys are alright, and should continue not suing me.
posted by burnmp3s at 3:12 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

I am outraged... outraged, I tell you! I thought Amanda was a drag queen!
posted by not_on_display at 3:12 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Meh. So obviously dumb after watching the video that I can't even bother getting mad. It's like getting mad at a developmentally delayed person*.

* I won't lump the Roadrunner records person, wheover they are, in with the retards of the world because retard is kind of rude and, honestly, it would reflect poorly on retards.
posted by GuyZero at 3:13 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Having met her in real life, I can say that she's super-hot.

Anyway, what the hell is she doing sharing a label with Slipknot anyway? Lots of overlap in that fanbase? Well, maybe so. I guess that keen grasp of modern sounds is why music is my hobby and computers are my job instead of vice-versa.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:14 PM on December 1, 2008

Loved that.

I wasn't familiar with her before, but that video really kicks my Kinsey Scale, and her normal human being-type belly is damn fine, methinks.

A whole damn hemisphere with an eating disorder is just sad sad sad.
posted by sonascope at 3:18 PM on December 1, 2008

There ought to be a TV channel that shows cool music videos.

Yes, and on that channel they could discuss this...
posted by ob at 3:21 PM on December 1, 2008

How fucking absurd. Not only is she gorgeous, she's also pretty much my favorite female singer ever. She's amazing. Hopefully she can find a record label that's not fucking retarded.

I'm kind of upset that I spent money on the album now. I hope they didn't get too big a cut.
posted by Caduceus at 3:23 PM on December 1, 2008

Discussing things would be the slipperly slope that leads to dating gameshows.
posted by Artw at 3:23 PM on December 1, 2008

The belly is fine, it's the crapness that would give me pause for thought.

That said, it doesn't take much to get outraged teenage girls to post pictures of themselves naked on Flickr. Noted.
posted by fire&wings at 3:24 PM on December 1, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

Shenanigans I say.

It's a big PR stunt, Amanda Palmer is in on it, and it seems to be working magnificently.

(Good song and however.)
posted by Keith Talent at 3:25 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Slipknot != metal.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:28 PM on December 1, 2008

Tell that to Kerrang!!!.
posted by Artw at 3:29 PM on December 1, 2008

This post would have been MUCH better without all those filler shit links. Eight links before we get to find out what the friggin post is about? Ugh.

Also, it does not seem that Amanda Palmer is at all upset that her label "isn't promoting her because her belly is too fat." She's upset because they think she's fat and she does not. Those are not the same thing. In fact, they're almost opposites.
posted by Manhasset at 3:30 PM on December 1, 2008

Wow. Amanda Palmer on Metafilter. My worlds collide.
posted by Brainy at 3:31 PM on December 1, 2008

Her fans should download the album for free and then send her the money for it directly so that the douchebags from RoadRunner do not see a single cent from it.

Or whatever. I'm too old to comment on this brecthian cabaret punk stuff that kids are into nowadays.
posted by cazoo at 3:34 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

In all fairness to RoadRunner, she is kinda porky.
posted by R_Nebblesworth at 3:39 PM on December 1, 2008

JUST KIDDING
posted by R_Nebblesworth at 3:39 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

she is awesome, video is awesome.. if all the britpop sounded like that i would listen to it!

although her choice of football team is profoundly ill-advised.
posted by By The Grace of God at 3:40 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

That's not brit pop, subject matter excepted.
posted by Keith Talent at 3:45 PM on December 1, 2008

Photoshop. Learn to abuse it. It's successfully dealt with subversive chubbery, misandric ugliness and other leftish, consumer hostile acts of aggressions for many years.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:47 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I've read the linked-to material, but can't find a reference to the label "refusing to promote the single".
posted by bunglin jones at 3:48 PM on December 1, 2008

Put in a less confrontational way, "label wants to edit video to put artist in best light."
posted by zippy at 3:51 PM on December 1, 2008

She looks hot to me. Shame her voice is a bit creaky.
posted by mr. strange at 3:59 PM on December 1, 2008

1. Oh my stars and garters. They barely show her belly in that video. Perhaps they are afraid she will show more belly 'live' and cause some kind of bigger-female-bellies-exposed-in-music-as-hot-new-trend, thus becoming singlehandedly responsible for putting an end to the Madonna/Janet Jackson school of pop star workout regimens.

So they're worried about a belly, eh? Have they heard what someone like, oh, Tammy Faye Starlite sings, and occasionally displays, during live shows?

2. I never really liked the Dresden Dolls' content. Just not my thing. But at least they were different. This particular tune with the belly sounds more accessible to me than a lot of Dolls' stuff.

3. Either way that song should not be 5 minutes. But then, when I tell anyone "sympathy for the devil" is fucktardedly long, regardless of the circumstances under which it might have been written (don't ask me for verbatim info on the Stones' drug use during writing sessions, I haven't read any biographies), they think I'm insane.

that is all
posted by bitterkitten at 4:01 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

You would think a little belly would be ideal in a video for the song Oasis.
posted by munchingzombie at 4:04 PM on December 1, 2008

"The label is stupid, I'd totally do that hottie," is not really the higher road here, boys.
posted by cirocco at 4:06 PM on December 1, 2008 [20 favorites has favorites]

Posers. I wish they were a beer.

