I Don’t Want to Be 16 Again

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


themaryonettes220.gif

Thanks to Labrador Records bands like the Mary Onettes and the Radio Dept., I feel like I’m back in high school again. Problem is, I’m not sure if this is a good thing.

The Mary Onettes’ 2007 self-titled debut release sounds a lot like bands I loved when I was 16—New Order, the Church, the Smiths, the Cult, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Cure, to name a few. I even heard hints of the Fixx in there. I was loving the CD until suddenly it hit me: It was a little too familiar. Where are the new ideas here, folks? I even checked the back of the CD to make sure it wasn’t a reissue or something. Nope, this stuff is vintage 2007.

As much as I’m willing to let a band take me back to the doom and gloom of a lot of 80s post-punk and new wave, I can only enjoy it so much. Haven’t we borrowed from that decade enough? I went to my first 80s club night in 1991; the decade had barely ended and we were already glamorizing it! I had a short attention span for 80s nostalgia then, and it’s only gotten shorter.

I like the Radio Dept. I also like the Strokes, and for that matter, bands like Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and Broken Social Scene; all of whom, in my opinion, borrow bits and pieces of 80s flair. But my interest in music like this is waning because it’s overdone, and I’d rather hear something new and creative. What are some of these musicians actually saying and thinking when they’re sitting in a rehearsal space writing new material? Are they like, “Let’s do that one drum beat that New Order does in most of their early songs,” or “This is how Robert Smith would have done it!” The Mary Onettes’ music is so eerily familiar that I wouldn’t be half surprised if that’s exactly how the conversation went.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate