My buddy sent me three emails, messing with me, with these words....which he is by no means smart enough to write himself. I was hoping that someone on here would recognize what article this bullshit is from so I could send him the link just so he doesn't think he got over on me. Here is the content of the three emails he sent me, without my rebuttals...which is must say were very fuckin' clever, haha:

"After careful deliberation, I officially disavow myself of the entire grunge era, including all the requisite bands (yes, your beloved Pearl Jam).

It's the most one-sided sound and one-sided philosophy ever expressed in a muscial style; hence, it does not do the slightest justice to the explosive variety and baroque reality of the universe.

Don't mistake the label grunge I used for a lumping of all I am talking about. I am talking about bands that came of age during that time.

Very limited messages, very limited sound. Look up the baroque age of art and music. Seemingly no ability to expand their artistic parameters.

The battle against corporate rock is tedious. It's like the local village atheist--nothing to do without a big Someone to fight.

All existential--All the time. That's the problem. Too big a dose. Only handles 1/8th of the human condition.

No joy or happiness in the music. Just one long complaint. Not enough humilty to sit back and enjoy the good and simple things.

The constant navel-gazing and self loathing is cumbersome.

I prefer singles to concept albums. Always have. Leave the concepts to Mozart and Beethoven. Too pretentious. It's like Bill O'Reilly thinking he is Thomas Aquinas.

Pop nuggets like the Beatles' "Please, Please Me' clock in at under two minutes. The genius is in packing such a limited container with so much. See Shakespeare's sonnets--14 lines goes from a straitjacket to a tuxedo.

A muscial philosophy built on willful ignorance and frustration, however potent, is inherently limited.

No beauty, no majesty. The songs of transcendence might have the lyrics and desire, but the chords are all wrong. Nothing sublime is reached. It's all one track--iron rails that reign in all diversity.
Hope and faith must be accompanied by the proper sounds, the proper chords (See the slave spirituals).

The full gamut of human experience isn't consistently--if at all--reached. Thus, the assessment of all-time greatness cannot be made. Not universal enough. Too much in one particular time.

I can get my doom and gloom and rebellion from more well-rounded artists, i.e, Dostoevsky, Springsteen (Nebraska) who feature balance.

If anyone knows where this is from, let me know if you can.

Wow, I have no idea where he got this stuff, but it's certainly full of a lot of elitism and snobbery.

Is he a good friend? And does he spend a lot of time reading Dostoevsky (in Russian, I hope) and alternating, Springsteen, Mozart and Beethoven.

This guy has a lot of balls if he's looking down on the Baroque era of music and art.

Yeah, and the only thing snobby about him normally is the fact that he won't drink lite beer. This just can't be him....It would be a total victory if I could find where he copy and pasted this from.

I love this line:

A muscial philosophy built on willful ignorance and frustration, however potent, is inherently limited.

How do you do that, by refusing to learn scales, and then being frustrated by not knowing them?

I hope someone can help you out.

Here was the third email, sent after I finally accused him of copying and pasting:
No. Life is short. I am trimming my collection of artists I no longer consider essential due to limited understanding and expressions of human nature and existence. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Who, Pre-80s Stones (with the exception of 83's Undercover).

Zepplin, the Beatles, and Dinosaur Jr make the cut. The Pixie's don't. Unless it was new -Brit-pop, the 1990s essentially don't exist.

Chris,

What precipitated all of this? I have lots of albums that I don't really listen to anymore, but I don't want to get rid of them, let alone all of the albums from a specific decade.

Is he going through some kind of mid-life crisis?

I have no idea....he went to Camden with me last year, and i am careful not to jam it all down his throat too. He sent me an email out of the blue with those first 3 or 4 paragraphs and then it went from there. He did just turn 40, so you might be right. This whole thing is very unlike him.

If they all came tonight, is it possible that he's been drinking?

Haha...they came from 11am to about 1pm today is the only problem with that theory. He was supposed to be home writing his dissertation. The only other theory I have is that someone else was using his email account, with his permission, and having a little fun with me. i dont know....i would just love to find the article that stuff came from.

stip will see this in the morning. Maybe he will know.

thanks...yeah hopefully.

I'd wager my seat in the lime light that this dude is serious. I mean, the rationale is strong enough to make me quit listening to the band, for the reasons he said. Given the guy just turned 40 and wrote the emails during the day, he's probably got some new enlightening perspective. He's now experiencing what we normally diagnose as a "mid-life crisis." Just give him "No Code" and ask him to incorporate it into his analysis and description of the band (or "World Gone Wrong").

i love you Isaac.

So Led Zeppelin has a sophisticated understanding and expression of human nature and existence. I love Zeppelin, but Robert Plant is an awful lyricist.


other than googling his message I don't know what to tell you.

Just e-mail back and tell him that "grunge" is not for him. Never was for him.