What’s that got to do with her singing?

I mean, sure, Lemmy is a beautiful, (and benevolent) god, but he sings so well that’s what people focus on.

Talent and body fat are not mutually exclusive*.

Also, I would enjoy inserting my penis into her vagina, and I would like to perform intercourse with her. Because I, too, find her sexually attractive.

*I do take exception to ‘hairy’ being equated with ‘unattractive.’ Nothing wrong with being a wookie (although I do shave my body hair. Not for vanity, you ever tried getting into - or more importantly out of - a wetsuit like that?)
posted by Smedleyman at 4:07 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

The label is stupid, I'd totally do that hottie
posted by jfrancis at 4:08 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

The label is stupid; I'd totally do that hottie.
posted by fleetmouse at 4:12 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Murrr, that was weird.
posted by fleetmouse at 4:12 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I've read the linked-to material, but can't find a reference to the label "refusing to promote the single".

Neither can I. Palmer's blog entry says, verbatim:

i sent a mailer about the video mentioning that the label i’m on (roadrunner records) had wanted to pull shots from the video so that my bare belly wasn’t exposed. they thought i looked fat. i thought they were on crack.

dude. i’m a vain motherfucker. i know when i look fat. i had beth hanging out on the set of the pope videos, keeping an eye on my figure as i pranced around in my slip in case pope was getting a particularly pregnant-looking angle. i hate shots of myself where i look heavy with child.

but THIS?? this was just nonsense. i thought i looked HOT. i really, really didn’t see where they were coming from. at all.

so i didn’t budge.

they weren’t happy, but then again they’re not very happy with anything i’m doing lately (including putting out a record that has “no commercial potential” and is impossible to promote, since nobody will like it).

the video was left as is.

It sounds like Palmer thinks you can't be hot and fat at the same time, and all the labels wants to do is edit the video. I don't think NAAFA is going to be ringing Palmer up anytime soon. This sort of reminds me of how fat women somehow think that "Baby Got Back," by Sir Mix-a-Lot is about how desirable they are, when the opening lines mention that the rapper prefers "an itty-bitty waist." If you want to know how Mix-a-Lot feels about fat women, listen to "Bremelo." It's on the same LP!
posted by cirocco at 4:21 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

I have a bit of a tummy, like Madonna when she did "Lucky Star"
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:32 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

She looks fine to me (and attractive), but not if I rejigger my perceptions to the emaciated female pop star norm. Perhaps she should switch to a diet of lower calorie melodrama. I heartily agree with bitterkitten's third point, but I like her enough to check out her other work.

Also, Cooter clock reset in 3....
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:32 PM on December 1, 2008

I'm not HITTING you

(Mom, make him stop hitting me!!!)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:34 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

the video was left as is.

So what exactly is the controversy here, or is this just a publicity stunt?
posted by ob at 4:40 PM on December 1, 2008

"The label is stupid, I'd totally do that hottie," is not really the higher road here, boys.

Quite.

Mind you, a lot of music is about selling the image, so it's not that surprising. People have debates over whether Bruce Dickinson or the guys from Metallica should have cut their hair, FFS.
posted by rodgerd at 4:49 PM on December 1, 2008

For fucks sake what was the last record Roadrunner put out that even vaguely mattered? Slowly We Rot? Beneath the Remains? That was almost twenty years ago, folks.
posted by The Straightener at 4:53 PM on December 1, 2008

the guys from Metallica should have cut their hair, FFS.

Well, once they cut their hair they started to suck. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by jonmc at 4:54 PM on December 1, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Sure it's not her terrible music or horrifying face?
posted by luckypozzo at 4:56 PM on December 1, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

Man, I just got a phone call about this. Granted, Ms. Palmer is a friend of a friend and apparently this is Big. But after my childhood hang-out spot was posted today (New Brunswick parking lots represent!) I'm starting to feel a little stalked.

No one making the Mararget Cho "There is an issue with the ..size ..of your face" link? okay then.
posted by The Whelk at 4:57 PM on December 1, 2008

"although her choice of football team is profoundly ill-advised."

Actually, from a small survey when I saw the video a couple of weeks ago suggested no-one was offended by her trying to benefit from our popularity and good name.
posted by Auz at 5:00 PM on December 1, 2008

Thanks for that. Loved the song.
posted by papercake at 5:01 PM on December 1, 2008

She looks like the Joker, and Rachel Maddow..on steroids. The song sucked. I've seen better artists get cut because they don't look a certain way. When did music execs ever have a conscience? I'm sure she'll be fine. Looks like she has a following. If she really wants the big bucks she'll do it by pure talent(not), or just ride the popular wave and hope they accept her.
posted by Flex1970 at 5:02 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

The label is stupid; I'd totally do that hottie.

fleetmouse, I applaud your use of the semicolon. If I hadn't cut and pasted, I would have done likewise. :D
posted by jfrancis at 5:06 PM on December 1, 2008

Shhh. YouTube can hear you.
posted by oncogenesis at 5:07 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Let's see, female artists leads band called the Dresden Dolls and has all her PR photos taken of her in her underwear is surprised that the label drops her because her appearance isn't up to snuff?

