Why GQ Buying This Website is a Major Blow to All Music Fans, Conor McGregor's Movie Debut, Even Gen Z Can't Save Late Night TV, (The Five for 01/26/24)
Plus, These Musicians Buy a Magazine from 1871
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
It’s Friday, that means its time for Culture & Commentary.
Before we dive in…yes, I’m aware of the situation at the Texas border, but Tuesdays are for hard news, and Fridays are for the lighter fare…because media outlets have a duty to think beyond simply spiking the cortisol levels of the audience for clicks.
[one]
One of the most influential independent music outlets went down this week, after Pitchfork was gobbled up by a corporation and then folded into GQ.
Once an outlet of hard-nosed music journalism and a place where undiscovered artists could a first look…Pitchfork is now a part of a fashion magazine that…cares more about clothing than chords when it comes to covering musicians.
From Saving Country Music, one of the few truly independent outlets left.
Also, the fact that whatever is left of Pitchfork will be folded into GQ is just about the perfect twist of irony. Where Pitchfork is for under-dressed vegans enjoying shoegaze, GQ is for the coiffed power elite.
Pitchfork was one of the final remaining places on the internet where music writers were honest about their opinions as opposed to the sycophantic “journalists” composing subservient puff pieces at the behest of powerful publicists and labels so writers with inferiority complexes and their publications could curry favor and earn clout in the industry.
Take the recent feature of Jason Isbell in GQ. “We find a corner table and order lunch,” the article starts off. “Sporting a sharp denim jacket and brand new teeth, 44-year-old Jason Isbell looks Hollywood enough for where we are—the restaurant at the Chateau Marmont…”
It’s not that there isn’t any good information or insight that can be gleaned from the GQ article. It’s that whenever you see these formulaic slice of life openings to articles, you know it’s more about feting the performer as opposed to ferreting out the truth. There isn’t any scrutiny or even objectivity in the interaction. Good journalism isn’t just unafraid of being critical, if necessary it’s compelled to be adversarial with the subjects it covers.
A puff piece for Sierra Ferrell recently in Rolling Stone is another excellent example. It starts, “Sierra Ferrell is standing in the middle of a vintage store in East Nashville, twirling a pair of leather Seventies-era shoes in one hand with a stack of jackets in the other. ‘Loafers!’ she proclaims…”
As a pretty blatant capitalist and business owner, I (kinda) understand how a room of cold-hearted execs in $2,000 suits pulled the plug on an essential piece of American culture. But, ambitious money making, left unchecked by morals and a tie to the community (in this case, the virtual community) leads people to sacrifice the good, beautiful and true for a quick buck.
The funny thing is, I wouldn’t traditionally call Pitchfork good, beautiful or true. I often disagreed with both their coverage and the artists they chose, and the publication frequently annoyed me with it’s pretentious editorial choices for an event more pretentious readership.
But that’s just the thing…Pitchfork caused a reaction.
GQ is so corporate and bland, I forget it exists.
The once colorful music journalism world just got a little more beige.
If you want to read a couple of fitting obituaries of the publication, click here or here for people who were able to go deeper into Pitchfork’s story than I have the time and word count for.
[two]
At this point, you probably forgot that late night talk shows were still around, but CBS (who’s ratings probably come from people in nursing homes who have already died in front of the TV, but haven’t been discovered by the staff yet) really wants to bring them back.
The network for geriatrics tapped into Taylor Tomlinson, one of my favorite young comics (she has a handful of specials on Netflix, if you want to check her out).
Unfortunately, After Midnight is…bad. And it was probably the last hope for late night TV.
From Michigan Daily
Last November, funny people everywhere rejoiced when CBS announced that comedian Taylor Tomlinson was slated to take over the late-night TV slot previously held by James Corden’s “The Late Late Show.” Finally, a reason to stay up past 9 p.m. This takeover was touted as the shakeup that late-night television needed: Tomlinson would finally be bringing some youthful energy to a TV genre that has suffered record-low ratings and viewership, especially among younger generations, all while breaking into the boys club that is late-night television. Apparently, it just wasn’t meant to be. Despite the undeniable talent and promise Tomlinson brings, “After Midnight” is not the groundbreaking success we were promised — but it’s not Tomlinson’s fault.
