Monday, March 30, 2009

unknown (guilty) pleasures ...

Look at these tools. How can anyone possibly get behind a band like Maroon 5? That would be my knee-jerk reaction to M5, but truth be told I've become quite fond of their tune 'Sunday Morning' off their 2002 LP Songs About Jane (listen to it, it's undeniably great). It's easy for pretentious music folk to write this band off thanks to their over-produced neo-blue-eyed soul that sounds like it was perfectly tailored for a pop radio crowd that digs Panic at the Disco and other such garbage. I probably would have done the same, except that I've heard some of M5's songs, and I like them. That said, I know nothing past their first album because I haven't been keeping up with the hits stations, so they could seriously suck now. But the 4 songs I know from their first, via Pop Radio in the Wes-tech weight room c. 2003-2004, are awesome. Maybe the recent this group gets little respect from the Pitchfork crowd is the lead singer, Adam Levine. I mean, look at him, what a d-bag, right? I think his (unfortunate) appearance on so many hip-hop singles has paradoxically really hurt his cred (he thinks he's hard!). But he can sing, and his voice has a weird uniqueness that I kinda like (but not in rap songs). Just check out 'Sunday Morning' a Stevie-style jam with a straight-up Sir Duke style horn intermission. Levine isn't the most talented white soul singer around today (see Jim James) but he's got his own thing. And the songs are great. Does it help the bands cred that Songs About Jane was originally an indie-release in 2k2 that didn't get well known until 'Harder to Breath' and 'This Love' blew up in 03-04? Should this matter? Is it okay for me to like this band, or should it make me feel guilty? I think Maroon 5 strongly represents my ongoing personal struggle to accept music just for how it sounds and how much I enjoy it, regardless of what the alt-press says or how mainstream it is. Here goes ... I like Maroon 5.

... that wasn't too bad, was it?

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