Blah Blah Blah — October 2007

02/11/09 1:23pm

People like letters. So we're reprinting the letters page from our October 2007 issue. You can purchase the issue at the Chart Shop.

Y'know what's awesome?

Discounted post-Halloween candy.

Of course, you've got to be in the right place at the right time to find it.
Failing that, we've got an equally rewarding thing you can do: write us a letter.

You can send letters to "Blah, Blah, Blah" c/o Chart Magazine, 200-41 Britain St., Toronto, ON, M5A 1R7. You can also use this fancy "Inter-net" by emailing us at chart@chartattack.com. Make sure you include your full contact info.

THE GOOD IN EVERYONE
I have been grabbing your mags off your shelves for a long time and I just noticed something with your last few issues. Your reviewers have been lately writing about albums being boring and bashing masterpieces and complaining about quite a lot of things that fans of the bands would not find relevant at all. I know how stressful the music industry is right now and you may feel like your jobs are on the line but you really need to listen and relax and try feel what these artists are feeling instead of lambasting them for ridiculous reasons. Remember, one of the reasons the industry is failing is due to some of the horrible reviewers out there and I think I found a few in Chart. Highs - thanks for giving Aereogramme the respect on their final album. Lows - no thanks for the whiney bashing of Matthew Good. Shame on you. —Ceiltsei@

We gave Matthew Good's Hospital Music album a bad review in our July 2007 issue. His fans have responded.

I just had to comment on Shaun Hatton's review of Matthew Good's album Hospital Music because not only was it unbelievably moronic, it was offensive too. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that's what you hire critics for but the following comment was assinine and was nothing more than a juvenile jab at Good himself: "Hospital Music is also a test of human tolerance as Good seeks to answer the question, ‘How much of this boring album can one take before being driven to drink beer in the shower?'" If you're going to review an album, review an album. Comments like these just show that you hire incompetant writers that care more about being funny music-snobs than with being people who can actually make an intelligent arguement. The only problem is that last time I checked, making fun of someone's situations due to an illness wasn't funny — Hatton was referencing Good talking about drinking beer in the shower, an incident that occured due to undiagnosed bi-polarity and depression. Then again I have come to expect as much from your rag of a magazine. Maybe you should present the news accurately instead of trying to be clever. I know attempting to maintain journalistic integrity is tough but maybe your magazine wouldn't be such a joke if you did it once in awhile. Your staff of "writers" give true journalists and Canadian music lovers a bad name. Oh yeah and Hospital Music debuted at #1 in Canada — the first album to do so for Good since Beautiful Midnight. I guess people like drinking beer in the shower eh? Now THAT'S funny. —Marc Rocheleau@

I normally enjoy your brief reviews, and sometimes disagree with them, but I think Shaun Hatton went too far with his review of Matthew Good's new CD. I am not an MG fanboy, nor do I think the CD is a classic, but it's arguably pretty good—tuneful and certainly not "boring," and not as "whiny" as the reviewer makes out. I have to wonder how carefuly he actually listened. —Chris Ryan@

AND SOME NOT SO HOT HEAT
The review, by Noah Love, of "Happiness Ltd", the new HHH CD, was definitely placed on the correct website, as it was nothing less than a callous attack. His name should be Noah Nasty - not love. —Nbays@

This album review can be found in our September 2007 issue.

SLOAN TRIGGER
hello I am Sofia Moyano, I am of Argentinean. I write to him to know if you can tell to something on linkin Park me since law something in the Chartattack page and I want to know if you can tell something me
Kindly Sofia, from already thanks —Sofia@

Anybody else have Sloan's "Pen Pals" in their heads?

OUR SERIAL LETTER WRITERS… WRITE
Guess who............. again? You published my last comment about White Cowbell & Grimskunk. My friends have had so many laughs over the fact you suggested I am a pot smoker & pervert!!! If you only knew me. ;) Sales of your mag must have gone up over that as I now have to autograph a few copies. Truth is I have never smoked pot in all my life and don't know anything about it other than it smells really bad. Not knowing any terms either lead to another mix up. Grimskunk has a song "Wakin' & bakin' " which I love. Not knowing they were singing "I want Jamaican........" I thought I heard " I want you naked............" Guess I really am just a pervert!!!. Grimskunk loves this story and say they will play "I want you naked" soon................ just for me! Have a laugh on me again. You have provided my friends and I many laughs and what ifs. I may never live this down and someone suggested "clearly you are a pot smoker & pervert" to on my headstone ( btw my fav band). See you on the road Grimskunk perhaps? .............. Aug 24th at the Kathedral. Lol superfANN —Ann Hummel@

Hey guys, You published my letter to you in one of your previous issues, and it brought me so much joy that I just had to write another! Anyway, thanks for putting so many pictures of the White Stripes in your September issue! They're amazing, aren't they? Alexisonfire is coming to Canada with Anti-Flag and some other bands!!! (Just to let you know, because Alexisonfire is Canadian and great and Anti-Flag is pretty much the best band in the world). But why do you have a back to school guide? I'm guessing you'll say "because we want to", but really it's all just sort of pointless! Sorry for being a jerk. I'm not really in real life! Anyway, other than that you guys are one of the best magazines ever! Keep on doing what you do (other than style advice). —Sasha Ostrowski@

Our back to school guide celebrates, um, going back to school.
Surely that's self-explanatory.