Perfect Pussy and the Corporate Media
March 25, 2014 3:22 PM Subscribe
Syracuse punk band Perfect Pussy's debut album Say Yes to Love is receiving very positive reviews. But something in these reviews is missing, says Ad Hoc Magazine. A piece about underground culture, mass media, and yes, Lady Gaga.
And then lyrics like "I am full of light! I am filled with joy! I am full of peace! I had this dream that I forgave my enemies" don't seem to fit into the rubric of "rejection of affirmative culture."
Not to bring it too hard back to the whole "my husbands dumb record collection" thing, but this sort of crap is exactly why we need new faces and approaches in critical music review.
All the people writing that kind of crap are too obsessed with sniffing their own farts and being music snobs to not try and shove them into some dumbassed box. It's like, some bizarre mating dance of hyperpretension. Ugh.
posted by emptythought at 3:46 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
Not to bring it too hard back to the whole "my husbands dumb record collection" thing, but this sort of crap is exactly why we need new faces and approaches in critical music review.
All the people writing that kind of crap are too obsessed with sniffing their own farts and being music snobs to not try and shove them into some dumbassed box. It's like, some bizarre mating dance of hyperpretension. Ugh.
posted by emptythought at 3:46 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
Don't call it a summary, but maybe a possible pullquote candidate:
"To retreat into a satisfying obscurity is a politicized statement in itself, a refusal to participate in a system that will invariably warp your work into something marketable or detached from its original context. And this retreat might be the only effective path to truth in expression."
posted by box at 3:47 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
"To retreat into a satisfying obscurity is a politicized statement in itself, a refusal to participate in a system that will invariably warp your work into something marketable or detached from its original context. And this retreat might be the only effective path to truth in expression."
posted by box at 3:47 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
naju, I read it to say that the author took their failure to reject affirmative culture as a sign that they were not as radical / counterculture as they have been made to appear (the argument being that if you tell people they can solve all of their problems without changing the society they live in, only changing themselves, you are advocating for conformism regardless of other "rebellious" rhetoric).
posted by idiopath at 3:55 PM on March 25, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by idiopath at 3:55 PM on March 25, 2014 [4 favorites]
One thing I noticed about that website: they don't seem to write much about women. I counted one woman musician (in a duo with a dude) in the first two full pages of articles, except for the woman in Perfect Pussy.
I think Marcuse's "affirmative culture" is a really great concept, and I think that the part of the essay that is all "contemporary 'art' rock is depoliticized and gestures toward a kind of affirmative culture as a way of concealing this, like it is saying 'you don't need social change, you just need to love yourself" is pretty perceptive - there has been a change in music in this regard, IMO. I think one could say "people read Perfect Pussy as being affirmative culture", but I don't think that's an accurate understanding of the actual things the band says about what they're doing.
I really like the songs I heard by them, but I actually kind of wish I hadn't read the interviews, since it was all "and this song is about how my friend gave my ex a blowjob right after we broke up", and then I realized that the lyrical concerns of people who are 26 and the drinkin' kind of punk are really not the same as the lyrical concerns of someone who is rising forty, never really drank much and is No Fun At All, but who also would not care if a friend gave an ex a blowjob right after we broke up.
posted by Frowner at 4:10 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
I think Marcuse's "affirmative culture" is a really great concept, and I think that the part of the essay that is all "contemporary 'art' rock is depoliticized and gestures toward a kind of affirmative culture as a way of concealing this, like it is saying 'you don't need social change, you just need to love yourself" is pretty perceptive - there has been a change in music in this regard, IMO. I think one could say "people read Perfect Pussy as being affirmative culture", but I don't think that's an accurate understanding of the actual things the band says about what they're doing.
