@@sourbaileys I agree. Nardwuar is a brilliant journalist and I dno if anyone digs deeper or more personal than that guy. I’ve met him in person a couple times in Vancouver. He’s a really intelligent guy
In an alternate universe, Nardwuar and Elliott meet A surreal interview, oh what a treat! With music, gifts, and quirks galore It's a wild ride, I can't ask for more!
+Owen McClure Technically, he *is* still selling us "Figure 8." I mean, you *are* watching the promotional tour interview.... I don't know about you... but he comes back to life every time I drop a needle on one of his records... and it will be that way for the rest of *my* life.
That part got me too, I actually looked down at the comments right after that part. Love that his song recommendation was Everything Means Nothing to me. I love that song so much
I felt that as well. I also was really interested to hear his remarks about Everything Means Nothing To Me. As a kid listening to that song I found a certain catharsis in listening to it. I felt like I didn't care about anything and that it felt good in a way to just not care even though a part of me still did. When I was younger I felt that I made my identity by shutting people out of my life or just not talking much when I hit high school. I grew up in a chaotic home and was actively suicidal from third grade and depression has plagued me on and off for generations of my life. I think in retrospect I get what he was saying though at the same time the feeling I get from Everything Means Nothing To Me then & now maybe isn't too far off what he intended. I think it was a statement that "things" in life don't mean anything to him and more-so it's the experience and a feeling. People get so attached to labels and defining things that speak for themselves and through trying to explain them can lose meaning. People can also become attached to things from money, to relationships, to drugs, etc. I'm not sure what point of his drug use he was at when he wrote that but I felt cathartic and a sense of liberation and despite how depressing the song was that it was also pretty BA. I think he had a similar sentiment on Angeles "So glad to meet you, Angeles" referring to Los Angeles and in a tone that betrayed the line itself. It was sort of a sarcastic embrace like he really didn't want to move to Los Angeles or maybe he was torn and didn't know how to feel. He really didn't seem to like labels or attention on him and the interviews he did seemed like a means for him to keep recording and also likely to supply his heavy drug use at points. I went through a period of being obsessed with Elliott Smith during high school. The first time I found out about him was when I was in High School and someone in the lunch room during a passing period asked me "Did you hear about Elliott Smith?" I said no I never heard of him. I assumed it was a classmate or something based on the name. Then this guy who told me about it said something like "yeah he commit suicide by stabbing himself in the heart 3 times" or something like that. After school that day I went online and did some research and then went to the library and was surprised to find all of his CDs out at the time and brought them home to burn onto iTunes. Back in that age burning CDs from the library onto iTunes was like a little life hack to get free music. Later I bought his records including the posthumous From A Basement On A Hill which became one of my favorites along with Figure 8 although I know these aren't his most favorited albums Figure 8 is my number one followed by From A Basement On A Hill. Everything after that I love too but I loved the really produced album in contrast with the bedroom 4 track recordings. I was taking guitar lessons and also very depressed and found solace from music like Elliott Smith and reading Charles Bukoski books by the dozen from the same library. It felt like someone was expressing what I was feeling and maybe it wasn't an answer but it brought me some comfort amidst the misery of my boring life in suburbia being in a lower middle class home surrounded by rich kids. I always felt like an outcast. I also remember around that era the same kid showed me the first iPod that ever came out and was bragging about how much music it could store. It was like 1GB or something low by modern standards and it was big and bulky with a black and white screen but it still seemed so cool. That kid was really good at skateboarding and a bit of a legend at school for being sponsored by the local boardshop as well as flow for eS footwear in their heyday while I was not sponsored but just flow with a boardshop called Skate Shack one town over where I skated with my friends everyday. Skate Shack wasn't as beloved as RQ but I liked both. It was back in the days of skateboarders really making fun of rollerbladers and though I was never I serious rollerblader I did enjoy riding around from time to time. Just talking about all this makes my heart fill up with so many memories. It's always the simplest times in the moment but its often hard to recognize how great it is right NOW in retrospect when now is the past. Jules was the name. Interesting character in my life. Anyways long story long comment end of chapter 1. RIP Elliott Smith. Will be forever a legend of music although I don't think he'd admit that he liked that title I still think he's undeniably a legend. He seemed to bridge the gap from the death of Kurt Cobain and was in this strange time where digital music distribution was just really starting to blossom after Napster was shut down and electronic music was becoming very popular and yet struck a chord with so many people. His music transcends the time of which it was written.
