“Cred-Seeking Introspection,” Or “Lying To Oneself”

Well PopMatters’s Adam Williams started it with his feature last week, and I’m going to keep the dream alive. In the spirit of introspection, I asked myself the following questions and, without any cheating, accurately predicted his answers. Also, I answered the questions, but my answers were generally the same as his. For those who like this sort of thing, get an eljay, because it won’t happen here again.

Here are the questions:

True or False

1. Amazon.com customer reviews are acceptable clips for music journalists.
2. Words such as vox and chanteuse make a writer appear convincingly hip and intellectual.
3. Guitarists are mathematicians, and what they play is aptly described as angular.
4. Lester Bangs was a god.
5. References to LSD should be made only by those who have personally taken more than a dozen mind-altering trips.
6. Finding the key to unlock the musical universe is predicated on staying alive with the MC5.
7. Pete Townshend is spelled with an H, John Entwistle is not, and Roger Daltrey has an E.
8. Successful music journalism is grounded in the Beat Generation.
9. The Sex Pistols and Nirvana are grossly overrated.
10. “Stairway to Heaven” is the greatest rock song ever recorded.
11. Credible music journalists should distinguish between useful critical terminology and marketing-minded corporate-speak.

Yeah. You should go ahead and check your answers, but I’m not going to list mine. You should probably post your answers to your newly minted eljays, though, because you feel the need to conform.

In the spirit of introspection, here are some raw, voyeurism-satisfying songs of autobiography:

• Mountain Goats - You Or Your Memory
• Rilo Kiley - Frug
• Robyn - Who’s That Girl?
• Saul Williams - Black Stacey