Althouse: "What's one of your toxic traits?"/"I listen to male manipulator music...."

August 23, 2022

"What's one of your toxic traits?"/"I listen to male manipulator music...."

@chrisklemens
this receives a huge “HUH”
♬ original sound - Chris Klemens

It's not a joke, and it's not just this one guy's characterization of "Smiths, Radiohead, that kind of stuff." I checked, and he's right. There are playlists and it's called "male manipulator music":

ADDED: Know Your Meme says the term originated on November 16, 2020, when @shortc1rcuit tweeted, "ladies and lads, what are some music 'red flags'? for example: radiohead, slowdive, the smiths. male manipulator music, if you will."

43 comments:

Jupiter said...: What they mean is "Wanker Music". Music to listen to while you manipulate your maleness. Trust me on this.; 8/23/22, 5:15 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: The headshot of the femme-faced asian male with the cat ears captioned with "male manipulator music" is so fucking memeworthy I'm stealing it.

When this blows up on reddit and 4chan you can all be content with have the knowledge of where such a dank meme was born.; 8/23/22, 5:15 PM
Buckwheathikes said...: This is why you don't go on Tik-Tok unless you're also a freak.; 8/23/22, 5:16 PM
tim maguire said...: Radiohead and The Smiths are problematic? Who knew!?

Does male manipulator music manipulate men? Or do men use it to manipulate others? Manipulate to what end?; 8/23/22, 5:34 PM
ElPresidenteCastro said...: The next one in his stack is hysterical.

https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisklemens/video/7107728218743999787?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7107728218743999787&refer=embed&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Falthouse.blogspot.com%2F&referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Falthouse.blogspot.com%2F&referer_video_id=7134753440969887019; 8/23/22, 5:38 PM
Lilly, a dog said...: I sincerely thank you for your blog. Please keep sending me down these rabbit holes. One of the playlists has Joy Division and New Order and Red Hot Chili Peppers, so I guess I'm a male manipulator. But I can't stand Morrissey and The Smiths, so maybe I'm not.; 8/23/22, 5:40 PM
n.n said...: Masculinists rap around the fire, and feminists fan the flames.; 8/23/22, 5:41 PM
Narr said...: No T-T for me, thanks.

I've never heard of this genre, but I like the little dog on the lower left.; 8/23/22, 5:46 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Oh, for fuck's sake.......; 8/23/22, 5:57 PM
Leland said...: I always thought Clarence Carter wrote the definitive male manipulator music.; 8/23/22, 6:18 PM
mccullough said...: OK Computer is a great album.

Never heard the term male manipulator music. Too alliterative.; 8/23/22, 6:19 PM
Mary Beth said...: I looked up some playlists. They kept having artists I like - The Smiths, Sorority Noise, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, Elliott Smith...and a bunch of artists I've never heard of. I guess I now have a new way to discover new (to me) music.; 8/23/22, 6:24 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: Blogger tim maguire said...
Does male manipulator music manipulate men? Or do men use it to manipulate others? Manipulate to what end?

My question was whether it was music made by male manipulators or music listened to by male manipulators. I suppose it could be both. I'm assuming that the term was created to describe music listened to and perhaps used by male manipulators. I'm imagining a woman thinking back to her college years and the guy she was with would put on Radiohead's "Creep" as he tried to get into her pants. And then she remembers the event later, she thinks "yeah, he really was a creep, a manipulative creep."; 8/23/22, 6:50 PM
Enigma said...: Some of these bands would have been called...punk...new wave...college rock...goth rock...alternative rock...indie...post-rock...emo...etc...by prior generations.

But, every generation thinks it invented sex. Every generation demands to reinvent the wheel.

