The Sour Apple

I love New York, and I hope to live there for a year or so before too long, but the more music blogs I read these days, the more it becomes obvious that the music scene in the Big Apple borders perilously on lame.

A quick read of Brooklyn Vegan and its comments section reveals that New Yorkers hated the Sufjan Stevens/David Byrne show at the Beacon Theatre. The Shins sucked at McCarren Park Pool. Beirut is overrated. Deerhoof is annoying. And these are people that supposedly like music enough to spend time reading about it on a blog.

It's a classic case of taking a good situation for granted. New York arguably sees more good music pass through than any other city in the world. Why can't they enjoy it?

One theory is that it is crucial in the New York music scene to be among the first people to like a band, and, soon later, among the first people to suddenly discover that the band has:

a) Been overhyped by the blogs
b) Gotten too tight with David Byrne
c) Watered down their sound in the studio, or
d) Become too plump and soft with success

Another theory is that they take the Fred Ebb lyric 'If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere" a little too seriously.