My Gold Mask – A Blog Bandwagon Or Not?
I’m really worried that the extent to which people enjoy music is affected by how much praise a particular band is getting in the press – is it really the case that the same artists get a lot of attention from blogs simply because of the quality of their music, or is it more a case of latching onto a bandwagon and liking music simply because other blogs been venting verbal spleen about how good it is?
The reason that I ask is because, as far back as last November, I read about a band called My Gold Mask on Pretty Much Amazing. I downloaded the song, and whilst Luis couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about it during his article, the song just sort of passed me by.
Fast forward a couple of months and the band are starting to get a bit more attention. After a couple of posts by The Blue Walrus and The Recommender, I decide to have another listen. Nothing has changed. It’s still the same band, the same song (“Violet Eyes”), the same mp3, but this time I’m ready to proclaim that My Gold Mask are the best thing to happen to music since Joe Lean & The Wiff Waff Whatever were tragically dropped by their record label. That’s a claim I’d stick to, by the way.
I’ve got to admit that I’m pretty uneasy about this… I had always thought it was a good song, but did it really just take a couple of positive reviews for me to be able to like them? Of course, I hope not, I hope I’m generally a lot more honest about music than this, but I can’t help feeling that it may have been a factor in this one particular case. The thing is, I’m almost sure that a huge number of people are excessively affected by music criticism, but I don’t think that they can bring themselves to honestly admit that they’re not being as subjective as they could be.
In a wider sense, though, is this how blogs work? Does influential blogs posting material cause a flurry of fumbling posts by less read publications because the bigger blogs have such good music taste, or is it merely because if something has got a Gorilla vs. Bear stamp of approval then people are willing to admit that they like it? As always, I’m likely to conclude that the answer lies somewhere in the middle; bigger music blogs definitely know what they’re talking about musically, but that doesn’t mean that some other blogs won’t post things just because it has appeared on the latest PMAcast.
To be honest, I’m still unsure as to where I stand on this, and I’m going to have to spend some more time thinking about this, and hopefully arguing about it with you in the comments section (always helps me form my opinions), but, for now at least, I’m happy to conclude that in the case of My Gold Mask, the situation is solely down to an error of insane laziness and sloppy listening on my part, because “Violet Eyes” is impressive not only for it’s visceral power, but because it’s backed up by a whole EP that ranges from raw to vulnerable, but never stops being simply a brilliant piece of music. Perhaps there’s now a bandwagon, and perhaps I might have just jumped on it, but there’s definitely substance behind the hype and cynicism about blog buzz is no good reason not to get involved.
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March 8th, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Haha I know what you mean about this. I sometimes feel a little affected if I’ve heard something once and thought…”they’re ok but not really worth the effort” but then it appears on another blog I watch or an advert or something and then it sinks in. The XX were the last band to do that to me six months or so ago – I completely missed their appeal until some hype appeared…
The three month delay on posting My Gold Mask after I first came across them on Love shack baby was simply my laziness and the state of my backlog though. That is one fantastic band, and once it resurfaced to the top of my “To Review” playlist I wrote the post. It is nice help kick off a hype wave every now and then of course
March 8th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Hi
That was another enjoyable and honest post. I liked it. Your writing always has a lot of personality in it. Personality is often found in editorial due to the writer’s honest opinions being shared, which in turn is precisely what this article is all about I guess.
I read blogs whom opinions I trust. There are bloggers out there with a broad knowledge of music and they pass on educated, informed opinions on the music they’re critiquing, so it’s fine to allow this to help you to discover new music. However, I think it’s important that your reaction to that music is entirely yours. Your own opinion and not the sources. You are in control and control is key if you are to write with authenticity.
It’s precisely why I allow people to play the music I write about on my blog, so they don’t just have to take my word for it. I’m just the guide.
I thought The XX were good, but a little dull and certainly not worth the massive amount of hype they generated. I’m pleased to say I still think that, although my mates still give me shit about it, claiming I’m just plain wrong. Well, no I’m not, it’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it thanks.
The best bloggers have bags of honesty, integrity and fearless opinions, are reliable, consistent, brave and happy to stand alone. If you have all of these traits then your tribe will stand alongside you.
