Wrote about the Marshall Mathers LP for my Matthews on Mathers column over at Passion of the Weiss. Click the excerpt below for the whole megillah.
My favourite track from the album below, and the source of the this post's title. The first verse on this, my god. From a technical perspective, the run of "es" rhymes is astounding but Em was also seriously funny back then - none of this "window pane/pain" business.
“Stan” was the obvious crossover success. Hell, it even won Elton over with its looped strum, melodic bass line, Dido chorus, and the tale of a crazed Eminem fan whose detailed letters went unanswered until Stan decides to re-enact “97 Bonnie & Clyde” with his own wife. It remains emotionally resonant because of Em’s attention to detail (a signed Starter cap for Stan’s little brother, self-referential allusions to his Rawkus work) and a kinetic pairing of sounds and music. We hear the pencil scratching as Stan writes to Em and rain sound effects on the third verse as Stan calls Em from his car.
