Greatest Hits: Why Do Bands Get Popular?

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I’m a junkie for finality. I swoon when a band like The Dillinger Escape Plan calls their own shot and goes out on their own terms. This isn’t just a shallow interest in conclusions, I believe the way that something ends can tell us how to process the whole of a body of work. As a reader I was sad to see Doug Moore step down from his position as head editor at Invisible Oranges, because, as several of my colleagues have pointed out this week, he was really fucking good at the job. But his final piece for the site also illustrates what made Moore’s run so special.

The piece grapples with the chaotic and seemingly meaningless engine that drives the music industry. Moore smartly recognizes his own biases and perspective, establishing his own de-sensitization to the extremity of the music that he covers, and uses this to explore the issue from multiple angles. Despite this, Moore never loses his own grounding or point of view. Ultimately the piece advocates for a love of ambiguity and mystery. It is well-researched, balanced, and thought provoking, which is as much as you can ask for any piece of journalism. But most importantly, it isn’t cynical when it very easily could have been. Moore chooses, in true Coen Bros fashion, to accept the mystery and end his stewardship as earnestly in love with metal as he always was during his tenure.

Read: ‘Why Do Bands Get Popular?’

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