| Author | Message | ||
     capsicum spray Unregistered guest |
I expect some heated debate in this one. Ben Lee...dickhead or wanker? | ||
| fsh Unregistered guest |
Gentlemen and ladies, avert your eyes from the vulgarity of one 'capsicum spray' above. | ||
| capsicum spray Unregistered guest |
Thats a bit hoity toity int it? | ||
| Peter Collins Unregistered guest |
Who's Ben Lee? | ||
| C Gull Unregistered guest |
Any relation to Ben Dee? | ||
| capsicum spray Unregistered guest |
Not heard of him. Lucky buggar. Ben Dee? Ben Dover more like it. His best friends are Neal and Bob. | ||
| CAmeron Unregistered guest |
Ben Lee is a good reason to leave Australia and never go back . As a forced exile. At a very early age i cottoned on to the fact that Australia was embracing America rapidly and losing its sense of humour, Egalatarian vibe and politically progresive roots.Ben Lee is way over rated , cos unfortunatley there is a lot of truth in the old saying , that the best Aussies are the ones that left . Sad I know . I saw this dreadful film in Norway and it looked like it was filmed in balmain where i lived and Ben lee was like the star or something and it was like "The Wonder Years " with Norman Gunston . Really crap film. Crap acting . Yeah. Sorry but that question brought back memories. Ben Lee. Singer , actor ,spoilt North Shore dick acting all rootsy while he sips his latte in Beverley Hills. Oh well . God Bless The Gobetweens . Severed Heads. The Saints . | ||
| capsicum spray Unregistered guest |
so is that a, b or c - all of the above. i think BL is a music industry joke on everyone. they must be pissing themselves laughing that they could sell someone so obviously untalaented to the commercial consumer. and did i mention ugly. his head looks like a sock puppet. | ||
| Cameron Unregistered guest |
Its a mad situation . I think he might be part of Scientology or kabala or something . Maybe his Dad is Burt Newton . Its very odd. I think there needs to be the equivalent of the French Revolution in the modern world . Too many filthy rich giving the gift of celebrity to their off-spring and at the same time completley dumbing down a whole generation of humans.Just think , one day there will be people who purley by learnt nostalga will think Ben Lee was some kind of genius .Let them eat SArah Lee . No Ben Lee . | ||
| Peter Azzopardi Member Username: Pete Post Number: 64 Registered: 09-2004 |
Cameron, that's a bit over the top isn't it? I'll admit, I'm amazed and bewildered that he's still riding the coattails of his precocious adolescent achievements and that he somehow managed to woo Claire Danes into marriage, but I can't seriously see people being fooled into retrospectively thinking him a genius. His arrogance is too heavy publicised for one, and his output does not live up to his claims to being the "greatest Australian songwriter of all time" (a goal he publically announced a few years ago and is embarrassingly falling short of). If anything, he'll be remembered as the goofy looking kid who became pals with the aforementioned, married a movie star, hung out with Sean Lennon and Macauly Culkin, produced some mediocre pop music, but, most of all, incited some interesting debate about the tall-poppy syndrome inherent in Australian culture--specifically the arts--which erupted out of the media spat between him and Bernard Fanning of Powderfinger fame (Grant McLennan formed FOC with the 'finger's guitarist Ian Hugh). Fanning, a typically humble, modest, good ol' hard working Aussie pubrock boy, took exception to Lee's ironic media boasting and labelled him a "precocious little c***"," which Lee then used as the slogan on his concert t-shirts. Funny, nobody bats an eye when Robert Forster, Nick Cave or Dave Graney makes arrogant remarks about their talents (though they're a lot more talented than Mr Lee, to be sure). I have this theory about tall, dark brooding Australian types in the arts (Forster, Cave): people here have no problem respecting the physically imposing (being the sporting nation of noble bushmen we still like to think we are) and forgive them for trangressing established boundaries of artistic selfworth. If you're a short, weedy, intellectual looking guy (like Lee; Dave Graney dresses like a pimp so nobody would touch him with a ten foot poll) you're the runt of the playground and will get picked on much more easily. Sure, people tire of Russel Crowes' antics, but the backlash was slow and he still is forgiven so much in the media. Just a theory. Peter C, to expand on the above information, Ben Lee first surprised many when his teenage band, Noise Addict, snagged a support for Sonic Youth and put out releases on the Beastie Boys' label. He went solo soon after, though not releasing his first full album till the wizened old age of 20 with an effort produced by that dude from Suede (I think; I'm fact checking none of this). This album, which I heard many times, had a few decent tunes, though mostly throwaway lyrics and cloying acoustic guitar/drum machine arrangements; a sound he continues to employ on his recent records judging from the singles I've heard. Bert Newton is not his dad, he is a senior TV talk show personality here in Australia. Sara Lee is a frozen dessert brand. | ||