Yeah, must get pretty tiring answering such personal and intrusive questions if you're a musician who often writes emotionally heavy lyrics- same goes for novelists, screen-writers... I'd hate that
These reporters tend to have an "angle" when asking questions, and Elliott just answers them so plainly that the interviewer doesn't know how to proceed haha.
@@jwjdjs2643 I never thought about it that way before but your right. Many singers out there sound completely different when they sing or put on a different tone I guess to make it seem more in tone to the song but its great how Elliott was able to just use his normal speaking voice and still sound so emotional and gentle. Miss him
He seemed very uncomfortable in many of these interviews, but he said some actually really inspirational things. I love his music, I wish I'd been able to see him live it would have been an amazing experience.
Saw him on the XO tour in Detroit, and got a chance to meet him and talk a couple seconds. Just told him he was a great songwriter, shook his hand, and told him that I appreciated his work. He was very gentle and nice. Didn’t say much. He smiled though.
11:30 When Elliott explained his tattoo it was funnily fitting to the situation of the interview. In a way amongst all swarm of interviews and publicity he was getting he was the bull who ended up going to the bullfight even if he didn't want to.
Musicians make music for everyone to hear. Not every musician who passes young is a tortured soul who hates the fame. The goal is to top the charts with your music and make a living doing it.
@@rjskum688 that's not the goal at all, the goal is to make great music, Elliot NEVER wanted that level of fame, all you have to do is listen to him for five minutes to know that.
He never wrote a bad song and for over 20 years now his songs have been interchangeably my favorite songs to listen to. I love love love his music . My all time favorite is pitseleh. I just love when he goes, "no one deserves it." Into the piano guitar solo part. It's so heartbreakingly gorgeous and just insanely perfect. I love it. I would have loved to see that live
That’s the thing that amazes me about his music is there isn’t one song that I skip in all of his albums, all of his work is good, and there’s so much of it ~
He's just so real. An authentic guy. He was reserved but considerate and caring even through his own sense of disconnection or not enjoying the spotlight in the way many other artists do.
The last interviewer was the only one who seemed to know a little bit about his music. When she said Chet Baker you could see him light up for a millisecond.
Ruth Adcock elliott had a reputation for actually being too easy to talk to even to a fault. It got to the point where he couldn't go out with friends because people would approach him and he was too nice to tell them to fudge off.
My aunt had met him at a bar in Cali. She told me that he was very drunk and apparently really sociable and sweet. My aunt was the same way when she got drunk. She said she had approached him and they had a really cool convo about literature and different kind of music. She said she was surprised that he had kept conversating with her into the night and he crashed on her couch. They had breakfast together, exchanged numbers, and she said she heard from him every now and then on the road. I ask her about Elliott almost every single time I visit her in Washington just to see if I can hear anything else.
He's so lovely, genuine, and captivating. Elliott and Jeff Buckley are the two musicians I badly wish I could bring back to life if i could. Insanely talented and gone way too soon.
