elliott smith - figure 8

I've always been underwhelmed by the sad anti-folk guys like Elliott Smith. I know plenty of people who've had their lives changed by his music, but it just never hit me in the same way. The closest I ever came to that kind of crippling worship of a dead musician was my Nick Drake phase, but even that passed without much of a problem. It's just never been an archetype that particularly appealed to me.

It's not that I don't get it, because Smith is a clear music idol in the classic sense--almost blatantly so. He's a would-be punker who writes heart-wrenching songs of lost love, drug addiction, and the general struggles that come with being alive, all wrapped up in incredibly lush production and tied off with a trademark voice worn audibly thin from a decade of self-imposed stress and abuse. It's an image everyone can relate to to some degree.

I just don't think his music is that good. I really don't. He's an impeccable guitar player, and he has an perfect ear for layering just enough vocals and instrumentation to turn bittersweet tunes into the final product he wants without making them too grandiose. The songwriting's just not there.

The few Elliott Smith songs I enjoy, I absolutely love to death. "Angeles," "Say Yes," "The Biggest Lie," and "King's Crossing," if I'm in the right mood. (I can almost hear the collective groans of Elliott Smith fans as I type this.) The rest is incredibly mediocre. There's an undeniable passion behind the notes, but it just does nothing for me.

I suppose if I focused on the fact that Smith killed himself a few years after making this album, and that this is really his last unified work as an artist, I could come up with a response that's a little more emotional and positive. But even with that tall tale looming behind every track, I'm just not moved. This isn't Nick Drake singing "Black-Eyed Dog," characterizing death himself calling out to him--this is just a fucked up dude singing about how fucked up he is. It's not that special.

I hate to be such an ass about this, and I'm not trying to senselessly demean another human life with this piece, but I just feel like someone has to stand up and oppose the hype that's been building around Elliott Smith for the last decade. He's an okay songwriter. Not the rock laureate for a lost generation. Everybody chill out.