None of those male metal bands are called the Hunks, the Beefcakes, or the Muscle Studs. Am I surprised that the lead vocalist for a band called Cradle of Filth is a fat slob? No. I am surprised he wears mascara, however.

Do you know why guys in metal bands had long hair? Because they were unkempt. Because the mere act of getting your hair cut amounted to selling out. Being an antisocial disgusting Satanic pig with a meth habit was a revolutionary act.

You listen to Iron Maiden because absolutely everyone else hated it. Too fast. Too loud. Too aggressive. "You can't dance to it." True, but you can dance on someone's grave to it.

But now? It might as well be called Ironic Maiden.

Amanda Palmer may be a lot of things. She may be talented, she may be beautiful, she may even believe herself to be metal. But she isn't metal.

Metal isn't panty hose and bare bellies. It's rubber hose and split open bellies.
Metal isn't siren songs. It's concerts cut off by sirens.
Metal isn't being beautiful on the inside. It's being ugly on the outside, dead on the inside, and wishing everyone else was just plain dead.
Metal isn't brooding castles shot to symphonic sweeping keyboards. It's lines of blow off toilet tanks and sloppy performances that sound like swarms of bees at
an overcrowed club full of drunk methheads who love you so much they want to kill you.
Metal isn't burlesque, it's brutal.

Amanda, my dear, you are a special little snowflake in your own way, and I'm sure you're very talented, but you aren't metal.

This is metal.
posted by Pastabagel at 5:09 PM on December 1, 2008 [6 favorites has favorites]

And it's both a stupid, ill-advised, self-destructive move AND a completely nonsensical move, according to my phone call. Phone call was from friend of friend. She mentioned that she and Amanda are almost the same size and height and proportions. They've been known to share clothes. Said friend of friend is a model. For photographs. In magazines. How is that uncommercial?
posted by The Whelk at 5:10 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Or this.
posted by Pastabagel at 5:10 PM on December 1, 2008

And the add me to the "Why...is she on this label?" chorus. It was such an odd choice.
posted by The Whelk at 5:12 PM on December 1, 2008

Spoken as a bigger-than-I should-be metal fan and someone who saw Amanda Palmer (as the Dresden Dolls) at a small party a few years ago and thought "Wow, she is going to be so famous in a few years."

This is just really weird all around.
posted by The Whelk at 5:14 PM on December 1, 2008

I happen to work for Roadrunner Records and had always hoped we could get something on MetaFilter. Voila! (By the way, in that thread of belly pictures on The Shadow Box, mine is the one with the Roadrunner webmaster email address written on it.)

Obviously I wouldn't be able to say anything in an official capacity, but I sure love Amanda's ability to get her fans' creative energy up and running. If you take a look at that, they turn from anger, to something silly, to a movement in a matter of ten forum pages. If nothing else this episode has provided me with a good, real example of fans of one of our artists doing a viral campaign; one I can turn to colleagues and say "no, your crappy mashup video idea is not a viral campaign, THIS IS."

Also this is not a PR stunt on Roadrunner's part. In fact, I was the first person at the label to notice it. This is much too clever for a record label, folks. I mean, "rebellyon?" Come on.

I hope the dude collecting the images sends them soon; we've only gotten twenty belly photos so far.
posted by Captaintripps at 5:17 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Posers. I wish they were a beer.
posted by Smedleyman at 4:07 PM on December 1 [+] [!]

I also thought of the Cycle Sluts from Hell, I remember them guest DJing on a local radio station way back when and when they introduced the Motorhead song "I'm so bad, baby I don't care", they said that their version was "I'm so Fat, baby I don't care".
posted by 445supermag at 5:19 PM on December 1, 2008

Smedleyman writes "I would enjoy inserting my penis into her vagina, and I would like to perform intercourse with her. "

Pretty it up with fancy words all you want that still counts.
posted by Mitheral at 5:26 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

She sounds like a nasally German Dr. Frank. N. Furter in that video. Is that representative of her other stuff?
posted by Snyder at 5:28 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

WTF are any of you talking about? It seems to me that they won't promote her album because it's got the musicality of Slipknot with the singing chops of Evanescence and the production of a Blue Oyster Cult bootleg.

War Pigs? Next to War Pigs?? I'm really flabbergasted here, MetaFilter.
posted by cmoj at 5:33 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

She sounds like a nasally German Dr. Frank. N. Furter in that video. Is that representative of her other stuff?

