Eminem – oh why the fuss! Ok, he swears and may have politically incorrect views here and there but quite frankly I find him amusing with his “angry young man stance” – maybe because I’ve seen it all before being an old punk and remembering the Sex Pistols et al – it hardly shocks anymore – does it??
After all, these days you’d be hard pressed to find many bands – other than true “pop” groups – that don’t swear to some extent, I have albums by Placebo, Manic Street Preachers, Pulp, Marianne Faithful and many other big names that all contain some swearing – maybe not as profusely as Eminem but it’s there! It doesn’t offend me personally – it’s only words after all.
Apart from a few odd tracks downloaded through Napster I only have the “Marshall Mathers” album by Eminem and, true, it is littered with four letter words and some potentially offensive lyrics but despite that I enjoy it immensely and rap music isn’t even normally my sort of thing being a Punk/Indie/Metal kind of gal!
I have the special edition of the album with 19 tracks and, I have to admit, some of the tracks sound very samey but there is some cleverly amusing stuff on there. The momentary skits in between tracks are amusing for one.
Tha album contains the smash hit single “Stan” which remains one of my favourite tracks for it’s clever musical composition and chilling lyrics about an obsessive, snubbed fan who kills his girlfriend.
Other known tracks by being singles are “The Way I am” and “The Real Slim Shady” both of which stand out on this album again for their sheer tunefulness and forceful vocals albeit always self-obsessed.
Most of the album can be described as being ‘laid-back’ at least musically although maybe not lyrically! True, Eminem does seem rather egotistical and most tracks seem to be about himself and very self-obsessed in one way or another but they are all very powerful for it.
“Remember Me” is another strong, memorable but almost plodding track which I enjoy particularly. It would take too long to review all 19 tracks, a few of which as I previously mentioned are spoken skits of little more than a minute long, suffice to say there are no great surprises musically. All tracks follow the same formulaic rap beat with a thin underlying tune and Eminem rapping aggressively over them with occasional guest stars appearing.
There are no real surprises – no musical or lyrical departures from his established style which other bands in other genres may offer so if you buy it you know exactly what you’re getting. I probably wouldn’t have bought this album, although I do like him, if it had been full price but at a sale price of £8.99 from HMV I couldn’t resist!
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Jul 21st, 2001
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