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cherrylng · 1 month ago

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Green Day interview - UNO! DOS! TRE! [ROCKIN'ON (September 2012)]

The fastest interview just before Summer Sonic! The band talks about their new album trilogy in its entirety!

UNO! DOS! TRE! GREEN DAY

Interview by AKEMI NAKAMURA Photographs by YURI HASEGAWA

"It's unmistakably a 100% “Green Day album” and we can now say we're in the prime of our lives because we're able to do that."

What the fuck is this! They've made not one, but three incredible albums, bursting with outrageous energy that make you want to scream. Green Day is extremely ambitious in releasing their ninth album as a trilogy called "Uno!", "Dos!", and "Tre!", one album every two months starting in September, an unprecedented and ambitious feat that no one will ever pull off again. The reason this masterpiece, which could be called Green Day's version of the "Rock Encyclopedia", was created in the first place is because of "American Idiot", which they completed in 2004 and which is considered the most important album of the first decade of the 21st century. An outright critique of the Bush administration in an America that had fallen silent in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the all too righteous album was arguably the riskiest gamble in their career history, but the most politically charged album ever sold 15 million copies worldwide and was greeted with great acclaim. And they continued their momentum with 2009's 21st Century Breakdown, their second rock opera, which went to number one in 21 countries around the world. It is truly astonishing. Having pierced the zeitgeist so boldly and shared it with the masses around the world, Green Day did not grow weary here, but instead accumulated an unprecedented sense of achievement and positive energy. And the creative solution to releasing all that energy was this high-powered "party" trilogy. Feeling that they had done it all, the band came back to their 'roots' and tackled this work with a fresh start.

The good news for long-time fans is that the band themselves have revisited Green Day's early golden years, including "Dookie," and started production with the aim of "returning to their roots". However, after attempting to "return to their roots", they went further back in time, to their youth, and revisited the origins of rock music for themselves. The result is a work that is both autobiographical and a summary of Green Day's history, tracing the band's path from there to the present day. If we organise the three albums, "Uno!", which aims for arena rock like AC/DC and power pop like the early Beatles, is a work that depicts a longing for the youth, while "Dos!", which resonates with garage rock influenced by the Stooges, depicts the "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" of adolescence. And the third album, "Tre!", is an epic work that sums up the current Green Day, who have already released two historic rock operas. The trilogy of 37 songs and 130 minutes in total is so thoroughly high-tension that you can't help but wonder if this is a new album from a band that has been together for more than 20 years.

More importantly, their new Green Day Sound, which is more about jubilation, excitement and emotion than political messages, is needed here for American rock, or even America as a whole, which has become introspective in the decade since the terrorist attacks. In other words, the band, who became America's heroes in the post-terrorist conflict, have once again made a new chapter for America here, and once again have created a work that will lead America to a new chapter and break out of its shell, at an excellent time. Green Day is always right!

With Summer Sonic coming up soon, there is no doubt that they will come in with the super high tension of having created a triumphant return to their roots, so it is essential to head to the venue with high enthusiasm and high expectations! -Akemi Nakamura

BILLY* JOE ARMSTRONG & MIKE DIRNT & TRE COOL INTERVIEW

"The first one is a little foreplay, the second one is sex, and the third one is something we have to apologise for (laughs)."

First of all, when I heard that you were going to release three albums this time, "Uno!", "Dos!", and "Tres!", I thought it was a crazy idea, but also genius in many ways. The previous two albums were very political, had strong messages, and had a rock opera concept, but this time, even the title tells us that you've removed the seriousness. However, the sheer volume of the album also clearly shows that you guys have not lost any momentum. In that sense, I came here today with quite high expectations, and I just listened to all three albums and was blown away. It's like you've been reborn, and the content makes me feel like you're starting something new, and the energy and tension was so high that I was overwhelmed. So, first of all, I'd like to ask you frankly how on earth this came about. Billie: 「Anyway, after making “21st Century Breakdown”, I really felt renewed and refreshed. With “21st Century Breakdown”, I had the distinct feeling that one era of us had ended. So it seemed like we had the freedom to carve out a new era from there, and it was up to us to use that opportunity or not. So we started writing songs straight away, and the first ones we wrote were “Nuclear Family”, “Stay the Night”, and “Carpe Diem”, which happened to be the first three songs on the album (laughs). Then we decided to go in the direction of power pop, and we ended up with a lot of melody-driven songs, with lyrics that were more personal and not so much political in their message, and the album as a whole became a work that was not dark, but had a sunny feel to it.」

In short, is it just the sense of achievement after "21st Century Breakdown" and the fresh feeling you got from it that allowed you to generate so much high tension and energy again? Mike: 「Yes, I suppose so. Anyway, we started off by trying to get back to a garage-rock approach, and we decided to just jam together. And whenever we jam together, it always feels like a new connection is formed, and as we kept rehearsing, a new groove was born. And then we got into it. It was so intense that no one could stop us.」 Tre: 「Of course we were influenced by a lot of things on the way here, and you could say that we developed very naturally while vaguely absorbing them. For example, the starting point for such an epic songwriting career had to do with witnessing the birth of the "American Idiot" musical. That was a very significant event. We were surrounded by so many talented and creative people that it really stimulated our creativity. Also, the "21st Century Breakdown" tour was great. Basically, we had a sense of accomplishment that we had accomplished everything we had to do with "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown". That's why I think we were like, "Now it's time to have fun and play to our heart's content!" It was like, "Let's have sex!" (laughs)」 Everyone: 「(laughing)」 Mike: 「Let's just take our pants off! (laughs)」 Tre: 「Let's take our dicks out! (laughs)」 Mike: 「(laughs) Let's have some fun.」

(laughs). You recently stated that you guys are ‘currently in the most creative period of your career’, but I imagine it's pretty rare for people to start a punk band at a young age, and then to be in the most creative period of your career at a year when you are all turning 40 this year. Billie: 「It's like we've been getting better and better and now we're here. So, for example, I think it's the same with jazz musicians, but sometimes it's only when you get older that you really hit your stride. I think we've always developed slowly and naturally as a band while making albums, and we've always tried to do that. We've never tried to force ourselves to go in a direction that we thought was right in our heads, we've just tried to make something that comes from our truth. So sometimes we look back and realise how much we've changed with each album. So, because we've been building up our experience over the years, we had a huge pool of creativity when we made this album. So it's like we've got a lot of weapons in our arteries, we can rock really hard, we can write ballads, we can do garage rock, we can do power pop, and we could make all of that sound like "Green Day". That's how this album came about. Only we could have made this album, it's unmistakably a 100% "Green Day" album, and I think we can say that we're in the prime of our lives now that we're able to do that.」

So, when I listened to these three albums, it seemed to me that these were three complete albums as a whole, did you ever think of releasing all three at once? Mike: 「I thought it would be better to put them out one at a time separately. Because I thought that way everyone could really understand and digest each one. And it was made in such a way that the moment you finish listening to one album, you'll be excited and think, "I want to hear the next album!" So we set the time period between albums to be six weeks, so there wouldn't be too much time between albums. I also thought it was an exciting way to release something like this. On the other hand, if you suddenly gave me three songs at once, I'd be absolutely overwhelmed (laughs).」 Tre: 「So, you know, you can think of it like this. If we released it as a triple album, there would be one Green Day album this year, which means that the fun would end after just one release. Instead, we're going to have three new Green Day albums! Wouldn't that be great? Simply put, this year is all about Green Day. This year is all about Green Day. So get ready! Come along!」 Mike: 「So, (the first one) is a little foreplay, (the second one) we had sex, and then at the end is something we have to apologise for (laughs).」 Tre: 「So from now on, when people ask me what year it is, I have to say 'The year of Green Day!' We'll have a dragon face with three of our faces added to the Chinese zodiac (laughs).」