Kinda, but no.

try

this

Or this

Or this

Or..ahem, Or this Cause I'm like that.
posted by The Whelk at 5:35 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wait, are we not supposed to talk about the "I'd Hit it" clock?

Oh shit.
posted by The Whelk at 5:41 PM on December 1, 2008

I wonder if there is a market for ghost artists like there would be for ghostwriters....someone like Paul Williams or an aging Elton John could hire a hot young fellow to tour and lip synch....I mean, we are almost there with Britney already, right?

And, closer to the subject matter, that ain't a belly. I could SHOW you a belly. (but I won't. But, I could.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:52 PM on December 1, 2008

"Slipknot != metal."

Correct and Thank You. Roadrunner has some very good bands and some really bad ones, but I never thought sex appeal had anything to do with their roster.
posted by hellslinger at 5:53 PM on December 1, 2008

@Pastabagel--or this.
posted by zerobyproxy at 5:57 PM on December 1, 2008

Whoa, Jason Webley is now big enough to be opening for Amanda Palmer?

Well, they have have a long relationship, so I don't think it's so much of a surprise. I saw a show of his last year and she just showed up to hang out and watch (did end up doing a little performing, though). She seems quite friendly and good-natured in person.

See Evelyn Evelyn for some Webley/Palmer duet awesomeness.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:04 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

I think this is great. Maybe it'll convince her to stay on smaller labels, or start her own.

Frankly, I don't want her or the Dolls to sell out and get soft and boring like every other band that gets too big for their own good. There's much more money to be made, and a more dedicated fan base, by staying small.
posted by fungible at 6:19 PM on December 1, 2008

And no... she's not metal. She's way more intense than fucking boring metal.

Also a lot of fun.
posted by fungible at 6:26 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I wonder if there is a market for ghost artists like there would be for ghostwriters....someone like Paul Williams or an aging Elton John could hire a hot young fellow to tour and lip synch...

Wasn't that 50s rock and roll?
posted by rodgerd at 6:30 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Frankly, I don't want her or the Dolls to sell out

Newsflash: if you have record contracts, multinational concert tours, play stadium venues like the Big Day Out, you have already, to some degree or another "sold out."
posted by rodgerd at 6:32 PM on December 1, 2008

Wow. I'd put off hearing the Dresden Dolls music for years now, but always figured they'd be a band that I'd end up liking. I couldn't have been more wrong. They - and Amanda's solo stuff - sounds like rehashed Weezer rehashed times five. Oh, it's produced by Ben Folds? No wonder.

As for Bellygate, I'll believe it when I see proof in the form of internal memos or voicemails caught on tape. There's nothing in that video that even slightly suggests the woman has a too-big-belly.
posted by Item at 7:00 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Whoa, Jason Webley is now big enough to be opening for Amanda Palmer?

Now?!?? He opened for the Dresden Dolls two or three years ago, on their tour down under.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:04 PM on December 1, 2008

Let's see, female artists leads band called the Dresden Dolls and has all her PR photos taken of her in her underwear is surprised that the label drops her because her appearance isn't up to snuff?

None of those male metal bands are called the Hunks, the Beefcakes, or the Muscle Studs.

The name "Dresden Dolls" comes from one of the very earliest songs by The Fall:

Dresden dolls take one
This is for all you guys who work on industrial estates

Dresden dolls are back in style
With a clockwork walk and a backward smile
Dresden dolls dont hear a sound
Theyre programmed to jump up and down

Up and down
Round and round
Tapping feet to formless sound

Dresden dolls and nazi boys
Dance arm in arm to formless noise
Up and down
Round and round
Tapping feet to formless sound

On plastic bars they sit and pose
Count their fingers with their toes
They sit and smile and drink and grin
Then they all get up again

Up and down
Round round
Tapping feet to noiseless sound

Dresden dolls are back in style
With a clockwork walk and a backward smile
Up and down
Pound and round
Tapping feet to formless sound
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:10 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Speaking as a fan of the Dresden Dolls, no one who has ever listened to one of their albums would think of them as commercial. They usually have one catchy, close-to-conventional song and then a lot of exploration that may or may not turn any individual crank.
posted by Billegible at 9:35 PM on December 1, 2008

Amanda Palmer and the Dresden Dolls have never claimed to be metal. And take it from a hetero chick who has seen her up close in person- she's hot. More like hott. Not to mention amazingly talented and creative.

Long live punk cabaret!
posted by emd3737 at 9:38 PM on December 1, 2008

I met Amanda (and Brian!) in Brockton when they opened for the B-52's. It was a great show, they were both wonderful with the fans and very interesting to talk to.

It's very, very, hard to look away from her eyebrows, though.
posted by yhbc at 9:57 PM on December 1, 2008

Captaintripps: Thanks for that. I thought this smelled like an clever marketing strategy...whether or not she got notes from the label about pulling shots, seems like she made good ham sammiches out of the possibility of Oppression.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:03 PM on December 1, 2008

*checks Roadrunner Records website*

I love, love, love the fact that Deicide and Nickelback are on the same label.

