Extensive coverage of Beck shows Wildcat 'blind to musical talent'

To bring up a much lighter issue, I'm a bit disappointed at the Sohcahtoa section of the Wildcat for publishing a review of a Beck concert in the Thursday issue. Not only is D. Shayne Christie, the author of the article, blind to musical talent, so is the rest of the youth of America who in Spin magazine voted the self-proclaimed loser "Best Artist," (ahead of such talent as Trent Reznor and Tori Amos), "Best Male Singer" (I actually don't hear him "sing" a word, or as so defined by Webster), and "Best Single" for "Where It's At" (I wonder if he learned that even in poetry, ending sentences in prepositions sure does sound poor). Not to mention February 26 Grammy awards where whoever the hell votes for those stupid Grammy's awarded him something, I'm inclined to say "Artist of the Year" (I didn't actually catch all of it). It's just one more way to show older folk that we fit the stereotypes of Generation X when we idolize the wrong people. Albeit Trent Reznor and Tori Amos may not be fine examples to remove those stereotypes, at least the lyrics are sensical and have some sort of defined meaning, not just abstract verbs and phrases.

By David W. Ryden (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 4, 1997