What’s most interesting about your opening argument is your mention of West Side Story: I think some of the best rock records in recent years have sounded like Broadway musicals: Against Me!’s New Wave, the Hold Steady’s Separation Sunday, Green Day’s American Idiot. And, really, let’s not play the “they don’t sound original enough!” card.
I can assure you the Gaslight Anthem is no more bombastic or clichéd than My Morning Jacket or My Chemical Romance. “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts” ( download): Other than those with a penchant for ducktail haircuts, leather jackets and Springsteen’s worst musical and lyrical tendencies, to whom, exactly, is this record appealing? I couldn’t help but notice that the Gaslight Anthem‘s The 59 Sound topped many critics’ and readers’ lists in 2008, but I ask you: Has there been a more egregious example of clichéd bombast (or is that bombastic cliché?) in recent memory? With its overly earnest delivery and hackneyed ’50s imagery, this steaming pile could be the soundtrack to a really bad high-school production of West Side Story. Two of MAGNET’s Matts-editor Matthew Fritch and writer Matt Ryan-go to the mat to see whose opinion is more correct.
