My gag reflex has caused me to throw up a little. Why you ask?
I was reading a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly where they were reviewing the latest Carrie Underwood album. You may remember Carrie from her rise to fame via American Idol. The review talks all about “slick production” and “glossy latest”. Personally, those terms tend to turn me off of the music they’re referencing, but Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating. OK…
Here’s the line that did me in (and really made me wonder why I’m still reading this magazine):
“Underwood is touting Carnival, several tracks of which she co-wrote, as her return to country roots.”
OK, maybe this will make me sound like the old guy at the end of the street yelling at the kids to “get off my lawn!”, but… remember the days when musicians were embarrassed by the fact that they didn’t write their own material? Sure, some amount of music has always been “manufactured”, but when did it become a claim to fame that you actually co-wrote several tracks of your own CDs?