Unlike various other late-night segments hosted mostly by white men with J names, “After Midnight” is a divergence from the typical talk show format — there are neither famous guest stars nor large wooden desks. Instead, the show puts a spin on the bygone comedy competition “At Midnight,” a Comedy Central show that presented the most absurd stories from daily news, pop culture and media to a panel of well-known comedians, challenging them to turn news, social media and sports into stand-up comedy. “After Midnight” shares much with the original in terms of style and structure, making it, by all means, an adequate reboot of a well-liked show. Unfortunately, an adequate reboot is not what late-night TV — or Taylor Tomlinson — deserves.
The feature on CBS Sunday Morning (above) shows just how far from culturea norms the broadcast networks have moved. After Midnight debuted to 600,000 viewers, and has already shed more than 100,000 of them. Tomlin’s YouTube channel sits at nearly a million subscribers, which means that Taylor Tomlinson+CBS can’t even compare to Taylor Tomlinson putting clips up on the internet from her phone.
I watched the above bit, about Venmo emojis (really trying to suck in the Gen Z demographic), but the show is just…poorly done. From the force audience laughs to the thrown-together set and poor mic quality. Gen Z didn’t grow up on this kind of entertainment (and neither did the bottom half of Millennials), so they’re not “coming back to it,” the format just feels alien.
Tomlinson is doing her best up there, but this just feels like the Aldi brand of Lucky Charms when you’re used to the original. Apparently the “TV revival” will continue with John Stewart returning to The Daily Show. Stewart once ruled the airwaves of Comedy Central and was a major cultural force…but that era started before the invention of the iPhone.
[three]
A LOT of the internet discourse that can be found on Twitter and Instagram these days revolves around the “Red Pill” movement, which you can Google on your own time. The quick version is that there are a litany of “Alpha Male” coaches who charge exorbitant amounts of money to coach other legally adult males (sorry, can’t call them “men” due to their behavior) to learn how to attain a lot of one night stands.
For the most part, this whole subculture is despised by everyone but the handful of lonely losers who populate it. Recently, John Mayer, one of the most infamous playboys of the 00’s and 10’s, revealed that he is…single and lonely at age 46 after decades of a “Red Pill” lifestyle.
“People don’t think I want to be married. I absolutely want to be married,” Mayer told Rizzo on Sunday’s episode, according to People.
“You know the secret, which is that I’m actually fairly well-adjusted. And I so badly want to get married if only for my wife to just know in her heart, like, ‘John will know what to do.’ I just think that level of being relied on is the hottest thing in the world to me. ‘If my husband was here, he would know what to do. Call John. Call my husband.’ You’re a full grown-up when this is your romantic fantasy. You’re a fully fledged grown-up.”
The irony of the Red Pill movement, which focuses almost exclusively on casual sex, is that these “Alpha Males” claim to no longer be interested in a woman after she’s had a certain number of partners. (As a Christian, for the record, I don’t endorse this at all—as the cornerstone of the beliefs I’m betting my life that any person can be made new in Christ).
Now, one of the true “Alpha Male” players who spent his 20’s and 30’s running through a bevy of famous ex girlfriends (and dominating tabloids) while famously wasting his offstage time smoking weed and playing Call of Duty is finding that women don’t trust him, and don’t see him as a reliable life partner in marriage.
Funny how the sword swings both ways, isn’t it?
*Side note: I love John Mayer’s music. I just think he has chosen a very lonely, empty, narcissistic path in life.
[four]
I’m a pretty big fan of country singer Elle King (the daughter of Rob Scheider, the actor best known for his frequent collaborations with Adam Sandler), but her drunk performance at Dolly Parton’s birthday event for the Grand Old Opry was inexcusable. King couldn’t even perform one song, and then just screamed at the crowd “I’m hammered.”
In an old interview with the LA Times, King revealed that she drinks to face her stage fright.