For those who have trouble discerning the difference, Nickelback is the band actively promoting evil through music.

Also, I confess to really liking the first two Slipknot records.

/derail
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:33 PM on December 1, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Vatican Broadside
posted by inpHilltr8r at 11:14 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

"Sure it's not her terrible music or horrifying face?"

ahahaha oh man that made me laugh way too hard i must be becoming one of you sullen misanthropes maybe i just watch too much House
posted by tehloki at 11:42 PM on December 1, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I love, love, love the fact that Deicide and Nickelback are on the same label.

For those who have trouble discerning the difference, Nickelback is the band actively promoting evil through music.

Oh?

So, where are the offices at, exactly? Altitude? Longitude and latitude - preferably in decimal notation to four or five places?

What? Oh, no... I wouldn't go down there to start any trouble. I was just reminded I needed to calibrate my orbital railgun.
posted by loquacious at 12:05 AM on December 2, 2008

Whoever said Webley's popularity grows as you head east has never seen a West Coast Webley show. Watch him at the Gilman. Your world will end. His influence wanes eastwards until you hit Europe.
posted by Peevish at 12:46 AM on December 2, 2008

I must admit. Amanda Palmer is full of the smart lyrics (though not so much on this one), and she could look like Captain Lou Albano, and I'd still be fine with that. Also: publicity stunt.
posted by LucretiusJones at 1:09 AM on December 2, 2008

hm, having finally been able to watch it, i didn't particularly notice her belly one way or the other, but what's with the uncharacteristically croaky voice? did she deliberately smoke two packs of marlboros before recording that track? and if so, why?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:32 AM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

loquacious, we're located at:

Latitude: 40.739539 °

Longitude -73.989970 °
posted by Captaintripps at 4:35 AM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't care how hot she is. Shut up. Don't put that someone thinks you're fat on your blog, especially not in that bitchy, melodramatic, punk-cabaret bullshit manner. Just...no. Get out of my media. You hurt America. Goodbye.
posted by saysthis at 4:35 AM on December 2, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

This is very odd. Amanda is a good friend of one of my closest friends. In fact when Amanda was in London recently, I was asked if I could put her up in our place as a guest. I would have loved to but as it happens, we had other guests staying with us during that time.

Now I wish I had. I'd have a more interesting comment to add here.
posted by vacapinta at 4:56 AM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Pastabagel: Amanda, my dear, you are a special little snowflake in your own way, and I'm sure you're very talented, but you aren't metal.

Thank you Pasta, it's so rare that a single metafilter response delivers such gut-busting hilarity. (Hint, as far as I'm aware, the Dresden Dolls never claimed to be metal, having more in common with Kiki and Herb.)
posted by KirkJobSluder at 5:19 AM on December 2, 2008

Holy God, that is one scary woman. I might be okay with the "I just had three too many beers at the bar" voice, if she didn't remind me of this so much.
posted by bradth27 at 5:31 AM on December 2, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Metafilter: love you so much they want to kill you.

Pastabagel - amen

Mitheral - Irony flavors count? What a rip! That would be a disingenuous penis insertion for illustrative purposes. I was not interjecting my penis into the conversation (or Palmer’s cooter) in earnest, but in distain of sharing such seemingly valuable information with others.
I’d think the last thing anyone would want would be a metaphoric vision of my hairy (or stubbly if I’ve been diving) ass amidst Palmer’s wildly flailing limbs (which, y’know, is why I laid it down explicitly here, ‘cause that’s how I roll)
I mean, I only say Sarah Silverman (or anyone) wants to have sex with me for the same reasons. (Although in Silverman’s case, because it’d be so hard to keep a straight face if she starts talking dirty. Seriously - I mean, she grabs the back of your head and says “fuck me hard” you gotta start breaking up ‘cos that’s her schtick. Really, I feel kinda bad...but anyway) whatever I was going on about, I’m totally serious about it.

“She's way more intense than fucking boring metal.”

Well, I find hitting 194 mph on pre-chip era ‘busa on LSD listening to “Locomotive” by Motorhead somewhat engaging. But then, I’m easily aroused.
posted by Smedleyman at 7:06 AM on December 2, 2008

Er, LSD = Lake Shore Drive.
posted by Smedleyman at 7:07 AM on December 2, 2008

Er, LSD = Lake Shore Drive.

It'd be more interesting the other way.
posted by Panjandrum at 8:32 AM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Lake Shore Drive, huh? That's the kind of cross-cultural sharing that Metafilter is all about.

