You’re probably already aware of this, but just in case you’re not, do yourself a favor and check out “Light Me Up” by The Pretty Reckless. I should start by saying I really wanted to not like this band. When I first heard that 17 year old Taylor Momsen of TV’s Gossip Girl had started a band, my initial reaction was, “Brilliant! Just what the world needs, another celeb ‘Actress/Model’ who wants to prove she’s a triple threat by showing she can also sing… Cause we clearly don’t have enough of those!”
Then I started seeing some of the way she presented herself and that the music she was doing didn’t fall into the “just another piece of cookie cutter, overproduced, slop, that’s hyped beyond a threshold of pain that even the most masochistic among us could enjoy”. I decided that at some point I’d check them out and promptly forgot about it until I found the album quite by chance on iTunes, while browsing for some Suzi Quatro at the time. What drew me to it initially was actually the cover (a cute kid in a black leather jacket holding a lighter) then I realized what it was and decided to give it a listen…and am I ever glad I did! The album has been in heavy rotation on my iPod ever since I bought it two weeks ago and it owes a lot more to Joan Jett or Courtney Love/Alanis Morrisette both circa about 1995, than Dr. Luke or any of the other “uber-production” specialists who are currently inundating us with the aural equivalent of fecal matter!
Check it out and decide for yourself. There isn’t a bad cut on it, and there are also some mind-blowingly good ones. “Grunge” turns 20 this year and we’re clearly due for a backlash, since most of what’s out there now can most accurately be compared to the state of pre-Grunge music circa 1991. The fact that Ms. Momsen is only 17 is also encouraging. If she doesn’t party herself to death she has the potential to be a major musical force as she
matures, and her songwriting ability is already mature well beyond her 17 years.
Oh, and one other thing…Attention Miss Swift, Miss Cyrus! Sit down. Take notes. This is how it’s done!
– Jon Ravenscroft
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