You know, I don’t usually get angry when people insult my favorite musicians. I mean, everyone has different tastes. Life would be pretty boring if they didn’t.
Unfortunately, this article, entitled “Hayes and Confused,” is an exception, and an offensive one at that.
The author, J.R. Taylor, inexplicably sets out to compare Isaac Hayes, a soul singer who enjoyed most of his success in the 1970s, to Tori Amos, an alternative rock (for lack of a better category) singer/songwriter/pianist who reached the height of her popularity in the 1990s. If that comparison brings to mind the Simpsons episode where Lenny and Carl compare the merits of Muhammad Ali in his prime to anti-lock brakes, you’re not alone.
Taylor begins by writing about a concert in which Hayes notes that he’s a Scientologist and offers related pamphlets to audience members. To the author, this is one of the things that makes Hayes “classy.” Of course, I would vehemently disagree, but I let it slide and kept reading as Taylor gushed on and on about the music of Isaac Hayes.
When the time finally came that J.R. could no longer muster any more glowing praise for Hayes, he clumsily segued into a pathetic tirade against Tori Amos.
Most of the rant, however, ignored whatever failings the author perceived in Tori’s music, and instead focused on denigrating her odd (but harmless) religious beliefs, among other things:
Cute. A subtle implication that she’s a sellout. Of course, the author neglects to mention that Tori hangs around for hours before or after (sometimes both!) every damn one of her shows, signing any old thing a fan will shove in front of her.
Right. I’m sure that’s what she had in mind when posing for an album cover that happens to show a little bit of cleavage. Because, you know, when I think of whorish female artists who parade their boobs around to drum up record sales, the first name to come to mind is naturally a self-described feminist who founded a rape crisis charity. :rolleyes:
Ah, so she’s also stupid and possibly racist to boot! Somehow Taylor is able to discern this from “a cute little movement.”
Stunning logic. Can I turn this statement around to say that anyone who takes a Scientologist seriously can’t goof on Tori? If so, then what the fuck are you doing, J.R.? Also, I’m perfectly capable of seperating Tori’s beliefs from her music. Somehow, the author can manage to do that with Hayes, but not with Amos. Lastly, Tori’s beliefs are all her own, and they don’t seem to hurt anyone. Compare that to the Cult of Scientology, who routinely sue and harrass critics while shamelessly swallowing up the bank accounts of their members and encouraging them to cut ties with any friends and family who don’t belong to their creepy little “church.”
Lest you should doubt Mr. Taylor’s exquisite taste in pop culture, a sentence from his last paragraph should allay your concerns:
Yup. In fact, it was cool enough to earn a whopping 2.4/10 on IMDB and the derision of virtually every critic not affiliated with the Cult.
So, is Taylor a schill for Scientology or just monumentally stupid? Either way, it’s hard to tell why a newspaper would pay actual U.S. currency for his services, when they probably could have gotten away with giving his dumb ass some Monopoly money and a used copy of “Dianetics.”