41 Rob Sheffield Quotes for You to Enjoy

Rob Sheffield

American Journalist

Born: Feb 2, 1966

Girl Love Music People World You

Related authors: Ambrose Bierce Dave Barry Erma Bombeck Hunter S. Thompson Mignon McLaughlin Walter Cronkite William F. Buckley, Jr. William Lloyd Garrison

Baseball's Opening Day is full of time-honored traditions: the President throws out the first ball, the Cubs' starting pitcher walks away with a 54.00 ERA, the Royals get mathematically eliminated from the pennant race. Rob Sheffield

Day First Walks President Out Pennant Throws Opening Opening Day Ball Cubs Era Mathematically Traditions Get Pitcher Race Full Baseball Away Eliminated Royals Starting

In their heyday, the Pet Shop Boys were the Interpol of the Eighties, dressing up to sing really weird pop songs about lust and loneliness in the big city. They're low-pro now, not retro-worshipped in the manner of Depeche Mode, New Order, or The Cure, but you can hear the reason why - these guys are too sad. Rob Sheffield

Sad Loneliness You Pet Big Lust Too Heyday City Dressing About Guys Songs Weird New Sing Boy Big City Were Hear New Order Up Cure Mode Shop Depeche Order Eighties Manner Really Pop Pop Songs Reason Now Why

Watching the evening news in 2011 is a strange time-travel experience. 'The CBS Evening News,' 'ABC World News' and 'NBC Nightly News' haven't changed their style over the decades, still going for that old-fashioned mix of voice-of-authority pomp and feel-good fluff. The difference is that people aren't watching. Rob Sheffield

'American Horror' goes for a very specific kind of Seventies suburban downer ambience - 'Flowers in the Attic' paperbacks, Black Sabbath album covers and late-night flicks like 'Let's Scare Jessica to Death.' It even has 'Go Ask Alice'-era urban legends. Rob Sheffield

Death Black Late-Night Seventies Kind Scare Black Sabbath Horror Sabbath Attic Like Go Covers Ambience Very American Goes Legends Suburban Urban Ask Downer Even Specific Jessica Album Flowers

You can't beat the beehive for glam punkette attitude. Rob Sheffield

Attitude You Beat Glam Beehive

That's the secret of 'True Blood' - all the creatures that roam Bon Temps become a metaphor for our insatiable lusts and inner desires. Humans craving what they can't have and those secret appetites transforming them into beasts, or even killers. Rob Sheffield

When Ke$ha tries to rap like L'Trimm, she sounds like any ordinary lonely teenage girl stuck in a nowhere town, singing along to her radio and dreaming of a party where she's the star. Ke$ha's greatness is that in her voice, you can hear both the loser girl and the star. All hail the Queen of Noi$e! Rob Sheffield

You Queen Girl Lonely Singing Party Teenage Teenage Girl Rap Tries Dreaming Voice Both Stuck Hail Along Town Like She Sounds Loser Hear Greatness Any Where Ordinary Radio Star Nowhere Her

Seeing Taylor Swift live in 2013 is seeing a maestro at the top of her or anyone's game. No other pop auteur can touch her right now for emotional excess or musical reach - her punk is so punk, her disco is so disco. The red sequins on her guitar match the ones on her microphone, her shoes and 80 percent of the crowd. Rob Sheffield

Game Guitar Punk Shoes Live Other Musical Top Seeing Touch Percent Crowd Emotional Excess Red Reach Match Disco Microphone Anyone Pop Taylor Taylor Swift Swift Now Her Right

At an incredibly divisive point in pop history, Donna Summer managed to create an undeniable across-the-board experience of mass pleasure - after 'Bad Girls,' nobody ever tried claiming disco sucked again. It set the template for what Michael Jackson would do a few months later with 'Off The Wall.' Rob Sheffield

History Experience Girl Few Incredibly Summer Later Months Pleasure Claiming Bad Would Tried Bad Girls Point Divisive Nobody Undeniable Mass Disco Off Michael Michael Jackson Wall Jackson After Again Create Pop Sucked Ever Set

Every American wants a clean slate, but nobody wants to lose what they've got. Rob Sheffield

