8th February 2007 06:55 PM |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
Timberlake, Pop Juggernaut, Is Gaining Some Unusual Fans
Alex di Suvero for The New York Times
By MELENA RYZIK
Published: February 7, 2007
He won over the teeny-boppers long ago, but in his incarnation as a sexy-smooth crooner with a hip-hop edge, Justin Timberlake has gained some unusual fans: hipsters.
Youthful urbanites who normally wouldn’t admit to filling their iPods with anything remotely Top 40, let alone the music of a performer who can sell out Madison Square Garden, as Mr. Timberlake, 26, did for tonight’s show, are suddenly unashamed of their copies of “Justified,” his first solo album, or “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” his recent chart-topper produced by Timbaland. Members of the Flaming Lips, Coldplay and Keane have come to his shows, and his music is a staple of cooler-than-thou fashion week.
On Monday, at an after-party for the Marc Jacobs show at the club Eugene, the D.J. Duane Harriott played “SexyBack,” and the crowd of models, art directors, designers and other insider types hit the dance floor with abandon. “It’s a timeless song,” Mr. Harriott said, favorably comparing it to the Michael Jackson tune he spun next.
Pete Wentz, the bassist for Fall Out Boy, said at the party: “The cool thing about Justin Timberlake is that he’s one of those dudes who can dance, sing, do everything. I went to a Victoria’s Secret show, and he played there, and people loved it. You can go to hipster clubs, and they like it. I think at first they liked him ironically, but now they just like him.”
Unlike his former boy-band colleagues, Mr. Timberlake has even won over musicians who prefer lo-fi thrash to the slicker sounds of mainstream albums. Last month, in a Greenpoint club in the farthest reaches of hipster Brooklyn, Matt Johnson, 25, of the keyboard-and-drums act Matt and Kim, admitted his authentic Timberlake love.
In fact, he told the crowd, he had recently dreamed about playing a show with Mr. Timberlake, a one-time Mouseketeer. (The audience cheered this prospect.) And in December Pitchfork, the online music review bible, anointed Mr. Timberlake “the new King of Pop,” and named his song “My Love” the No. 1 of 2006 above indie stalwarts like TV on the Radio and Joanna Newsom, and an honor no Backstreet Boy could hope to achieve.
“I don’t think he’s as prefab and contrived as other artists,” said Tony Croasdale, 30, a punk promoter in Philadelphia and a singer, as Tony Pointless, for an anarchist hardcore band called R.A.M.B.O. “I like him because I don’t think he oversings.”
Mr. Croasdale, whose oeuvre runs to songs like “Wage Slave Mercenaries” and “If Our Leaders Are Impotent Only the People Can Rise,” picked up a copy of “Justified” when he was on tour in Asia, and he and his bandmates found it “fun to dance to.”
“Believe it or not,” he added, “Justin Timberlake has some major fans in the anarchist punk community.”
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8th February 2007 07:03 PM |
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mojoman |
its the end of the world as we know it |
8th February 2007 07:08 PM |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
quote: mojoman wrote:
its the end of the world as we know it
That was three or four years ago I thought.
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8th February 2007 08:03 PM |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
Look. I hate JT as much as the next guy. And I never heard his songs. But sometimes one has to buck the trends and the common wisdom, just to keep your edge, if for no other reason. Even if the common wisdom is coming from the common cool people. A devil's advocate kind of angle. |
8th February 2007 08:17 PM |
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glencar |
There are also articles lauding Usher's music. Don't believe the hype! |
8th February 2007 08:27 PM |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
quote: glencar wrote:
There are also articles lauding Usher's music. Don't believe the hype!
Usher may be the only guy who had a guy hand him an autograph pad under a bathroom stall while he was taking a shit.
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8th February 2007 08:42 PM |
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glencar |
Have you framed said autograph? |
8th February 2007 08:52 PM |
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Ten Thousand Motels |
quote: glencar wrote:
Have you framed said autograph?
No. But I am the one who did post that story here at RO. It was too good to waste. It still must be in the archives.
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8th February 2007 09:52 PM |
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mickmask |
Jagger would never have performed with him if he wasn't up and coming...
oooh! Did I say that??!!
mm. |
9th February 2007 04:34 PM |
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Factory Girl |
I like the Sexy-Back song, but I find JT to be physically skanky. |
9th February 2007 04:38 PM |
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glencar |
Is there a youtube for SexyBack? I heard it once but don't really remember it. |
9th February 2007 05:15 PM |
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Some Guy |
my wife has his new cd in her car and yes it's hot. |
9th February 2007 05:59 PM |
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MikeyC613 |
Brooklyn hipsters suck |
10th February 2007 01:29 AM |
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guitarman53 |
I Fucking Hate that crap guy!!! he's got absolute no talent, just another washed up guy from the boy bands, & you know how I feel about Boy Bands!!!Murder!!! |
10th February 2007 02:04 AM |
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Chris74 |
All these casting shows and casted stars have destroyed music. We only have clones left - everybody is a clone of some weird marketing people thoughts who have no clue of music. Same with Rap music - all the same shit. No good creative ideas anymore in music scene.
It's like in fashion you only have models left looking so meager that you could throw up. Only because of some weird androgyne phantasies of gay people who control fashion. No down to earth person really like this shit.
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10th February 2007 02:06 AM |
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pdog |
I'd rather see Timberlake over Coldplay! |
11th February 2007 05:49 PM |
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Soldatti |
I'm sick of this guy, his "songs" are on the radio all day. |