The Future Of Music Reviewing

noah | June 12, 2008 3:15 am

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“Instead, over their two-hour set Wednesday night at a sold-out Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Pearl Jam chose to offer a semi-obscure selection of songs that excluded many massive hits. Fans cheered predictably throughout the night, but many ended up grumbling afterward, frustrated that favorites such as Jeremy, Black, Daughter, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town, I Got Id and Release were passed over for songs some struggled to identify.” You’d think this was an offering from Yelp, wouldn’t you? No, it’s by a “professional” music critic employed by the Miami Herald, Michael Hamersly, and there’s so much more where that came from. Like the way he calls Eddie Vedder’s outfit “appropriately grungy” and the way that “Yellow Ledbetter” has a guiding riff that’s “Red Hot Chili Peppers-like.” I mean, I know that every writer has a day when they have to hack out a piece on deadline–and the headline “Pearl Jam picks puzzling song selection” doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the editorial team over there–but at least be creative, y’know? [Miami Herald]

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