It's funny watching him respond to questions about writing a song for a movie knowing what we know now (that he actually wrote miss misery before good will hunting, but in order to qualify for the oscars it has to be "written for the movie")
The longer I know Elliott the more I think about everything he said in Interviews.. it's almost as though the older I get the more I only BEGIN to understand what he might have been thinking.. everything he says is so ambigous with some deeper philosophical meaning waiting at the end of the fork roads that arise due to his sometimes erratic chain of thoughts.. it seems like he was always effortlessly highly emotional and highly intellectual at the same time.. he was a genius at life and that's a metaphor that might describe him quite well under the circumstances that he had to die for it
I think Elliott felt things very deeply yet didn't complicate them he just expressed them as he understood them quite honestly and without self pity or vitriol. It does seem there was a lot of thought behind his words though. He had a really pleasant demeanor that just makes him seem like if you met him you could be comfortable as yourself. He was vulnerable and real. I think that authenticity and carrying some sort of suffering without feeling badly for himself is endearing in a somewhat stoic way but not stoic because of trying to be but because it seemed natural. I have no idea really but when I hear him talk it definitely just naturally makes me try to psychoanalyze what he was thinking beyond the words for sure. Still miss him all these years later and it doesn't seem his records are any worse for the wear. I actually think they are just as alive as ever and they have a transcendental quality to them.
@@exzisd He doesn't have much to say, but everything he does say is worth listening to. My dad is like that and I definitely think it's true for Elliott as well.
His music is the most beautiful and personal thing I’ve ever heard... it truly comes from the heart of someone with pure talent who doesn’t show off. You’re music has helped us so much Elliott. Rip
My screen froze on a classic Elliott look @ 17:03 just after she started "I was reading somewhere that you have this process by which you just sort of go into public places .." it's worth pausing at that moment that he's wondering what she's read and where this question is going. He must have dealt with so many silly questions in his time but she seems to be cool and he's still giving her the benefit of the doubt that this won't be too bad. He looks like a pretty hardcore guy, bless him, but he's got the patience of a saint!
'But you're a BIG BEATLES FAN RIGHT?' What Elliott Smith was trying to say in a kind fashion: 'Yeah but the recording studio was, y'know, just another room at the end of the day'
On an unrelated note, I never got into Trout Mask Replica. I listened to it multiple times, but just can't get into it. Like, it's impressive, and a ton of work clearly went into the album, but it just isnt pleasant to listen to
chippchipp1 don't worry, you are not alone. I gave it quite a few tries because he was sometimes associated with the Zappa and Buckley scene, but it never really stuck :/ my friend would blast that Hot Dog Night song til he was blue in the face
"Who would think that I was gonna be nominated for on Oscar? I mean, that's...you know, preposterous..." While I'm sitting here swearing because I thought it was preposterous that he didn't win one!
I admire how collected and authentic he is during these interviews and just as a person, overall. Elliott is the type of person who appreciates both aestheticism and pragmatism and how the two dance and compliment each other, it seems. He isn't overly cocky or grandiose or anything, despite the stories that got around about him being wrecked by drugs and emotional struggles. That just goes to show that one can keep a level head and realistic perspective as a professional songwriter, even when dealing with such turbulent issues. There is ALWAYS a way to make it through the day.
@@TheHumorousDaze Thanks homie. I still come back to this video all of the time. Especially in times of sadness and vulnerability, it shows me how you can still be productive and try to make great stuff
I think he was extremely sharp, and had a great sense of humour too . . . . No one else writes songs like Elliot did. . . when he got it right , (which was often) it was SO right, there was like some kind of perfect harmonic symmetry to the whole story. Again , something I havent really heard elsewhere. . thats such a rare thing in music. . R.I.P. Mr Smith
Yeah, I'm always on the look out for other artist that resemble his sound. He was definitely special, the way he explains emotion in his songs is so beautiful and the instrumental skill to go with it.
I honestly don't think he ever wrote a bad song. I think the levels are like amazing and really good. like nothing is worse than really good. For example, picking at random "punch and Judy" is still really really good. Miss misery is an all time great song. So is pitseleh. So is can't make a sound. So is alphabet town. So is stupidity tries. It goes on and on
All these questions for such a whole hearted true musician who wanted only his music to be heard and loved everyday by true hearted people's ...such a good spirited guy he was , I don't know what happened in his death, I don't know him , and truly none of us truly know what happened in is heart and mind so the only thing I can say is damn , such a talented man Elliot smith .. You're music lives on in us ban always will, thank you.
