Music Monday - Culture Bully Talks RZA, Marketing Your Band and Tight Jeans

Chris DeLine of Culture Bully makes you both laugh and really, really think about the world of online journalism and the serious impact it has on the way bands market themselves. But then he flips the fun switch on again when he says something totally out there (read question #8 for instance) that reminds us why we love working with bloggers. Online critics love music just as much as we do, and it's great when they have that balance of a sense of humor and seriousness and professionalism of it all. Culture Bully covers folk, hip-hop, electronic, everything, really. Major label superstars and indie underdogs. As to what Culture Bully likes to cover, DeLine said, "...if it sounds good to me, I like it. That said, if it ever comes to the point where Culture Bully is rocking some Seether on the reg, I would sincerely hope someone smacks me around with a tube sock full of batteries until I come to my senses."

Music Monday Q&A

1. How long has Culture Bully been operating?
1,970 days as of August 23 2010.

2. What makes Culture Bully different from other websites?
It's the only site to be a) called "Culture Bully," and b) be 100% fully endorsed by me: Chris DeLine. I'd like to make it clear that I, in no way, stand behind the sub-par Culture Bully Español knock-off.. But if you're looking for an actual example of competitive edge... I can't think of another site that recently featured new music videos by Scissor Sisters, Behemoth, RZA and Joanna Newsom in the same day. So I've got that goin' for me.

3. Do you think Culture Bully has a specific musical niche?
(See: Behemoth & Scissor Sisters.) I was genuinely mulling this over about a week ago. To some degree I know the site alienates a lot of people because it's all over the place—too all over the place, even. But I'd rather go that route than try to pick a single genre, or sub-genre, and focus solely on that. It just doesn't seem like it'd be as much fun. I mean, at this moment there's stuff on the main page focusing on everything from heavy metal to hip-hop... Actually, come to think of it, there's a common denominator there: tight jeans. Maybe the site does have a niche and I just never realized it.

4. What albums are you looking forward to coming out?
Grinderman, Robyn, Kanye West... but there's an impossible amount of music to listen to that's released every day, so it's not like I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for anything to reach my ears. Each day offers a new surprise in that regard.

5. How does Culture Bully support independent music and what’s important about doing so?
I'm probably not the best guy to stand up and wave the indie-music flag, and I'm not even sure that I know what it means to truly support independent music. Is there a sticker, like the "I Voted" stickers you get during elections, that says "I support indie music?" Just like major labels, much independent music is so ridiculously god-awful to the point that I don't think I could wear the sticker in good conscious, if there was one. I had a friend in university who liked bands along the lines of Seether and Nickelback and whatnot, and when I would push him to qualify why exactly he likes that stuff when the options are limitless of what you can listen to he gave me a response along the lines of, "If it sounds good to me, I like it." To some degree I've grown in a similar direction. Ten years ago I wouldn't be caught dead listening to pop music, and the vast majority of rap made no sense to me. (Sidebar: not Wu-Tang though, them shits was tight even when I was in junior high, son.) But once you open your ears and let down your guard a little bit, life becomes more enjoyable; same holds true for music. I don't have much interest in ignoring major label music or specifically focusing on independent music just for the sake of doing so: if it sounds good to me, I like it. That said, if it ever comes to the point where Culture Bully is rocking some Seether on the reg, I would sincerely hope someone smacks me around with a tube sock full of batteries until I come to my senses.

6. Do you think online publications are taking precedence over print magazine? What kind of effect do you think that has on bands?
I guess the only way to know for sure would be to look at circulation statistics or earnings statements of the individual publishers to know if they're getting their asses handed to them financially. If they are, then I suppose you could draw the conclusion that the online world has taken over. Until then, though, I'd have to say no: I mean, until Pitchfork can move a couple hundred thousand issues of a print magazine every month, it's still just a website. There's still a market for print, and there will be one for the foreseeable future, but yeah, the shift toward digital publishing is eating up more and more of the pie as each year passes. There are certainly exceptions, but I still don't think the online world takes precedent quite yet. If your band gets a feature printed in some zine like NME, I'm still thinking that it means a whole lot more than getting a blog post on Stereogum (for example).

As far as bands are concerned, as the music blogosphere/world of online music publications continues to expand there becomes more opportunities to be featured somewhere on the Internet. Honestly, I love the idea that there are thousands and thousands of music blogs—so many that the idea of actually figuring out a ballpark figure is staggering—but the flip side is that there are thousands and thousands of music blogs. It becomes a blur after a while and unless you really connect with some site in particular as a reader—whether you like a blog's style, content, or are simply a fan of their niche—chances are that vast majority of everything that's out there is going to be overlooked anyways. So in the end, I'm not sure that it means that there are any more honest opportunities for bands now that there's a balance between print and online than there was when print dominated. It just means that the way bands have to market themselves is changing... but that's an entirely separate discussion for another time.

