Wait, I'm Not Supposed to Like This?

Magnet's Put Up Your Dukes feature seems awfully clever the first few times you read it: every argument about music you've ever had with your one friend that you never agree on anything with. Then you realize that it's every argument about music you've ever had with your one friend that you never agree on anything with.

This is totally not staged.

But whatever, the pressure of knowing that your mag is fishwrap for Andrew Earles' column must be intense. What's drawn my attention and ire is the latest installment, in which the Matthews argue about whether Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme belongs in the category of Formerly Great Stars Who Can't Write A New Song Worth A Damn, sinkng into the Stygian depths with Stevie Wonder, Paul Weller, and Michael Jackson (yeah, I said it. I spoke ill of the dead. When you all stop pretending that he wasn't a laughinstock on the day that he died, I'll stop pointing it out). And in the course of this otherwise paint-by-numbers slapfight (Era Vulgaris sucks; no it doesn't; Drummers are important; no they aren't; etc.), both agree that Them Crooked Vultures is somehow bad.

Let me be fair; not bad, "disappointing," a judgement that lacks the courage of detail. I'm guessing that they expected the combined efforts of the Queens, Zeppelin, and Foo Fighters would sound like something other than psychedelic-flavored hard rock. Maybe they were expecting Pet Sounds? Paul's Boutique? Kind of Blue? Maybe this was supposed to re-invent the genre? I don't know, because they aren't saying, and no review of it is on the web site.

So yeah, I don't know what I'm even complaining about. Unless I'm complaining about that.