I really like the songs I heard by them, but I actually kind of wish I hadn't read the interviews, since it was all "and this song is about how my friend gave my ex a blowjob right after we broke up", and then I realized that the lyrical concerns of people who are 26 and the drinkin' kind of punk are really not the same as the lyrical concerns of someone who is rising forty, never really drank much and is No Fun At All, but who also would not care if a friend gave an ex a blowjob right after we broke up.
posted by Frowner at 4:10 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's not a bad album. At quite a few spots, it sounds like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs being sent through yet another Big Muff. I bet it would be fun to listen to while taking drugs and having sex in a room with a strobe light.
Obligatory Frank Zappa Quote:
"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read."
posted by chillmost at 4:10 PM on March 25, 2014 [3 favorites]
Obligatory Frank Zappa Quote:
"Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read."
posted by chillmost at 4:10 PM on March 25, 2014 [3 favorites]
The result is writing which is full of what Ayn Rand once called
NOPE LIFE'S TOO SHORT
posted by Beardman at 4:26 PM on March 25, 2014 [22 favorites]
NOPE LIFE'S TOO SHORT
posted by Beardman at 4:26 PM on March 25, 2014 [22 favorites]
To retreat into a satisfying obscurity is a politicized statement in itself, a refusal to participate in a system that will invariably warp your work into something marketable or detached from its original context. And this retreat might be the only effective path to truth in expression.
For most people, refusing to give interviews or only posting your work on russian mp3 blogs is just a good way for nobody to know or care you exist. There's no trick to just being obscure. Living up to some standard of untainted purity and obscurity and yet being well known and sought after is something else entirely, and I don't know if I buy that these methods are any more than just another layer of branding veneer on a traditional career.
posted by anazgnos at 4:33 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
For most people, refusing to give interviews or only posting your work on russian mp3 blogs is just a good way for nobody to know or care you exist. There's no trick to just being obscure. Living up to some standard of untainted purity and obscurity and yet being well known and sought after is something else entirely, and I don't know if I buy that these methods are any more than just another layer of branding veneer on a traditional career.
posted by anazgnos at 4:33 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
At the same time, misogynistic rap anthems or frat-boy rock like Def Leppard and Judas Priest manifested a less sophisticated
....What time was this that frat culture and Judas Priest were one and around at the same time as 90's era rap anthems? Oh yes, the blessed year of 1979-1999.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:41 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
....What time was this that frat culture and Judas Priest were one and around at the same time as 90's era rap anthems? Oh yes, the blessed year of 1979-1999.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:41 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
I hadn't heard of them until this FPP and have been listening to them for the last half hour or so. It's solid and good music, and will be part of my Pandora rotation from here on.
But the linked article basically made no sense to me. Early on there was this, which seemed like a good starting point:
Notably missing from many reviews of Say Yes to Love is any contextualization of the band within the long lineage of other feminist-identifying punk acts.
But that instantly got dropped in favor of a long section on Tipper Gore and Jello's back and forth, and then a bunch of other disconnected stuff.
If there was a center to it all, I missed it. At the end we get to this, which is basically true but also totally vapid:
Yet individual opinions partly stem from the experience of walking through a world saturated by prevailing attitudes and beliefs. These opinions are also the pieces of a larger mosaic, whose totality is a cultural force more powerful than we know.
The music is good, though, so I'm not really complaining, more just puzzled at the point of the article.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:43 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
But the linked article basically made no sense to me. Early on there was this, which seemed like a good starting point:
Notably missing from many reviews of Say Yes to Love is any contextualization of the band within the long lineage of other feminist-identifying punk acts.
But that instantly got dropped in favor of a long section on Tipper Gore and Jello's back and forth, and then a bunch of other disconnected stuff.
If there was a center to it all, I missed it. At the end we get to this, which is basically true but also totally vapid:
Yet individual opinions partly stem from the experience of walking through a world saturated by prevailing attitudes and beliefs. These opinions are also the pieces of a larger mosaic, whose totality is a cultural force more powerful than we know.
