The shitty thing about this modern age of ours is that bad news reaches more quickly, and from more angles. I just noticed on twitter that Jay Reatard died today. I checked Matador’s website and yeah, it’s true. He was 29. They don’t say what happened. Drugs, probably. Who knows. Also there might be 100,000 dead in Haiti, but that’s another story altogether.
If you’ve heard of Jay at all, you probably liked his music and are as disappointed as I am. I blogged about him awhile back, and I figured I’d be bringing him up again sometime; shame it had to be like this. He was a great songwriter — he made pop-punk that people like me are allowed to listen to in public — and while I never got to see him live, Youtube‘s got evidence that he was a rock machine onstage.
Condolences all around. You’ll be missed.
Jay Reatard – “See Saw”
Jay Reatard – “Rotten Mind”
