April 20, 2004
Aptness watch
I think I'm going to start a new feature here at Heaneyland, where I keep an eye peeled for reviewers that refer to anything as being "aptly titled". Why does this turn of phrase drive me batshit? I'm not quite sure. Perhaps it's just that if anything is actually aptly titled, then it doesn't really need reinforcement or comment. Like, it would be surprising if "Horn Intro", the first track on the new Modest Mouse album, were anything but a horn introduction. But...it is.
AllMusic Guide: "That's not even mentioning the contributions of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who open Good News for People Who Love Bad News with the aptly named 'Horn Intro.' "The Onion AV Club: "The album opens with the aptly titled 'Horn Intro,' and throughout the record, horns, strings, synthesizer, and ambient rattle give Modest Mouse's chunky, quasi-rootsy rock some much-needed variety."
So that never fails to bug me, because it's an easy turn of phrase, and I feel like it calls too much attention to itself. But those examples are still better than this one:
The Stranger: After several years, Modest Mouse finally has a new album, aptly titled Good News for People Who Love Bad News.
Look. It's an evocative title. One would hope that it is appropriate to the content of the album. But could you find a less lame way of saying that?
Posted by Francis at 01:49 AMYou and your old-fashioned keeping of peeled eyes. Just create a Google News Alert and you'll always know when Godsmack aptly titles its fourth album 4, or, more inventively, when Enrique Iglesias aptly titles his seventh album 7.
A possibly justified use of the phrase graces a review of The Punisher (because the title is apt in a way the filmmakers did not intend, and thus perhaps worth calling attention to). But what can be meant by "The Indian classical fusion aptly titled Bal Taalx"?
Posted by: dlr at April 20, 2004 11:46 AMThat's so funny, I just did the same thing before I read the comments.
This was my favorite use of the phrase was: "Jack Rabbit comes to the aid of the Easter Bunny, who's trying to deliver a basket to Arizona, in the aptly titled Jack Rabbit and the Easter Basket."
And thanks, now I will get irritated every time I see the phrase in the same way I can't stand "what a difference a (year, week, day) makes."
Posted by: Alex G at April 20, 2004 01:22 PM
You're wrong, actually.
"After several years, Modest Mouse finally has a new album, aptly titled Good News for People Who Love Bad News."
The title is apt because of the immense amount of bad news that has been circulating around Modest Mouse for the last few years. Given the context it's used in the article, it makes a lot of sense.
Did you read the article?
Posted by: mrmister at April 21, 2004 10:14 AMI stand by my wiseass comment, mrmister. A reader has to stretch pretty far (and provide a lot of their own context) to make the particular connection you make, and if the title of the album is really meant to imply that the album is "Good News for People Who Love Bad News About Modest Mouse", then...shouldn't the album suck?
My main point, though, is that if the title is apt, one does not need the phrase "aptly titled" to point it out.
Posted by: Francis at April 21, 2004 11:00 AM"A reader has to stretch pretty far (and provide a lot of their own context) to make the particular connection you make"
But this is THE STRANGER, a noptoriously insider-y paper, especially in the music columns--they are the ones who publicly outed stories about MM a couple of years ago w/r/t sexual assault charges. The shoe fits, and I'm pretty certain it's what they meant.
Posted by: mrmister at April 22, 2004 11:14 PM