| nervous crane driver Unregistered guest |
Even Bert Newton couldn't produce an offspring as ugly as the benlee. benlee reminds me of a private school prefect whose mum has always told him how wonderful he is. anyway, with his new product out his dial is everywhere at the moment, nearly hurled my flat white when i opened the paper this morning. | ||
| Rob Member Username: Rob Post Number: 10 Registered: 12-2004 |
Thanks Peter, I have never bothered to inform myself fully abt the Ben Lee phenomenon. You've just sorted that one out! Now I need never think of him again. | ||
| Randy Adams Unregistered guest |
Thank you Peter. I had no idea what this thread was about. Sometimes avoiding radio and tv has its drawbacks. | ||
| Cameron Unregistered guest |
Hey Peter . Interesting what you said about Aussies giving respect to people with a hardy character ( ie: ( RF NC ) ... True but I think its abit deeper. At the end of the day Gobetweens , Birthday Party earnt their stripes . When I listen to RF singing about the failed artist in love or Nick Cave singing bout some mad Deep South American fantasy its sort of believable cos these dudes are for real in the classic Trubador sense ( Cave is nuts , Forster is a bit of a failed artist , ie: not cribbin it in Beverley Hills ) . Ben Lee has just been put there so that he can role model a generation of bland boys next door who dont inhale, go to war when they are told and happily become the vehicles of capitalism that the scientoligists and Kabalists want them to be . Fly close to the sun . more fun . its stating the obvious really and doesnt suit people who seem to think that life should be free of pain and carthartic experience . | ||
| Peter Azzopardi Member Username: Pete Post Number: 67 Registered: 09-2004 |
Cameron, your theory on Ben Lee breeding a generation of "bland boys" merrily going off to war is one of the funniest things I've read on this message board in a long time. You know that rich kids don't go to war, their parents run it; I think the kind of fan Lee would breed (sarcastic, white middle-class, urbane, university types) would feel it their place to oppose a war that they'll never have to be a part of. You're right when you say NC and RF earned their stripes, but Lee's whole perogative was to fly close the sun and get Aussie artists out of their parochial holes (which is insulting to the Australian artistic community in the extreme). But really, do you know any Ben Lee fans? I know one who, on the question of going to war a few years back, told me he wasn't worried: because of his IT backround, he surmised, he'd be manning computers, not on the front line. Hmmm. Maybe you're right after all. | ||
| Allan K Unregistered guest |
Has anyone heard his latest single? It’s a nauseating, cynical attempt at trying to write a chart hit, with it’s references to Beyonce etc. I have to turn the radio off in the car whenever I hear it, which is sadly too often. | ||
| Randy Adams Unregistered guest |
I continue to not listen to the radio . . . . I think Pete has the phenomenon of spoiled middle class kids dialed perfectly. | ||
| Peter Azzopardi Member Username: Pete Post Number: 68 Registered: 09-2004 |
According to an article I read today, Ben Lee is now seperated from Claire Danes. I won't comment any further on that. Randy, I'm no class warrior. The above description ("sarcastic, middle-class, urbane, university types") could also be a typical Go-Bs fan, or the Go-Betweens themselves 20-odd years ago. I almost fit that description myself, except that my parents are more blue-collared, drop out of high school, have three kids and get divorced types, and I'm not witty or unpleasant enough for sarcasm. I don't think we should go to war either, though my dad voluntarily fought in 'Nam and was all amped to go back (and enlist me too) after September 11. As a teen he listened to Motown records and got called an Abo on the football field. That's the kind of bland boy who goes off to war and they spit on for being lucky enough to make it home. For what it's worth, I don't think Ben Lee is the new Berry Gordy. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 51 Registered: 08-2004 |
Ben Lee sounds like and Aussie version of Robbie Williams. I'd never heard of him before this topic came up, but is he as irritating as his British cousin? Honestly, I'll be boycotting "The Magic Rounabout" simply because of Williams involvement, nobody on this planet enrages me more than he. Does Ben Lee have plans for Hollywood recognition and ultimate world domination. The two of them must not be allowed to meet and organise the end of artistic talent, subtlety and conscience, that us humans, until now have taken for granted! | ||
| allan k Unregistered guest |
He's more of a "blandly drawn boy" type I guess; a faux acoustic troubadour. His new CD is called something like "awake is the new sleep". Anyone whose familiar with the Kings of Convenience will know how contrived the album title is. The radio is a necessary evil when commuting on the Los Angeles freeways like I do. | ||
| Cameron Unregistered guest |
The Kings of belle and sebastian norwegian karaoke ...... oh yeah . I like that track "happened again"... thats about it . Those dudes are seriously pretend . Perfumed Fart. Its the new everything . |