Review: Jason Mraz Makes Nickelback Sound Good

jason-mraz

Have you ever taken a dump that the toilet just couldn’t seem to choke down? I feel like that toilet when I’m forced to listen to Jason Mraz’s scattin’, be-boppin’, skiddlywink warbling. I could be anywhere– walking down the street, in my grandmother’s car, at the TJMaxx– when my ears are suddenly spewed upon. It’s funny that “scat,” the obnoxious jazz-influenced vocal riffing that Mrass-clown utilizes, is also a homonym for droppings, feces, or crap, typically of the animal variety. The latter kind of “scat” is exactly what falls like little black pellets from Mrass-goblin’s mouth. After spending some time percolating in the artistic cesspool of Los Angeles, it is rerouted to the ears of consumers, which then become toilets, which then must choke down the wretched aural blob with a mental flush or two.

Here’s the deal: I just fundamentally reject Mraz’s entire ethos. Honestly, Mr. A-Z is just Jimmy Buffet for Generation Y. It’s cleaned up and made to sound intelligent to the average Delta Phi Kappa bro just learning to play some riffs on the guitar, but at it’s core it’s the same swill. And the worst part is, he’s one of several unconscious Buffet memes; an all-star lineup that includes Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Matt Nathanson, G. Love, Gavin DeGraw, so on and so on.

Don’t believe me? Let’s compare lyrics, shall we? First, some standard tripe from Mrass-hole:

The remedy is the experience.
This is a dangerous liaison
I say the comedy is that it’s serious.
This is a strange enough new play on words
I say the tragedy is how you’re gonna spend
The rest of your nights with the light on
So shine the light on all of your friends
When it all amounts to nothing in the end.

I challenge you, reader: examine the lyrics to the rest of this song and tell me what the hell it means beyond, “Screw it, man. Let’s just chill.” Now, as a fine segue, some lines from a Jimmy Buffet classic, “Why Don’t We Get Drunk (And Screw).”

I really do appreciate the fact you’re sittin’ here
Your voice sounds so wonderful
But yer face don’t look too clear
So bar maid bring a pitcher, another round o’ brew
Honey, why don’t we get drunk and screw

Chorus:

Why don’t we get drunk and screw
I just bought a water bed, it’s filled up for me and you
They say you are a snuff queen
Honey I don’t think that’s true
So, why don’t we get drunk and screw.

You can’t make this crap up, folks. The Sacred Writ mentions the sins of the fathers being visited upon their children. Well, Generation Me of the 1960s must have ravished the soil with a Troy-Bilt tiller of crap to sow the poop crop we have on our hands today. And the ethos is exactly the same: it’s all about the experience, man (or bro or dude or babe).

Lets just drink a lot, smoke a lot, just get absorbed in the music and watch the change happen. Yeah, man. We’re changing things. We’re changing things through the power of music and positive energy. Yeah, bro. Jason Mraz and Jimmy Buffet are so, like, environmentally conscious and charitable. When I go to this concert, I’m making a difference. Don’t bother me with your politics, your organized religion, your book-learning. I just want to live my life, man. I just want to smoke this weed, bounce around like a palsy patient at this show, and have unprotected sex with this chick. I just want to “be,” man.

Get the plunger.

This graphic, slightly nauseating review was penned by Mr. Ryan K. Hodgen.  Mr. Hodgen is a fairly misanthropic malcontent who cannot abide convesations with people possessing less than two Ph.Ds.  He gives voice to our generation’s silently suffering minority: the literary elite.

Popularity: 59% [?]

About the author

Since conditionally graduating from a liberal arts college in the Midwest (turns out "Il ne parle pas Français bien), Ryan began living in self-imposed exile in the City of Chicago, a municipality that opposes nearly everything he supports-- namely personal freedom, natural beauty, reasonable weather, and decent barbecue. He is apparently a masochist. When not engaged in writing articles at the behest of the fine editors of The Talking Mirror, Ryan is attempting to learn what it means to be "employable" in today's economy. The photo above is not of Ryan but of the Nature Boy Ric Flair, one of his heroes.
  • Kent

    Just doing as I’m told:

    PLEASE DONT READ THIS!!!!U WILL GET KISSED ON THE NEAREST POSSIBLE FRIDAY BY THE LOVE OF UR LIFE. 2MORROW WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF UR LIFE.HOWEVER IF U DONT POST THIS COMMENT TO ATLEAST 3 VIDEOS U WILL DIE IN 2 DAYS.NOW UV STARTED READIN THIS SO DONT STOP NOW!THIS IS SOOO SCARY.SEND THIS TO ATLEAST 5 VIDEOS IN 143 MINUTES WHEN UR DONE PRESS F6 AND UR CRUSSHES NAMEWILL APPEAR ON THE SCREEN IN BIG LETTERS THIS IS SOO SCARY CUZ IT ACTUALLY WORKS!!!!!