Lose Every Clean Nobody Got American Wants Every American Slate

Anyone watching '30 Rock' always knew Tina Fey was playing a fictionalized version of herself, a workaholic comedy writer who also plays one on TV. She's the boss; Liz Lemon just works here. Rob Sheffield

Comedy Herself TV Boss Writer Knew Also She Rock Always Version Tina Tina Fey Fey Just Anyone Lemon Workaholic Who Works Here Liz Watching Playing Plays

Most of an award-show host's job is showing up and keeping a cool head and soldiering through it, whether it's the Oscars or the Hallmark Channel's 'Hero Dog Awards.' Rob Sheffield

Dog Hero Job Channel Through Host Head Most Hallmark Up Whether Cool Showing Showing Up Awards Keeping Oscars

It's easy to see why 'American Horror' is freaking people out. The ultraviolent hallucinations never pause long enough to make sense. In terms of coherence, it makes your average David Lynch movie look like 'Burn Notice.' Rob Sheffield

People Long Sense Enough Out Easy See Horror David David Lynch Never Like Look Terms Make Makes American Burn Movie Pause Average Notice Your Why Coherence

It was R.E.M. who showed other Eighties bands how to get away with ignoring the rules - they lived in some weird town nobody never heard of, they didn't play power chords, they probably couldn't even spell 'spandex.' All they had was songs. Rob Sheffield

Hardly anyone liked R.E.M. who didn't like them way too much, so part of being an R.E.M. fan meant getting wildly overinvested and then feeling vaguely disappointed by whatever they did next. Rob Sheffield

The 2000s were the time when bromance became a kind of love that dared to speak its name. As a high-water mark of bro culture, nothing can ever top the MTV series 'Bromance,' with Brody Jenner and his search for a new BFF. Rob Sheffield

Love Time Culture Speak Nothing Mark Bro Top Dared Kind New Name Became Were His Search Series Ever

'The Voice' has lots of singers who fit the 'Idol' mold of young, innocent ingenues with psycho stage moms. But it also has long-suffering adult pros, with a whiff of thirtysomething despair in their voices. That adds an edge of realness. Rob Sheffield

The key thing about LCD Soundsystem is that people always wanted this band to exist. For years, it was glaringly obvious that a band like this should exist, and people were impatiently waiting for them to show up. Rob Sheffield

Waiting People Key Band Key Thing About Like Obvious Always Were Years Exist Up Wanted Them Should Show Thing

Rebecca Black might sing like a robot, but that's just proof she has evolved beyond us. Her vocal is just a slightly exaggerated version of the robot glitch-twitch stutter that's been mainstream pop vocalese for the past 10 years or so. Rob Sheffield

Every now and then, Prince decides to try being a normal rock star. You know, the kind who does a professional arena tour where he plays the hits. But part of what makes him such an eternally fascinating star is that he lives in his own private purple world, even when he sets out to make the house quake. Rob Sheffield

You World Try Own Every Sets Out Kind Purple Arena Tour He Part Prince Know House Make Him Makes Does Rock Rock Star Private His Normal Hits Being Where Decide Eternally Then Who Professional Fascinating Even Star Now Now And Then Lives Plays

Hometown Aerosmith fans are different from other Aerosmith fans, and that mainly has to do with Joe Perry. It's tough to overstate his strange grip on the local psyche. Tyler is a star who belongs to the whole world, but Perry, that dude belongs to Boston. Rob Sheffield

One of the best moments of any Liars show is hearing the crowd squawk 'We're doomed! We're doomed!' on cue during 'We Fenced Other Houses with the Bones of Our Own.' Maybe not the most uplifting audience sing-along in the indie rock world, but one of the most reliably entertaining. Rob Sheffield

One of the things that make Liars so fascinating after five albums, each one so completely different from the others, is that even though they play around with all the classic tropes of art-damaged angst-noise perv-rock, they exude a totally cheery and boyish enthusiasm onstage, goofing around with their keyboards and beatboxes. Rob Sheffield

Enthusiasm Liars Others Keyboards Though One Of The Things Classic Totally Onstage Goofing Make Around Boyish Five Different After Fascinating Even Each Each One Play Things Albums

Rob Sheffield Quotes

No more Rob Sheffield quotes