Best headline in Stereogum history.

if you think of universal themes as a rap album and koz as a rapper then this would have been par for the course. he was wrong. but this kind of shit is all over the music and in the opinions of several of the rapper stereogum covers. yet, somehow it’s ok. maybe the drummer should have put a beat to his rant. severe double standard. it’s time to call out all the misogynists. a sun kil moon album isn’t loaded with this crap yet some people love music i can’t even listen to without cringing. again, mark is wrong but so is stereogum and everyone who supports this kind of crap put to a beat.

I’m not going to defend Koz for calling a woman a bitch, specifically, but in response to this:

“I know that being a piece of shit is part of Kozelek’s gimmick and all, but seriously, enough with this.”

…but seriously? maybe it’s time sites like stereogum stop reporting every bit of Kozelek stage banter as news. You got about 50 more miles out of the war on drugs thing than was warranted. Then again, doing stuff like this on stage is getting him press. Perhaps the relationship between his behavior and this reporting has become cyclical?

Do you like the Beatles?

Just to push back a little bit for the sake of argument:
Does not calling out a ‘specific’ woman make it any less misogynist?

Could be. Pretty coincidental though! Leaving aside the fact that I do have a sleeve tattoo, these are the lyrics in the first verse:

Went to see a band tonight and they wouldn’t play my favorite tunes
It’s 2012 but I like the ones from 1992
There was no place to sit, and goddamnit I could’t use my phone
and fuck, the singer did a joke that we all looked like cookie-cut-out clones
And they played too long and I didn’t like his new words about guys in tennis shoes and moderately talented yet attractive young girls
When I get home, I tell you just what I’m gonna do
I’m gonna cry me a river Williamsburg sleeve tattoo blues

And the essay I wrote included this:

You talk at a Mark Kozelek show — you take a picture, request a song, whatever — you’re gonna get the stick. Hell, you don’t have to do any of those things. The last time I saw him was in 2010, at Brooklyn’s Music Hall Of Williamsburg, which is a pretty big room — and it was totally sold out — but the crowd was silent, motionless, reverent. And he still trashed us! “Williamsburg is a town of clones,” he said from the stage, between songs. “Like they just cloned themselves from everyone who just walked by.”

By “they,” of course, he meant “you.” That is: us. Anyone who cares enough to actually turn out to see Mark Kozelek is, in his eyes, deserving of mockery. He’s sung about it! It’s in the song “Sunshine In Chicago,” from Sun Kil Moon’s 2012 release, Among The Leaves. He was comparing the crowds who came out in the ’90s for his old band, Red House Painters, to his crowds today: Back then, there were “lots of female fans, and fuck, they all were cute/ Now I just sign posters for guys in tennis shoes.”

[snip]

I stopped going to see Mark Kozelek after that Williamsburg gig not because of the “clones” crack, but because his shows seemed to me increasingly sadistic in other ways: He was playing for well over two, sometimes well over three hours, which I found to be a physically punishing experience when I could neither sit down nor move in any way to the music. He refused to play large chunks of the Red House Painters catalog, and the songs he did play were reworked to the point of being unrecognizable, often stripped of their melody and sometimes, seemingly, any melody. (I was stunned and delighted when I saw him do an album-esque version of “Mistress” with the Roots on Fallon.)

I’m not saying these are objectively bad things, but I had personally ceased to be moved or excited by them. I felt like I was going to the shows out of loyalty, not enjoyment. And frankly, I don’t connect with his new records the way I did the old ones.

http://www.stereogum.com/1709766/mark-kozelek-i-love-you-but-youre-bringing-me-down/franchises/essay/

damn fool you got roasted.

I think the saddest part of the whole mess is an artist of his caliber has resorted to this kind of schlock BS to get his name on the tips of both the media and public at large tongues.

His talent alone should be enough to do that. But in the day and age we live in this kind of bullshit works. How much can we blame a guy that went decades as nothing more than a niche artist with a devoted fan base to a guy that ends up on every music blog in the world each and every time he acts like a f’ing jackass?

It’s the most pathetic Pavlovian response thing I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching. As long as all of us keep talking about his antics he will continue to spiral down this stupid wormhole. (this post being part of the problem , of course)

That line of people queued up to bang The Koz looks something like this:

The line about Rita Ora on the new Asap Rocky album is way worse than anything Koz has said, but we don’t get on our high horses about anything rappers say, just guys with guitars get their speech policed on Stereogum. Seriously, Breihan, all you said in that premature evaluation was that they hooked up and Rocky kicked her out. It was a LITTLE more misogynist and slut shamey than that no? But not a peep from you. The album was GREATNESS!

To paraphrase Breihan’s DJ Quik Album of the Week review: “You have to go into a Mark Kozelek concert knowing that he is going to say some misogynistic shit, and you have to turn the moralizing part of your brain off. But if you can make that adjustment, Mark Kozelek becomes a funny motherfucker.” Why does this work for Quik and not Koz?

Maybe Koz would stop saying such dumb stuff if you music bloggers didn’t breathlessly document every bit of stage banter he mutters. Or maybe he would stop if sites like Stereogum were in any way consistent in getting their panties in a bunch about misogynist lyrics and remarks. I have a hard time understanding why this behavior is unacceptable from indie rockers but is just fine from rappers.

Michael/Tom, if he comes at you guys next (which honestly might be a possibility given his track record of douchiness), I think it’s safe to say we’ve all got your backs.

Maybe I wouldn’t have liked Kozelek anyway – never heard any, not generally my kind of thing – but I won’t bother checking him out now. Write a song about that, you prick.

But no Donny Gloves?

How am I supposed to be a white kid from the suburbs AND enjoy rap music without a Childish Gambino verse?! Humpf

I’m Going To Kick Mark Kozelek’s Ass

Yeah! If you’re looking for journalistic integrity, take your shit elsewhere. This is the ‘gum, bitches.

I like how sad The Roots look.