Hatchet Man

[richard_havers]

Back in spring of 1983 one of BritainÕs best-known music journalists Charles Shaar Murray Ð a man of strong opinions Ð was working on the NME. He once called Eric Clapton an Òold fartÓ whose records made him Òashamed to be over thirty.Ó So it probably didnÕt worry A&M unduly when he was given an album to review by one of their new young artists, a 23-year-old Canadian rock singer and guitarist of whom they had high hopes. HeÕd already released a couple of singles that had flirted with the charts in the USA and UK and his new album Cuts Like A Knife had just entered the American charts. A&M must have been shocked at MurrayÕs review, which was a total hatchet job. ÒThis album is a prime example of American rubbish. From the Petty/Springsteen school of Enlightened Rockists. He looks like a cross between Petty and Sting and produces a noise akin to Springsteen writing the worst songs of his career, committing suicide and Ð as a final act of vengeance- willing the demos to Foreigner. The American charts are bursting wide open to a lot of new music, which raises hopes that rock bores like Adams will find their meal tickets expiring within the near future.Ó

From which we can conclude that Charles was not keen on the new Bryan Adams album, which in fairness didnÕt chart in Britain although it made No.8 in America. Adams has gone on to have 16 Top 20 singles in Britain including 2 No.1s and four chart toppers in America and a whole hat full of hits.

I doubt Charles Shaar Murray likes him anymore today than he did then.

[jingle_jangle]

OK, I imagine you're typing on some odd keyboard...

It took me awhile to separate your writing from the quoted parts of the review, Richard. But now we're OK.

CSM does have some strong opinions. Reviews are hopefully not rubber stamps of the public taste. He was at odds with Adams' success. Nothing new, IMO. (I'm not a big BA fan, either.)

CSM wrote what is--for me--the best rock bio ever written, PERIOD, "Crosstown Traffic" (Jimi Hendrix). Compared to REAL hack jobs like "No One Here Gets Out Alive", which is the basis for Sugarman's making a living exploiting the Doors in every way possible (personal rant), "Crosstown" shines.

[richard_havers]

Odd keyboard!! It's a Mac

Maybe it's my browser. I'll try using Firefox instead of Safari

I agree on CSM. He's a good writer. His John Lee Hooker book is a really fascinating read (Boogie Man I think it's called)

[jingle_jangle]

I'm on a Mac both here at my office and at home, using Safari. As you can read above, there are some things going on with your ASCII codes or something....help me out, experts...

[wayang]

I thought he was just lapsing into Gaelic...

as in: "I've always liked that Irish Reggae singer, Shinehead Ó'Connor..."

[dr_wahnsinn]

Regarding the font problem;
Richard, while in Safari, select the View menu and then move down to allow the Text Encoding menu option to expand. Select the Default option at the very top of the menu. I was able to have your typed punctuation marks correct themselves by selecting the Western (Mac OS Roman) option in my browser. After you choose the default option, post again and give us some punctuation to see. Perhaps it will then display properly on our browsers.

[jingle_jangle]

Watch that Shinehead stuff, hippie...

[sowhat]

Shinehead O'Connor? Priceless!

[j_gary]

Jeez, this is a laugh a minute thread!

What ever happened to the Shinehead?

I used to find her quite fetching. Not so much anymore. She seems a little irritable.

[ozover50]

Har!! Nothing compares.........

[rictified]

A little irritable? She made a living being miserable and over the top. Shinehead is a great name for her.