I swear it's not a Best-Of list
October 1, 2008 12:32 AM   Subscribe

To some, Exclaim! is more or less the northern equivalent of Pitchfork, a free monthly mag for the hipster masses. But I've always enjoyed the way their Questionnaire page provides an often surprisingly clear glimpse into an odd array of celebrities' lives. This month's subject is Motörhead’s Lemmy.

Some of my past personal favorites:
David Cross (How do you spoil yourself? "I’ll jerk off and just let it fly, I won’t get a sock or a tissue.")
Rob Zombie (What was your most memorable day job? "Working on Pee Wee's Playhouse as a production assistant when I lived in New York, in about 1984 or '85.")
Tricky (What are your feelings on piracy, internet or otherwise? "Anything that takes the power [from] record companies means we’re gonna start hearing good music — they only give us what is gonna sell.")
Benjamin Weinman (Current fixations: "No fixations. All I do is break shit. I like gambling too. I think that is an art.")
Mark Arm (What makes you want to take it off and get it on? "My old lady. If you’re gonna put it in those terms, you have to answer with a ’70s answer.")
Trey Parker & Matt Stone (What has been your strangest celebrity encounter? "TP: I was at an Academy Awards party once, the year after I wore the dress, and Jennifer Lopez came up and shoved me and walked away. Fucking bitch.")
Daniel Johnston (Why do you live where you do? "Well, I live right next to my parents. I had a house built and things are goin’, you know, just fine.")
Ghostface Killah (What should everyone shut up about? "I don’t wanna hear niggas fucking ask me for fucking money man. That’s what I don’t want to hear no more. Magazine motherfuckers asking me the same questions all the fucking time, I don’t want to hear that same shit.")
Mike Patton (Given the opportunity to choose, how would you like to die? "Doing the thing I love most in life… mowing my lawn.")



*as a side-note, I find it highly amusing that Trey Parker and Matt Stone share the same concept of a visionary piece of art with Rob Zombie.
posted by mannequito (29 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
To some, Exclaim! is more or less the northern equivalent of Pitchfork, a free monthly mag for the hipster masses.

This attitude has to change - it's just a means of finding music you might have otherwise missed, nothing more or less than that. The moment you begin defining your identity by your love or hatred of a fucking music review website, you've already lost. Everyone deserves more meaningful terms of self-definition than that.

I hope.

. . . where was I? The Rob Zombie interview was a treat. Thanks.
posted by Ryvar at 2:34 AM on October 1, 2008 [2 favorites]


What are your current fixations?
Women with three tits. You don’t get a lot of ‘em, y’know. You gotta look carefully.

God bless you, Lemmy
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:24 AM on October 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


I met Lemmy last year at a bar inside Heathrow. I'd had too much coffee, and thus came across like a complete psycho the moment I opened my mouth. He disappeared on me the moment I turned my back to grab my camera.

True story.
posted by nudar at 3:47 AM on October 1, 2008


I was at an Academy Awards party once, the year after I wore the dress, and Jennifer Lopez came up and shoved me and walked away. Fucking bitch.

Ha. That's actually a really funny thing to do. My J-Lo respect just went +1.

Anyway, I read both whenever one happens to be kicking around around coffee shop is in whatever city I happen to be kicking around in myself... but really... Exclaim is no Pitchfork. More like a decaffeinated Pitchfork wannabe.
posted by rokusan at 4:31 AM on October 1, 2008


Obligatory comment about how Pitchfork is not 'hip' and how I've moved on to Other Site That Pimps Bands You've Never Heard Of.
posted by mattholomew at 4:38 AM on October 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


...but seriously, thanks for the link I'm always looking for good music sites.
posted by mattholomew at 4:40 AM on October 1, 2008


God bless you, Lemmy

I'm confused. How does that work?

/Lemmyisgod
posted by thanotopsis at 4:44 AM on October 1, 2008


Will Emmylou Harris please start getting old and skanky? She's starting to scare me, with the beauty and such.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:45 AM on October 1, 2008


What would make you kick someone out of your band and/or bed, and have you?