(laughs). These three albums seem like a movie depicting a certain coming-of-age story. The first one focuses on your early teens and youth, and is the starting point for rock listeners, the second one is about the struggles of becoming an adult, and the third one is a song about actually becoming an adult, or rather, it seems to have a development that summarises what you learned in each era. Did you intend to depict each album as you grew older? Or did you have a theme for each album? Billie: 「Yeah, the first one is definitely about youth, as you say, but the second one is about sex, sexual desire, and has a red-light district vibe, so it's more of a garage rock, party record. So the third one is definitely epic, but at the same time it's about self-reflection and self-projection.」

The second one, then, is a "sex, drugs & rock'n'roll" album, isn't it? Everyone: 「Yes!」

So, I'd like to ask you again about the lyrics of the first album: where on earth did lyrics like ‘I kissed your lips’, ‘I don't wanna say goodbye’ and ‘Will you be my girlfriend*’ come from? Where do they come from in terms of youthfulness, haste, eternity and a perspective on life from an early teenage point of view? Billie: 「Well, there's a point here where I kind of wrote the lyrics with my voice as an instrument to express something, and I didn't put too much emphasis on what I was actually saying there (laughs). So, for example, the song that says something like ‘Will you be my girlfriend’ is called "Angel Blue", and in that song…… Yeah, it's definitely like a look into my past, and I guess you could say that it's a footprint of my teenage years. It's like, "You're Angel Blue with teenage traces / Angel Blue with pretty faces". So, yes, I think you could say that the first album is a look back at my innocent days.」

Right. But why did you decide to look back at your youth now? Billie: 「Well, maybe I'm………… Hmmm well…… I wonder why?」 Mike: 「Because sometimes you just don't think about it.」

"We didn't set a goal to make three albums from the beginning, but it ended up being three. I mean, I think it's a testament to how much we enjoyed making music together."

(laughs) I think it's too specific and focused to have come out without thinking about it. So, for example, your son. Billie: 「Okay! So this is what I mean. So with the first one, we wanted to make a great record that really represents our origins, the classic "Green Day" record. So we looked back to the days of "Dookie" and "Kerplunk", but we wanted to bring it back as a modern interpretation. Because people often ask me, "Are you not going to make any more albums like the ones you made back then?" And every time I say, "Of course I will!", but if I were to make such an album, I should make it when I really want to make an album like that, not because I've had an idea that it's time to live my youth again, but only when I feel that this is the only way to make it now, when I really feel it in my heart. And now was the time.」

Instead of making three albums this time, did anyone ask you if you could pick a few songs from each and make them into one album? I think kids these days are happy listening to just one song from an album, and the fact that it's three albums means you're challenging your audience in these times. So I think there must have been a necessity amongst you guys that this album had to be three albums by all means. Billie: 「Yeah, but there wasn't a particular reason why it had to be three albums, and in this case, there was no assignment like, “I have to write about this”. However, first and foremost, we just wanted to make music and write songs. Of course, we've always done everything on an epic level…… But in this case, we didn't even intend to do that at all, and it just ended up like this. We didn't set a goal to make three albums from the beginning, but it ended up being three. I mean, the album came from such a really pure place, and I think it's a testament to how much we enjoyed making music together. Because it really felt like a whole new rebirth, like we were starting a band from scratch. It felt like we joined a whole new band without breaking up the band. So, ultimately, that's what this album is about, just playing music and having fun. So I think that's clearly reflected when you listen to the songs. Every song is really tight and it's clear that all three of us are on the same page.」

The first album is power pop and the second is garage. Can you be a bit more specific and describe the direction you were aiming for in terms of sound and the bands you were influenced by on each album? Billie: 「Well, for the first power pop album, I would say we were influenced by Cheap Trick's “Surrender”, the early sound of The Beatles, and even The Knack. And for the second garage album, I went from the “Nuggets” compilation to aiming for the Amboy Dukes and The Stooges. And for the third album, I can't really explain it, but it reflects more of what Green Day is now, or it expresses what we've learned from our past. So I don't really think about the musical influences, it's just what I wanted to play at the time.」

You said you wanted to make a classic Green Day album for the first album, but did you have any big goals for the three albums? From power pop to garage and the current "Green Day sound," it's like a depiction of the growth process of one person's life through music, and it felt like a Green Day version of the "Rock Encyclopedia." I felt like you were also playing a role in that, for example, if a child who wants to listen to rock music asks you which albums they should listen to, you could just tell them to listen to these three albums. Billie: 「Actually, that's what we thought too, and we thought it would be great if the kids could listen to these three albums and decide which one they liked best out of them. Because I'm sure there are parts of these albums that each of us can relate to, and I felt like they would reflect who we are as human beings. I thought that would be interesting. I wanted people to listen to all three albums, and of course I wanted them to like all three, but I also wanted them to decide which one they liked best. I mean, I thought that would be the audience's projection of themselves, and of course our projection of ourselves. It would be great if each person could collect their favourite songs and make a compilation album out of them.」

"We’re “No Future” and that's why we're living every moment to the fullest. I think that's exactly what this album represents."

So you didn't set any special goals, but the result is an album that you hope people will listen to in that way? Mike: 「Yeah, we just wanted to make good music.」 Billie: 「Yeah, we didn't have any clear goals, we didn't really know what our goals were or what the future was, and we didn't really think about those things from the beginning. Especially with this album, there was no agenda, and that's the beautiful thing about this album. So I don't think there are any typical singles on this album. It's true that "Oh Love" will be released as a single, but I think this album has the potential to go beyond that and expand in many different ways. So I'm thinking of doing a multi-media, home-video kind of video on YouTube, and I'm also thinking of making a solid music video. Anyway, the possibilities are all there, but we haven't decided anything about the future yet. We're "No Future" and that's why we're living every moment to the fullest. I think that's exactly what this album represents.」

Last year was 2011, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and I personally thought about what was the most important thing in the music scene of the last decade, and I still think the most important album of the last decade was "American Idiot". America was almost frozen in silence for three years after the terrorist attacks, and we had always thought that rock music was strong in the face of adversity, but in reality, other than you guys, Bruce Springsteen was the only one who could speak for what we wanted to say and turn the tables on the situation. And the more time passes, the more I realise the greatness of that album, including how it was expressed. Earlier, you said that you depicted party time in this album because of the sense of accomplishment you felt from "American Idiot" to "21st Century Breakdown" and the musical "American Idiot." Because you made an album that strongly connected to those politics and times, you felt that it was time to move forward as a feeling within the band, but at the same time, did you feel that this kind of work was necessary to lighten the mood a little and move forward, for example, for the whole of America, to not to take the atmosphere too seriously anymore? Billie: 「I would say that such things should follow the laws of nature, or let nature take its course. So I think the American government should let things move forward naturally in the direction that things are going. So, for example, if it were now, I think it's already time to establish a health insurance system in America, so I think we should follow the natural flow and establish it without going against it…….. In a way, we allowed ourselves to make these three albums, it's a bit like establishing a health insurance system, I mean, we didn't want to go against the laws of nature that came from within us (laughs).」 Mike: 「Well, because we've created this, there's even the possibility that we'll be in a crisis where we'll absolutely need to establish a health insurance system (laughs).」 Everyone: 「(laughing)」 Tre: 「We felt like with this album, once again, we've kind of filled a hole in what's missing in the world today.」 Billie: 「Yeah.」 Tre: 「When “American Idiot” was made, there were no people anywhere who were saying what needed to be said at the time, so we filled that missing hole with “American Idiot”. So I don't think there's anyone out there now making music that people really feel something. So we wanted to fill that hole now. I mean we wanted to make music that would make those people really feel something.」