"Wanna go to Lake Shore Drive this weekend?" - it's kinda old world & cute. Certainly less skeezy-sounding than "Let's get Lizard Skin Drunk at the festival, whaddaya say?"
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:40 AM on December 2, 2008

Ummm, fat, thin, inbetween etc. Doesn't matter. This is just badly derivative rubbish with less merit than an 80s razor advert jingle. Oxygen thief.
posted by The Salaryman at 8:43 AM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Grousing that Dresden Dolls is not metal is rather like pointing out that Black Sabbath isn't bluegrass. It's such an obvious statement that it's almost a non sequitur. We can certainly compile a long list of genres that Dresden Dolls songs (or "Leeds United") are probably misfiled under. I wouldn't put them in the same vocal jazz category of k. d. lang or Tony Bennett. Probably not american roots, alt country or mainstream country. Probably not punk, or any of the varieties of mainstream pop music. They certainly don't go next to Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma. I don't think an encyclopedic snark about what they are not gets us very far.

I'm a bit disappointed in the new album personally. For a while now, I've had a pretty strong preference for lean and minimalistic musical arrangements over the tendency to throw in some strings or horns onto the second verse or chorus for color. The most amazing track I've heard in the last week was a recorded performance duet between Bebo Valdes and Javier Colina as an example, and I was disappointed that the live energy of the Ting Tings got lost under the multi-track harmonies of their studio album. There is something about the strings and horns on Who Killed... that strikes me as cloying and unnecessary. I don't get that feeling from other songs that use horns.

And why is Palmer's voice apparently fuzzed on "Leeds United?" Her voice already has a bit of an edge to it. It's another post-production quirk that bugs me now that I've noticed it.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:07 AM on December 2, 2008

hallo people. it's amanda.
to clarify: this was not a publicity stunt.

my problems with roadrunner go far beyond the body stuff, this was just one minor annoyance.

the fact that they chose not to promote the record had little to do with my body or belly.
sadly, because that would have been a really simple line in the sand (and i would have had an army of angry lesbian feminists on my side!!!)

actually, they decided that the record itself was not commercial enough to work. their bitching about my fat little belly in this clip was just their small minds holding out hope that maybe going the britney route would sell a few thousand more records (wrong in any case). angry feminist lesbians don't care as much about weird music getting promoted as they do about he patriarchy keeping our bellies down, man.

alas.

but in short, i blogged a little rant about this, the fans started posting belly pictures, and it all snowballed from there. if i wanted to do a REAL publicity stunt, i'd do something much more naked. give me some credit.

hail slipnot,
love
a
amandapalmer.net
posted by amandapalmer at 11:00 AM on December 2, 2008 [67 favorites has favorites]

I think I'd like them more if I didn't find cabaret fairly insufferable. I want to like it. I like expressionism, Die Bruche and absinthe. Hell, I even like garters and Cabaret Voltaire. But just can not do it.

Keeps me from liking most of Tom Waits too. But saves me from Liza Minnelli.
posted by klangklangston at 11:10 AM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Well, there goes my plans for a sock puppet.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:11 AM on December 2, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Hee. I kinda meant my comment as a response to KJS, but I didn't preview (and obviously took too long to read the thread).
posted by klangklangston at 11:12 AM on December 2, 2008

Yoyu know, I wouldn't have expected it, but that film contains a fair amount of awesome.
posted by Artw at 11:12 AM on December 2, 2008

amandapalmer: that real publicity stunt idea sounds intriguing - you should develop that concept some more.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:04 PM on December 2, 2008

Ha! Hiya, Amanda.
posted by cortex at 12:22 PM on December 2, 2008

they decided that the record itself was not commercial enough to work.

Could you define what this means? Did they drop you or just decide not to promote it to your liking or something in between? Also could you explain what jokester convinced you to sign with Roadrunner of all places?

DC says hi btw, they love you here.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:23 PM on December 2, 2008

Certainly if you just don't like that style, you just don't like that style.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 12:28 PM on December 2, 2008

Your leeds united song has been stuck in my head since this post went up. I bet Leeds United would be happy to use it and many supporters would be happy to sing it (the chorus anyway)!
posted by By The Grace of God at 12:43 PM on December 2, 2008

And why is Palmer's voice apparently fuzzed on "Leeds United?" Her voice already has a bit of an edge to it. It's another post-production quirk that bugs me now that I've noticed it.

From what I've gathered from reading about the production of the album, he voice isn't technologically fuzzed on "Leeds United." She actually had just been smoking heavily for a while before hand, the recording session was put together last minute, and she ended up blowing out her voice for a while in the aftermath. So the fuzzy sound is actually just her voice giving out.

The story is here.
posted by Caduceus at 1:11 PM on December 2, 2008

Some 2 years ago, in a DD show in Seattle, the fans asked her to take off her shirt, and she dutifully complied. Noone seemed to mind....
posted by qvantamon at 1:46 PM on December 2, 2008

they decided that the record itself was not commercial enough to work.

Please don't listen to them. Liz Phair did, and she sold some records, but (in my opinion) she totally abandoned what made her work great in the process.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:47 PM on December 2, 2008

Ms. Palmer, I presume I'd be a targeted demographic for your label: I'm quite definitely in the 20-to-34-year-old horny-male demographic. My sole exposure to you has been brief mentions in Neil Gaiman's journal, mentions which, no disrespect intended, I usually skipped over. The "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?" stuff set up a weird cross-reference in my head with the Twin Peaks stuff, which I was never very much into.