The music is good, though, so I'm not really complaining, more just puzzled at the point of the article.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:43 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
so wait is this record awesome or not? if one more person says it is (in addition to naju) i'll just buy it and blast it in the car. 'cos i trust you folks.
posted by raihan_ at 4:43 PM on March 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by raihan_ at 4:43 PM on March 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've been following the singer on instagram for about a year and half. About three months ago I went "why am I following this person? I have no idea who she is." Punk rock is a really small world, even when you've been drifting away from it for a long time. That moment gave me a chance to listen to the record. It's pretty good.
posted by lownote at 4:51 PM on March 25, 2014
posted by lownote at 4:51 PM on March 25, 2014
I like it, raihan_! And fwiw, I saw them mentioned a bunch of times very positively by NPR during SXSW. In fact, here's Pussy Riot performing at the NPR showcase last week.
posted by inigo2 at 5:04 PM on March 25, 2014
posted by inigo2 at 5:04 PM on March 25, 2014
Oh yes, the blessed year of 1979-1999.
That reminds me of the punk scene of twenty years ago, which encompasses both the time in 1986 that Jello Biafra argued with Tipper Gore, and 1994, which was the year after Bikini Kill's Pussy Whipped, the year of Dookie and Smash, and the year before the first Warped Tour.
posted by box at 5:24 PM on March 25, 2014
That reminds me of the punk scene of twenty years ago, which encompasses both the time in 1986 that Jello Biafra argued with Tipper Gore, and 1994, which was the year after Bikini Kill's Pussy Whipped, the year of Dookie and Smash, and the year before the first Warped Tour.
posted by box at 5:24 PM on March 25, 2014
I read it to say that the author took their failure to reject affirmative culture as a sign that they were not as radical / counterculture as they have been made to appear
Interestingly, and speaking from experiences of being involved in several different local music scenes... this is a criticism(either overtly, or in the crypto open to interpretation version we're talking about here) that seemingly only groups made up of women, or women fronted groups get a lot.
Draw from that what you will, but that's sure as hell the first place my mind went.
posted by emptythought at 5:28 PM on March 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
Interestingly, and speaking from experiences of being involved in several different local music scenes... this is a criticism(either overtly, or in the crypto open to interpretation version we're talking about here) that seemingly only groups made up of women, or women fronted groups get a lot.
Draw from that what you will, but that's sure as hell the first place my mind went.
posted by emptythought at 5:28 PM on March 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
It's weird — I really liked that essay, now I'm wondering whether this is a difference in taste, or yet another round of MeFi Is Dumb About Music Writing. Did people not actually get to the conclusion, which ties a lot of (fairly easy to follow) threads together?
"They seem to be as enamored with long drones as urgent jarring punk, for example. And then lyrics like "I am full of light! I am filled with joy! I am full of peace! I had this dream that I forgave my enemies" don't seem to fit into the rubric of "rejection of affirmative culture.""
The essay is largely about how rebellion has been co-opted as an affirmation culture.
"Not to bring it too hard back to the whole "my husbands dumb record collection" thing, but this sort of crap is exactly why we need new faces and approaches in critical music review.
All the people writing that kind of crap are too obsessed with sniffing their own farts and being music snobs to not try and shove them into some dumbassed box. It's like, some bizarre mating dance of hyperpretension. Ugh."
You know, you can just say you didn't get it.
"I think one could say "people read Perfect Pussy as being affirmative culture", but I don't think that's an accurate understanding of the actual things the band says about what they're doing."
… since the article is primarily about how Perfect Pussy is critiqued and positioned as an example of affirmative culture's sublimation of punk rebellion, that's pretty much exactly what it is saying.
"What time was this that frat culture and Judas Priest were one and around at the same time as 90's era rap anthems? Oh yes, the blessed year of 1979-1999."
You got him, bruh. Pointing out 1979-1999 is an era they position as happening after "the 1960s and early '70s" totally undermines the point.
"NOPE LIFE'S TOO SHORT"
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT
"For most people, refusing to give interviews or only posting your work on russian mp3 blogs is just a good way for nobody to know or care you exist. There's no trick to just being obscure. Living up to some standard of untainted purity and obscurity and yet being well known and sought after is something else entirely, and I don't know if I buy that these methods are any more than just another layer of branding veneer on a traditional career."
Yes, part of the article is discussing that this is a strategy with both artistic and commercial consequences. Yet, there are plenty of artists who are opaque to press and still manage to get their music out there, so it's a successful strategy for some, especially if their goal isn't huge blockbuster success.
"But that instantly got dropped in favor of a long section on Tipper Gore and Jello's back and forth, and then a bunch of other disconnected stuff. "
That was about how previous attempts to censor have been replaced by co-opting, while critics are still attempting to place Perfect Pussy in the same Punk Hero narrative of Jello Biafra.
"Interestingly, and speaking from experiences of being involved in several different local music scenes... this is a criticism(either overtly, or in the crypto open to interpretation version we're talking about here) that seemingly only groups made up of women, or women fronted groups get a lot."
But it's not a criticism of the band at all! It's a criticism of the criticism that surrounds the music, where the use of a narrative ostensibly lionizing the band for rebellion ends up supporting the status quo because that criticism is unwilling or unable to articulate how the difference actually functions.
posted by klangklangston at 7:07 PM on March 25, 2014 [10 favorites]
"They seem to be as enamored with long drones as urgent jarring punk, for example. And then lyrics like "I am full of light! I am filled with joy! I am full of peace! I had this dream that I forgave my enemies" don't seem to fit into the rubric of "rejection of affirmative culture.""
The essay is largely about how rebellion has been co-opted as an affirmation culture.
"Not to bring it too hard back to the whole "my husbands dumb record collection" thing, but this sort of crap is exactly why we need new faces and approaches in critical music review.
All the people writing that kind of crap are too obsessed with sniffing their own farts and being music snobs to not try and shove them into some dumbassed box. It's like, some bizarre mating dance of hyperpretension. Ugh."
You know, you can just say you didn't get it.
"I think one could say "people read Perfect Pussy as being affirmative culture", but I don't think that's an accurate understanding of the actual things the band says about what they're doing."
… since the article is primarily about how Perfect Pussy is critiqued and positioned as an example of affirmative culture's sublimation of punk rebellion, that's pretty much exactly what it is saying.
"What time was this that frat culture and Judas Priest were one and around at the same time as 90's era rap anthems? Oh yes, the blessed year of 1979-1999."
You got him, bruh. Pointing out 1979-1999 is an era they position as happening after "the 1960s and early '70s" totally undermines the point.
"NOPE LIFE'S TOO SHORT"
GOOD LUCK WITH THAT
"For most people, refusing to give interviews or only posting your work on russian mp3 blogs is just a good way for nobody to know or care you exist. There's no trick to just being obscure. Living up to some standard of untainted purity and obscurity and yet being well known and sought after is something else entirely, and I don't know if I buy that these methods are any more than just another layer of branding veneer on a traditional career."
Yes, part of the article is discussing that this is a strategy with both artistic and commercial consequences. Yet, there are plenty of artists who are opaque to press and still manage to get their music out there, so it's a successful strategy for some, especially if their goal isn't huge blockbuster success.
"But that instantly got dropped in favor of a long section on Tipper Gore and Jello's back and forth, and then a bunch of other disconnected stuff. "
That was about how previous attempts to censor have been replaced by co-opting, while critics are still attempting to place Perfect Pussy in the same Punk Hero narrative of Jello Biafra.
"Interestingly, and speaking from experiences of being involved in several different local music scenes... this is a criticism(either overtly, or in the crypto open to interpretation version we're talking about here) that seemingly only groups made up of women, or women fronted groups get a lot."