So it's a festive album, but if the audience can really feel something from this album, you really want them to feel something from it. Tre: 「Yes, that's right. Besides, there's so much more to feel on this album.」 Mike: 「Really, seriously (laughs)」 Billie: 「Yeah, yeah. I think so…… Um, well…… I don't know…… But anyway, I mean, you know, seriously, because I think it's really, really crazy. I think it was a really crazy idea. So, quite frankly, I myself still can't believe the fact that we've actually completed something like this.」 Mike: 「(laughs)」 Billie: 「Because I think the idea of doing three albums could have easily gone wrong. But we actually did it. And no one had ever done it before, and I don't think anyone will ever do it again. And we've done it. Yeah.」

"In the world today, there is no one who is making music that people can really feel something. So we're trying to fill that hole with this album."

That's right. You said that it's something that people feel now. For example, I thought that "Kill the DJ" from "Uno!" was the best song that Green Day had ever made, but judging from the title alone, it seemed like it was a rebellion against the dance scene, which is now huge and empty, especially in America. Mike: 「I had been telling Billy for a long time that I wanted to write a song with a dance beat, with four beats. I wanted to see what would happen if Green Day did that. So, while we were working on the album, Billie actually came in with a song he'd written to try it out, played it and said, "Tell me what you think?" and Billie walked out of the room. And the moment the song started, I was like, "Oh man, are you serious?" (laughs).」 Tre: 「"Yeah!" (laughs)」 Mike: 「Then we took it from there and jammed on it as a band in a rock 'n' roll style and finished it. It's also about the noise that surrounds us, so "Kill the DJ" is a metaphor, I'm not actually saying I want to kill the DJ, but I might want to kill the VJ. For example, kill that guy from TMZ (news/gossip website)! (laughs).」 Tre: 「It's also funny that even though it's a dance song, he sings "Kill the DJ".」

We're running out of time, so I'd like you to tell me a little bit about a few songs, firstly about the single "Oh Love" and then the magnificent and epic "Forgotten" that closes the three albums. Can you tell us about them? Both of them touch on love, how did they come about? Billie: 「"Oh Love" was written as a spotlight ballad. I started with a guitar riff and it almost sounded like a cross between AC/DC and Queen, but a Green Day version of it. And then, umm, I wrote that song with the intention of just grabbing your heart and never letting go. It's almost like a love addiction. Well, I wrote that song with that in mind, and then the last song, "Forgotten," is kind of a song that kind of reflects and embodies everything you've heard on "Uno!", "Dos!", and "Tre!" It's the song that sums up the three albums, the real grand finale. It's also a torch song, so it's like a sentimental love song.」

What about "Amy" from "Dos!"? Billie: 「Amy Winehouse.」

Why did you want to sing about her? Billie: 「I was really sad that she passed away because I thought she was a really great artist and I thought the music scene lost a really big presence because of her death. She was someone who could sing modern versions of old soul music, and I think it's really hard to find someone like that these days.」

Finally, you are all 40 this year and show no signs of slowing down. In the almost 25 years since you formed the band, how far have you come, and where do you plan to go from here? Billie: 「Wow (laughs). Weeeeeell, let's see. We…… So we're all alive at the moment, you know. So as long as the three of us are alive, we'll keep making music. Other than that, I can't think of any other plans at all.」

Understood. Thank you very much! Everyone: 「Thank you!」

Translator's Note: A few things to note.

-Yes, that is a typo on Billie’s name and I’m keeping it there for posterity’s sake, no matter how much Google Docs is trying to correct me. And in case you’re wondering, this is the second time that I encountered this typo. It will not be unusual if I encounter it again in some other magazine.

-In the text of the interview, it really did say “Will you be my girlfriend? (僕の彼女になってくれないか)”, and Billie did confirm that it was from the song ‘Angel Blue’, but the line in the lyric was really written as “Won’t you be my bloody valentine?” So I assume that for some reason, the editor chose a far more polite wording and I chose to keep it that way.

Please do support me via my ko-fi! ☕

#Billie Joe Armstrong #Mike Dirnt #Tre Cool #Green Day #Trilogy era #my scan #translation #interview #ROCKIN'ON #ROCKIN'ON September 2012

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goongiveusnothing · 2 months ago

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Harry Styles is a total creepy PERV and he looks the part too. His weird obsession with sex especially his weird obsession with alluding to gay sex for his female fans to freak out is weird as fuck. If you take away the fact that he’s “Harry Styles” he’s literally just some hideous grown man covered in dick jewelry and sex related t-shirts talking about sex and edging and choking to a group of adolescent girls who think it’s acceptable. All while trying to keep the babygirl aesthetic. I won’t even speak of how disgusting the combination of the babygirl aesthetic and the pervyness is. He’s nasty as hell and hasn’t changed at all from his pulling-his-dick-out-backstage days. He even still walks around in his underwear backstage according to his friends🤮. I hope these girls wake up one day and realize this is creepy behavior and the only reason they think it’s ok is because he’s a celebrity

YES the baby girl thing he does while he makes sure to be as gross and visibly overtly teenage boy sexual is actually honestly sinister. it's very manipulative.

he has only gotten away with all of this because of his queerbaiting too, his fans justify how gross he is by claiming he's gay so he's alluding to his sexuality, as if that justifies it. imagine a gay man acting this way about dicks, sex and women in public?

i think it's interesting this is how he's launching his new album era too. you'd think being in his 30s he'd actually start maturing, but he has no idea how to be anything other than a creepy teenage boy sexual harassing weirdo who feigns he's actually a lil princess baby boy.

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rickallensbarefeet · 1 year ago

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Japan/Steve Jansen appreciation post because I love him. Everybody go listen to their album Adolescent Sex RIGHT NOW

#the japan guys are simply not real #they are a govt psyop cos how can 5 people as weirdly gorgeous as them just so happen to all be friends #and steve omfg dont even get me started #ive liked a lot of men in my time but he takes the cake as the most beautiful man ive ever seen #hes ruined my standards for men cos i dont wanna be with anybody that doesnt look like him #my unpopular opinion is steve is prettier than sylvo #japan the band #david sylvian #steve jansen #mick karn #richard barbieri #rob dean

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jeffament · 6 months ago

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tagged by @amygdalae thank youu!!!!🫂

i did this one a lil while ago but i’m gonna use different albums this time >:) no pearl jam or nephilim bc i know they’re like 90% of my personality

i taggggg @scrapsatmidnight @synthwife @geffenrecords @interimsliebenden @l0st-d0gs @brltpop @brettyimages :)

#tagged

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respectthepetty · 1 year ago

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RTP! Your post about the posters in Sand’s room made me go and listen to AM and I’ve had it on a loop for days that album fucks SO HARD

Anon, it was actually @colourme-feral's post -> link here.

