The other day I was a tad surprised to see one of my interwebs indie music sherpas recommend an old Tragically Hip song as one of their daily song offerings. It wasn't outrageous, but it drive me to inquire if it meant that the Hip had actual hipster cred, a mild curiosity inasmuch that I didn't really give a shit as a longtime Hip fan. Then another one of my daily interwebs indie music sherpas chimed in, and at that point I realized that I was asking Canadian hipsters about Tragically Hip hipster cred, of course they were gonna say "sure." South of the Canadian / US border it gets a little dicier, but again, I don't really care. The Hip are the Hip, they've always been the Hip, that's why I like them, and that's why I've liked them for 13 years. My interest is in the growing question of the value of hipster cred in general when it gets doled out retroactively.
I'm not going to lie to you. I like Rush. They're not one of my favorites, but they're peerless musicians, some of their songs resonate with me, and they put on a great show. Neil Peart's lyrics aren't as profound as some would have you believe, but Rush were definitely musical outliers, outliers that have aged insanely well musically, according to their fans. Other folks however hold entirely different views, and Rush is definitely a polarizing band, which is in part why I whiffed on a buffaBLOG announcement of their show in October at the FNC. And let me tell you, as one of the elders at buffaBLOG, the guy who gets to say shit like "I've been a fan of Radiohead since 1995!", it gnaws at me. Springsteen? I was all over him. Roger Waters? No doubt. The Beach Boys? Mac got that one, but I was there waiting in the wings if nobody covered it. Why? Because I love them, but also because I am keenly aware that they have their bonafides in order. But then I saw on Brooklyn Vegan (of course I check them occasionally, even if I'm only aware of about 17% of what they're on about) that Rush got a post because their tour was hitting up Brooklyn, and I was like "I'll be damned."
It wasn't a perfunctory post either, it was loaded with YouTube videos of Rush. Somebody clearly unloaded their love of Rush on the hipster interwebs, it was almost hilarious. In fact, I have to wonder what BV's internal e-mail conversations about that one were like; in any case Rush won, and there they were, getting their bonafides via one of the most rigorous music blogs on the interwebs. Rush. Worse, had I not whiffed we could have been out in front of BV on Rush, an ultimately meaningless but strangely valuable distinction for a music blog. But my thinking was, I have my tickets, I'll spring a review on you people (and buffaBLOG's editors) in October for shits and giggles, and that was about it. But I wasn't going to try to get you all excited about Rush when that show was announced. No, I wasn't going there, not for Rush, and now I totally regret it.
Now to be completely honest, part of my Rush whiff is also due to my cresting disdain for the philosophy Ayn Rand and the Paul Ryan Budget, and for the record, I don't live my life in accordance with Pitchfork or Brooklyn Vegan; far from it in fact. But I do keep an eye on those websites (among many), and I definitely did a double take when I saw Rush on BV. I'm also pretty sure I had a good laugh. Rush? Rush. Upon further review of course it only proves that in the end that good shit is good shit, and that just about anybody gets their day in the hipster sun. It's just a matter of time.
Why do you hate the philosophy of Ayn Rand?
what's a hipster?
Read this earlier. Then caught myself in the middle of doing something else, thinking, "Did he use the word 'perfunctory?'" and had to come back.