  • Kent

    It didn’t work.

  • Andy

    Nice to see that there’s some sanity left amongst the general music-listening population. Jason Mraz is downright awful, and as usual, the average radio listening moron eagerly consumes it like a brainwashed Jonestown member with poisoned Kool Aid. I mean, I know that the average person is a complete idiot, but come on… I tried watching his videos all the way through on Youtube, and each one was more awful than the one before it.

    Seriously, someone needs to put a stop to all of this gay douchebag music. We’ve already got way too many Jonas Brothers and Brittany Spears types. Do we really need to keep lowering this bar?

  • Andy

    Nice to see that there’s some sanity left amongst the general music-listening population. Jason Mraz is downright awful, and as usual, the average radio listening moron eagerly consumes it like a brainwashed Jonestown member with poisoned Kool Aid. I mean, I know that the average person is a complete idiot, but come on… I tried watching his videos all the way through on Youtube, and each one was more awful than the one before it.

    Seriously, someone needs to put a stop to all of this gay douchebag music. We’ve already got way too many Jonas Brothers and Brittany Spears types. Do we really need to keep lowering this bar?

  • Patricia

    Funniest. Blog. Ever.

  • Patricia

    Funniest. Blog. Ever.

  • Wilgus

    Ryan, I love you for verbally destroying the pervasive force that this man stands for. If only everyone were so wise.

  • Wilgus

    Ryan, I love you for verbally destroying the pervasive force that this man stands for. If only everyone were so wise.

  • Carol

    I’m baffled that you actually made time to sit down and write an essay on feces and call it a music review. Your perspective is clearly skewed considering your obvious jealousy at the fact that there are men with the ability to make girls cream themselves without a touch. And did you seriously just compare a song that Mraz wrote about a friend with cancer to a Buffet song about drunk sex?? Although a fun song written about 8 years ago, certainly not his best. You should never judge an artist based on their condensed, radio version that has been warped by record labels to sell their singer in three minutes to as many people as possible. In fact, I don’t consider any of his singles to be comparable to his other songs and they certainly don’t compare to his live performances. Try a little research next time instead of shoving shit in your ears cause you hear a song you don’t like while diving in the bargain bins at TJMaxx with your grandma.

  • Carol

    I’m baffled that you actually made time to sit down and write an essay on feces and call it a music review. Your perspective is clearly skewed considering your obvious jealousy at the fact that there are men with the ability to make girls cream themselves without a touch. And did you seriously just compare a song that Mraz wrote about a friend with cancer to a Buffet song about drunk sex?? Although a fun song written about 8 years ago, certainly not his best. You should never judge an artist based on their condensed, radio version that has been warped by record labels to sell their singer in three minutes to as many people as possible. In fact, I don’t consider any of his singles to be comparable to his other songs and they certainly don’t compare to his live performances. Try a little research next time instead of shoving shit in your ears cause you hear a song you don’t like while diving in the bargain bins at TJMaxx with your grandma.

  • Chuck

    And your perspective is clearly skewed by the fact that you touch yourself while listening to Jason Mraz.

    Also, I’ve listened to all of Mr. Mraz’s music (since well before Waiting For My Rocket to Come) and seen him in concert and I still can’t see the value of lyrics like: “scooch on over closer dear / and I will nibble your ear.”

  • Chuck

    And your perspective is clearly skewed by the fact that you touch yourself while listening to Jason Mraz.

    Also, I’ve listened to all of Mr. Mraz’s music (since well before Waiting For My Rocket to Come) and seen him in concert and I still can’t see the value of lyrics like: “scooch on over closer dear / and I will nibble your ear.”

  • http://thetalkingmirror.com Kent

    Also of note: as of today, “Jason Mraz sucks” is the fourth most common search bringing people to this site with 76 total hits. “Jason Mraz douche” and “Jason Mraz nude” are not far behind. I’m assuming Carol is responsible for most of the latter.

  • http://thetalkingmirror.com Kent

    Also of note: as of today, “Jason Mraz sucks” is the fourth most common search bringing people to this site with 76 total hits. “Jason Mraz douche” and “Jason Mraz nude” are not far behind. I’m assuming Carol is responsible for most of the latter.

  • Balsak T. Baghar

    Carol, in my country you would be tea bagged so that you could no longer speak.

  • Balsak T. Baghar

    Carol, in my country you would be tea bagged so that you could no longer speak.

  • Curbside Prophet makes me hate

    GET IN SHAPE, Carol!

  • Curbside Prophet makes me hate JM

    GET IN SHAPE, Carol!

  • dudeguy

    Ryan, I love you. not in a gay homo way, but… you know, like, I love you.

  • dudeguy

    Ryan, I love you. not in a gay homo way, but… you know, like, I love you.

