Hi Everybody,

I just wanted to stick a quick plug out here for David Denby's new book "Snark" I read it last night and I felt like he articulated very well the distinction between Satire and Snark. Go get it. Being a musician and putting out records for "review" by "rock journalists" has made me very familiar with Snark. Here is a quote from the book:

"The platonic idea of Snark is something like this: Two girls are sitting in a high school cafeteria putting down a third, who's sitting on the other side of the room. What is peculiar about this event is that the girl on the other side of the room is their best friend. In that scenario, snark is abusive or sarcastic speech that operates like poisoned arrows within a closed space. Its intention is to offer solidarity between two or more parties and to exclude someone from the same group. On Gossip Girl this is entertaining but in real life this is hostile as spit. The crab that tries to escape the barrel- the girl who dresses differently or studies harder- gets pulled back into the barrel. Who does she think she is? A young writer who creates an ambitious work of fiction gets snarked by journalists of lesser ambition. What a pretentious phony! Snark often functions as an enforcer of mediocrity and conformity. In its cozy knowingness, snark flatters you by assuming that you get the contemptuos joke. You have been admitted or readmitted, to a club, though it may be the club of the second rate."

So much of music writing is of this type. Maybe I am shooting fish in a barrel here. I should feel compassion for the recent grad, B minus students by remembering Zappa's quote: "Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read." Fair Enough as Dana would say, but you know what; these people are grown ups so here goes, what bugs me is the relative anonymity with which snarkers hurl their invective. And none of us can ever call them on it. You will never see them championing anything that outlies their purvue, its too risky, but, if they champion anything at all- and many don't out of cowardice, they champion what may ingratiate them into their targeted bohemian flock. The whole excercise has the distinct whiff of bourgy social climbing no different than their suburban parents that I bet they despise. This can go both directions- on the Warp tour we used to call it log rolling. (Often popular bands would say something complimentary from the stage about the local bands so that their street cred would remain intact because they feared that being signed to Warner Brothers might open them up to a 13 year olds criticism) And forget about using examples and reason to back up critical "arguments". Lets face it most of them have flea sized ideas and sadly they are the gate keepers who often control the discourse. Its absurd, and it wont change.... But know Portland, Brooklyn, Seattle, SF and LA "culture writers". Denby is calling you out. Was this a snarky blog? You bet.