So, in other words, this video was the first time I was ever exposed to your work. That "newness" is probably an audience they are considering.

Since the question is whether your stomach affects your attractiveness, I have to say: What the fuck are they talking about? Anyone who would look at you in that video, or listen to your voice, and not come away with a conviction that you are quite smolderingly attractive has an intense misalignment of their radar. Hell, I was channeling Tex Avery for much of the video.

I don't mean to imply shallowness by merely commenting on your attractiveness, but that appears to be the issue at hand at the moment. Suffice it to say I found both your voice and the song impressive enough that once disposable income returns to my budget (presumably along with a job), your album will most definitely be purchased.
posted by WCityMike at 2:29 PM on December 2, 2008

Holy shit, Amanda Palmer and Dan Kaminsky on the same day? I'm so delighted that I'm only a mildly-disgruntled lesbian feminist now!

Hi from Berlin -- the video is beautiful (this is the second Alex Di Campi video in the last year or so to be a front page post here; she's doing some nice work).
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 2:30 PM on December 2, 2008

1) I really like Iron Maiden, and I'm a fucking twee kid. I like The Shop Assistants, ffs.
2) Why is this song called Leeds United?
3) I feel like I should like Dresden Dolls, yet am yet to. Where should one sample?
4) Bennett were signed to Roadrunner, for Christ's sake. Any band that wrote a tribute B-side to the dead drummer of Echo and the Bunnymen is about as metal as a poundshop pair of earrings.
posted by mippy at 3:00 PM on December 2, 2008

I didn't think we were allowed to discuss the Dresden Dolls outside of LiveJournal.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 3:05 PM on December 2, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

“hallo people. it's amanda.”

*adjusts tie*
*looks other way*
*pretends to whistle while ambling off*
posted by Smedleyman at 3:14 PM on December 2, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

mippy: 3) I feel like I should like Dresden Dolls, yet am yet to. Where should one sample?

YouTube them. Please report back letting me know how they are; I'm too lazy.
posted by not_on_display at 4:31 PM on December 2, 2008

We're all agreed that The Killers are shit though, right?
posted by Artw at 4:35 PM on December 2, 2008

Smedleyman, please shush, you. Ironic flavors have always counted.

It's getting creepy.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:11 PM on December 2, 2008

but that appears to be the issue at hand at the moment.

It's funny how Roadrunner is peddling the rebel metal -RAWR!- attitude, but doesn't mind pressing for some skin to sell extra records. Expecting labels not to care about their artists is commonplace, but they seem not to have known even how much Amanda could sell. I'll fully retract if the RR president sings Deicide lyrics on youtube.

Hopefully Opeth -who used to be complete unknowns- are still selling in the American market.
posted by ersatz at 5:39 PM on December 2, 2008

So can we just talk about the album now?

I really like "It runs in the family" and "Oasis" is really fun, but mostly ....eh? It seems well produced and it has all these good ideas but it doesn't come together. Nothing sticks, and it has the strings and horns, as mentioned above, randomly strewn about. It's very okay, is what I can say, and Amanda is sooo much better live.

/musicgeek
posted by The Whelk at 7:30 PM on December 2, 2008

and "Guitar Hero" is really annoying cause it's only some tweaks away from being really, really good. Like a re-arrangement away. It's like the bulk of the album, alot of really good ideas, really ambitious, that just misses it. So I hope for more.
posted by The Whelk at 7:56 PM on December 2, 2008

Trite.
posted by ageispolis at 8:49 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

This is excellent. And thanks for "Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner." That's the first time a song title got stuck in my head. My friends are avoiding me.
posted by shadytrees at 9:15 PM on December 2, 2008

We're all agreed that The Killers are shit though, right?

I liked some of their first album, as a kind of rip-off of Pulp, who I like a lot. The more they release, the less enthusiastic I am.

Also, I wish I'd never read any of their interviews, because what a pack of fucking cocks. And I mean that in a "middle aged man whose penis is dysfunctional unless he is watching barely legal porn on one screen, loops of war footage on another screen, in a HumVee, and full of Viagra" sense of the word "cock".

They're almost as bad as Jack White.
posted by rodgerd at 11:10 PM on December 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Amanda was given a contract by a label that wanted to make money with her music; she accepted because she wanted people to hear her music (and make money with her music). Maybe the label guys are charlatans, but businessmen often are; maybe they're sexist assholes, but so are lots of other people ('Among them,' the wag added, 'many an angry lesbian feminist'). The company has a right to ask her to promote herself in line with whatever image it thinks will sell. That's primarily a business decision, whatever else it might be.

Deep down, there's this: the Roadrunner guys are probably 100% correct about how to increase Palmer's mass-market appeal, and mass-market appeal is how they make bucketloads of cash (cf. the risible Slipknot). And Palmer is well within rights and reason to say 'Fuck that' (as she does on her blog, many a time). She's said many times that the 'cottage industry' lifestyle is absolutely fine with her, that it's the better model in the long run, and maybe she's right. But that line is repeated by thousands and millions of performers who would love bigger audiences but, suspecting they'll never get them, construct (adopt) philosophies in which bigger audiences are just like, eww, inauthentic.