I just added my love for Arctic Monkeys' AM in the reblog because I really love the album. Like I wrote, the album feels like the vibe of the show since every song deals with messy relationships and sex.

I love that Jojo is making playlist for each character to show how integral music is to the series because I LOVE music. I still mute my shows, but I do appreciate the influence of music on the series, and how it is used to conjure up the emotions that go along with the song.

Which is why I love that Jojo mentioned the opening sequence was inspired by Fiona Apple's "Criminal" because . . .

"What would an angel say, the devil wants to know?"

When the video came out, there was backlash because of the song's lyrics and the nature of the video. The Wikipedia entry doesn't do it justice with its notes that "it explores themes of voyeurism and adolescence" and "the song is about 'feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality.'" People wanted the video off the air, and slut shamed the singer. On top of that, the director is Romanek, who also directed a lot of famously controversial videos like Nine Inch Nails "Closer" and if you don't know that song, it features lyrics like "I wanna fuck you like animal. You get me closer to God" and the video features BDSM and crucifixes (VegasPete anyone?).

The video for "Criminal" shows the singer in different layers of undress, but it was a testament to the "heroin chic" style many supermodels (e.g. Kate Moss) portrayed at the time aka looking super skinny and having sunken features like they had done heroin, and how models also looked almost childlike, so it was Lolita, but with adults.

Then, a taste of the lyrics:

I've been a bad bad girl I've been careless with a delicate man And it's a sad sad world When a girl will break a boy Just because she can Don't you tell me to deny it I've done wrong and I want to Suffer for my sins I've come to you 'cause I need Guidance to be true And I just don't know where I can begin What I need is a good defense 'Cause I'm feelin' like a criminal And I need to be redeemed To the one I've sinned against Because he's all I ever knew of love

It sounds familiar right? The entire opening sequence is inspired by the video, but one person in particular just really resonates with CRIMINAL!

And after this last episode . . .

Heaven help me for the way I am Save me from these evil deeds Before I get them done I know tomorrow brings the consequence At hand But I keep livin' this day like The next will never come

Boston is the devil.

#only friends #boston is the devil here #fiona apple's criminal #go listen to the song #go watch the video #is this Boston's song to Nick?#only friends the series

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brltpop · 9 months ago

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So i was tagged by the always lovely @sibelin to list 9 albums I've been listening to lately, thank youuu 🥰

Tagging: @wellenklavier @cochinitapibil @jeffament @wereonlydollparts @like-a-million-suns @jaz-zmatazz @ruztyryan and whoever wants to do this!

The color scheme wasn't on purpose, i just arranged them to look satisfying hehe ALSO I'd be lying if i said I've been listening to aaaaaall the songs from these albums so I'll just list the ones I have:

• from Adolescent Sex: Don't rain on my parade, transmission

• from Everybody wants to shag... : Soft enough for you, sex (pussyface)

• from Afraid of sunlight: Live forever, mirages, king, icon.... ugh this album is so good 😩

• from Solitude standing: In the eye, wooden horse, calypso, iron bound/fancy pantry... 😗👌

• from Fourever: Sad ending, let me love you

• from Black friday: Answer phone, black friday and spinning

• from All things must pass: Let it down, i'd have you anytime

• from Naked eyes: WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT, voices in my head, promises promises

• from Amor minimal: La ironia de las rosas, amor minimal

✌😎

#tag games #live forever is such a sexy sounding song I'm obsessed tbh

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bubblesandgutz · 1 year ago

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Every Record I Own - Day 783: Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

I'm not sure when In the Aeroplane Over the Sea became so divisive. It's a love it or hate it record. Even its early advocates have taken to a certain reevaluation of Neutral Milk Hotel, with the asinine "they're not even the best Elephant 6 band" hot take becoming fairly standard music snob commentary. If Olivia Tremor Control or Apples in Stereo had blown up instead, I'm sure they'd face the same criticism. Honestly, I'm not even sure when this album became popular enough for it to have an intense cult following and adamant detractors, but for me, this album was a complete game-changer when it came out in 1998.

I had a college radio show when the station manager added Aeroplane to the "indie" rotation. DJs were required to play a certain number of songs from the three-dozen-or-so albums in the rotation of their assigned genre, and being that I was officially an "indie" DJ, I had to break up my playlists of hardcore records with the occasional "college rock" tune from the station manager's weekly picks.

I abhorred the majority of stuff in the indie rotation, but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I remember begrudgingly picking out the Neutral Milk Hotel CD simply because it was on Merge Records, which meant it might at least sound like Superchunk, and playing it on air without previously hearing a note of their music. I don't even remember which song I played, but I was so blown away that I smuggled the CD out of the DJ booth and took it home.

Stealing from the radio station was bad business, though I knew more than a few fellow DJs who supplemented their personal music libraries with stolen promo albums. I mean, who was going to miss a Big Boys LP from the station's neglected vinyl closet? But to steal a CD that was currently in rotation? That was risky.

I couldn't help it. I was so fascinated by what I'd heard that I was willing to risk getting busted. I took the CD home and immediately put it on the stereo, sat on the couch, and listened to the whole album with my undivided attention.

It was 1998 and I was a twenty-year-old hardcore kid. I had begun to feel a little bored and underwhelmed by the lack of sonic diversity in the punk world and had begun listening to a lot of folk and country music when I got tired of listening to music where I was getting yelled at. So when the opening chords of acoustic guitar kicked off "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1," my ears perked up. Jeff Mangum's voice---double tracked and compressed to a rich, almost-in-the-red saturation---comes in with his cryptic lyrics describing a tumultuous childhood and adolescent sexual awakening. An accordion and bass creep into the mix as the song builds to the climax, only for the band to switch gears into "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 2 and 3," where Mangum repeatedly professes his love for Jesus Christ against a backdrop of fuzz bass, dissonant singing saw, and tape manipulations. The song eventually explodes into a blown-out punk-tinged pop tune where everything---acoustic guitar included---is cranked to the point of distortion.

Every song seemed to offer something new: the horns and woeful singing saw of the title track, the austere performance and stream-of-consciousness lyrics on "Two Headed Boy," the mournful Eastern European-influenced instrumentation of "The Fool"... it all flowed together like some strange collage of yesteryear sounds, but pushed to the limits of a DIY recording studio's compressors. And in the center of it all was Jeff Mangum---an untrained singer with crystal-clear diction weaving Burroughs-esque vignettes that were purportedly inspired by Anne Frank. There were references to the loss of childhood innocence, war, death, sex, communism, and religion, but all described in a detached and surrealist manner. The music exuded joy, but the lyrics seemed more like excerpts from The Naked Lunch.

I can't understate how much this recalibrated my brain back in 1998. The year prior, all my friends had fallen head over heels in love with OK Computer. While I have since grown to appreciate Radiohead, I did not share my peers' initial enthusiasm. As far as I was concerned, any major label band with a big recording budget and a hot producer was capable of making a lush record with all kinds of cool sounds and wild guitar effects. But Aeroplane? This sounded like a bunch of down-and-out weirdo college kids with their grandparents' instruments making magic in some basement recording studio.

