Justin Timberlake, who has the #1 album in the country, also tops Billboard‘s Hot 100, Pop 100, Hot Digital Songs, and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums this week.
FutureSex/LoveSounds is just inescapable!
Or is it?
In his latest Letter, industry legend Bob Lefsetz is bemused by JT’s success…
Funny thing about today’s landscape… If you don’t like something, you can ignore it. It’s not like the sixties, we don’t live in one big homogenous society. Justin Timberlake might as well be the biggest star in North Dakota in terms of the impact it has on me.The scary thing is that all those kids who bought ‘N Sync records actually think this dude is talented, that he’s the real thing. Talk about warped, degraded standards!
I think this world can be separated into two factions. Those who get “SexyBack” and those who don’t. Those who think music is to fuck to and those who believe it’s about setting your mind free, not that they’re opposed to coitus.
This is not the Beatles. The baby boomers are not going to wake up one day and say they missed the boat, Justin Timberlake was a great songwriter, a true talent. Justin Timberlake is an ENTERTAINER, who takes himself WAY too seriously.
As for those who say the acts of yore were no different, you might as well live in China, where they keep rewriting history. Music drove the culture in the sixties. Now the mainstream stuff is a lubricant at best.
I think maybe Lefsetz takes himself WAY too seriously. But I agree (if that’s what he’s getting at) that “SexyBack” is boring and soulless. I “get” “My Love,” though.
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At least we can ignore Timberlake. Millions of people were exposed to prog for a good decade.
The problem is that Sexyback is that’s it’s just a decent hook in desperate need of a chorus. The whole thing just drags on and on.
Beck – The Information
http://rapidshare.de/files/33975427/Beck-The_Information-2006-RTB.rar.html
‘my love’ might be the only listenable song on jt’s new album.
Did you seriously just refer to him a “industry legend Bob Lefsetz”? I hope you were being sarcastic, Scott. Lefsetz is just some guy that whines all day about how nobody can top James Taylor. And don’t even get me started about his ski trip emails.
I’ll take worst song openings for $500, Alex.
This song begins “hi my name is bob and i work my job…”
“you mean coitus?”
I like both “Sexyback” and “My Love.” I think that “Cry Me a River” is one of the greatest songs of the last decade. But whatev. I don’t give a fuck who Bob Lefsetz is, so his opinion is like zero to me.
that album is just a really good pop album. plain and simple.
Who considers JT on par with the Beatles? I bet not even Justin or Cameron would make that comparison. This guy’s a bit of a toolbox.
lefsetz talks as though JT actually thinks sexyback to be brilliant, culturally-driven songwriting, as if it was his goal to make the song anything more than a sweaty fuck. he may “get” sexyback, but he doesn’t seem to get justin, who would probably be happy to think of that song as cultural lubricant.
In my day we had to walk five miles uphill in the snow to our LSD-fueled, prophylactic-free Jefferson Airplace spirit-orgies…both ways.
bob lefsetz is the COGNOSCENTI. i want to give him ALL MY MONEY.
it doesn’t RESONATE with bob, he doesn’t want to dance/fuck to it, but WE as the HOI POLLOI want to OWN IT ALL. because we are all FANS
agreed. sexyback just sounds like it’s missing something, though i can’t place my finger on it. listening to it on the radio, it sounds like it’s severely missing bass, and the way his voice is modulated bothers me to no end.
though, i do love the trilogy of lovestoned, what goes around, and summer love.
all of the “feat. _____” tracks suck, as far as i’m concerned.
i’m bringing lazyback, by not doing shit today.
Lefsetz is more often right than wrong and “SexyBack” is dawg music
I think Justin has made a good pop album. There are some great songs on the CD. I think ‘Sexyback’ is great. It’s a fun album to listen to. Really.
I don’t like that he presupposes that “all those kids who bought ‘N Sync records actually think this dude is talented, that he’s the real thing. Talk about warped, degraded standards!”
Like it’s impossible to like Justin Timberlake but not consider him a musical genius, or that liking pop music means you have no taste and can’t appreciate anything else. Or that growing up on nsync somehow means standards are lower, as opposed to people who grew up in every other decade where there were successful pop groups???
And yeah, Justin IS talented…I mean, I can’t sing/dance/write songs/play instruments and most people I know can’t either. So Justin isn’t talented just because he didn’t make Sgt. Pepper? It’s such a dumb, predictable argument.
“SexyBack” isnt a “song” per say – its a jam.
but “My Love” has some of the worst lyrics ever …
“I can see us holding hands, walking on the beach, our toes in the sand. I can see us on the countryside, sitting side by side”
WHAT!?!?!
Lyrics schmirics, the new Timberlake album is all about beats. And Timbaland, as usual, brings em. It’s a very enjoyable album, if only for Timbaland’s brilliant ear candy.
On second thought, it’s just club music, so I agree with the assessment that Lefsetz shouldnt take the music so seriously. On the other hand, the industry prefers to back pop stuff like this in general, as opposed to taking chances on indie bands – and that is the point that Lefsetz was trying to make
Similarly, there are those who “get” Bob Lefsetz, & also those who don’t.
