20 Questions with Mark Prindle

"Mark Prindle, he's a buddy of mine!" I say, with the fervor and coked-up enthusiasm of Alfred Molina's character in "Boogie Nights" when he describes his relationship with Rick Springfield. There is no Chinese boy throwing firecrackers in the background as I say this, just as there is no real "relationship" between myself and Mark Prindle.
What it amounts to is that one day back in the 90's, I was looking for some information about Polvo, a band that I was totally obsessing on at the time. While scouring the internets, I discovered a guy who had posted some online reviews of Polvo albums and he let readers "Add Your Thoughts" about the topic. I did and then I promply forgot about it, much in the same way that most people completely forgot about Polvo.
A year or two later, I ran into Prindle's website and discovered that this was the same dude that reviewed the Polvo albums. He expanded his scope. Big time. To the point where dozens of other bands were reviewed, and with no hint of linear thought.
Buckner & Garcia, Sun City Girls, Sonic Youth, and many more were provided with reviews and, this is telling, their entire catalog was represented.
Prindle was/is unlike any reviewer that I've ever come across. Mixing a dollop of Lester Bangs with a heaping tablespoon of junior high humor, his reviews provide more laughs than actual information on whether or not you'd actually like the music. Like most music fanatics, he's obsessive about his hobby and his stream-of-consciousness commentary is not only an end result of his passion, it's fucking refreshing. Particularly after you've read a Pitchfork review.
Like Bangs, Mark has also ventured into the music world via such albums as "Keep On Zaccin'! Songs From And Inspired By Mystical Excursions On The Experimental Hallucinogen 'Prozac' (Fluxetine)" and "Stop, Drop and Roll: A Musical Celebration Of Death By Smoke Inhalation." His music, like his reviews, are littered with inside jokes, potty humor, and enough busywork to make a kid on Ritalin remain on task. And that's not saying that his music, like his reviews, are bad by any means. Christ, I heard more talent in his "Only The Good Die Young" album than I have in any fucking Jandek album, and that fucker has a documentary on him. Prindle, on the otherhand, does have a Wikipedia page devoted to him, so give him time and we may be seeing a biography about him in Netflix.
I started reviewing music and posting online ramblings for two reasons: 1.) My therapist at the time suggested that I needed a creative outlet to compliment my own passion and 2.) Mark Prindle. Actually, the therapist suggested that I start and maintain a journal and write about anything, but that idea came to an end when my ex-wife started rummaging through it and ripping out pages. She also ripped out several pages of my copy of Jim Carroll's "Forced Entries," for what reason, I don't know. So I started blogging shit, and I used Prindle's unrelenting enthusiasm as a role model. This isn't his career, which helps, and it adds to the validity of everything he writes about.
So as a way to public thank Mark Prindle and to perhaps let anyone who runs across this little slice of heaven know about him, I posed 20 questions to the man and he responded. Some of the questions use obvious Prindlesque juvenilia and I've added comments after the fact using that nifty italicized "-ed" thing that Jack Rabid does.

TWENTY QUESTIONS


Why did you start markprindle.com?
"I wrote silly record reviews for my college newspaper (the Daily Tar Heel) and upon moving to NYC with my brother in early ’96, remarked to him that I would greatly enjoy writing a book in which I told my thoughts about every single album I own. He said, “You could do that on a web site” and offered to set up the HTML for me. The rest is (etc)."

How much time do you typically devote to maintaining the site and/or writing reviews?
"Too much. Probably an hour and a half a day, at very least."

Do you still write for any zines or other publications?
"Not that I know of. Sometimes I’ll send something to New York Waste. I was in a good position to begin writing for Maxim UK (and wrote one very brief little joke article for them), but then the editor-in-chief who liked me got fired."

How did you get noticed by some of these publications? Did you solicit them or did they approach you?
"Both. Citizine and California Pop approached me. I approached most of the others."

I know that little is left for the imagination on the site reviews, but have you ever had to “modify” a review for a publication based on the feedback it received?
"I believe so, yes. If a joke didn’t come across the way I meant it to. Like Aerosmith’s “Hooked On Bobo” or whatever that one’s called."

The website has been up for ten years, what keeps you going?
"My urge to do something ‘creative’ (which is why I don’t write straightforward record reviews at all anymore – too fucking boring!), and the positive feedback I get from people. It’s nice to know I can make people laugh their folly and cares away."
Mission accomplished, sir!-ed.

Tell me about the worst album that you’ve heard so far this year?
"That new Pink album. It’s just terrible. She’s terrible. No vocal melodies, no musical melodies – why does she exist?"
Pink is regularly panned by Prindle and is a fairly easy target, I suppose. At the same time, I've heard one of her newer songs and it didn't produce the violent reaction that she seems to cause Mark. Who knew?-ed.

