Jay Reatard, You Will Be Missed

As we all know by now, Jay Reatard was found dead yesterday morning at 3 am. Which really sucks, because Reatard’s insanely catchy, no bullshit approach to making music really reminded us that there was a time when punk music was hard, fast and catchy, and not just a stance you took to appeal to angsty 13-year-olds.

Music asides, I liked Reatard from what I knew about him. I liked the stuff he was doing with his own label and his website. He was a difficult character, getting himself into trouble at the Silver Dollar, dissing bands over Twitter, and pissing off his own band to the point that they all quit on him and joined Wavves (who sucks). But people are too touchy these days, I almost feel a kind of respect sometimes for those who aren’t afraid to piss people off and take the shit for it. Reatard was like that. He was straight and himself and if you had a problem with that, well fuck you too.

Fact is the man had the talent to back it up. His songs were all killer, no filler. Two minute flurries of hooks and noisy guitars recorded lo-fi but economically so. They had energy and excitement and Reatard wasn’t afraid to try new things with them (kiwi rock, anyone?).

If you haven’t heard them already, check out his albums Blood Visions, Watch Me Fall and his Matador Singles Collection ’08.

RIP Jay Reatard, you will be missed.