2011 Pazz & Jop Thoughts
BTW- 701 people voted on that Village Voice Poll. Out of 1500 votes sent out. Less than 50%. I did read one comment by Robert Christgau saying that amateur reviewers (and he's meaning those that write for free on their blogs, or amazon.com, or anywhere on the net) should have their work reviewed before being allowed to vote.
Of course, that's impossible to do, unless you have someone monitor all the work of the 1500 potential voters. And anyways, the free Internet listeners vs. the paid critics thing has been going on for awhile. I don't get paid to do what I do, but I consider myself a full time critic regardless. I listen to a ton of records every year. New stuff and reissues. I consider myself a music historian even more than a critic.
But when I get a Voice ballot every year, I take it pretty seriously. Some would say my choices are too mainstream, not esoteric enough. Might be a fair argument. But I love what I love. I deserve to be a voter.
Of course, that's impossible to do, unless you have someone monitor all the work of the 1500 potential voters. And anyways, the free Internet listeners vs. the paid critics thing has been going on for awhile. I don't get paid to do what I do, but I consider myself a full time critic regardless. I listen to a ton of records every year. New stuff and reissues. I consider myself a music historian even more than a critic.
But when I get a Voice ballot every year, I take it pretty seriously. Some would say my choices are too mainstream, not esoteric enough. Might be a fair argument. But I love what I love. I deserve to be a voter.
posted by Tom Lane at 7:44 AM
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