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Jun 15, 2010 Web Exclusive By Jim Scott

As a music critic, I don’t find Jason Hartley’s Advanced Genius Theory intimidating or insulting. I need to get that out of the way, because that seems to be one of the primary defenses of the theory. Basically, Hartley’s theory, explained here with excellent—and oftentimes hilarious—examples, is that certain musicians later in their careers get so far ahead of the curve that it is misinterpreted as terrible. Where Hartley’s theory runs into trouble is in the idea that there’s no critiquing these musicians.

It makes some sense, of course. Who am I to criticize Lou Reed? What can I say about Sting’s later recordings? However, isn’t one of the chief responsibilities of a musician to make music that’s enjoyable? Especially when those musicians ostensibly record what could be loosely defined as pop music? Not every artist turns into John Cage when they reach a certain peak. It’s much more likely that they’re bored or out of touch or—even more likely—out of ideas. For a musician, Hartley is the ultimate cheerleader: once they reach a point, they’re infallible. I believe part of the job of a critic is to predict how the album will hold up over time, and if the later work is indeed “advanced” as Hartley theorizes, then time will bear that out.

For all these critiques, however, Advanced Genius Theory is fun reading, especially if one is interested in such things, as I obviously am. Hartley’s somewhere in the Chuck Klosterman family, with less appeal and not quite as much humor. The theory, as it is, can’t quite sustain an entire book, and without Klosterman’s humor or, say, Malcolm Gladwell’s intelligence, it runs out of gas towards the end of the book. Of course, I may just not be advanced enough to recognize the genius of the later chapters. (http://advancedtheory.blogspot.com/)

Author rating: 5/10