So far, what’s the best album that’s been released this year?
"Who knows. I’ve only heard about 1% of this year’s releases."
OK, he's got me there. What I was trying to get out of him was "What is your favorite release so far this year and he gets all pissy about the semantics. Christ.-ed.

You got a lot of feedback regarding your comments about Katrina, what other topics or comments have you made in the past ten years that struck a nerve with your readers?
"Did I? I got many more comments about my dumb attack on the 9/11 firefighters. I ended up deleting that whole bit after enough letters came through pointing out how asinine that whole bit was. So there’s another answer for #5."

Occasionally, I’ll try and solicit feedback from people at work by saying “Add your thoughts.” It makes me chuckle because I think about you. Does that make me gay?
"Couldn’t think of a full 20 questions, I take it?"
Actually, I originally had about 26, but narrowed it down to 20 and kept this one on the list because I thought it was funny. I was wrong.-ed.

Seriously. What’s your fucking deal about the band Bloodrock?
"My fucking deal is that they fucking ruled. Have you ever heard any of their albums?"
You're Goddamn right I have...When I was six, I listened to "Bloodrock 2" countless times and always got freaked out by the song "D.O.A." Then I got some taste and started listening to Styx albums. This is a great example of Mark's passion. Here's a band that was, he'll take offense to this categorization, a farm league Grand Funk. Both were managed/produced by Terry Knight and both sucked sweaty balls. For the record: Bloodrock is much better than Styx.-ed.

Have your parents ever visited your site? Do you talk that way to your Mother?
"My mother used to read my site, but stopped when she realized how “blue” my writing style is."

Was it hard to understand Mark E. Smith on the telephone?
"Very."

What bands would you consider yourself to be a piss drinking little fan faggot for?

"None. I’m too old for that silliness. "
OK, a little explanation here. Mark loves The Fall and so do I. Except he had a chance to speak with Mark E. Smith and, when he transcribed the interview several years after the fact, he publically declared himself to be a "piss drinking little fan faggot" after he chuckled at one of M.E.S.'s comments for no apparent reason. It's a great example of Prindle's self deprecating humor and one of the reasons why I enjoy reading him.-ed.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Add your thoughts.
"He just seems to really love a lot of records that are goddamned near OBJECTIVELY horrible. Maybe he just likes everything ever recorded?"
I don't mind S.T.E. that much. But many people do.-ed.

You’re on Wikipedia now. How gay is that?
"I’ve been on Wikipedia for about four years. Way to keep up on current “Mark Prindle” goings-on."
Again with the semantics. I should have deleted the "now" and left it at that. But really, had I known that Prindle has been on Wikipedia for the past four years, wouldn't that qualify me as being a piss drinking little fan faggot? Does the fact that I'm doing 20 questions with Mark make me one anyway?-ed.

Was it hard sucking Jess Margera’s dick and interviewing him at the same time?
"You could ask the same thing about any of my interviews. I actually don’t recall being all that fawning about Jess Margera, but I haven’t read that review since I posted it so you may be right. I don’t set out to do confrontational interviews though; that’s never been part of it. I set out to let my favorite artists (or.. you know, people whose bands I like) know how much their music means to me, so that they trust me and will be more willing to open up about things that they normally don’t discuss in interviews."
A little explanation here. It totally blew my mind that Prindle liked C.K.Y. and went so far as to interview Jess Margera for his site. That, to me, qualifies as being a real fan/supporter of their work. I consider C.K.Y.'s work to be of minimal importance; sure it's nice background music for my C.K.Y. videos (which I own), but I never really considered them to be anything more than a by-product of Bam Margera's MTV-funded empire. But whatever, it's his site and this is just some gentle ribbing, in much the same way I kid those who are huge Elvis Costello fans about his album "Spike." Christ, I've admitted to liking April Fucking Wine, so there's a huge target for anyone who wants to take aim at me.-ed.

How’s your dog?
"Great! He’s very happy at the moment because my wife and I have been out of town for 8 days and now we’re home."
Mark has a very cute dog. And his wife is very attractive too. Like Rod Stewart said, "some guys have all the luck. Then Phil Collins said something too, but I was into Peter Gabriel at the time.-ed.

How many beers would it take before you seriously would consider fucking Pink?
"So many that I would be passed out and incapable of performing."

What prescriptions are you taking right now?
"Effexor, Gabitril and Lipitor"
"Effexor" is an anti-depressant medication that is known as a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor.
"Gabitril" is typically used as a medication to help with epileptic seizures.
"Lipitor" is a cholesterol-lowering medication.
All of these medications produce no side effects which prevent or hinder an individual's ability to maintain a review website.-ed.

So there you have it: Glam Racket's first interview! Mark was a great sport for participating and I, again, encourage every one of you to click on the link that's always been to the right of this page and pay a visit to Mark's record reviews site. Take a look at his opinions on the many albums he's heard and check out his own, ever-growing list of interviews.
And while you're there, add your thoughts.
I did.
Look where it got me.