[dubman]

eeeeeh, i dunno.

most of the comparisons to skinner, however misguided, were mostly unfavorable, considering that the lyrics to ring road were pretty bad (imHo) and the ranting quality of it bore enough passing similarity to make the link for the critics and mock accordingly.
being the voice of a generation would usually mean that whoever this person is can actually speak for a generation. as vivid and descriptive karl can get with his abstracts, he's voicing an aesthetic, a background, a scene, a moment, an alternate eye. and up until recently the voice has been in service to the music, not the other way around. if it speaks to other people then it's that any dark or tough time can be lent to it because it's so deliberately vague. he's not doing anything larger than that, he's not representing anyone other than himself or his experience, and thats good enough (even preferable) without having to widely exaggerate it by affixing that kind of label.

so, unless we have an entire generation of reformed drunks who crawl/ed in dangerous places for poetic satisfaction, i think it's safe to say karl's a guy with an audience but doing his own thing

skinner, as far as i can tell, lives/lived a life like anyone else on the couch, out to clubs, having money/relationship troubles, and doing stupid shit... he just happens to know the moments to note and write about in ways that capture it perfectly. theyre both grand and exciting poets, but feel vastly different. karl doesnt even focus on himself, much less on himself as if anyone could relate to it. ring road was all about exteriors and trying to just.. describe the day and the feel. he just found himself in places. skinner is all about him, how he fucks up in little ways, and how we know exactly how that goes...

ah fuck it you get the picture.