The Quotable David Berman: Why He Quit

"There is something about participating in the music economy that makes me uneasy. You see it a lot in Nashville, Supply down on its knees begging, whoring for Demand, but I didn't ever expect it to infect what was once called 'underground music,' the vague world I've been working in for fifteen years."

Our friends at Nashville Cream had a chat with Silver Jew David Berman about the Joos' upcoming final show and about his decision to get the hell out of the music world. More gem quotes follow...

Bands are so desperate for economic and cultural capital, it's frankly embarrassing. And business as usual performs a social function. It legitimizes the way things are done. The money is amazing and no one talks about it.

Unrecognized power relations go unnoticed. The Internet has become a giant premature discussion of canonicity. The top ten list, a stupid try at creating your own system of domination.

The anti-major label discourse has taken focus off the weirdness of expecting musicians to follow an entrepreneur's model. Self-aggrandizement. Postures of vanity. It all goes uncriticized. Adolescent fixations. Regressive phenomena.

We are all just downstage from American Idol.

- Ryan Catbird