I loved the music, but I was particularly drawn to Mangum's lyrics. I gravitated towards punk as a teenager because the music actually seemed to mean something. Minor Threat sang about being an outsider. Dead Kennedys sang about the cultural climate of the late '70s / early '80s. Minutemen sang about history and how the present reflected the past. Even my love for country and folk music centered on protest songs, outlaws, and earnest heartbreak. But I was reaching the point where it felt like all the bands I loved were singing about the same thing. Rebellion felt codified. You had to sing about certain things or the zines wouldn't like you. And along came Neutral Milk Hotel where the lyrics were somehow borderline non-sensical while simultaneously seeming far more earnest and honest than anything else I was listening to at the time.

Aeroplane didn't leave my 5-CD disc player for the remainder of the '90s. And I am still upset that I was just a few months shy of turning 21 when they opened for Fuck at a bar in Seattle that summer. Within a year Botch would write and record "C. Thomas Howell as the Soul Man," a song that's essentially about feeling that the earnestness and honesty of hardcore was being replaced by lyrical formulas. In hindsight, I can't help but think that Neutral Milk Hotel had showed me that you didn't have to sing about animal rights or hating cops to be profound or passionate. And I also can't help but wonder if the fuzz bass breakdown in that song was a subconscious homage to the bass tone on Aeroplane.

Twenty-five years later, I can't say that I listen to Aeroplane all that much anymore. At some point I learned every lyric and chord progression on the album. I'd heard bands like Bright Eyes and The Decemberists borrow heavily from Neutral Milk Hotel without actually capturing any of their wonder, mystery, or charm. Long story short, I got too familiar with the record and bummed on the imitators they spawned. So maybe in some sense I do understand why people are so critical of the album. But listening to it this morning, I still think it's a fantastic record and I can't deny how it completely altered my listening habits. Aeroplane is one of those records that impacted me in a way only a handful of other albums have in my lifetime. And for that reason, I'll always be a fan.

#neutral milk hotel #everyrecordiown

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phil-fuckin-lewis · 5 months ago

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David Sylvian Fluff where reader falls off bed while sleeping and wakes up on the floor please! 🥺❤

David Sylvian 💙

"Are You Okay, Hun?"

>< 1978 ><

•••

It was a boring, rainy afternoon ans you were taking a nap at a hotel in England

David was smoking his cigarette in the porch while looking at the landscape in front of his beautiful blue eyes

And you were peacefully asleep

You moved and somehow you fell off the bed, that's when you woke up

You gasped and looked all around, scared

Then you sat up, but still didn't leave the floor

"S/N?!" David called you and ran over

"Ouch!" You exclaimed to yourself and tried to get up

"Ooh, dear!" David walked towards you and helped you get standing "Take care, how did you move so much? You're not like this usually"

"I don't, i just did!" You said and sighed "ouch!" You complained

He could see you couldn't take your hand off your wrist

He grabbed your hand and softly massaged your injured wrist, hurts a lot

He got some ice and put it on the injury, it melted and then both of you lied down, but before this, Sylvo got up to throw his very worn cigarette away

Both of you fell asleep, together ♡

#david sylvian #japan the band #70s #adolescent sex album #1978 #glamrock #newromantic #david sylvian fanfic #japan the band fanfic #imagines #david sylvian imagines #japan the band imzgines #cute #SO SWEET

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daggerzine · 4 months ago

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“I am a Cliché” A documentary film about Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex (2021- review by Dina Hornreich)

There is a so-called “Afro Punk”

<https://www.spoonersnofun.com/afropunk> movement which is yet another tangent to consider upon adding the social construct of race to this ongoing mix of sex & gender rock’n roll activism which allows us to arrive at another level of understanding entirely.

Kimberlé Crenshaw calls this approach “intersectionality” which (in a nutshell) can be explained thusly: if we all live under this male white corporate tyranny which favors a “mythical norm” (cf: Audre Lorde) by promoting greed, violence, & misogyny (i.e. toxic masculinity); then black men may have some advantages because (at least) they are still male, and white women may have some advantages because (at least) they are still white.

But what do black women have working in their favor? <insert cricket noises here>

Enter Marian Elliott (i.e. Poly Styrene) who was a pioneer amongst the outsider world of rock’n roll n*ggers (sic) who found little camaraderie amongst the punks in whom she sought substantial inspiration in the late 1970s. She was very different amongst the regular lot of Sex Pistols inspired bands like Joy Division or even the Slits <https://www.slitsdoc.com/>.

However, her legacy continues to inspire droves of feminist/black punks who also perpetuate this unending dire feeling that needed, wanted, and deserved to express share with an audience. From zines like Osa Atoe’s “Shotgun Seamstress” <https://softskull.com/books/shotgun-seamstress/> to Rachel Aggs’ variety of bands (Shopping, Trash Kit, and Sacred Paws) <https://www.lostmap.com/visitations-rachel-aggs>, her influential contributions remain impeccably unassailable.

When I first discovered her music in the summer of 1995, I was living on a kibbutz in Israel near the city of Netanya which was likely the optimal time and place for me to best appreciate her shrieking critiques of consumer culture and its perpetuation of misogyny, racial oppression, and gender essentialism. It remains the first and only time that I ever looked at the cover art for a recorded album and felt entirely at home in my own skin (before I even opened the package!); and then listening to her music clearly solidifies that sentiment even further.

At that time, there was little else that could validate at the same level of impact that purchasing a copy of “Germ-free Adolescents” at a record store in the bus station in Tel Aviv as it did for me in 1995. In fact, when I returned to the US for my junior year of college at the end of the summer, my male friends relentlessly teased me about the obvious similarities I shared with Poly; and then refused to concede that she was equally important to the movement as Joe Strummer more readily gets recognized. The only legitimate piece of music writing that I could find which seemed to do her work justice was a brief chapter in Richie Unterberger’s 1998 book “Unknown Legends of Rock'n'Roll" <http://www.richieunterberger.com/ulrhome.html>.

The radical ways in which she was spotlighting the propagandistic nature of advertising as it relies heavily on manipulating (and otherwise exploiting) human emotional vulnerabilities (involving guilt, shame, and blame) just to sell consumers a completely fabricated self-concept of gender identity. As a young British woman of partial Somali descent (on her father’s side), there is no respite from her internalization of the stigmas that her innate differences invited (given the experiences that her appearance manifested); and so the overwhelmingly complicated struggles that she faced on a regular basis made every waking moment of her life an arduous endeavor. It was a relentless onslaught of arduous challenges with very little recognition for the substantial emotional investment that she threw into her every effort with almost nothing to show for it at the end. Pills, drugs, and similar remedies are poor distractions from this harsh realization.

The film reinforces how the “punk” label often reveals itself to be an increasingly illusory category – given some of its more “miscellaneous” categorical aspects – and an overall lack of coherent focus which only suggested that its purpose was merely allowing for our ongoing right to be asserting our existence in a cruel and unjust world.

We are not people who were built with the solid foundation to layer on so much pressure given that fragility; as such, she eventually collapsed (mentally, physically, and socio-emotionally) from the toll that trying to find validation in a scene that only mocks any level of commercial or mainstream validation at its outset. So she escaped to the religious fervor of the Hare Krishna movement in India; and struggled in her more conventional roles as wife, mother, etc. I’m not clear on how she elected that particular community, as I’m inclined to think her father may have been Muslim, but I am not really sure how supportive they were for those endeavors.

