Jay Reatard

My Ridiculously Belated Top Ten of 2009…with an excuse for being late

Hey all, ace cub reporter of RPM, Ben Foxx here…for those that care, I am amending/changing my Top 10 of 2009 due to a disease which I’ve developed which made the first list come out wrong…ya’ see, last year brought endless waves of Taylor Swift and Jonas Brothers into my life and the results were quite devastating. Every time I heard these cutie-pie, tweenatic, marketing ploy, “Pop Artists” I felt the need to shelter myself from any new incoming music.

By the way, Taylor Swift, I’m onto you…Singing a duet at the Grammys with one of the greatest Female Vocalists in Rock history, Stevie Nicks? – it was embarrasing, quite frankly. Never heard so many flat notes from an “Album of The Year” winner in all my years!
Sorry you had to go through that Stevie!

Getting back to the task at hand…My disease, Swiftian Jonasplexia, made me slack on really listening to all the albums my Ipod had been feasting on last year (shameless plug for Apple…wanna throw some Ipads our way?)

Anyway, My original Top 10 was (No Order)

Gallows- Grey Britain, Avett brothers-I and Love and You, The Mountain Goats- The Life of the World to Come, Pearl Jam- Backspacer, Mastodon- Crack the Skye, Other Lives-Self Titled, AC Newman- Get Guilty, Slayer-World Painted Blood, Muse-The Resistance, The Veils- Sun Gangs
Late 2008 entry…Fucked Up- The Chemistry of Modern Life

After some serious listening, I’m sorry AC Newman, Mastodon, and Pearl Jam
(Pearl Jam, thanks for pulling your embed codes, may have sealed the deal)…you have all been dropped down to Honorable Mention. Your albums are all amazing but I neglected some other albums, who after great moral reflection I needed to add.

Oh and also I gained the balls to put them in order…

here they are:

1. Wild Beasts-Two Dancers

RPM’s intrepid founder, Bob Berman, got this one right.

Melancholy, beautiful, mysterious, complex, challenging….shit my Thesaurus just broke!
Wild Beasts, welcome to an official RPM blog video repeat!!!

2. Gallows- Grey Britain
absolutely ridiculous punk band from England…safe to say their pissed…

3. The Mountain Goats- The Life of the World to Come
Here’s a really interesting video of lead singer & master storyteller John Darnielle:

4. Other Lives- Self Titled
Most underated album of the year…acoustic version of the opener

5. Royksopp- Junior
Get out your bowling shoes and put your pleasure suit on!

6. Jay Reatard- Watch Me Fall
Yes, I forgot to put him on my original list…yes, I feel terrible about it.
It was the disease, I swear!
Great talent lost…R.I.P. Jay Reatard

7. The Veils- Sun Gangs
Brilliant Songwriting…the most important part of it all…and drums…and a bass rig and a van…

8. The Avett Brothers- I and Love and You
Yeah, I didn’t get it either…I and Love and…oh just watch the vid!

9. Muse- The Resistance
OK, I know they are beyond huge at this point but this new album has full-on symphonies (no for real…in 3 parts!)

10. Slayer- World Painted Black
Really don’t want lead singer, Tom Araya kickin my ass…
He just cancelled the tour for back surgery and I’m pretty sure there’s no vid for the album, so he doesn’t need a pissant like me leaving Slayer off the list.
RethinkPopMusic wishes Tom a speedy recovery…hope his Surgeon has horns and a tail!

OK, so as a reward for taking in my late in the game choice of preferences, I give you another belated video tribute…my Late 2008 entry:
Fucked Up- The Chemistry of Modern Life:
To be that fat and hairy and still take your shirt off at every show you have to be great!
Oh and Moby’s a fan…

Tags: Fucked Up, Gallows, grammys, jay reatard, John Darnielle, Jonas Brothers, Moby, Muse, Other Lives, Royksopp, Slayer, Stevie Nicks, Taylor Swift, The Avett Brothers, The Mountain Goats, The Veils, Top 10, top 10 of 2009, wild beasts

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 news View Comments

Jay Reatard- Homicide?

It is being reported on various websites that Memphis Police are investigating the death of Jay Reatard as a Homicide investigation. This good get dicey, he really knew how to piss people off. Here is a link to more info:
http://larecord.com/news/2010/01/14/mpd-investigating-jay-reatards-death-as-a-homicide/#more-39360

Here are a couple of pictures which were taken a day before his death-posted on his twitter page…pretty strange stuff:

Tags: homicide, investigation, jay, jay reatard, Jay Reatard homicide, jay reatard twitter pictures, Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., L.A.Record, Memphis Police, reatard death, RethinkPopMusic, twitter, twitter pictures

Friday, January 15th, 2010 news View Comments

R.I.P. Jay Reatard

Rethinkpopmusic is very sad to hear about the death of Jay Reatard at the age of 29.

In a music world saturated with pristene auto-tune vocals and bubblegum melodies, Jay Reatard (born Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr.) really knew how to dirty the place up! In 2 minute, frenetic in your face punk anthems he always made me feel like there was this maniac punk rocker around the corner just waiting to bash my face in!

In fact at one show, he actually did just that to one lucky fan!

Jay Reatard Punch Video from Tim McCready on Vimeo.

FYI, that’s a good thing in punk rock.

To listen to Jay Reatard is the musical equivalent of getting beat up by a 6th grader. Think, The Ramones, if they were all pre-pubescent kids. His songs, although quick and simple, contained dark complex lyrics which only made it more interesting to hear them in such a context. One of my absolute favorite Jay Reatard songs is “Death is Forming” -the lyrics say it all “Alone in a room needless I sit. I close my eyes and try to forget. Death is forming. Get in line.” This was a guy who thought about death, violence and all the scary unknowns which we all question.

Sean Michaels of The Guardian UK reports:

Speaking to Billboard last summer, Lindsey said his new album was about “dealing with mortality issues, growing older, disenchantment with your youth”. The LP, which saw Lindsey shift from punk rock to noisy pop, was “the first record where I’m kind of exiting the dumb kid part of my life and going into the almost-30 point”.Tragically, he will forever remain on that cusp. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/14/jay-reatard-dies

This Billboard quote is so eye-opening because it shows that with all his songs about death, Jay Retard was definitely looking forward to living.

The music world is a bit more tame today. We will miss you Jay, thanks for all the music.