I think he [Frank Ocean] is a good new face for the R&B world right now, to kind of usher out – no pun intended – some of these folks,” Keating said. “Because, let’s get real, R.Kelly is a terrible person. I like R.Kelly and how crazy he is, but he’s a terrible piece of shit, a horrible person, really bad all around. Let’s get rid of him. Let’s gay it up a little [in R&B].”
—Chris Keating, frontman for Brooklyn-based band Yeasayer, imparting his passionate feelings about R&B, to Rolling Stone
Photo: Facebook
Biting Truth
What?! First of all, who the hell is Chris Keating anyway, and what gives him the credentials to speak on R&B; a genre of music he has nothing to do with? That’d be like Marilyn Manson trying to impose his opinions on the world of Country music. The fact that he is focusing so hard on R. Kelly, who is about 15 years past his commercial prime, and is but one name in the genre speaks volumes. Just goes to show what he knows about this genre of music that he has the audacity to commentate on. This guy is an idiot and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Let him gay up his own genre (whatever it is.)
SBC19
No thanks. I think dance/pop music is “gay” enough. Anyone who wants to get their “gay” fix can listen to Gaga, Katy and “Call Me Maybe.”
Bee
@Biting Truth:
Read the article. Keating is discussing genre and how R&B has heavily influenced his latest album.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
i love frank ocean…FUKIN LOOOOVE HIM…but, what with all the cancelling tours shit; no promoting his album shit; not delivering his vinyl; not finishing pyramids video; and not giving a gnomic shit what his stans care about all of the above whilst blithely going about his hipsterish zen-like way — he’s in danger of doing to his fans figuratively what r. kelly did literally to that underage girl fan. (channeling orange indeed!)
frank has such a weight of expectation on his shoulders and now has the extra burden of having to represent, like it or not. i hope he’s not melting down under it all. if he is you know the haters will conflate any mental issues with his bisexuality and see it as “proof” of it’s inherent flakiness.
still love him though.
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
i wish yeasayer could give us something as good as “o.n.e”. sadly, i doubt it.
fyi chris keating has earned his place in electro pop heaven with this work of fuckin genius:
simian mobile disco – audacity of huge (feat. chris keating) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylu0ybj7DIg
Papi Balenciaga
@Biting Truth: Agreed. I didn’t know R. Kelly was the face of R&B.
Dax
I find his suggestion nonsensical and borderline offensive. R&B isn’t going to gay itself up just so some outsider like him can feel more comfortably snooping around and exploiting elements of it. If he can’t relate to the genre as it is, then perhaps he should find another — gayer — style of music to fleetingly bastardize for one of his albums.
The nerve.
John
This Chris Keating should shut his no-name mouth. Kelly might be quite the crazy, but he’s put out some very solid tunes throughout the years, and supplied several hits for Michael Jackson. A lot of it is super cheesy, and doesn’t get played a lot these days, but he was the shit back in the day. Show some respect for the music if not for the man!
Analog
Why is this non-entity’s boring opinions news, while my boring opinions are “comments”???
Aaron
@Biting Truth: @John: @Analog:
And welcome to why I hate this community with such a passion.
While you were busy living in your little world of Techno, I’m guessing you probably didn’t hear that Yeasayer’s “Odd Blood” was one of the most acclaimed albums of 2010 (right there with Sufjan Steven’s The Age of Adz, and Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs). They also release one the best pop songs in the past 20 years with “O.N.E.” A song which R. Kelly will *never* be able to make, no matter how hard he tried.
So, no, he’s not a “no-name”, just because you’ve never heard of him. I would hazard a guess (and yes, I’m being a presumptive asshole) that you’ve never heard of Carl Theodore Dreyer, or Hideaki Anno. That doesn’t make them a no-name. It just means you live in a little bubble, most likely populated with poor taste.
Additonally, Yeasayer is very knowledgeable about music, judging from the lyrics and interviews I’ve seen. Keating has every right to speak about a particular genre, especially if he’s a fan and it’s influencing the bands latest album.
Analog
@Aaron: Oh dear god – i loathe most techno as much as i loathe this kind of pseudo psychedelic-lite pop.
And yes, I’ve heard of Dreyer – most people I know have – he’s hardly obscure.
If you’re going to claim your own personal tastes as more sophisticated than us awfully philistine fags, try and broaden the net to include artists that most college kids don;t already know.
Just a thought.
PS – if you hate “this community” because “we” don’t like the kind of MOR pap that you do, you may first want to re-evaluate your priorities and secondly save your hatred for something a little more important.
Arcade Fire, haha.
Analog
PS – my first post was clearly a joke.
Get a sense of humour and your taste in music may improve in the process. 🙂
BoomBaptist
I love Aaron and his quintessential “hipster” commentary; but I’m on Analog’s side (both literally and figuratively speaking)
BoomBaptist
@Aaron: Also, welcome to why most people hate your so-called indie community with such a passion.
A.K.A. “the bubble that YOU live in”
Aaron
@Analog:
Firstly, I admit – I was very pretentious and presumptive with that post. I admitted as much. But there’s only so much bull you can take from a community before you learn to loathe it.
Perhaps I should elaborate – I wasn’t bashing this community because it dislikes this group, but rather because, at least within the world of Queerty comments (which, admittedly, shouldn’t be taken with more than a grain salt, given they’re not much better than youtube), whenever anybody says something negative – or even related – to the community, they’re immediately labeled “no names” “hacks” etc, regardless of what they’ve achieved. As if the word of Dan Savage is the only thing that matters. Additionally, if you want me to get more broad in why I dislike our “community”; often racist, biphobic, transphobic, sizeist, militantly atheistic, party obsessed…. I could go on. But all of it ads up to be a very unwelcoming place.
Additionally, I apologize for assuming you didn’t know who Dreyer was (though again, I did admit I was being presumptive). However, I know at MY College, the only three people who know who he is are three of the film teachers. I certainly would love to live in the magical place you live in where most people know, and have seen, his films (that’s not sarcasm). Maybe he’s just more well known among the LGBT community due to “Michael”.
All that being said, the only reason I mentioned those albums is because, well, they *were* the three most acclaimed of 2010 (and I dislike Sufjan Stevens, personally). I didn’t just make it up off the top of my head. Though I am now curious about your taste, since you scoffed at so many different things (that’s a sincere question, by the way).
@BoomBaptist:
Hello! Thank you for being just as presumptive as I, and assuming that I am a hipster.
Haha. No. I certainly like plenty of Hipster-ish music, but I love even more things they don’t. Notice I mentioned that “O.N.E” was one of the best pop songs of the past 20 years – I am, above all else, a ardent fanatic of pop music. When I say pop music, I mean pop songwriting. As a result, I adore things like Lady Gaga, Nirvana, The Shangri-La’s, Blondie, Madonna, Ladytron, Yeasayer, Goldfrapp, The Supremes, Pixies, New Order…. all equally. And I love plenty of non-Pop, too, whether it be Russian rock like Kino, or Heavy Metal (I’m talking things like Ensiferum, Silent Stream of Godless Elegy, Moonspell), or Jazz (Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk). So please, don’t call me a Hipster unless you actually know the entirety of my taste in music.