Mike
@ TheRecommender.net
March 9th, 2010 at 1:37 am
Not a lot more to add to what has already been said really. Always trust your own opinions is my view. If you don’t then your blog will lack integrity, which is key for your readers. Don’t worry what others think about you. My own tastes are pretty broad so I do tend to jump around quite a bit in terms of genres and types of music I like, but everything I say is good, I 100% believe that (But see * below). I have no problem with ‘bandwagon jumping’ – if I hear something good on another blog then I want to help support that artist in my own small way, as just because a big blog has written about it doesn’t necessarily mean that my small readership all know about it. But I would never recommend something just because everyone else is and vice versa. Recent examples of this are my review of the Ellie Goulding album, which many weren’t a fan of but I think is a really good mainstream pop record and the band Stornoway who I have been raving about since the middle of last year and yet they have had little blog coverage, yet I find their songs life affirming.
Ok here’s the * bit. The only other point I would like to make is that sometimes we (and by we I mean bloggers) get it wrong. A band that we have been supporting may suddenly put out a duffer, or sometimes we may re-listen to something at a latter date and think “What was I thinking.” Nothing wrong with that, it just shows a developing, questioning mind. That’s all part of the fun. Nobody is right 100% of the time.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I know what you mean – and also wonder how much influence PR have on blogs. Because we music bloggers receive the same emails, at the same time. Is this reducing some sections of music blogging into press release regurgitation?
March 9th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Good point Take It To The Chorus. I’ve always been really concious of this and 90% of the time try to find acts away from PR stuff. (Sorry to any PR companies listening) However if I get something from a PR company I really like I will consider writing about it – because ultimately I want to support acts that I like. I would never just copy and paste a press release though – which some blogs do. I like to find my own viewpoint and style even if it has been fed from a PR company.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Apologies – on the above post I put listening – I meant reading – I was still in Radio show mode and often write just as I talk, so I think readers are also ‘listeners’
March 9th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I don’t tend to read the press releases sent to me at all apart from the bandcamp/myspace/homepage/buy links that I want to use.
I will listen to the music and consider writing about it, but the text is often pretty much redundant unless I know the label/PR person personally…
March 12th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
This keeps me up at night. It’s one thing to be convinced of a band’s worth by a review (which does happen), but it’s another thing to be taken under the spell of hype. But I’m with Robin on this one: I’ll only jump on the bandwagon if I really like the band and think that they deserve an incredibly obscure endorsement.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
God I love this track. I have never heard of these people before and only briefly scanned over your post but I have been listening non-stop to this track since yesterday.
March 13th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Thanks for all the replies!!
After reading the responses, I guess that I wasn’t expressing myself completely clearly. Of course, I was getting at the fact that some blogs just post certain songs for hits / to appear on the ball / because PMA etc etc etc has been writing about them.
What I was really getting at was a subconscious tendency to like a track more just because you’ve read some nice words about them somewhere. Nothing as cynical as what many of you seem to think I was suggesting! (Of course I only post music that I 100% love)
Although Takeittothechorus does raise a very good point… if you’ve got a relationship with a PR and they are sending you CDs etc etc, are you more likely to post a good song that may have passed you by otherwise? It’s possible… again, it’s hardly a very cynical act, but it’s difficult to stay entirely subjective. All we can do is try. And fail.
March 16th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I know in my case with ‘Violet Eyes’ someone tweeted about it not saying “I love it!” or “WHAT IS THIS KERAP?!”, I instantly loved it, I then listened to the song a lot, THEN found out it was a free download so listened to it more so I basically worked backwards but didn’t end up posting about it until Feb 26. This probably just shows what a rubbish blogger I am. My finger is not on any sort of pulse when it comes to acts that blogs like.
The thing with “subconscious tendency” to like a track once you’ve seen someone else say they like it, isn’t that all about trust? You read blogs you like, they recommend a song and if you’ve liked other songs they’ve recommended then you’re going to make more of an effort to listen to it because you have similar tastes and you trust their judgement. On the other hand I know that *I* trust my own judgement and would never post something just because someone else had recommended it without completely loving it first but would make the effort to check them out. Others wouldn’t make the effort to check it out, just trust a blogger’s judgement and just post it but they are easy to spot and that’s why I avoid them.
RE: The PR thing. I see so many blogs that regurgitate the exact statements and post endless “free downloadzzz” from press releases that I get as well. Awful. The worst thing is that people do read them and follow their judgement when there is no quality control there at all.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Exactly. A worrying amount of blogs just copy and paste an e-mail they’ve been sent, and then will tag on a token qualification by saying something like “They said it so well themselves that I may as well just let them tell you about it!”. Terrible behaviour.
March 24th, 2010 at 12:13 am
Had to weigh in on this one…I think that the band is one of the freshest to come out of the American Midwest in ages:
http://www.fredperrysubculture.com/grapevine/?p=1025#more-1025