So, not super judgmental here…but she need to get the drinking under control. Elle is a phenomenally talented artist, but live music is a part of her job, and you can’t show up to work fall-over drunk.
The story (for this publication) might have ended there, except for the fact that an independent country singer named Adeem the Artist tweeted this.
I can’t screenshot any of the conversation (because Adeem blocked me), but I replied that people weren’t mad because Elle yelled out “I”m f***ing hammered,” but because they paid money to see her live, and she couldn’t even do one song.
Long story short, the politically left segment of Americana music and fans sent me hundreds of harassing messages (cool story, losers, I don’t care)…which doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, except that it highlights something I said on my friend Vance Crowe’s podcast a couple years back…the militant left today is what the Evangelical Moral Majority was in the 80’s and 90’s. (Episode below if you want to check it out).
There is certainly racism in the world, but a leftist white country singer yelling at country music fans about racism because they were upset that Elle King showed up to work drunk…does nothing to solve any of the racism in the world.
If you’re wondering why Gen Z is leaning somewhat more politically conservative than Millennials…it’s probably because they grew up with the militant left being against culture…the same way Evangelical leader Jerry Fallwell built a public platform in the 1980’s around being against…Disney, Levi’s Jeans, even MLK Day.
Apparently, the political left and right take turns on who’s turn it is to be John Lithgow from footloose, and ban the kids from having any fun.
In the 2020’s, the left owns that intellectual real estate, and they sure as heck don’t think you should get your money back from a show where the artist couldn’t even finish a song, because “why don’t you care so much about racism.”
That kind of grumpiness is the most foolproof way to get the average Joe and Jane to join whatever political party you’re not aligned with.
[five]
Still just a bit sad the Road House remake isn’t getting a theatrical release. Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain, Spiderman: No Way Home) looks to be in fine form (both physically and in the direction he’s taking the character), and Conor McGregor is…well, being himself.
The original film featured Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Ghost) as a bouncer at a Missouri roadhouse, but thanks to my state’s poor tax incentives for films (probably), the remake is set in the Florida Keys. Former UFC fighter gets a second chance, yada yada, as he defends the bar from bad patrons and the hitmen of a notorious land baron who wants to tear down the bar to build a resort.
”You can’t have my land and I’ll fight you for it” is also the plot of Yellowstone, but I doubt viewers will tune in for the originality.
Stream it on 03/21. I certainly will be.
Hit Man is about a real life hit man. Or, a police informant pretending to be one? Plot isn’t clear here, but there’s enough of a hook that I want to see it. See it 06/07.
My question of “do we really need another space-themed project” in a year where I.S.S. just released and Adam Sandler is doing his lonely astronaught thing for Netflix…why does Apple TV+ need to get in the game?
Because Constellation is a psychological thriller with a twist in the trailer you don’t see coming. Going high on my watch list. Streaming 02/21 with weekly episodes.
[new music]
I don’t tend to listen to a lot of R&B (sorry, I like two Beyonce songs, max—but maybe I just can’t get past the weird occult references in her music & vids), but Andra Day hits me hard every time with unique mix of gospel, jazz and blues influences. Day first hit the scene in 2015 with her debut Cheers to the Fall, which earned her an Oscar nomination for a song in the movie Marshall. And then…nothing. Day starred as Billie Holiday in a 2021 movie that didn’t make much of a splash, but hasn’t released any new music in eight years.
Day has a pretty rabid fanbase (especially considering she has a lone studio album), and the time spent away (nearly a decade) seems to have only increased their appetite. Day will perform the Black National Anthem at the Super Bowl on February 11th.
Just cause it’s such a great song…click above to check out an incredible performance of Day’s breakthrough single.
[new-music-old-magazine?]
Eric Church (who I love) and Morgan Wallen (eh, couple songs on playlists) have purchased Field & Stream, a magazine I loved growing up, which focuses on fishing, hunting and the outdoors. The publication was founded in 1871.
The brand will come back as a print magazine, as well as a music festival this fall. Check out the promo video above if you're into that sort of thing...pretty cool.
Until the next one,
-sth