Aversion has a report on Robert's remarks to Mark Beaumont. And as Martin points out, Mark has since apologized for his comments. (Thanks Kate and Martin)
While an apology is nice, I just think it's a case of 'too little too late'.
IMO, the comments he made in and of themselves weren't too scathing or damaging, the fact that he didn't research his stuff and just went around bad-mouthing was totally unprofessional. Even I know better than to do shit like that.
This is hilarious. Has anyone else been reading the comments section of that article? Mark Beaumont is a total arse. He has backtracked his argument so much its gone beyond embarrassing. As implied by his original comments it seemed he was "gritting his teeth" about Roberts online comments. Then since he couldn't prove his accusations were right online, Beaumont says his evidence comes from interviews he has done with Robert. So he posts up a quote from Robert and it STILL didn't prove his accusations were correct but reinforces Roberts.
From the section of the interview Beaumont posted up the closest Robert comes to a complaint about his income is thus:
Mark says: "I also know that everything you've read Robert Smith as saying about downloading in any paper for the past year sprang from this exchange: Me: "Has downloading effected you?" Robert Smith: "Fuck yeah!"
Again, how exactly does "Fuck Yeah!" equal a complaint worth "gritting your teeth" about? It's just bad journalism. Pretty much every musician has been affected by downloads in some way. Why pick on Robert especially which such a flimsy weak-ass quote which essentially stands as "Fuck Yeah downloading has affected me". Not really a complaint is it? More an observation maybe.
They haven't listened to a word Robert's said or typed....I like throwing Robert some dough for the art he gives us...I make art too...he makes a good point: we all deserve to get paid! etc etc etc
Mark Beaumont's most recent comment (sounds like his last on this):
"@ all the Cure fans, so as not to repeat myself I'll refer you all to the replies I made earlier. But as a post-script to Smithgate, I've had the chance to chat to Robert about this and while there was no argument over the validity of the opinion I expressed here, I now better understand his and his more avid fans' reaction to it, since it came in the wake of a mini-tsunami of indignant internet babble over his stance on downloading, a lot of which willfully misread his quotes in order to sensationalize a headline, like this one here: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/robert-smith-blasts-idiot-radiohead-197836
So, not wishing to add to any misconceptions, in the interest of clarity and goodwill our conclusions were that a) the link made here between the economic downturn and downloading, although I believe it to be an intrinsic one, was mine and not Robert's, our discussion was ostensibly about downloading and b) where I refer to income I'm referencing our discussion on the perceived loss of value of a Cure song in the current climate, not Robert's personal finances, about which he has no complaints.
Still, it was nice to learn that Robert's a regular reader. I now open the floor to half a dozen carping Cure fans."
Woo
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could also post that Mark did apologise to Robert in the comments thread on his article?
ReplyDeleteMartin: Done! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteoff topic:
ReplyDeleteThe CoF Videos on MySpace should link to http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.viewVideos&channelid=451803006
While an apology is nice, I just think it's a case of 'too little too late'.
ReplyDeleteIMO, the comments he made in and of themselves weren't too scathing or damaging, the fact that he didn't research his stuff and just went around bad-mouthing was totally unprofessional. Even I know better than to do shit like that.
me want 818 LOS ANGELES!!!!!!!!! Y QUE!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is hilarious. Has anyone else been reading the comments section of that article?
ReplyDeleteMark Beaumont is a total arse. He has backtracked his argument so much its gone beyond embarrassing. As implied by his original comments it seemed he was "gritting his teeth" about Roberts online comments.
Then since he couldn't prove his accusations were right online, Beaumont says his evidence comes from interviews he has done with Robert. So he posts up a quote from Robert and it STILL didn't prove his accusations were correct but reinforces Roberts.
From the section of the interview Beaumont posted up the closest Robert comes to a complaint about his income is thus:
Mark says: "I also know that everything you've read Robert Smith as saying about downloading in any paper for the past year sprang from this exchange: Me: "Has downloading effected you?" Robert Smith: "Fuck yeah!"
Again, how exactly does "Fuck Yeah!" equal a complaint worth "gritting your teeth" about? It's just bad journalism. Pretty much every musician has been affected by downloads in some way. Why pick on Robert especially which such a flimsy weak-ass quote which essentially stands as "Fuck Yeah downloading has affected me". Not really a complaint is it? More an observation maybe.
That's my rant for the day.
They haven't listened to a word Robert's said or typed....I like throwing Robert some dough for the art he gives us...I make art too...he makes a good point: we all deserve to get paid! etc etc etc
ReplyDeleteWell at least this guy apologized to RS but next time get your facts right and hopefully avoid this type of issue in the future.
ReplyDeleteMark Beaumont's most recent comment (sounds like his last on this):
ReplyDelete"@ all the Cure fans, so as not to repeat myself I'll refer you all to the replies I made earlier. But as a post-script to Smithgate, I've had the chance to chat to Robert about this and while there was no argument over the validity of the opinion I expressed here, I now better understand his and his more avid fans' reaction to it, since it came in the wake of a mini-tsunami of indignant internet babble over his stance on downloading, a lot of which willfully misread his quotes in order to sensationalize a headline, like this one here: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/robert-smith-blasts-idiot-radiohead-197836
So, not wishing to add to any misconceptions, in the interest of clarity and goodwill our conclusions were that a) the link made here between the economic downturn and downloading, although I believe it to be an intrinsic one, was mine and not Robert's, our discussion was ostensibly about downloading and b) where I refer to income I'm referencing our discussion on the perceived loss of value of a Cure song in the current climate, not Robert's personal finances, about which he has no complaints.
Still, it was nice to learn that Robert's a regular reader. I now open the floor to half a dozen carping Cure fans."