{"id":7111,"date":"2003-08-31T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2003-09-01T02:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2003\/08\/31\/7111\/"},"modified":"2021-07-20T09:44:12","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T14:44:12","slug":"7111","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2003\/08\/31\/7111\/","title":{"rendered":"Someone Pass This Message on To Rob Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I was listening to some Ani DiFranco<\/a> during a long vehicle voyage this month, when I struck it. No, not a motorcycle, since I was heading out of Milwaukee and every Harley-Davidson in the country was on the other side of the highway. I struck upon why I can listen to Ani when she covers some of the same themes I have maligned Matchbox Twenty<\/a> for covering over and over.<\/p>\n

For example, the failed relationship between a person and a woman. Ani DiFranco covers this ground in her song “Marrow<\/a>” while Matchbox Twenty did it in their hit “If You’re Gone<\/a>“. Both songs depict the member of the opposite sex in a less than flattering light, but not with the same skill:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ani DiFranco<\/b><\/font><\/td>\n
Rob Thomas<\/b><\/font><\/tr>\n
cuz i got tossed out the window of love’s el camino
\n and i shattered into a shower of sparks on the curb.
\n you were smoking me weren’t you
\n between your yellow fingers,
\n you just inhaled and exhaled without saying a word.<\/font><\/td>\n		I think you’re so mean<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

So Ani’s got a little more lyrical depth. Matchbox Twenty’s collective emotions run from A (self-pitying emotions when dumped, a la “Rest Stop” or “If You’re Gone”) to B (self-pitying emotions when you don’t belong, such as “Bent”,”Crutch” “Disease” or “Unwell”).<\/p>\n

Ani DiFranco can capture the ins, from “Shameless<\/a>” to “Hell Yeah<\/a>” to “Shy<\/a>“, and the outs, such as or “Out of Range<\/a>“. No one’s better at capturing the worst, most poignant song, the love song about a couple who almost<\/i> made it, such as “School Night<\/a>” or “Both Hands<\/a>“, or the songs about love yet to be resolved (“The Diner”<\/a>). I won’t even begin troubling you with her political or girl power lyrics.<\/p>\n

How about the music pacing and variation? Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n

Face it, Matchbox Twenty, or matchbox twenty, or m20 or whatever the hell they’re going to be for their next album, has two speeds: Slow Moody Grunge Lite, like “If You’re Gone”, and Regular Moody Grunge Lite, which is everything else that moves a half speed faster.<\/p>\n

Ani, on the other hand, varies tempos and even styles. From I-Wish-I-Were-At-A-Slam “Coming Up<\/a>” spoken word to “Little Plastic Castle<\/a>” I-Am-A-Folk-Song-Ha!-Tricked-You-I-Am-Ska, Ani varies the rythym and tempo as well as the theme.<\/p>\n

Ani DiFranco’s a grown up, and a person who’s, for lack of a better term, thirtysomething can listen to Ani. Her many albums provide enough variation that an aging Gen Xer can wallow in self-evaluation with her, without riding the path enough to rut it. Ani’s music grows<\/i> with us, and we with it.<\/p>\n

If someone reading this feels like it, pass the memo to Robbie and crew. I don’t think he’d listen to me if I told him.<\/p>\n

Also, please, no one mention to the Republican National Committee that I even know who Ani DiFranco is. I so treasure those personal mass mailings from Dick Cheney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I was listening to some Ani DiFranco during a long vehicle voyage this month, when I struck it. No, not a motorcycle, since I was heading out of Milwaukee and every Harley-Davidson in the country was on the other side of the highway. I struck upon why I can listen to Ani when she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28653,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7111\/revisions\/28653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}