Lefsetz is an opinion machine… you can’t take everything he says too seriously. Just like most any opinion columnist, he’ll take the far left or far right approach in order to make his point. Oftentimes he even contradicts himself. But you don’t read Bob Lefsetz in order to agree with every single thing he writes. You read Bob Lefsetz because he makes good points & brings up issues that need to be discussed within the industry.
If you don’t care about his ski trips, don’t subscribe to his letter. I’m sure he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about whether or not you read it.
a…fucking….men
Man, give me Justin Timberlake over Tapes ‘n’ Tapes any day. If you say FutureSex/LoveSounds is unlistenable, you just haven’t listened.
FYI: “Cry me a River” written by Arthur Hamilton in 1953 (not of this decade).
JT is just not that original.
I’ve unsubscribed from the Lefsetz Letter only to resubscribe in hopes of reading his thoughts on music, but instead all I get are his fucking ski trip diaries.
Lefsetz once spent an entire e-mail lauding Hot Hot Heat’s “Middle of Nowhere” as if it was the best song ever written. WTF?!?! That shit was horrible!
I’d rather listen to the opinions of Stereogum and those who leave comments on it. It has something to do with being in touh with today’s music, I think.
hoi polloi is definite.
in other words, you can’t say “the hoi polloi want this” or something…you just say “hoi polloi want this”. owned.
Middle of Nowhere was a bitchin’ track. I’d bet they sold more copies of that record than CSS ever will. So what exactly does that make “today’s music?” That which you & your hipster buds approve of?
But Bob’s never claimed to be a “taste maker,” as far as I know. He & I really don’t have that much in common when it comes to musical taste. But when it comes to the industry… where it’s been & the direction in which it’s going, I often find that he’s right on the money. And even then, it’s not even as much about Bob’s thoughts as it is the discussion that revolves around them (this one not included).
But really, think about it… what if I went around posting comments on sites like Stereogum about how I don’t approve of your blog? And how I don’t like what you post about? At least Lefsetz has penty of great music & industry commentary & loads of subscribers to validate his column. I, for one, will continue to endure the ski trip diaries.
no need to go to China to find people rewriting history. take Lefsetz for example: supposedly the sixties was “one big homogenous society” with music driving the culture, whereas today’s music is culturally irrelevant? keep dreaming.
Yeah, Justin is just an entertainer, but where did you get the idea that HE takes himself way to seriously? His producers are taking his club music pretty serious (but its club music), and yes there are a lot of people out there who prolly think he’s an amazing talent. But you’d be hard pressed to find anyone with a brain who thinks that.
I think that the original article was just a microcasm in a reflection on the music industry today. In the past music wasn’t as accessible, in the fact that not everyone could do it, marketing hadn’t hit the heights it has today, and consumerism wasn’t at the level it is today. While I have music as we all do I agree in some respects, not only to my disappointment in “Sexy Back” (I mean come on) but in most of the new attempts by the music industry. Music was once the voice to which social reform was triggered. Have we fallen so far as to think this song has any merit whatsoever? Agreed its yet another song to grind too. Whether or not Justin T. Is talented is an entirely different matter. For this I would say no. He doesn’t write his own songs, he is but a voice and an appearance. Any exploration into other genres of music proves this. One thing that should be noted though is the fact that the small army of people behind him creating this product and making it one that all would want is what is truely incredible.
Lefsetz does make a good point that it’s easier today to ignore certain aspects of pop culture, simply because of the sheer number of choices available to us now…cable/satellite TV, iPods, more compartmentalized radio, etc. Music in general certainly hasn’t lost its cultural impact, but the chance for a particular song or artist to be ingrained on the collective public psyche is becoming increasingly less likely. Personally, I’m a music obsessive (both old and new), constantly buying, listening to, reading about anything I can get my hands on…but I scan the Top 100 Billboard charts every week and can maybe pick out 5 songs that I’ve heard. I’ll admit that I’ve never heard “SexyBack” (or any other song in currently in the Top 10, save for “Crazy”), and maybe never will. Maybe I just don’t care. Maybe I prefer to live in my little alternate world where this year’s musical landscape is made up of The Pipettes, The Dears, Camera Obscura, Hem, the aforementioned Gnarls Barkley…
On second thought, I’m going to listen to “SexyBack” on Rhapsody right now. Apparently, none of us are immune to Justin Timberlake’s powers!
Timbaland is the talented one there. His and other producers’ (Pharell?) ability to create a hook is what drives pop music. That’s the purpose of pop music – to give you a hook and entertain. Not saying they’re trying to change the political landscape or free your mind. I’ll stick to Bob Seger for that. But when I hear that song on the radio, I don’t immediately turn it off – thus its a hit. A mass produced hit. Talented producers can take even Paris Hilton and make her voice not sound so retarded by giving her some beats and a hook…