Popularity and integrity aren't mutually exclusive, and Amanda recognizes that. Good for her. But if you want to stay 'indie' or 'underground' or somesuch bullshit, and you want to have a big audience, then either you take many many years and work through rough times, or you get incredibly lucky (at a cost), or every once in a while you stop serving one of those masters and devote yourself wholeheartedly to the other for a while. In commercial entertainment it's always been so.

To sum up: the execs at Roadrunner might be jerks, but they're not wrong about commercial appeal simply because they're jerks. And 300 Flickr images sure as fuck won't change their mind about their company identity. Nor 1,000 (in case you were reaching for your webcam).

I hope she finds her way out of that contract and lands somewhere where she and the company can work hard for one another. But that cooperation will require her to put the kibosh on any 'martyrdom of the Truly Authentic Artist' nonsense from her audience, supporters, and any political opportunists wishing to make hay (and drum up blog traffic).

Speaking of which, visit my blog!!
posted by waxbanks at 8:36 AM on December 3, 2008

Wait a sec, is your point that labels are definitely rational actors? The music industry I'm familiar with is more like a bucket swirling with intangible forms of compensation and relationships, i.e. irrational decision-making as an operating expense.

They don't have the option of a sex sell for 90% of their roster and they apparently have some ideas for how to promote them despite the aforementioned podginess + strange hair issues. If they can't figure out what to do with a real composer and performer with crazy stage presence and LiveJournal-obsessive appeal, why would you assume that's due to some kind of economic truism rather than a lack of ideas?

I have to admit that I find the rebellyon thing a little tiresome too. I'm ambivalent about feeling like my witnessing something is a role I'm playing in someone else's self-esteem exercise, which is the feeling I've gotten from similar stuff since the riot grrl days.
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 10:44 AM on December 3, 2008

waxbanks: The other point that occurs to me about how people think about "integrity" is that it is often conflated with "fan service." Any attempt to deviate from the formula that got someone into an artist is derided as a "lack of integrity" when it may be nothing more or less than the artist wanting to change. Some fans, on the other hand, just want the same two or three albums churned out again and again.
posted by rodgerd at 1:54 PM on December 3, 2008

Followup post from Palmer with more of the story and more of the bellies.
posted by cirocco at 2:02 PM on December 3, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

if i wanted to do a REAL publicity stunt, i'd do something much more naked. give me some credit.

I love you, Amanda Palmer.

That's it, we're adding more Dresden Dolls songs to the Bazaar Bizarre playlist for next week in homage. Well, more than there were going to be already, that is...
posted by bitter-girl.com at 7:49 AM on December 4, 2008

the Roadrunner guys are probably 100% correct about how to increase Palmer's mass-market appeal, and mass-market appeal is how they make bucketloads of cash (cf. the risible Slipknot).

Slipknot didn't show their sexy abs though to become famous. Sure, Roadrunner probably knows how to handle male bands. Their female cast seems to consist of Liv Kristine, Nightwish and Within Temptation and all of them were famous in Europe before signing with Roadrunner and they didn't need to show their bellies (though WOMAN SINGER!! and OPERATIC VOCALS!! was used to death).
posted by ersatz at 6:44 PM on December 4, 2008

I only now realized that Zoë Keating plays the cello on this album. Cool.
posted by homunculus at 8:47 PM on December 8, 2008

I saw Amanda Palmer (and Zoe Keating) at Richards on Wednesday and it was a fantastic show. Doors opened at 8, show started at 9.30 and ended at ...1am. 1am!!! How generous is that? She sang all the songs in her new album, and performed some old DD tunes as well. She had a group of dancers from Australia with her, and they were *wonderful*.

I went to see the show to hear Zoe Keating, I wasn't expecting the brilliance of the remainder of the show. Wow. And wow. Time well spent. The woman is brilliant, relentless, energetic.

And hot.

The belly? Who cares???
posted by seawallrunner at 10:57 PM on December 12, 2008

I just got home from the Amanda Palmer show in Portland, and it was fucking incredible. Amanda is an marvelous performer and overwhelmingly beautiful, Zoë Keating (who I've been a fan of since I saw her with Rasputina) is heart-wrenchingly talented, Jason Webley showed up, the Danger Ensemble (the dancers from Australia seawallrunner mentioned) were gorgeous and talented, and Amanda did a cover of a Murder by Death song. If Jonathan Coulton had for some random reason shown up, I'm pretty sure I would had died of pure joy. Seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life was Amanda Palmer, Zoë Keating, and Jason Webley rocking out on a cover of "Living of a Prayer" all within two feet of each other.

I saw a dude with camera near the front, hopefully it'll show up on YouTube.
posted by Caduceus at 1:26 AM on December 13, 2008