Jim and Greg Have Been Wrong

Believe it or not, sometimes Jim and Greg are wrong. And this week on the show, they man up and admit it. Tune in to hear these critics admit to their occasional lapses in judgment.

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After all the hubbub caused by the "Nipplegate" scandal, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has now tossed out the FCC's indecency fine against CBS. The network aired Janet Jackson's famous wardrobe malfunction during the 2004  Super Bowl halftime show and was subsequently fined $550,000 by the FCC. The court ruled that the FCC acted arbitrarily and can't change 3 decades of policy without due cause. Jim and Greg are curious to see how this decision will impact broadcasting and music performances on television in the future.

Breakout Miley Cyrus

Breakout

The name you are sure to hear this year, especially if you are a parent, is Miley Cyrus. The tween sensation has shed her Hannah Montana alter-ego to release her first solo album Breakout. While much of the talk about Cyrus concerns her rocky road to adulthood, Jim and Greg focus on the music. Greg hears nothing out of the ordinary: "assembly line pop rock." It's like second-rate Go-Go's, which isn't a bad thing, but he hopes fans graduate to something more interesting after this album. Greg gives Breakout a Try It. Jim is much more enthusiastic, calling the album "absolutely wonderful." It's exactly what he would encourage parents to give their kids. He gives it a Buy It.

When Jim and Greg Were Wrong

Music fans tell Jim and Greg they are wrong all the time, but the critics are not too big to admit it themselves. This week they come clean with some of their critical errors. Here are Greg’s self-confessed mistakes:

Greg

Jim

While Jim was stumped to think of any bands that had fallen from grace and stands behind all his pleasures, guilty or not, he did reveal some bands he was quick to dismiss and grew to love. Here’s where Jim had it wrong:

Stay Positive The Hold Steady

Stay Positive

Jim and Greg review two of the bands who appeared at last weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival. The first up for review is The Hold Steady. Their fourth album, Stay Positive, continues with the band's literary bar music formula, but according to Greg, the emphasis has been moved away from guitarist  Tad Kubler's riffs and hooks. Greg wishes there was more great guitar work and less "harpsichord filagree." He gives Stay Positive a Try It. Jim has never been a Hold Steady fan, but was impressed with their performance at Pitchfork. On record is another story. He agrees with Greg about the keyboards and describes Stay Positive as overdone and a whole lot of nothing. Jim gives the album a Trash it.

The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines King Khan and the Shrines

kink khan and the shrines

The day after The Hold Steady took the stage, Pitchfork fans were wowed by the antics of King Khan and the Shrines. Jim was less wowed with Khan's own wardrobe malfunction, which he felt distracted from the music. He's impressed with Khan's collection of past recordings, The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines, which is almost like Iggy Pop meets James Brown. Greg hears Nuggets-era soul, and thinks The Supreme Genius is a great introduction into Khan's music. Both critics give the album a Buy It rating.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!