But it's not a criticism of the band at all! It's a criticism of the criticism that surrounds the music, where the use of a narrative ostensibly lionizing the band for rebellion ends up supporting the status quo because that criticism is unwilling or unable to articulate how the difference actually functions.
posted by klangklangston at 7:07 PM on March 25, 2014 [10 favorites]
They sound like a mellow Atari Teenage Riot..good stuff!
posted by kuatto at 7:12 PM on March 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by kuatto at 7:12 PM on March 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
All the people writing that kind of crap are too obsessed with sniffing their own farts and being music snobs to not try and shove them into some dumbassed box.
"All the people" are trying to unfairly categorize them, you say?
posted by mhoye at 7:17 PM on March 25, 2014
"All the people" are trying to unfairly categorize them, you say?
posted by mhoye at 7:17 PM on March 25, 2014
I have now heard one song by this band and I like it. That doesn't mean that I'll like all or any of the other songs the band plays but I'm willing to give them a chance.
However, whether I like the band or not is beside the point. The point being the co-option of punk by the media elite and where the band stands on affirmative culture.
Oh fuck it, I just don't care. I didn't hate Blink 182 because they were a mass market product sold to the "kids" as punk rock (well not completely anyway). I hated them because they sucked ass.
Similarly, if Ayn Rand could have written a novel that was in any way interesting I would have sidestepped her awful politics of selfishness and read it anyway. Hell I read a lot of Heinlein and he could at least be entertaining saying the same shit.
As for Beth Tolmech, as a a rock critic she makes a hell of a post doc candidate.
posted by evilDoug at 8:03 PM on March 25, 2014
However, whether I like the band or not is beside the point. The point being the co-option of punk by the media elite and where the band stands on affirmative culture.
Oh fuck it, I just don't care. I didn't hate Blink 182 because they were a mass market product sold to the "kids" as punk rock (well not completely anyway). I hated them because they sucked ass.
Similarly, if Ayn Rand could have written a novel that was in any way interesting I would have sidestepped her awful politics of selfishness and read it anyway. Hell I read a lot of Heinlein and he could at least be entertaining saying the same shit.
As for Beth Tolmech, as a a rock critic she makes a hell of a post doc candidate.
posted by evilDoug at 8:03 PM on March 25, 2014
Really glad there was a soundcloud link in the review so I didn't have to google "perfect pussy music" again.
posted by a halcyon day at 12:36 AM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by a halcyon day at 12:36 AM on March 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
I saw them play live recently, and I really wanted to like them but just couldn't get into it because it was like 90% extremely loud white noise. The recordings sound more fun, though; maybe it was bad mixing.
Weird trivia: "A year ago today, Perfect Pussy didn't exist. Graves recruited Koloski and Ambler for a 'fake' band for a scene in the film 'Adult World,' which was shot in Syracuse." (source)
posted by caaaaaam at 1:21 AM on March 26, 2014
Weird trivia: "A year ago today, Perfect Pussy didn't exist. Graves recruited Koloski and Ambler for a 'fake' band for a scene in the film 'Adult World,' which was shot in Syracuse." (source)
posted by caaaaaam at 1:21 AM on March 26, 2014
I give you Katie Presley at NPR Music.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 4:25 AM on March 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Linda_Holmes at 4:25 AM on March 26, 2014 [2 favorites]
A lot of words saying little.
posted by history is a weapon at 7:29 AM on March 26, 2014
posted by history is a weapon at 7:29 AM on March 26, 2014
I'm just flabbergasted that someone in 2014 can still ask if punk has been co-opted. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
posted by fleetmouse at 7:49 AM on March 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by fleetmouse at 7:49 AM on March 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Anyway, I couldn't figure out the main thrust of the Ad Hoc article, which seems to touch upon a lot of disparate things without making many statements about them. What's the tl;dr for it?
posted by naju at 3:43 PM on March 25, 2014 [2 favorites]