Avril Lavigne - Love'em or Hate'em

Why you should love Avril Lavigne

The reason I love Avril Lavigne is solely due to her second album, Under My Skin. No, I have no opinion of "Sk8r Boi" or "Girlfriends," nor her Canadian citizenship, acting and modeling career, and everything else that doesn't revolve around that 2004 album release. While my counterpart will go hog wild tearing into a 22-year old girl, I choose to focus on one thing she's done that has brought myself and the world a lot of joy.

When it comes to music, I have, at best, eclectic tastes, from Weird Al and movie soundtracks (ahem, scores, not songs) to Iron Maiden and Good Charlotte. I'm all over the place, picking up on music as I stumble upon it instead of following artists religiously or having to sample the latest tunes. I don't recall how or why (at least, nothing I'll commit to in writing), but I found myself in possession of Avril Lavigne's new at the time album, Under My Skin, burned it to my dying Nomad Zen and started to listen. At that time, I had some personal troubles that involved my bird dying, my girlfriend leaving me for a Cardinal (not a St. Louis or Arizonian one), and an altercation with street urchins in an alley near Penn Station that left me penniless, so it caught me at, I suppose, the right time.

It was as if every song spoke to me, like when Bruce Springstein sang for Courtney Cox, except for lame ones like the brat rant "I Always Get What I Want," which was clearly sung for Paris Hilton. I knew I was misinterpreting the lyrics or not understanding them at all, but it was irrelevant. The music was catchy and predictable, and her pleasantly whiny voice a welcome distraction from the outside world. When you feel in pieces, hearing exactly what you expect from a song called "Fall to Pieces" is the musical equivalent of comfort food. As I would listen to and from my walk to work, every step of "Freak Out" became another beat in what was now a personal anthem. Was I infused with grrl power? I'm not sure, though I did have a meeting with HR about the dark eyeliner (it freaked some people out; bigots).

Thanks to a half hour's worth of music, a rough time was made easier and for that, I am forever indebted to Avril Lavigne, and could never possibly hate her. Even if she spat on my camera lens. I feel comfortable saying that I love little Avril, but in the same way I love George Lucas for wearing a "Han Shot First" t-shirt. You've brought me joy, and for that, how could I not love thee?

-- Eric Eckstein

Why you should hate Avril Lavigne

I'm sorry, but I am just not buying it. Avril Lavigne, the young Canadian pop singer, alleged songwriter and actress, had too nice of a candy-coated life for me to take the angst act seriously. Punk? Bad Girl? I think not - hanging out with boys and getting drunk as a teen doesn't automatically make you eligible for an honorary punk badge. Everyone did that, and she was just going through typical bad girl Catholic school angst. Not hard core honey, sorry. Lady Sovereign would totally kick her ass.

And with the whole punk thing, where are the track marks? The runny mascara? The true punks that once roamed the East Village of New York, running to CBGB's and Coney Island High must cringe every time punk is associated with that pop singer.

Moving on.

Of course, far too many bad musicians are given a chance to make an album (*cough* K-Fed) and Avril has some talent, so I will give her some credit, but that talent may be borrowed...

There are claims that a track off Avril's, "The Best Damn Thing," sounds eerily similar to track off Peaches' album Fatherf*cker.

Then there is the whole lawsuit from '70s pop band the Rubinoos claiming her song "Girlfriend" is a rip off of the 1979 hit "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend."

Is Avril unoriginal?

Is it easy to sell teeny-punk-pop to the teeny-bopping masses when they have no musical experiences prior to 1992 and probably never even heard of Rubinoos before?

Are people unfairly bashing young Avril? Am I reaching for weak reasons to hate her?

Well, my final barb should be reason enough for any sensible person to have a bit of angst towards Avril.

For someone so musically inclined, with such a love of the music of the '70s, how the hell could she bollix (nay royally f*ck up) pronouncing David Bowie's name when announcing his Grammy nod?

I will never forget that moment in infamy. I hadn't really paid attention to her until that fateful morning while watching CNN as the nominations were read. There she was, there was the utterance: "David BOW-E" (as opposed to BO-E).

A dark cloud passed overhead and the gods of Rock and Roll wailed in agony.

-- Kareem Harper