In 2000, as soon as Radiohead's Kid A was launched, Pitchfork's critic Brent Dicreenzo didn't hesitate to give it a top score of 10. I didn't think that this "sloppy" rating behavior not only changed Pitchfork, but also changed the history of music reviews.
Radiohead
Translation: Chen Xiao fart
Editor: Zuo Chunchun
In 1998, at the age of 22, Ryan Schreiber posted a call for writers on his recently founded independent music site, Pitchfork, and the same young Brent Dicreenzo contacted him, and the two hit it off.
Ryan admired him and praised, "I've never seen anyone as good as Brent, sparkling!" At that time, his music criticism technology was mature, he could control a variety of styles, connect music with different media, and at the same time, he had a good grasp of popular music culture. In addition, he is also good at the dialogue style of the script, guiding readers to explore new music together. ”
www.pitchfork.com
Over the next few years, Pitchfork grew to become one of the premier music sites, and founder Ryan has always regarded Brent as their "star writer." On October 3, 2000, Radiomaster's most anticipated album Kid A was officially released. On the same day, Brent wrote his evaluation of the album on the website and gave it a full score of 10 points, but unexpectedly opened the door to the new world of online music reviews!
Who didn't know Radiostar in the late '90s! However, their 99-year album "OK Computer" had less attention when it was first launched, but it became popular in the British and American music circles through music reviews. They came in second on Pitchfork's '90s album chart, which also made fans look forward to the next album even more.
《OK Computer》
This next one is our protagonist Kid A. Now it seems that this disc was not just another success in the music career of radio commanders. More importantly, it brings people who have just entered the 21st century an unprecedented musical experience – online music reviews.
Music critic Stephen Hayden said: "It may not seem unusual to comment online or discuss something online now, but it was really fresh at the time! You can actually learn about music in that way! ”
Pitchfork has been preparing for the promotion of Kid A. In the past, the music review that was only available a week or even a month after the release of the album was creatively selected on the same day. Founder Ryan, as a hardcore fan of Radio Commander, is also very powerful, not only the website publicity is in place, but also contact the fan group to control the traffic army in advance!
《Kid A》
"I remember that day like a birthday," Ryan said. "Record-breaking number of web visits. Our small server barely survived, and the system was on the verge of crashing. ”
I have to admit that the significance of "Kid A" music criticism is far more than a full score, it also witnesses the transformation of the once serious and restrained music criticism to the future era of enthusiastic or slightly absurd new online criticism. Not stuck to the usual journalistic style, everything new appeared in Brent's pen with great enthusiasm. The new album is accompanied by new music reviews, and the combination of the two is amazing. It's not good to change to other albums and get the results like this!
Brent said in an interview with Billboard: "To be honest, as a music critic, I don't really like to write albums. Outside of the rigid form, it is a pile of special words. I hope that readers can feel the emotions brought by the song through the text, and experience the joy and pain with me. After listening to Kid A, I was so excited that I couldn't wait to write this one. ”
Radiohead live
The music critic's ideas were sometimes novel, and he once wrote about Stereolab and boldly offered to email Jesus recommending them. Ryan said brent's work has always tried to show the characteristics of the song itself. Ryan recalled brent's delivery, "Brent had to give us the manuscript in advance, but it was delayed until the end, there was no time to discuss and revise, and the next day had to upload it." ”
"I knew from the beginning that such a move was a bit rash, but it did cause quite a stir." Ryan said, "I always wanted Pitchfork to be synonymous with bold innovation that would constantly surprise people. Brent did a particularly good job that time, far beyond the standard. ”
In addition to the imaginative opening remarks, the main text of the music review contains the following:
"Kid A makes rock 'n' roll childish."
"Compared to other albums, this album is a gorgeous castle, and the latter is probably a paper house."
"Listening to Kid A is like witnessing a child die and then seeing him reborn on the screen."
More than a decade has passed since that review incident, and Brent can't remember the specifics of writing that review. However, what has haunted him for so many years is the scene of watching the Radiomaster performance with friends in Piazza Florence, Italy.