7. What blogs/magazines do you read other than your own?
Honestly, I pay more attention to Twitter and digg-ish aggregators than individual sites for the most part. But, as far as music sites are concerned, I check out arm's length-list that's featured on my links page fairly regularly. I've been enjoying more dance/electronic sites as of the late, for whatever that's worth. Non-music: Mashable, Cracked... Like I said though, on the whole I just go where the Internet leads me. It's a trying mistress at times, but one that typically treats me right in the end.

8. What has been your most definitive moment since you started Culture Bully?
This interview... or the time I got a cease and desist order from Axl Rose's lawyers... or both. It's hard to say.

9. If you could interview any musician/band (dead or alive) who would it be?
The thing about interviews is that they're pretty much force conversations between strangers. I don't know that you can expect too much from anyone you haven't really met before, especially considering the typical amount of time it takes to simply crack the ice with someone. The more you think about it, the more awkward the idea seems. That said...

Dead: I would like to hang out with Jimi Hendrix for a while. I think I could've learned a few things about partying from that cat.

Alive: I think Neil Young would have a few words that would help me gain some insight into life. The man's smart, and having lived through what he has, I can't imagine him not having a few amazing revelations just waiting to roll off his tongue. And if all else fails, we could just talk about hockey... though I honestly wouldn't mind just hanging out in awkward silence with the guy; seems like that'd make for a pretty great story to tell someone else's grandchildren.

10.If you could be in any band (of all time), who would you rock with?
I've never really wanted to be in a band. Sure, daydreams here and there, but I've never really wanted it. I'd much rather tour with a team of skateboarders, the Harlem Globetrotters, or even the Jackass crew. Actually, especially the Jackass guys: they're kind of like a band when you think about it. And I know Chris Pontius can actually jam a little bit. In the event someone has the power to make this happen holler at me, seriously—I'd jump at the chance to intern for their website or something. I'm pretty flexible and have already moved three times across two countries this year, so I have no qualms with picking up shop at a moment's notice. Please America, help show the rest of the world that dreams can come true!

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Legendary Critic Robert Christgau Retires Consumer Guide

Referred to as the “Dean of American Rock Critics,” after an outstanding 41-year run of Robert Christgau’s Consumer Guide, music critic Christgau is retiring his infamous column.

The news comes with an almost unsettling feeling to both journalists and dedicated music fans, but will full support and understanding. It also almost comes like a punch in the gut to true music journalism; like we are losing someone we know. Cited one of the godfathers of pop music criticism, Christgau stands as an iconic influence amongst names like Lester Bangs, David Fricke or even Anthony DeCurtis (depending on who you ask, much like music criticism itself, it’s a matter of opinion who you deem “influential”).

“Barring miracles unlikely to ensue, this is the final edition of Christgau's Consumer Guide, which MSN will no longer publish following this month's edition,” the scribe said in his final July column on MSN.com. “The CG has generally required a seven-days-a-week time commitment over the 41 years I've written it, and I'm grateful to MSN for paying me what the work was worth over the three-and-a-half years I published it here. But though I always enjoyed the work, work it was, and I've long been aware there were other things I could be doing with my ears. So while I have every intention of keeping up with popular music as it evolves, being less encyclopedic about it will come as a relief as well as a loss.”



Christgau’s Consumer Guide began in short from in 1969 when he first published a set of rock reviews in The Village Voice. He later wrote a monthly column for CREEM and the CG later ended up as a highly respected and well-read online monthly column for Village Voice and eventually landed online at MSN Music. Christgau was more than just CG; he also writes essays for Barnes & Noble and appeared frequently on spots for NPR’s All Things Considered.

“The Consumer Guide at once set the template for pretty much every subsequent music review section and stands today as one of the more formidable and dauntingly complete records of popular music ever undertaken,” wrote Zach Baron on The Village Voice blog. “As a critical experiment, it is entirely unrivalled: four decades worth of extreme compression, breadth, and originality, in which one writer tried to elevate his exceptional taste and work ethic into something like a science.”

Ann Powers did a short email interview recently with Christgau for The Los Angeles Times about what the Consumer Guide meant to the author. Perhaps the best of the interview was Christgau’s final answer: “I’m not done yet.”

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