Look up "Yacht Rock" -- as previously....adult contemporary...smooth rock...jazz rock...AM radio music...or just pop before there were a wide range of narrow marketing genres and music outlets...; 8/23/22, 6:53 PM
gilbar said...: so.. Where does that put The Rolling Stones? Or Rap? or Blues?
or do i have it backwards, and Male Manipulator Music abuses men? Like Country Songs do?; 8/23/22, 7:13 PM
Lurker21 said...: I'm still trying to figure out "Yacht Rock."

"Male manipulator music" started out as something of a joke. The idea seemed to be that guys who liked complicated or weepy emo male music were self-pitying and narcissistic and therefore likely to treat women badly, but really, guys can like any kind of music or none and still be a-holes.

More here.; 8/23/22, 7:26 PM
Butkus51 said...: I used to listen to Zeppelin a lot. Squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg.

Now thats real male manipulator music.

With some balls.; 8/23/22, 7:31 PM
Chris Daley said...: Yacht Rock came out of a online web series that ran on Channel 101 back in 2005. If you know the songs and artists it is pretty darn funny though the last couple of episodes kind of ran out of ideas. http://www.channel101.com/show/171; 8/23/22, 7:38 PM
Mikey NTH said...: Leland: are you refering to "Strokin'"?

Heh.; 8/23/22, 7:57 PM
Lawrence Person said...: Screw them. Slowdive is awesome.

They also have a female lead singer.; 8/23/22, 8:08 PM
wildswan said...: Now it's claimed that the whole thing was started by a woman who has acknowledged her "flamebait tweet." The internet is too much with us; tweeting and trolling we lay waste to our powers.; 8/23/22, 8:26 PM
wildswan said...: Now it's claimed that the whole thing was started by a woman who has acknowledged her "flamebait tweet." The internet is too much with us; tweeting and trolling we lay waste to our powers.; 8/23/22, 8:26 PM
theCase said...: I had an album called "Cream Corn" by the Butthole Surfers back in the 80s.

I wonder what genre it would be considered today....; 8/23/22, 8:33 PM
Gravel said...: How dare you assume their genders.

Especially Morrissey.; 8/23/22, 9:29 PM
Narayanan said...: manipulate ====>>>> use hand to arrange things

result =====>>>>> occasional hairy palms?; 8/23/22, 10:30 PM
Kevin said...: Her: Men should be sensitive and in touch with their feelings and willing to communicate them freely

Subset of male-led bands: [is sensitive, in touch with their feelings, and are willing to communicate them freely]

Her: Male Manipulator Bands!!! REEEEEEeeeEEEEeeEE!; 8/23/22, 10:50 PM
lane ranger said...: It was a joke and trolling, and the perpetually offended didn't get the joke and fell for the trolling, and off they went. This concept would of course be attractive to committed feminists, who are always searching for additional proof that men are the evil scum they imagine and need them to be.; 8/24/22, 2:51 AM
Wilbur said...: If you like "Stroking" by Clarence Carter, check out "Love Building" by him, a live version in a club of essentially the same song. IMO, it's infinitely better than "Stroking". Purvis Spann in Chicago used to open and close his radio show with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oml_v9E6y5E; 8/24/22, 3:48 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: How do I know this is not just alliteration manipulation. Two words start with the same letter and that’s all it takes?; 8/24/22, 3:57 AM
tim maguire said...: The Vault Dweller said...
"Blogger tim maguire said...Does male manipulator music manipulate men? Or do men use it to manipulate others? Manipulate to what end?"

My question was whether it was music made by male manipulators or music listened to by male manipulators.\

Those are the exact same questions, just worded differently.; 8/24/22, 5:40 AM
Enigma said...: If you go down this path, half of male perspective love/lust pop could be seen as manipulative. David Bowie, Queen, most of 1980s hair metal. This is quite the opposite of the typical Smiths, Slowdive, or Radiohead perceived "manipulation." Ambiguous definitions here.

