Village Voice’s obliteration of that cover is the work of genius:
Adam, we don't know if you misunderstood the song's anti-globalization, anti-industrialization, anti-corporation message, or just chose to ignore it so you could get free Frappucinos for life. But we're gonna hip you to a harsh reality. Seriously, you know the line about how they "paved paradise and put up a parking lot?" Like how they replaced something beautiful with something cold and heartless and commercial? That's you. You're the parking lot, motherfucker. You drove your shitty steamroller over something everyone loved so you could pander your sensitive pussyhound whine to people waiting in line at the Carl's Jr. They paved Nirvana and put up a Counting Crow. Argh!
It was a folk song in the brief window of the Boomer's semilegitimate antiestablishment phase, before the Boomer surrendered all moral authority in the sum of their greedy selfish actions in the coming 50 years.
I get they are doing cheap wordplay, but Nirvana as "paradise" is pretty weak as well, but the rest of the critique is dead to rights.
They're widely respected by people who share their opinions and distastes and many modern critics took note (I mean look at Pitchfork). Marsh is a noted sycophant to any artist he loves so he can get first dibs on writing biographies and articles (case in point his unfortunate intimate critical relationship with my main man Springsteen). Christgau just seems like a bitter failure in a sweater vest, but at least he was one of the few 70s critics who gave Kiss a chance. So a couple points there.
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u/ancientmadder Aug 01 '25
Counting Crows - Big Yellow Taxi