I only read it from mild curiosity.  I like The Cult, and I think Ian has done some really interesting things throughout his career, but I’m not one of THOSE Cult fans.  You know the ones.

Anyways, I thought these last two responses from Ian were great.  Very, very true…

I’ve noticed that some young bands can be very reticent to talk openly about what they are saying in their music.
I think everyone’s afraid of maybe upsetting someone at Pitchfork Media, getting that hate. This is the interesting thing, because with the internet and social networks, blogging, everyone has an opinion. But what we don’t see, and what we don’t get, is their credentials. Now I think if people were fair, when they make their opinion, they have to make their credentials available. If you’re critiquing something, if you’re a critic, you have to make your credentials available.

What do you mean by credentials?
Your life experiences. Not your education, not just like, “I went to this college or traveled.” What have you experienced? What were the major events of your life that give you this kind of unique perspective? Give us some insight into who is sharing this critique with us. It’d be more likely to see an authenticity in that critique.

For example, the Lou Reed-Metallica record, that was something I’ve argued with many people about. You know, everyone’s saying “Oh, it’s disgusting, it’s an abomination.” You know the amount of hate they got for that record. Hate! I think Pitchfork gave it like 1, or 0. Lou Reed, he’s a 67-year-old man. His body of work is stellar, he is one of our greatest laureates. If you know anything about Lou Reed, he’s not well right now. He’s deteriorating, his body’s sick, he’s getting frail and fragile. He’s chosen Metallica to be his muscle, to be his armor, so he can come out one more time and make a statement of what’s happening in his internal life, and he’s using this Weimar Republic play, Lulu, to put himself over. If you actually listen to the record, there’s some phenomenal moments on it, by anybody’s standards. “Junior Dad,” for example, I think is a fucking brilliant piece of music.

Again, I go back to this shamanic figure, because in many ways he represents an energy that hasn’t been nurtured. He’s appearing on the culture, and he’s looking at us. And he’s offering us a choice. We take the knife, we take the dorje. And if we take the knife, we will probably slit our own throats with it. And we’re doing it constantly. Look at the culture we live in. It’s vulgar. We celebrate narrow concerns, we celebrate the veneer. Within the culture, I am seeing that this isn’t just me, I’m seeing it represented from other artists. Like, for example, Grinderman. They have a wolf on their cover. I think Nick Cave is intimating a certain energy. Bands like Wolves in the Throne Room, even bands like Salem. The whole kind of witch house and drag scene, like Balam Acab, White Ring – the noise that they’re making isn’t a cute noise. Meanwhile, we’re celebrating all the veneer pop acts, and [people are] like, “Oh wow, they’re edgy,” but really it’s veneer. It’s a leather jacket, it’s a crazy hairdo, it’s a wacky moment.

Even Feist’s Metals record intimates what I’m talking about, and PJ Harvey’s record. I think they intimate something not quite right in the zeitgeist, and it’s not in a material place, it’s in a spiritual place. And the word spiritual has almost become almost tired. You think Barnes and Noble, books on the Dalai Lama and crystals. It’s become hokey. And I think that that again is a smear campaign from those who want to perpetuate this ego-driven, “I am right, I am right, I’m first, I’m right, look at me, here I am, I know everything, I’ve got all the knowledge, I know everything about krautrock, I know everything about obscure art forms, it’s me, I’m the one, put me on, flog me, here I am.” We’re lost.