Because she stood up for herself in these unsustainably creative and political ways leaving herself immeasurably depleted while lacking the resources to keep herself going, there was no escaping the stigmas of successive “breakdowns” – and other concomitant pathologies which only punish her for taking that kind of artistic risk in her work in the first place. (It seems inappropriate for her estranged daughter to even weigh in on such matters, in the first place.)

It’s not clear if she was ever able to take a step back to fully appreciate such influential contributions, and it seems Celeste made this film simply to be able to do that work for her own healing in order to have a more peaceful ending. (Eventually, there was another iteration of her band, X-Ray Spex, involving collaborations with her daughter prior to her eventual passing to breast cancer.) I often wonder how successful most “rockstar” types can be as parents given the demands of that kind of career; especially back in the 1970s. It’s a very demanding lifestyle even though music is considered “the language of the spirit” (and punk didn’t always have that unifying, healing kind of creative vibe).

“I am a cliché” clearly provides ample testimony to the limitations for trying to thrive as a feminist punk rocker while trying to negotiate a suffocating oppression that is created by male white corporate tyrants looking for “the next big thing.” No matter how much Poly tried to find solace from being a trailblazer, the limited availability of resources for supporting this kind of endeavor made the toll of that risk completely unsustainable. There is no glamorization of her life despite these accomplishments, but her legacy remains all the more significant as a result.

www.polystyrenefilm.net

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juliewsz · 4 months ago

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Álbuns da minha vida!

Eu vi meu amigo compartilhando os álbuns favoritos dele (link) e achei muito legal, então vou fazer o meu também!

⚠️ Aviso: Os álbuns não estão seguindo uma ordem específica!

Grace - Jeff Bucley

claro que "Grace" tinha que estar nessa lista.

Esse é o único album do Jeff buckley e que recentemente fez 30 anos que foi lançado! A sonoridade da voz do Jeff é perfeita, é triste mas que tem uma força enorme. As letras das músicas desse álbum são lindas e fazem me questionar se ainda existe algum homem com o amor tão profundo quanto o de Jeff.

Também amo o jeito que ele mudava a letra the "lover, you should've come over" na versão ao vivo.

The New Abnormal - The strokes

esse álbum praticamente descreve meu ser. Eu sinto que ele é um álbum muito pessoal, as composições são algo que refletem algo maduro e nostálgico.

Também amo que escolheram uma arte do basquiat para a capa do álbum.

"But then it don't make sense when you're trying hard

To do the right thing, but without recompense

And then you did something wrong and you said it was great

And now you don't know how you could ever complain"

Cigarretes After sex - Cigarretes after sex

eu AMO todas as músicas desse álbum.

É claramente um slowcore que é tão equilibrado que é quase ambiente, as musicas parecem fumaça no ar.

As letras são românticas e doloridas com significados por trás.

Submarine - Alex Turner

que trilha sonora incrível.

é leve, calmo e romântico. Me traz muito o sentimento de entardecer frio e assistir o por do sol na praia.

2 - Mac Demarco

É um álbum com letras realistas e sinceras.

Com uma sonoridade nostálgica e gostosa de se ouvir.

Fuzzy Brain - Dayglow

esse álbum é extremamente nostálgico pra mim. Eu escutava muito ele e um da clairo quando descobri ter um estilo meio indiezinho.

É fofo, animado e nostálgico, deveria ter mais reconhecimento.

Favorite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys

Esse álbum é muito tumblr 2014, e aqui estou eu colocando ele no meu blog depois de 10 anos.

Esse marcou muito o início da minha adolescência quando eu finalmente decidi ouvir as músicas que minhas primas escutavam na minha idade.

Pra mim é um álbum muito sentimental, que tem um mix de emoções. Assim como estar na adolescência.

É isso, tem muitos outros álbuns que eu amo muito, mas esses que eu citei tem um lugar guardado no meu coração. 💕

Créditos ao Rafael que fez um post lindo que me fez refletir sobre esses álbuns que são tão especiais para mim!

#Spotify #indie #80s music #songs #arctic monkeys #alex turner #mac demarco #the strokes #jeff buckley #grunge #film

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fitrahgolden · 1 year ago

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Lilies and Soap: 4 - Nothing at All

“Did you know you carry Heaven with you?

I can feel it calling, from below

Won't you let me find it?”

“Nothing at All” by Lilies and Soap.

Lyrics by A. E. Bridgerton.

—

Both Kate and Anthony had written and recorded songs about sex before. It had never been a big deal. They were more or less mature about it. Perhaps they would tease each other when they first read the lyrics the other had written, but certainly by the time they were recording the song, they had gotten all the giggles out, and it was just about giving the performance the song deserved, and appreciating the art that they were lucky enough to be able to bring to fruition, just like with any other song.

So, Anthony had no idea what was wrong with him while he was in the studio with Kate, recording "Perpetual Commotion," one of the songs for their next album, which they had decided to call "Old Light."

Kate was the sole writing credit on this one and, as happened from time to time, Anthony found himself more than a little curious about who the song was about. On the surface, yes, the song was about sex. If that was all there was to it, it would be pretty uninteresting. But, as was always the case with Kate's songwriting, there was more going on than meets the eye, more of a story being told. Not just body, but heart and soul as well.

Anthony had known Kate for almost six years, most of her adult life. And, sure, it was possible to form intimate bonds in one's adolescence, but "Perpetual Commotion" was profound. It was mature. It was intense. It only made sense that the lover it was about was from her time at uni at the earliest, Anthony thought as he found himself more and more fixated on figuring out the answer to this question.

Yes, he could just ask Kate, but that felt too invasive. That's what he told himself, anyway. However, a nettling voice in the back of his head was telling him that the reason he didn't want to simply ask her was that, in reality, he didn't want to know. What if it was someone he was acquainted with? What if it was someone she was currently seeing? They worked so much, spent so much time together, that knowing the details of each others' personal lives just kind of happened organically. But of course Kate wasn't obligated to tell him anything. Maybe there was someone in her life. Maybe she was keeping it from him on purpose. Maybe that’s why she was so upset a few weeks ago.

And so Anthony found himself going into the day's studio session obsessively jumping with Herculean effort from conclusion to conclusion. It was a terrible headspace to be in if he wanted to perform at his best, to be in the moment.

At this particular moment, Kate was singing the verse that had been haunting Anthony the most.

"With you, I will die a thousand little deaths

Hoping to survive, rationing our breaths

Don’t know how to think, don’t know how to talk

Full of you, feeling you, don’t know how to walk

You’ve left me no choice but to learn how to float

Crimson memories of you own me, tracks on my throat

You are the best thing I've ever worn

I've never felt more beautiful

I’ll never be more beautiful"

The words made him think less about who the song was about, and more about putting himself in that person's shoes. He couldn't help it. She sang with so much emotion, there were real tears in her eyes. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold. And he felt himself being transported into that room with her, wherever it was. He imagined what it would be like, sharing in that transcendent experience, completely giving oneself over to someone else and feeling like it’s the only reason to exist.

Forgetting himself completely, all Anthony saw was a bright, ethereal vision of Kate. He’d never thought about her like this before. Or, at least, something about it felt new.

“Tony?”

“Hm?” Anthony didn't realise how out of it he was until he looked around at Kate next to him, and then, on the other side of the glass, Alice, who was their engineer, Tom, and Benedict, who was shaking his head in the corner.

“You missed the cue.” Kate raised her eyebrows at him. "You alright?"

“Oh, sorry. Fuck, sorry. Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, guys.”

Anthony was able to keep it together for the rest of the session–more or less.