Yes. Heroin.


Didn't Lemmy once give another interview where he hinted that part of the reason he's stayed on the road was because the woman he felt he could take some time off for ended up being a worthless junkie?
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 4:51 AM on October 1, 2008


Hey, thanks for this. I'm always happy to find a good music site, and this looks like it fits the bill.

Can I perpetrate a bit of an on topic derail and ask what other music sites people dig? I generally read Pitchfork and Paste, but am dying for someone else's perspective.
posted by nevercalm at 4:58 AM on October 1, 2008


Exclaim also does an exceptional job each month with their Timeline.
posted by hamfisted at 5:08 AM on October 1, 2008


nevercalm, WFMU's Beware of the Blog.
posted by lukemeister at 5:41 AM on October 1, 2008


scrolling through the list of names it struck me that they're likely to be of most interest to readers / listeners approaching 40, not that there's anything wrong with that. but definitely a niche.
posted by noway at 5:49 AM on October 1, 2008


Q.What should everyone shut up about?
A. Everything.

Rock On, Lem
posted by waraw at 6:01 AM on October 1, 2008


Want the full list? Here it is...

Joel Plaskett
Henry Rollins
Carolyn Mark
Joey Burns - Calexico
Brent J. Cooper - Huevos Rancheros
Dave Clark
The For Carnation
Feist
Sarah Harmer
Theo - Gob
Jason Beebout - Samiam
Ron Hawkins
King Buzzo - The Melvins
CJ Sleez>
Adam Lewis - Fenix TX
Julie Doiron
Money Mark
Jay Ferguson - Sloan
Princess Superstar
Strictly Kev - DJ Food
Robin Black - Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars
Zachary Horn
Chris Carraba - Dashboard Confessional
Howlin' Pelle Almqvist - The Hives
Fog
Lee Raback - Warsawpack
Luke Slater
Judah Bauer - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion / 20 Miles
Hugh Dillon - Headstones
Lederhosen Lucil
Kyp Harness
Ben Harper
Jack White - The White Stripes
Nina Persson - The Cardigans
Blag the Ripper - The Dwarves
Tricky
Dashboard Confessional
Billy Howerdel - A Perfect Circle
Rufus Wainwright
Kermit the Frog
Isaac Hayes
Nardwuar the Human Serviette
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Lou Barlow - Sebadoh
David Cross
Lee Ranaldo - Sonic Youth
Ian Blurton - C'Mon
Miss Kittin
Liam Howlett - Prodigy
Nancy Sinatra
Dan the Automator & Prince Paul - Handsome Boy Modeling School
Pee-wee Herman
K-OS
Rob Halford - Judas Priest
Mike Patton - Fantômas
Greg Keelor - Blue Rodeo
Trey Parker and Matt Stone - South Park / Team America
Stephen Malkmus
Rob Zombie
George Jones
Sinead O'Connor
John Kricfalusi - Ren & Stimpy
Neil Diamond
Beth Orton
Billy Bragg
Ghostface Killah
Daniel Johnston
Greg Graffin - Bad Religion
Dave Lombardo - Slayer / Fantômas
Dallas Green - Alexisonfire / City and Colour
Emily Haines
Noel Gallagher - Oasis
A-Trak
Rick Mercer
RZA
Dean Wareham - Galaxie 500 / Luna / Dean & Britta
Iggy Pop
J Mascis - Dinosaur Jr.
Dave Mustaine
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Matthew Good
Minnie Driver
David Yow - Qui - The Jesus Lizard - Scratch Acid
Sarah Silverman
Kenny & Spenny
kd lang
Cadence Weapon
She & Him - Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward
Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green
Emmylou Harris
Mudhoney's Mark Arm
Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning
Hugh Dillon
Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister
posted by xpermanentx at 6:04 AM on October 1, 2008 [5 favorites]


Well, um, that's a pretty big niche anymore, noway. I don't think it's a fringe market or anything. I'm sure the magazine will be fine.

