Comments on: Trash Talk for Girl Talk

By: Grace

Grace — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:13:49 +0000

Nice article! I had an extremely similar Girl Talk experience last month at UMASS. While many of the people in the pit seemed to be having a good time (which I do not begrudge them in the least), I almost fell asleep during Gillis' set. The only reason I stuck around was to see Lupe Fiasco (who was solid, but not amazing).

What's funny is that my friend made almost exactly the same observation as you made in the above article: Universities and colleges - purportedly the center of all things academic, and the places where many of us are paying thousands of dollars in tuition money each year - are shelling out thousands of dollars (our dollars) for a show that would be just as good as an MP3 packet downloaded (for free, if you want) on the internet.

I am enjoying your music themed blogging. Thanks! Check out my music blog, if you get a chance: http://musicsnob90.blogspot.com/

By: Anon

Anon — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:37:04 +0000

Oops, Girl Talk is getting popular time to dock Gregg of his Indie cred!

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:09:40 +0000

"Colossally overrated"? No, the show was not overrated at all. Nearly everyone I talked to who was there thought it sucked. No one is saying particularly good things about it.

By: old fart

old fart — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:17:21 +0000

Way to name drop Minor Threat, kiddo. Here's your street cred.

By: hunk

hunk — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:56:02 +0000

Whether his mash-ups were good or not, that show in particular was horrible and that's a FACT.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 06:42:51 +0000

I think a lot of people went just to see what all the hype was about and to have a good time at a show that they knew a lot of other students would go to.

By: Hank

Hank — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:08:42 +0000

who cares who did it first? everything is derivative, like you mentioned. the comment of “They could’ve just paid ten bucks for a Girl Talk CD and played that for us instead" is just ignorant. it's like someone who never listens to jazz going to see some avant-garde work and being like "my kid could play that." girl talk does everything live. every show has new and different selections. it's why his shows have gotten such rave reviews. it's been covered in the media many times how girl talk does it live. he's a critically acclaimed live electronic performer. girl talk's sound is original. it's based on people before him (john oswald, z-trip, beastie boys, negativland), but he's taking it somewhere else. since you seem to interested in accolades, girl talk's past two albums have both been featured in rolling stone's, spin's, blender's, pitchfork's, and many other's top 40 albums of the year (2006 and 2008). no one else doing sample based work has ever done anything like this. he has been discussed in congress. he's featured in a new documentary movie about copyright. he's in lawerence lessig's new book on copyright. he sells out larger venues than any laptop artist EVER (other than possibly kraftwerk). his work has been praised in the new york times and npr. wayne coyne (of the flaming lips) and beck have both spoken about how they are big fans of his music. even if you aren't a fan of his sound, you can't ignore his impact. in my opinion, i think he's truly trailblazing.

By: Active critic

Active critic — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:45:52 +0000

I totally agree with you, which is why I started pushing people in frustration upon hearing such obviously unoriginal style.

By: you kinda suck

you kinda suck — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:38:51 +0000

i dont think people care about "originality" when they listen to girl talk. i dont think theyre deciphering who influenced his music, or how mashups are sooo this decade. i think theyre just getting crunked and dancing.

its not exactly music for thought, and thats probably why you cant enjoy it. stop thinking about it.