Caltrops - No Stairway to Heaven





	[quote name="Fussbett"][quote name="Fullofkittens"]So <b>Theory #1</b> is the Goffin theory: Cuomo is just too comfy to make good pop music. He's a guy whose muse needs to be rescuing him from despair, and despair over creative lethargy apparently isn't enough. Also, he's like Goffin in another way: he's a lot older now, and musical motherfuckers' asses do not generally age like wine.[/quote] I can get with this, but would say it's as if Rivers has <i>conciously</i> decided to remove all angst from the music. He admitted this himself, as it was a reaction to the Pinkerton backlash, but the odd part is that not only did the lyrics become safe and clean but curiously so did the music. Every aspect of the songwriting and recording got relaxed and uninteresting. The awkward pedophilic desires of the guitar parts also disappeared. [quote]<b>Theory #2:</b> Somewhere in there Rivers decided not to give of himself in his songs anymore. What really gives some weight to the first two records is that the songs masquerade as geek pop fun but there's disturbing confessional undercurrents. "Say It Ain't So" busts away from talk about surfing to briefly accuse the protagonist's stepfather of making him an alcoholic. And then there's awesome unison bends which are supposed to rock us out and make us laugh. <i>Pinkerton</i> is basically a huge vaguely uncomfortable frank and open deep conversation (it brings him down slow), including the yikes moment where Mr. Cuomo admits in a very non-Hagar-y way that he wishes he could fuck his underage fans.[/quote] REJECTED. I agree the lyrics are worse, but this doesn't explain why the rest is bad (as you said). [quote]<b>Theory #3</b> is the most obvious one, and probably the most correct: Matt Sharp left the band after <i>Pinkerton</i>, and without Kim Deal the Pixies become Frank Black and The Catholics. [/quote] REJECTED: Matt Sharp wasn't allowed to write any Pinkerton songs. Why are they awesome? Certainly his bass and falsetto help, but that wouldn't be a breaking point. Did he "produce" the album? Have any influence over it? Apparently not, since he quit. I say the Kim Deal tipping point is a coincidence.[/quote]