Perhaps it was Brent's somewhat casual, unordinated but sincere enough expression that made what he wrote so distinctively, impacting the usual restrained style of commentary of the late '90s. Music critic Stephen remembers that people were used to the style of writing in music magazines at the time, and initially dismissed Brent's review. But in Stephen's opinion, Pitchfork's music reviews are really special and eye-catching.
"It was hard to read anything about indie music at the time, and Pitchfork became the first choice. It is not like the self-aggrandizement of insiders, but the jokes of insiders outside the circle. Steven said.
This style of commentary deeply appealed to the young Pitchfork music critic Ian Cohen. He was also a radio commander iron fan and grew up listening to their songs. When Kid A was released, Ian was so excited that he even pushed the party, just to be able to enjoy it quietly at home. He felt that Pitchfork's music reviews could understand his kind of happiness, which other magazines couldn't do or didn't want to do.
Ian said: "Pitchfork gave a perfect score, and that was the biggest recognition. The Rolling Stones also gave a 4/5. You know, the ones who score this high are U2 or Bob Dylan. ”
Radiohead&the rolling stone
Speaking of which, "Rolling Stone" did a stupid thing that year, only giving Nirvana's album "Nevermind" a three-star rating. This made many young people like Stephen feel as if the magazines were "overly authoritative."
As it turns out, there was nothing wrong with Steven and Ian's liking that year. "Kid A" became a hit, topped the Billboard TOP200 and Rolling Stones TOP2000. Pitchfork also entered the public eye and gradually developed because of the music review, and Stephen did not even know that the site existed before this.
Pitchfork's success is largely due to its passion for music, often doing unknown musicians and reporting on established singers, while Radiostar is a special case for Pitchfork, because in addition to being respected by the mainstream media, they are also loved by many independent music lovers.
Ryan said: "I think young people can feel the attitude of our generation after reading our articles, and thus resonate with it." After all, we are all in our early 20s. This website has the arrogance and stupidity of the young people who have not yet entered the world, and the indomitable mental state of "life has abused me thousands of times, but I treat her like a first love". Readers may wonder if our music reviews are true or joking. I would say neither. ”
In the early 21st century, people had mixed reviews of Pitchfork's "inconspicuous" style, but the influence of the website was unquestionable. In recent decades, as indie rock has flourished commercially, Pitchfork has also been widely praised for successfully recommending Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens, and has also fallen for giving songs like "NYC Ghosts & Flowers" a bad 0-point rating for no reason. Their opinions can not only influence album sales, but also affect the career of musicians.
Arcade Fire
Similar bad reviews on this music site don't seem to be uncommon. Ryan didn't take such a music review too seriously, and eventually went too far. Brent, a former music critic, also faded out of the music critics circle for fabricating the Beast Boy Band.
Times are constantly changing, and both music critics and critics are updating. From 2010 to now, Pitchfork has never given any album a 10-point rating, and no music review has swept the internet like it did that year. In 2015, Ryan sold the site to a mass media subsidiary. In 2019, Ryan and senior editor Mark officially left the company.
"Pitchfork is a 'better' music site than ever before — more comprehensive, more diverse, more professional," Steven says, "but it's not as important as it was in the beginning." It's not a problem with the website itself, it's that the whole media and the world have changed. ”
Veteran editor Mark fondly remembers the brilliance of kid A's time, which was not only the achievement of their website, but also heralded the advent of a new era. He lamented, "Before the digital world completely dominated our lives. It was like a product of another Internet age. That album review presents excellent musical works in another form, which is very memorable. ”
Stephen also said: "I would also like to mention the music review of Kid A, which is not perfect, but it is special enough. It's hard to find such a unique perspective right now. ”
Nowadays, music criticism has a new form and is also developing. If founder Ryan had been born twenty years late, he probably wouldn't have built a music website, but was frantically tweeting or douyin.
Radiohead South Park Edition
reference：
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/9342543/radiohead-kid-a-pitchfork-review-brent-discrescenzo-2000