Ian Astbury from the Cult doesn't seem to be too fond of Dave's singing style.  I thought this was kind of funny and initially was offended on behalf of my good friend Dave.  Upon further reflection, I kind of know what he's saying.  Dave Grohl is an entertainer.  In fact, he is great at it.  Part of being a good entertainer is getting the crowd involved and making a connection with them.  Ian Astbury says he's influenced by Jim Morrison (obviously - he's a dead ringer if you look at the pictures in the video) and Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols.  These are guys who had charisma and therefore were entertaining to watch, but they didn't necessarily try to create a connection or build a relationship with the audience, at least not in the "come rock with me and let's have a great time" way that Dave does.   In fact more often than not they could be more confrontational than anything.   Ian views this as having humility and integrity.  And I can see what he means.  Kurt Cobain had this way about him and Eddie Vedder is like this too, and I admire that about them.  It goes with their personalities.

However, I don't think that Dave having enthusiasm and a good time and wanting the audience to do the same means he's lacking integrity or not being humble.  In fact, I find it hard to find someone in his position who takes themselves less seriously than he does.  And I find that it goes completely with his personality, which for him IS integrity, right? 

Ian’s rant actually reminds me of some feelings I had when I went to see Green Day on their American Idiot tour.  The album of the same name is a rock opera and a politically charged work; both critically and popularly acclaimed.  Because of the angry nature of the album and the “courage” they had of taking on some tough political issues that very few other popular artists would at the time, I went to the concert expecting something.  Something historical even.  I expected there to be a depth or gravity to it.  I expected the seriousness and anger to come out, similar to when I saw them in Detroit when they first became popular.  There was even an almost dangerous element to the things they said and did back then, but without the maturity; typical snarling punk stuff.  But when I got to this concert, it was a very different band.  It was like they had been to a “how to perform like an arena rock band” seminar, complete with getting the audience to wave our hands like we just didn’t care.  What the?!  I remember the thirteen year old girl in the row ahead of me texting “JUST SAW THE MOST AMAZING CONCERT OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!” to her friends when the show was over.  Yeah…it was a good show I guess, but I was disappointed.  The show didn’t match the music or the persona I had come to expect from the band.  It lacked integrity.

And so while I can understand what Ian Astbury is saying on the one hand, the way he went about saying it was just dumb.

I hate Ian Astbury.  For reals.
 


Comments

Beth Jarvis link
05/13/2010 8:23am

Personally, I would not describe someone who feels the need to rip on another artist to the media as one possessing "dignity and humility", but maybe that's just me. I do like the Cult, but Ian is acting like a tool.

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Mike
05/13/2010 8:52am

Ian has an interesting way of blending humility with pompous assitude. And while the sarcasm intended in the word "interesting" doesn't exactly translate in text, I assure you that it has drowned my kkeyboreed 2 th pointee ov malfuunkshun.

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Jason link
05/13/2010 3:04pm

Thanks for the replies guys!

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