Fifteen Minutes
January 11, 2019 7:54 AM   Subscribe

Fifteen Minutes of Shame
posted by CheapB (6 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
expected Spinners or septas; didn't read the tags.
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:56 AM on January 11, 2019


thanks for this - catchy, funny, and I'm a Minchin fan now. Great post.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 12:16 PM on January 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


I love Tim Minchin, but I always feel a little "ehhh" by this sort of take. I think it tends to conflate stuff like Kevin Hart (which, is, admittedly Not Cool, and can be taken as a masterclass on what NOT to do) and really bad stuff like Weinstein or R. Kelly or Kevin Spacey, y'know? This sort of thing has never really set well with me. And while I'm certain Minchin's decidedly not referring to the Weinstein end of things — especially given as we're talking about the same guy who did "The Pope Song" and "Come Home, Cardinal Pell" — "15 Minutes" doesn't quite seem as specific as it should be to head off those claims.

I don't know if I'm making sense — basically I just feel a little "jeez, really" about the song in a way that's a little hard to put my thoughts into coherent words.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 1:32 PM on January 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


It could have been the timing, too — seeing as "15 Minutes" came out right as Louis CK is trying to weasel his way back by appealing to the MAGA crowd.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 1:42 PM on January 11, 2019


My favorite Minchin is Come Home (Cardinal Pell), something about the catchy song combined with Tim's undisguised contempt really makes it pop.

Also a fan of Three Minute Song which serves as a good introduction to the guy's work. (There's an Americanized version as well but the original is much better as long as you're casually familiar with British TV.)

That said I'm kind of with Rev. Syung Myung Me on this one, not quite sure what to make of this particular message from Tim at this particular time. Still, catchy and well done certainly, thanks for sharing it CheapB.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 4:01 PM on January 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


Hmmm.... kinda of the same reaction as Rev. Syung Myung Me. I think this song missed its window. An internet age ago when say Rebecca Watson was being eviscerate by her own community and everyone else online for suggesting, really just in passing even, "don't hit on women in elevators" we wanted this song. But now post #metoo, post gamergate, I wish it was more focused. I kept waiting for something in the lyrics to make the distinction but... I mean to say, Tim is not wrong. So it's hard to pin down anything specific in the song I disagree with. And the internet pile-on is 100% still a thing. But listening to the song, I felt like "oh man, I just know the next time I see this song it's going to be a link from some troll trying to shut down criticism". And that's a terrible thing to happen to one of Tim's songs.
posted by adamt at 3:13 PM on January 13, 2019 [1 favorite]


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