Targetting ‘Suit-and-Tie’ Taite

Rip It Up, Issue 227, 1 July 1996, Page 7

Targetting ‘Suit-and-Tie’ Taite

In regards to John Taite’s reviews of the new Rage Against the Machine and Cranberries albums. First off, whoever chose the, ‘bloody awful superboy cover’, as you so ignorantly put it, was, in my opinion, trying

to show a symbol. You know, the old ‘evil political bullshit hidden behind the pret-ty-boy faces that Philistines like yourself are too narrow-minded to see through’ syndrome. I’m sure others are familar with it. Next.

So what if Rocha’s [sic] lyrics are only CNN or mainstream information book based. At least someone out there in Musicland had the balls to get out there and produce an album where there is some meaning, or political'incorrectness behind the lyrics. What they’re doing rather overshadows your pathetic four album reviews in a rather small time magazine in comparison to world standards, don’t you think? I do have to agree with you about the song ‘Killing in the Name’ being a tad on the old side of things, but it is the first time they have ever played in New Zealand — of course fans are going to go crazy over their most well known song. Personally, it is one of my least favourite Rage songs. Next. ; . As for your idiotic comments about, ‘Rally around the family, pocket full of shells’, being repetitive — have you ever heard of the word chorus? Have you ever listened to any of the songs they play on the radio? Almost every song radioplayed is just as repetitive. After all this, you have the nerve to ask, where’s the experimentation? You Troglodite. Were you actually at BDO, or have you just read someone else’s review? You are asking for experimentation; did you actually notice Tom Morello makes all those twangy guitar noises by himeslf, unaided by any synthesisers? Name me one other band that uses a guitar as creatively or as experimentally as Rage do. I then flick over the page to find you have also done the Cranberries’, To the Faithful Departed review. “Nooooool," I scream in horror. Have you thought about the fact ‘Salvation’ may not be about trying to stop the little kiddies of Auckland using heroin, but maybe about someone the band knew who stopped using the drug, or worse yet, died from it? Songs are very rarely about changing the world, they are more often than not about your feelings. You should try writing some poetry one day, then maybe you can understand what I’m trying to say. . I was also at the Cranberries concert, and I think that is great a band out there is making it without have some five-foot-eleven black American woman with a size D cup singing for them. They have this neat little thing you seem to have absolutely none of — talent. I’ve been to 11 international concerts, including bands as big as U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers and AC/DC, and I’ve never seen

a band receive as big an ovation as they did, and it was a reasonably small crowd. The crowd loved them, even though half of them were shirt-and-tie conservative wankers, like yourself, I’m sure. Go out there and do something for yourself, John. Write a poem and print it in RipltUp. Let the readers chastise your work, see how you like it. Open-Minded, New Plymouth. PS: Congratulations to John Russell. He must have finally passed through puberty, as he actually managed to praise Fat Mannequin for something off their new single. Better run upstairs and tell mummy hadn’t you, John?