Overplaying Your Bias

I pick on Jim DeRogatis a lot, but I have to say, most of the time he deserves it. In an article on Ben Weasel, consider the following:

Unlike most genres in pop or rock, since its appeal is largely the visceral kick of a massive caffeine jolt, pop-punk is immune from the debilitating, soul-killing effects of nostalgia and aging -- providing its practitioners have the songs and can still play up to speed.

Sorry, but I have to call bullshit on this one. While there may be a small kernel of truth in here, and I'll get to that in a minute, Jim is saying that "music that I care about a lot ages better than music that I don't." If any band has the songs and can still play them the right way, they immunize themselves to nostalgia and aging.

The one point I'll concede is that I said play them the right way and Jim said "up to speed." There's some daylight here, in that a punk band doesn't necessarily have to play the song well as long as they can play it fast. Still, this is as blatant a case of Jim just saying "if I like an artist, I will not criticize them for doing perhaps the exact same thing that other bands I don't like do" as I think I've ever seen.