I feel the same way. His music has gotten me through some of the darkest times in my life and I really wish Elliott knew how much he's loved and missed. He deserved happiness.
a friend of mine knew him and played with him, he is the luckiest guy ever. elliot smith helped me through depression while also causing it. he was a brilliant man.
@@truefunksoul8638 I think it would make sense in the way that Elliott forces you to stop and drink it all in, to feel and let it all happen to you, no matter how deep and painful.
@@franta7294 in some ways I think it does. Depression is sometimes caused by having time and the ability to think through your thoughts. Maybe it’s just me.
+GuitarParts101 Have journalist and the media in general ever undertood an artist? Nah. They just come up with stupid questions to hear what they want but they're constantly missing the point of art and life and everything.
That blonde interviewers' responses are so empty, which of course isn't surprising. Just an "okay" to everything he says. It's totally evident that it went in one ear and out the other. It's a shame.
That blonde woman's demeanor and approach to interviewing is like she's trying to emulate Matt Lauer or something. She's so obtuse and demanding answers. Everything means nothing to me actually implies a sense of possibility, depending on how you look at it. Egolessness, some of these interviewers need less ego and to approach their subject with more receptivity, and maybe he would open more.
I always thought it was no coincidence that Everything Reminds Me Of Her and Everything Means Nothing To Me are paired together on the Figure 8 album. I've read of Elliott agonising over the eventual song list and order for the Either/Or album, it really mattered to him, he didn't just throw his latest batch of songs together in any old way; which sounds obvious like most songwriters would do that but it's easy to imagine Elliott caring about the running order more than the average artist would.
9:38 "For the rest of my life". Makes me think he is alluding to suicide. Was that his last tour? Just noticed that comment. He's grinning as he says it and he is saying it on tv knowing it would be recorded for future review.
The industry changed. I don't have words for the rest. This is just amazing. Listening to the the words and questions of the past. People used to discuss the conventions of music. The very real implications of personal life choices and how they influenced the artist, and how that came out in the final product. Nothing like that happens today. Everything feels like a push for the artist to endorse some political spectrum. News media now latches onto artists as tools for ratings. It's weird. I feel homesick for something that I never had the opportunity to experience myself. Weird.
I would highly recommend checking out his Either/Or album and XO album. Any of his 'unreleased' songs (which can now be found on the internet, youtube or elsewhere) are all extraordinary as well.
Every single interview just has a specific point or moment when you can see how overwhelmingly depressed he is, and how completely he doesn't want to address it publicly AT ALL. I think Jeanine Garofalo had the easiest way about her when interviewing him, and it seemed to agree with Elliott WAY more. For the most part he just seems annoyed with the overly simplifying attempts to sum entire broad categories into an easily digestible soundbite.
i don't know if people are actually aware of how damming and detrimental his interviewing charisma was to his success and overall mainstream popularity/likability was. You can't stand on your music alone in the world of mtv and hollywood bullshit. Had he been some gorgeous dream boat who people loved interviewing & seeing on TV. Elliott Smith would have been crazy successful in that industry at that time.
@Either Or He had to lie about making Miss Misery for Good Will Hunting instead of just writing it on his own, because that was the only way it could qualify for an Oscar lmao
Please change the preview image for this video to something less unflattering. I didn't watch your video. I just clicked the thumbnail as a recommendation and came here to tell you this.
Carson "what's the story with that tattoo"? Elliot "uh it's about Ferdinand the bull that didn't want to be a bull" Carson " awesome awesome". Two personalities that clash
Rebeca Cervantes it's kind of like a figure of speech. She wants him, wherever his soul might be now, to read it. The second sentence makes it clear that that was the intention.
Nicholas Engelbert sorry I didn't realize that's what she believed in, if that is what she believes.(that souls still read RU-vid posts). I mean, I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad either by you defending her comment or her for commenting that. It's just that, that was the most obvious thing to understand from the way she wrote it yknow?