—

“This is my first choice.” Anthony said confidently.

“I don’t know. The first album was just me on the back.”

“Well, it happened to be the best picture. You agreed.”

Kate shrugged. “I did, yeah. I don’t know. I think this one is my favourite.” She pointed at the computer screen to a close up shot of Anthony’s hands. “You have nice hands.”

“You think I have nice hands?” Anthony looked over at her and Kate was hoping she wasn’t blushing hard enough for him to see.

“Yes, OK? Don’t let it go to your head, though I’m afraid I’m already too late.”

“Yep, you are. Anyway, about the photo: absolutely not.”

“Absolutely not?” Kate laughed at the finality of his answer.

“Yeah, veto.”

“And exactly how many vetos do I get?”

“You don’t need any because we’re going with this one. It’s just the best one, Lamb.”

Anthony looked at Kate with more intensity than this photo selection session warranted.

“Fine. It’s the tentative choice.”

“Excellent.”

“Tentative, Tony.”

“Sure.” Anthony poked Kate in the side and she smacked his back in retaliation.

Benedict gave a quick knock before walking into Anthony’s flat.

“Hey, guys. How’s the album art coming along?”

Kate and Anthony spoke at the same time.

“Ready for the graphic designer!”

“We still need some time.”

Benedict looked between the two of them with a mocking grin.

“O…kay. Well, either way, we need to get going to make it to lunch with Siena and her people on time.”

Anthony shot out of his chair. “Oh, yeah. Cool, let’s go.”

He seemed quite keen, and Kate tried her best to keep her expression neutral. She had attempted to prepare for this. And now, in the face of it, she immediately knew there was no amount of preparation that could make this any easier.

—

“Oh, my gosh! It’s been ages!” Siena gave Anthony, Kate, and Benedict all hugs before everyone sat down.

Anthony saw Siena, who looked even better than she did when they were all at the RCM, and thought that maybe he actually cared to know whether or not what Benedict and Colin said about her having a crush on him was true. Maybe he’ll investigate later.

“I know I saw you two at Highest Point a couple years back, but we had basically no time to talk. How is everyone doing?”

After a catch up chat, during which Anthony noticed that, while Kate was definitely being friendly, she wasn’t really adding much to the conversation when she wasn’t being addressed directly. She ordered a drink, which she never did during business meetings, no matter how casual. Lastly, she was fiddling with her necklace like mad. Taking advantage of Siena and Benedict going off on a tangent about some story from school, Anthony put a hand on the back of her chair and whispered, “You OK, Lamb?”

“Yep,” Kate answered with a bright smile. “It’s… It’s nice to reconnect.”

There was something off, but they unfortunately didn’t have time to get into it now.

—

The conversation finally turned to business. Siena explained to the best of her ability what she was looking for for her next album how she wanted to incorporate L&S’s sound. All parties agreed that the best next step was to have an informal studio session to have a first crack at honing in on the direction they want to go.

Benedict and Siena’s manager looked at their calendars and picked a place and time for the session as the lunch meeting came to its natural end. Kate exhaled a sigh of relief that it was over. Of course, they would be spending plenty of time with Siena in the upcoming months, but for now Kate just wanted to go home and do whatever she could to get her mind off of everything for the time being.

“What have you got on?” Kate asked Anthony as she put on her jacket.

“I, um…” Anthony looked back towards Siena, who returned the eye contact. “I’m gonna hang back,” he said sheepishly.

Kate nodded rapidly and forced a smile. “Right. Of course. The other reason for this meeting.”

Anthony shook his head, but he was smirking. “Eh, I figured, ‘Why not?’”

“Yeah, of course. Why not? Though, I wouldn’t say ‘why not’ to Siena. Just some friendly advice.” If Kate wasn’t ready to bolt before, she certainly was now.

Anthony leaned in and whispered, “Wish me luck.”

“Good–” Kate choked and cleared her throat. “Good luck.”

As Kate punished herself further by watching Anthony walk over to Siena, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Benedict offering her a warm smile.

“Hey, seeing as neither of us drove here, do you fancy finding a pub and getting absolutely hammered?”

Kate genuinely laughed for the first time in two hours. “At 3pm?”

“Sure. I don’t have anywhere to be. Do you?”

Kate shook her head.

“Excellent. Let’s go somewhere and talk about absolutely anything as long as it has nothing to do with…” He looked over at Anthony and Siena talking. “Well, let’s just call it ‘work,’ eh?”

“That sounds perfect. Thanks, Ben.”

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cyarskaren52 · 1 year ago

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Jack Harlow Is Serious About This

By Ross Scarano

Photography by Stacy Kranitz

December 11, 2020

Jacket, $2,850, and shirt, $875, by Louis Vuitton Men's

Somewhere amidst the green hills of West Virginia, in the kind of club that offers bottle service to its VIP customers, there’s a woman in possession of Jack Harlow’s heart.

He flew into Pittsburgh—the nearest major airport—before driving into the wild and wonderful heart of Appalachia for a club appearance. At the club, he met a bottle girl who stopped him cold. If you were unaware that West Virginia had bottle girls, so was Harlow. “I found out just shortly before you did,” he deadpans over a video-less Zoom call.

She’s been on his mind since, and because everything in Harlow’s lyrics really happened, she’s in his music, too. Track three on his debut album Thats What They All Say, his first full-length release since his smash single “Whats Poppin” (and its star-studded remix) shot up to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance, to be precise.

Thats What They All Say will likely be one of the biggest albums of the year, and the bottle girl makes her cameo early, on “21C/Delta,” a mellow two-part journey into 21st century romance as experienced by a 22-year-old rap star who claims few vices outside of sex. In fact, Harlow is something of a strip club aficionado—when the Los Angeles Clippers point guard Lou Williams was allowed to leave the NBA bubble in July to attend a memorial service, it was Harlow’s Instagram photo that revealed that Williams had also found time to stop by Atlanta’s legendary Magic City. According to Harlow, there are no hard feelings and the video for his single “Tyler Herro” was shot on Williams’ home basketball court.

But he’s too decent a guy to say anything more about his brief encounter in Appalachia. “I don't want to ruin this person's life,” he says. Fingers crossed, this will not devolve into a “Courtney from Hooters on Peach Street”situation.

Jacket, $1,750, and pants, $600, by Room Service Los Angeles / Earrings (throughout), his own

Harlow was introduced to hip-hop around age seven by his mother Maggie, who played The Marshall Mathers LP and other landmarks of the genre while driving around their home of Louisville, Kentucky. Her trip to buy Kanye West’s Late Registration is one of his earliest memories. “She told me all the words I was about to hear but wasn't allowed to say,” he told me. Around the same time, he remembers his teachers praising his writing. “In first grade, I was writing personal narratives and persuasive letters,” he says. “That's when I knew I enjoyed words.”

After years of adolescent grinding in the mixtape circuit in Louisville, supported by his parents and grandmother, Harlow recognized that in order to progress he needed to be at the center of American music culture. So in 2017 he moved to Atlanta, where he met hip-hop veterans DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and Leighton “Lake” Morrison, who signed him to their label Generation Now in 2018. The mixtapes and EPshe made in Kentucky often felt too try-hard, both in terms of the attempts at comedic wordplay (“Like blue jeans at the state fair, I might cut you off straight mid-sentence”) and the self-seriousness that Harlow deployed as a counterbalance (a ride past his elementary school on “Eastern Parkway” becomes an opportunity for a belabored metaphor about states of matter). He describes those early records as “forcefully goofy,” so much so that he felt uncomfortable playing the music “in front of girls.” Atlanta gave his music a new sense of nonchalance; he learned to relax his grip. “I'm doing a much better job of representing who I am off record, on record,” he says.

