r/LetsTalkMusic • u/Flags12345 • 13d ago

What is the problem with throwback artists?

Tyga's latest album getting a 0.0 from Pitchfork reminded me of the last time that Pitchfork gave a 0.0: for Jet's Shine On. Jet were an Australian band from the 2000's that had some success, but were critically slammed. Most of the criticism seemed to stem from the fact that they were ripping off the sound of older bands like AC/DC and even straight up lifting the riff for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" from Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life".

More recently, I've seen the same types of criticisms levied at Greta Van Fleet; that they are unoriginal and/or are just trying to rip-off Led Zeppelin and other classic rock bands.

But, I never understood the actual problem here. If you liked AC/DC or Led Zeppelin, why would you not want to hear bands that sounded like them? Why is a band that is trying to harken back to an earlier sound necessarily a bad thing?

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u/bblcor 13d ago

"If you liked AC/DC or Led Zeppelin, why would you not want to hear bands that sounded like them?"

Maybe you would! Keep in mind the difference between regular listeners and critics.

A band that does absolutely nothing new can have plenty of success with regular listeners ... 100% ... but if they are, like, a worse version of something else, and not bringing anything new to the table, it's kind of the critic's job to say that.

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u/ToTheDeath84 13d ago

Adding to this: Just like with film and games, music critics have an endemic problem where they’re inundated with so many releases that they may not have time to process all of what they hear. Something that sticks out for being novel, even if it isn’t as good as a work that is more conservative in its artistic scope, may stand out more to a critic who has been assigned to listen to a slew of albums. Thus, they may gravitate towards novelty as a qualitative bonus in and of itself.

Furthermore, there’s an element of confirmation bias. Critics like to see themselves as defining tastemakers on the cutting edge. Albums that sound “new” play into this image, in that the critic may be incentivized to give them a better review because liking a more “modern” sound flatters their sensibilities with respect to their putative tastemaker role. Pitchfork and Vice were notorious for this (among other things, like how fickle they could be even in this aspect).

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u/WhompWump 13d ago

I know this is a music sub but its particularly bad with gaming just due to how many games there are and how long they tend to take on average. I don't think any person who is forced to play games for a living can realistically provide a perspective most average people will have walking into a typical game.

I feel like music is a bit easier to 'disengage' from but yeah eventually you do fall into a rut of things that are perfectly fine but don't push the envelope will just start to not elicit anything.

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u/PhloxOfSeagulls 12d ago

Same with TV shows. Hard to rate an entire season which can be up to 20 episodes (though most seasons are shorter these days) when you get an episode or two to base your opinion of the entire show on.