Lyrics excerpt from Rick James "Seventeen"

She was only seventeen, seventeen
But she was sexy
She was only seventeen, seventeen
And she was you and fine and oh so tender
Would I break down tonight and surrender
YEAH!!

https://genius.com/Rick-james-17-lyrics

Excerpt from Aerosmith's "Walk This Way":

I met a cheerleader, was a real young bleeder
All the times I can reminisce
'Cause the best thing lovin'
With her sister and her cousin
Only started with a little kiss, like this

See-saw swingin' with the boys in the school
With your feet flyin' up in the air
Singin' "Hey diddle-diddle with the kitty in the middle
Of the swing" like I didn't care

https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/6516/

The Beatles "I Saw Her Standing There":

Well, she was just seventeen and you know what I mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare
So how could I dance with another? (Oh)
When I saw her standing there?

https://genius.com/The-beatles-i-saw-her-standing-there-lyrics; 8/24/22, 6:09 AM
Douglas B. Levene said...: I just never liked Radiohead, all those minor keys gave me a headache. I always thought the weepy, sad tone was aimed at the female audience, but maybe not.; 8/24/22, 6:57 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Gary Glitter; 8/24/22, 7:44 AM
Tina Trent said...: Radiohead? The Smiths? Morrissey? Who's manipulating whom? What is manipulation? Seduction? I guess if you're in a locked ward with one of them, which isn't too unlikely.

I always thought they were a plot against testosterone.; 8/24/22, 7:56 AM
veni vidi vici said...: Enigma, you forgot Winger's late 80s hit, "Seventeen", since that number seemed to be a theme of your post.

Such a bad girl
Loves to work me over time
Feels good (ha)
Dancin' close to the borderline
She's a magic mountain
She's a leather glove (oh)
She's my soul
It must be love
She's only seventeen (seventeen)
The girl she gives me love like I've never seen
She's only seventeen (seventeen)
Daddy says she's too young
But she's old enough for me
Seventeen!
She's everything I need (seventeen)
Daddy says she's too young
But she's old enough
Old enough for me; 8/24/22, 10:25 AM
Anthony said...: I just learned about Yacht Rock a couple of months ago. Basically late '70s and early-mid-'80s Adult Contemporary. Magic 98 FM in Madison back around 1984 encapsulated the genre completely. I loved it then. Amazon Music even has a Yacht Rock station, which I adore.

From what I've heard, it got its name from Christopher Cross's "Sailing".; 8/24/22, 10:32 AM
PM said...: Yo...Gangnam Style by PSY

강남스타일 오-오-오-오 오빤 강남스타일
Eh, sexy lady
오-오-오-오 오빤 강남스타일
Eh, sexy lady
오-오-오-오
뛰는 놈 그 위에 나는 놈

(Now that um...'Horsey' dance); 8/24/22, 10:53 AM
stlcdr said...: I have no idea what this post is about, and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.; 8/24/22, 11:16 AM
Will Cate said...: Well I guess I'm safe then, because I hate all that stuff. Any modern rock that has even a whiff of a Radiohead sound, I eschew, aggressively.; 8/24/22, 1:21 PM
Will Cate said...: Well I guess I'm safe then, because I hate all that stuff. Any modern rock that has even a whiff of a Radiohead sound, I eschew, aggressively.; 8/24/22, 1:21 PM
Will Cate said...: Well I guess I'm safe then, because I hate all that stuff. Any modern rock that has even a whiff of a Radiohead sound, I eschew, aggressively.; 8/24/22, 1:21 PM
Scott M said...: Getting to the point where the naked one-sidedness of this bullshit is start to male manipulate me. Seriously...how could even a barely-coherent mind conceive of "male manipulator" music unless it was while writing comedy?; 8/24/22, 6:07 PM
veni vidi vici said...: Yacht Rock is best encapsulated by the footwear exhibited by the guy who did "Thunder Island", on his album cover.

Really, it doesn't get much more than that. And it's a great song, so I'm not casting value judgments here.; 8/24/22, 7:13 PM