The horrible state of professional reviewing, redux
Recently, Maxim magazine reviewed the latest album by the band The Black Crowes. The album got a mediocre rating. But, as it turned out, the reviewer couldn’t have possibly heard the entire album. Why? Review copies weren’t available, according to this article.
According to the article, Maxim apologized to the band, telling their manager that the review (based on hearing one track) was an “educated guess.” That has to be one of the lamest excuses that I’ve ever heard. This wasn’t an “educated guess” that went wrong. It was either impatience or laziness on the part of the editor and/or the writer. Did the magazine want to be the first out of the gate with a review of the band’s first album in years? If so, then they should have known that they’d be caught out.
Basing a review of a work on only part of it — be it a single track off an album, one chapter of a book, or the first five minutes of a movie or TV show — is dishonest. You’re not getting a full picture of what you’re reviewing, and can’t make an educated assessment (which is different from a guess). More on my thoughts about this here.
Do you write reviews? If so, what’s your process? Feel free to leave a message.
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