  • Dillon

    @ Carol:

    Have you ever listened to real music? Have you ever heard of smashing pumpkins, pixies or nirvana in your LIFETIME? Or are you just an overwiehgt mexican nurse student working at an orthidontics office that gets in her Olds Alero everyday, and goes to mcdonalds hoping to hear lady gaga over the next gayest radio station in town?

  • Dillon

    @ Carol:

    Have you ever listened to real music? Have you ever heard of smashing pumpkins, pixies or nirvana in your LIFETIME? Or are you just an overwiehgt mexican nurse student working at an orthidontics office that gets in her Olds Alero everyday, and goes to mcdonalds hoping to hear lady gaga over the next gayest radio station in town?

  • T2

    Dear God – I just had to endure the crapfest that is “I’m Yours” for the SECOND TIME TODAY on the lame-ass ‘adult hot contemporary’ station we’re forced to listen to at work. I cannot express the intensity of the contempt and fury I feel when listening to this so-called song. Just to give you an idea of the company you’re keeping these days, “Mister” Mraz, you were on after the moldy Natatlie Imbruglia offering of “Torn” and before the inexplicably still-being-played “Semi-Charmed Kind of Life”. Yes, everyone – I work in hell. What else would you call it when the radio station being piped in has the nerve to call this shite “today’s BEST music!”.

    Author, you hit it right on the head when you called it “scattin’, be-boppin’, skiddlywink warbling”. It just plain SUCKS as a ‘singing style’ and NO ONE anywhere should be perpetuating it. When I picture the spastic reaching out hand motions that go along with the “please don’t, please don’t, please don’t’ line, I want to vomit up my pancreas.

  • Jr

     Ok, for all the new age tree huggers who say “It’s all good” even if you pour gas on them and light a match.  Let me say, “In my opinion” which is shared by a overwhelming amount of people who do not follow Jason Mraz in blind adoration…he sucks shit.
    His lyrics are fucking mundane, queer, and his guitar playing is bullshit, I know because I have to transcribe the diarrhea for students.
    If you really step back and quit kissing Jason Mraz’s pimpled ass for a moment…think for yourself…ask what it is exactly you are listening to…you may just slowly start to pull your head out of your ass and share the opinion that him and his fag, hipster image is a waste of your time.  Give it a try.

  • Jonathan

    Jason Mraz is great. His voice is always on point, and his guitar technique is impeccable. He might not be a complex guitarist, but he does what he needs to back up his music well. Sure, sometimes his music gets cheezy, but why should that matter? They’re his songs, so they can be about whatever he wants them to be about. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. And in the event when someone else is playing a song of his and you don’t want to hear it, just remember a time when you played something you liked that someone else didn’t want to listen to. 

  • Joey Blow

    I’m new here but I really enjoyed the review… can’t speak for the author but I think more than making fun of Mraz you missed the point that he’s making fun of people like YOU, douchey wannabe ‘hipsters’ who think this watered down tripe has any substance whatsoever.  So, sure HE doesn’t have to listen to Mraz if he doesn’t want to, but we still have to hear from people like *you* who can’t stop singing his praises.  *That’s* the annoying part.

  • Joey Blow

    C’mon, at the very least you should be hating Mraz cause of those stupid ass “Trilby” (circumcised Fedora) hats he wears.  Besides the fact that the brim is so short as to be absolutely non-functional, he has bred legions of like-looking douchebags who can be seen rummaging thru the hat rack at Target as we speak.

    Anyone over the age of 15 knows that those Trilby hats only look good on old Dominican men playing dominos in the alley or maybe, just maybe some old-school South African musicians: http://place1.dyndns.org/music/files/images/detailed/109296.jpg
    How dare you. HOW. DARE. YOU.

  • Jonathan

    You have no idea who I am, and you call me a “douchey wannabe hipster.” Who’s the real douche in this situation?

    I stumbled upon a review about a musician I like that I disagreed with, so I felt the same urge you did to post a comment. I guarantee you can’t disprove the things I said about Mraz because they’re true, and those are the reasons why I like his music, not to go along with the stereotypical image people have assigned to him.

  • Guest

    You people have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what you are talking about. Just by your horrible opinions on amazing music I can come to the conclusion that you all have either a lil wayne or some shitty screamo band cd (depending on your specific musical taste) in your car right now. So sad :(

  • zeppy

    I present the following challenge to anyone who finds the swill this a-hole clogs the radio waves with in any way entertaining: In the unfortunate case you ever have the dubious experience of attending a Jason Mraz concert, check the crowd.  That’s right, take a moment or twelve to look around at the dudes there in attendance and I will guaran-goddamned-tee you that they all fall neatly into one of three categories.  1)There’s the dude who lost a bet, 2)the dude who was dragged there by his girlfriend/wife, and 3)the odd dude or two who is there because he actually likes this schlockmeister.  N.B. the 3rd dude is almost certainly the type of dude who sits down to pee.  

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