(And we're all approaching forty, whether we want to admit it or not...except for those of us who've already gotten there, of course. Which isn't me...um...yet.)

On point: Lemmy is awesome.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:06 AM on October 1, 2008


People magazine for music
posted by Postroad at 7:01 AM on October 1, 2008


Exclaim! has been available in hard copy since the early 1990's which pre-dates Pitchfork and teh internets from where it came by years and years. I have a box of yellowing issues in my old closet at my parent's house which I keep meaning to donate to an archive of some sort.
posted by Paid In Full at 7:09 AM on October 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Heh. I read a few of these, and I like this kind of formula-type interview if it's done well. Utne Reader always did one too, but I haven't read that since soon after they went glossy. If they're done well, the interviewee is more themselves rather than feeling like they need to put on some performance.

That said Rob Halford cracked me up:

What do you fear most?
I’m not really afraid of anything because I am the Metal God.

posted by Eekacat at 7:15 AM on October 1, 2008


Since the demise of Option, Exclaim has been my favorite hard copy music mag. It's free and loaded with good stuff every month. Really can't complain.

Anyone else remember (and miss) Option?
posted by davebush at 7:49 AM on October 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Yay! Exclaim wrote an article about me and my April Fools Prank this year.
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 8:54 AM on October 1, 2008


This really IS the best of the web!
posted by peewinkle at 8:57 AM on October 1, 2008


Excelent. Thanks a lot!

Can I perpetrate a bit of an on topic derail and ask what other music sites people dig?

The Big Takeover
posted by elmono at 9:44 AM on October 1, 2008


One more thumbs up for EXCLAIM, print and online. I'd go so far as to say they're a major factor in the recent rise of cool Canadian music worldwide. Other key factors: CBC-3, godawful commercial stations in pretty much every major center that force "thinking" listeners to seek out campus and community options. It's all good.
posted by philip-random at 10:31 AM on October 1, 2008


What makes you want to take it off and get it on?
Lemmy: Girls. Not boys.


Interesting that he'd phrase it like that, given that I've heard the opposite from a couple people...

I mean, Hawkwind > Motorhead for me all the way, but Hawkwind - Lemmy = mostly shit.
posted by anazgnos at 11:14 AM on October 1, 2008


From the Emmylou Harris interview:

Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them?

Probably Abraham Lincoln...I would ask my mother to cook, and she’d make her famous garlic cheese grits.


Just one more reason to love her.
posted by marxchivist at 12:16 PM on October 1, 2008


I've never really read exclaim! before, but they once gave my (now defunct) band a very nice review.
/shameless self promotion
posted by brevator at 1:46 PM on October 1, 2008


I've never really read exclaim! before, but they once gave my (now defunct) band a very nice review.

The best thing about EXCLAIM is that they don't miss much. If a record gets any kind of release in any kind of relevant genre, it tends to get reviewed, and usually with at least a sliver of sensitivity.
posted by philip-random at 2:35 PM on October 1, 2008


Mr. Brownsword?

Eh, the man is God.


I met Rob Zombie a looong time ago at a club. He was pissing, I was washing my hands. He gets done, comes over to wash his hands or whatever and looks at me and says “I know you” I smiled wryly. Like y’know, funny Rob Zombie’s saying that to me.
And he said “Seriously, don’t I know you from some place?” He wasn’t trying to pick me up or anything. And come to think of it I thought we’d met, ‘cos I’d never really gotten a look at Rob Zombie as a celeb (what with the hat, glasses, hair, etc), but close up his face did look familiar. The hell of it is I had to get the hell out of there (beeper).
I don’t know if he actually knew me. I’d won a contest recently. Not that high profile tho’. I have no idea where the hell he’d know me from tho’ or me him. Never saw the guy again up close.
Figure he’d think I’m a weirdo if I got close and broached the subject “Rob - hey Rob!, man. Remember this time... like a bunch of years ago... in the john... you said tha”*hauled off by security*
posted by Smedleyman at 3:24 PM on October 1, 2008


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