New Wave Outpost Forum

I just wanted to share that with you all. All her songs have a few things in common:

(1) Pretentious

(2) She is an aweful singer

(3) I cannot tell you what any of her songs mean

(4) The songs are way too long!

(5) The songs all sound the same: shitty!

I can sleep better tonight having gotten this off my chest!

It's OK, Nero, I feel the same way. I'm here for you.

I agree. Two other artists that I don't care for that are sometimes popular with New Wave fans are Grace Jones and Patti Smith. For some reason these three artists are grouped together in my mind. I remember hearing them in the early 80's and poeple would rave about them. I just didn't (don't) get it.

Interpreting <a href="http://www.laurieanderson.com/ " target="blank">Laurie's</a> approach to music is like interpreting Andy Warhol's approach to art or Andy Kaufman's approach to comedy. Some will immediately be put off by the work or it's execution. Others will understand and derive some meaningful interpretation from the work. As for Laurie, she is more a performance artist than a musician whose expression of such is germane to mainstream music. She has exhibited her innovative prowness in both visual and audio technologies developed for her various projects over the past 30 years. She was even bestowed the first ever title of NASA Artist In Residence! (whatever that might entail)
So as far as trashing her talent or work is concerned, you should first reference the musical/ artistic context of how you are going to judge her.

[quote][i]Originally posted by 2Nu[/i]
<br>Interpreting <a href="http://www.laurieanderson.com/ " target="blank">Laurie's</a> approach to music is like interpreting Andy Warhol's approach to art or Andy Kaufman's approach to comedy. Some will immediately be put off by the work or it's execution. Others will understand and derive some meaningful interpretation from the work. As for Laurie, she is more a performance artist than a musician whose expression of such is germane to mainstream music. She has exhibited her innovative prowness in both visual and audio technologies developed for her various projects over the past 30 years. She was even bestowed the first ever title of NASA Artist In Residence! (whatever that might entail)
So as far as trashing her talent or work is concerned, you should first reference the musical/ artistic context of how you are going to judge her.
[/quote]

With all due respect I judge in the Nero Lance context....I get the art thing...but I think that musically it sucks. So while she can bang out some oscure sequence of notes what we are led to believe is music...to me it sounds like my 5 year old playing with her small baby keyboard. I take that back...my daughter sounds better! Moving on...I hate it when artists suck but yet just becuase they are obscure and have a small almost religous following they somehow manage to be a blip on the radar screen of the genre. The rest of us who don't like it are told that we just don't understand....rubbish! We understand that we don't like it.

P.S. Please note 2Nu I do not mean to be disrespectful or vicous etc. I am sure we probably listen to almost the same sort of bands (heck we are on the NWO). I am just on a Laurie Anderson rant! By the way people bash U2 all the time these days and I still love them right up to the last album. And I paid over $100 to see them.

I dowloaded O Superman the other day after remembering the splash it made way back when it came out. I must say I deleted the song VERY quickly. Rather horrid.

I'm not trying to be an advocate for Laurie's musical stylings or interpretation thereof. Heck, I posted <a href="http://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5840&whichpage=1" target="blank">here</a> that I never took a liking to Kraftwerk or the <a href="http://www.rzweb.net/video/videos.html#mansworld" target="blank">Residents</a> for that matter. They are certainly musicians worthy of recognition and respect but as far as I'm concerned they just don't do it for me. I do realize that Kraftwerk are the progenitors of today's electronic music and see the relevance of their work. As for the Residents, well that's another story. Same thing with Andersen, I don't go out of my way to find her music but if I do hear or see a performance piece, I will give it a listen or a viewing just like I would a sculpture, photograph or painting on display.
Well that's it, you're free to have your opinion.

Laurie Anderson always reminded me of Yoko Ono but with some actual talent. I saw her on SNL back in '85 (I think?) and I thought she was pretty amusing. Performance Art all the way, I'd never listen to her without seeing her perform. Would'nt make sense.

I liked some of the poppier stuff off Strange Angels but the rest is mostly pretentious avante-gardiness. Trying to listen to the four-disc United States Live box set can be a real chore. A lot of it can't be understood and the impact lessened because her art (or should that be "Art") is so visual. I'd probably go see her live if it was convenient but overall I think she's merely--OK. I'm still amazed that Oh Superman was such a big hit in the UK. Reached #3 I think. Oh, and she's married to Lou Reed which makes her that much cooler to old NYC hipsters.

Yeah, this is like listening to the Blue Man Group and not seeing the performance[8D] I like some of her music, but I can imagine it tries most people's patience and tolerance. A lot of the stuff I like now took me a while to get used to. Cabaret Voltaire is one of them. Einsturzende Neubauten is another. Some of that avant-garde stuff was way too much for me at first exposure, but it grew on me over time. My taste for things changed to be able to bear some of the unfamiliar stuff.

Speaking of which, I just watched part of a 7hr movie from Hungary called [i]Satantango[/i]... it's freakin 7hrs long!!! This made me see Andrei Tarkovsky's movies in a whole new light. Whereas I used to think them slow-paced and contemplative, next to Bela Tarr's 7hr sluggish fiasco, Tarkovsky's movies look and feel fast!

[quote][i]Originally posted by buffalochipz[/i]
<br>I'm still amazed that Oh Superman was such a big hit in the UK. Reached #3 I think.
[/quote]

The track reached #2 but only spent 6 weeks in the chart which was very surprising for such a high-placed song back then.

Anyone who introduces the musical concept of drum'n'bagpipe should definately be avoided. [xx(]

Oh what a shame

I love laurie Anderson!
Altho I haven't listened to anything of hers since [i]Big Science[/i], I still dig out that, as well as [i]Blue Lagoon[/i] often. it's very soothing and ambient.

My favourite song is [i]Blue Lagoon[/i].

[i]Smoke Rings[/i] is also pretty cool [8D]

Yes, I'll be the first to admit I own her double greatest CD that was put out a few years back on rhino records. I love Laurie Anderson and you guys just need to give her a chance, listen to:

Sharkey's Day
Walk The Dog
Language Is A Virus

Thanks,Justin/DevoManiac101