Blazer, $1,025, and turtleneck, $750, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh / Sunglasses, $625, by Vintage Wood Collection

“I’m signed to the gatekeepers,” Harlow raps on the intro to Thats What They All Say. Often when gatekeepers are invoked in rap, it’s to decry the (white) executives, radio programmers, and members of the Recording Academy who prevent authentic music from truly succeeding, or, conversely, amplify the wrong things. But for Harlow, gatekeepers means Black men with impressive industry bona fides who vouch for him. Drama hosted the Gangsta Grillz mixtape series, where Lil Wayne did some of his most sublime work; Cannon produced a number of the highlights across those mixtapes; Lake managed both Drama and Cannon, along with the aughts R&B star Bobby Valentino for a period.

“I don't know if [credibility] is a requirement to have success, but it's important to me,” Harlow says. “When I was shopping around before I signed I wasn't like, ‘I’m not signing until I find some Black gatekeepers.’ But I’m proud to be signed to them.” Cannon says “gatekeeper is simply a word that says, ‘Hey, you belong here’”; Lake says that Harlow is “driven and trying to move in an urban space, and one thing that I appreciate about him is he's open to a conversation.”

A successful white rapper will always have to reckon with the fact that their skin color lends a commercial advantage. But these are times of particularly intense scrutiny about the ethics of cultural appropriation. The release of the artwork for Thats What They All Say, which depicts Harlow signing autographs for a racially diverse group of children while sitting in a luxury vehicle next to a faceless brown-skinned woman, prompted much ado on social media. But rather than, say, rush out a Macklemore-esque apology, he’s not sweating it. Harlow’s touch stays light.

Not everyone has welcomed his rise: In 2019, labelmate Lil Uzi Vert posted a photo on Instagram of Harlow with a clown emoji superimposed over his face after Harlow made his support of the label clear in response to Vert’s criticism of it. (Lake says he appreciates Harlow’s solidarity.)

Suit, $1,850, by Grayscale / Turtleneck, $590, by Thom Browne / Boots, $515, by Raf Simons / Watch (throughout), his own, by Rolex / Ring (throughout), his own

Harlow wants his name (and debut) to be mentioned among greats like Drake and Kendrick. The wide audiences they found and the respect they commanded for their technical abilities—he wants those things too. Drama, Cannon and Lake push him: 48 hours before Thats What They All Say was supposed to be completed, Harlow says Drama told him that “the greats would do a new intro.” In the final hour, Harlow recorded “Rendezvous,” a bars-forward salvo that sets the tone for the level of candor found in the album’s best moments. Cannon, who thinks “all the greats are honest,” encouraged him to rap with increasing frankess—a key skill in the age of the vulnerable rapper. “Nobody really knows who you are,” Cannon remembers telling him. “We have to know who you are, whether we like it or not. Whatever comes out, that's going to be our truth.”

Thats What They All Say is a concise coming-of-age story that marks significant improvement from his previous work. He’s trying the right amount, and the humor feels natural rather than overdetermined. When he raps with Lil Baby, the star of hip-hop in 2020, he doesn’t sound out of place. But above all, the project is animated by Harlow’s belief that he can be “honest about anything.” That can mean sexual adventures like the story of the bottle girl, or mishaps like the digital-era tragedy on “Way Out”: “I’m in the mountains out west on the tour bus texting a chick I used to mess with/Got her in the bed doing video shoots, tried to send one to me but it didn’t go through: damn.”

But Harlow can also be reflective about his flaws (he’s been seeing a therapist recently). He recounts running into someone he used to sleep with at a party for over two-and-a-half minutes on “Funny Seeing You Here,” an X-ray of early-twenties awkwardness that culminates with Harlow’s admission that, as a romantic partner, he can fall short:

You used to say her man was trash and tell me about the way he’d act

I would shake my head until I realized I’m the same as that

Now I wonder do she tell her man that I’m a trash dude

And would he shake his head until he realized that he was trash too?

On the album’s outro, “Baxter Avenue,” he stops pondering the vicissitudes of casual humping and turns his attention to race and his mixed crew. “Always wondered to myself if I could really be the leader to a group of brown-skinned boys when I’m not brown-skinned,” he raps before clocking the differences in their upbringings. Sounding genuinely unsure, he raps about wanting to share his success and wealth, and wonders what it would look like to do that fairly. He says it’s the kind of song that will be “tough to sit in a room and have other people hear.” According to Cannon, that’s exactly the sort of honesty he pushed Harlow toward.

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The song will start a conversation, something Harlow relishes. On the day he released the album artwork, the invite-only, audio-led social media app Clubhouse, which has become more and more popular as a gathering place for music industry real talk, hosted a vigorous debate about it. “I didn't tune in for a second,” Harlow says. “But a lot of people I’m close to did. There's no way we could have dressed that cover up, race-wise, without causing a discussion. If they had been all white, it would have been ‘Why are you whitewashing?’ If it had been all Black, it’s like, ‘Where’s the white people?’” Harlow thinks the cover reflects the city and scene he comes from. “If you come to our parties or the kickbacks we have with 20 people, it looks like [the cover].”

Lake chalks the conversation up to “everybody's in the house and has nothing but time.” Though he acknowledges that Harlow’s trio of label execs don’t always agree on his artwork choices, he says the critics “thought about [the artwork] in way more detail than Jack did. People that don't know Jack would maybe question it, but if you know him, that's him, 110%. He's a white artist in a Black genre, and he's attracted to women of all races, colors, creeds, everything.”

Painting, “Buster”, by Jaime CorumJacket, $2,850, and shirt, $875, by Louis Vuitton Men's / Pants, $820, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh

If you still take issue with his decision to cast a faceless Black woman as his love interest, the title is directed at you: Thats What They All Sayis meant to be an all-purpose retort. “It’s how I feel about any criticism or praise that I'm receiving,” Harlow says. “You really can't tell me anything I haven't heard before.”

Still, he does hear it. Though he’s stopped searching his name on Twitter, he hasn’t stopped reading his reviews and knows he’ll take in the latest round of press. (He doesn’t need the WiFi password to recall the 5.6 Pitchfork score for his 2019 release Confetti.) “I’m just too much of a narcissist,” he says. “I always catch ‘em.”

Blazer, $1,025, turtleneck, $750, and pants, $920, by Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh / Boots, $990, by Celine Homme by Hedi Slimane

At one point on Thats What They All Say, Harlow says that “all the rappers I love most at one point got called a fake.” Among others, he means Drake. From the occasional singing to the subject matter, Harlow is a student of the great Canadian, and he has Drake’s confidence too. Accusations of fakery never slowed Drake—he only became more powerful. Reflecting on Drake’s ability to overcome gives Harlow comfort. Like Drake, Harlow works hard at this. His seriousness is part of what makes it possible to root for him. That he’s more interested in reconnecting with the West Virginia bottle girl than trying to resolve the ills of the world with his music doesn’t hurt either.

Ross Scarano is a writer and editor from Pittsburgh.

PRODUCTION CREDITS: Styled by Metta Conchetta

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