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Old 06-22-2004, 01:58 PM
po'ed po'ed is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Default Re: Retracted portion of Pitchfork's "To the 5 Boroughs" review

Quote:
Originally Posted by Michelle*s_Farm
You know shit about Pitchfork's rating system. The review for the new Beastie Boys' album was "Very Good". Indeed, the writer even hedged his bets implying that "To The 5 Boroughs" could be Pet Sounds caliber (at least this is my interpretation of the review). The reviewer also stated that he has not listened to any album more in 2004. As for Steve Martin, he works for an entirely different entity than the Beastie Boys called "Nasty Little Man". Steve Martin has every right to get pissed off if untruths are being spread by a Pitchfork writer that could affect the likelihood of musical artists wanting to work with him (fuck this is the man's livelihood). Can't you see the big picture here?
Actually, I read PF every day -- 7.9 is a mediocre rating -- over the past few years their rating system has experienced serious grade inflation. Nobody who reads the site regularly would say "wow, 7.9, gotta go get that!" (I recognize their guide says 7.5 to 7.9 is very good -- but they've handed out ratings in that range and higher like candy recently). The point is that PF didn't bow down and give its highest rating like those played out folks at Rolling Stone and coincidentally the band's publicist threatens legal action if they don't retract the review.

Notice that now the ENTIRE review is retracted -- not just the parts that were "false" (keep in mind that PF reviews are and always have been satirical and satire is protected by the 1st amendment). Why force an entire retraction if you aren't trying to bias the review system? I'm guessing that if PF said all kinds of crazy stuff and gave the album a 10 that it would still be up there, falsities and all. Martin is just doing his job -- trying to keep the press on the Boys in as positive a light as possible. However, the band shouldn't support the bullying of an independent like this. The bigger picture is corporate squashing independent. If Martin is so worried about his livelihood then maybe he should fix his damn website (http://www.nastylittleman.com) -- you can't even get press kits from it because the links are broken!
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