I don't get Kings of Leon. They're just don't okay. I don't understand the sudden massive success.
Bands you don't get.
- Thread starter Owain Taggart
- Start date
Coldplay.
Well, I wasn't going to list out my actual preferences...but as long as you have, I'll play. Not including supergroups/solo projects here, I'll go with:
1. Pearl Jam (this band has not changed position since the release of Ten - IMO, one of the best albums ever made, by anyone, ever...and nothing they have done since has given me reason to doubt them for a second)
2. Alice In Chains (love all the Layne-era stuff like crazy, warming up quickly to the Duvall-era stuff)
<insert gap here>
3. (tie) Soundgarden and Hole (Courtney has had a lot of issues, but 'making bad music' was never one of them.)
4. Nirvana (yes, I like Hole more than I like Nirvana - go figure)
5. Stone Temple Pilots
6. (tie) Screaming Trees and Veruca Salt
Except for the ranking of 'Hole', you sound like my grunge Soul Mate. I could (and do) listen to Ten, Vs., Vitalogy, and Yield all day and fill the remaining hours with Riot Act, Lost Dogs, Avacado and Backspacer.
^ Is the revived Alice in Chains worth listening to? I have to admit, I generally hate it when bands get back together after the death of a singer (I don't mind the AC/DC 'singer died? No prob, let's just carry on guys' attitude; consistency isn't my strong point) so I hadn't given them a chance.
^ Never heard of them but the name makes me immediately hate them.
Speaking of grunge, one of the bands I really don't get is Pearl Jam. I've tried to get into them, but I never can. I don't think they're bad, but I guess their style of songwriting and performing just doesn't fit my tastes (Nirvana were OK, but Mudhoney and Soundgarden are the grunge bands I really like).
Some others:
Sonic Youth
The Doors
Van Halen (for some reason I can't really get into any American hard rock from the '70s)
Some others:
Sonic Youth
The Doors
Van Halen (for some reason I can't really get into any American hard rock from the '70s)
While we're on grunge I just wanna say that I have no idea how Soundgarden ever got lumped in with that crowd, other than sharing a place and time. I think they're better, for starters.
I love Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth and all that but Soundgarden, to paraphrase Jules Winfield, ain't in the same ballpark or even the same fuckin sport. I listen to Badmotorfinger or Superunknown and I'm hearing Tool or Rush more than I'm hearing any of their Seattle contemporaries. Cornell and Cobain are both excellent songwriters, but there's a rhythmic and melodic sophistication to Soungarden that just isn't there in Nirvana.
I love Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth and all that but Soundgarden, to paraphrase Jules Winfield, ain't in the same ballpark or even the same fuckin sport. I listen to Badmotorfinger or Superunknown and I'm hearing Tool or Rush more than I'm hearing any of their Seattle contemporaries. Cornell and Cobain are both excellent songwriters, but there's a rhythmic and melodic sophistication to Soungarden that just isn't there in Nirvana.
The big one for me would have to be The Who. I like classic rock. I like to feel that I'm a student of rock history and have a good grasp of what is good and what isn't. I don't get how The Who are held up against the Stones and the Beatles as this legendary band. To me they have like 5 really good songs and a bunch I'm indifferent to.
Since we're talking about grunge bands too, Nirvana is still my favorite. They were the most original, and therefore best.
Since we're talking about grunge bands too, Nirvana is still my favorite. They were the most original, and therefore best.
What? You don't like Binaural and No Code then?
For me, Ten & Vs. are absolutely perfect albums. Vitalogy and Avocado are nearly perfect. Backspacer, Binaural and Yield are exceptionally great. And No Code and Riot Act are 'merely' outstanding. Although two of my favorite PJ songs are on Riot Act - so there you go.
In short, with Pearl Jam, there are no 'bad records'. There aren't even any 'mediocre' records. They are all great - and which one I listen to on any given day has more to do with my mood than it has to do with their quality of music.
But in truth, what I really listen to most are the bootlegs. Because there is no better live band than this one. I've said it before on these boards, but I see Pearl Jam's studio albums as mere 'coming attractions' - to me, they are like movie trailers. Because the true untamed awesomeness of the songs will not be fully realized until we hear them live. For every single Pearl Jam song, I can find 5 live performances of it that are better than the version on the studio album. And not many bands can say that.
Seriously - I don't know how many of the bootlegs you have been fortunate enough to listen to...but if you haven't, just do a little experiment for me. Listen to, say.....Rearviewmirror on Vs...and then go and watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbeR-9-5a0g&feature=related
Now go listen to Do the Evolution on Yield...and then go and watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxewzqqeI_A
Finally, go listen to Black on Ten (a song you wouldn't think could GET any better, right?)...and now go and watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFVlJAi3Cso
(and keep in mind on this one that Ed was stoned out of his frakkin' MIND here. Watch how Stone comes over in the middle to see if he's actually okay!
)See what I mean? And I can do that with pretty much any PJ song you name.
As for Hole, I think you may just have to be a woman to fully appreciate Courtney's writing. But for female grunge fans, there was nothing more refreshing than Courtney Love basically yelling a big fat FUCK YOU to the traditional place of women...and the traditional ways of valuing women. Women have to love this song, for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS1Ckczz0LQ&feature=channel
You know...I struggled for a long time with this, myself - mostly because in my view, Layne Staley was so utterly awesome that I didn't think anyone could ever stand in his spot in that band, let alone take his place. And it's still hard, watching them perform some of the old stuff that Layne was so well known for (I still can't watch the 'new' AIC do Man in a Box, for example - I'm not even sure they have ever tried it, because I've never even looked it up). But I finally broke down and bought the new album after Pingfah encouraged me to do so..and it's pretty good. The song Jerry wrote for Layne (the title cut) actually brings tears to my eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll1lwzMfUfM&feature=related
I still miss Layne...but Will Duvall is not trying to just walk right in and take over - he's easing his way in, which is smart. And he sang all of Layne's parts on the AIC material when Jerry Cantrell was touring live as a solo act, and apparently a lot of people were very pleased with him. See what you think about this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YUgFhn_TOk
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I think so. At times they're great, at times they sound like a poor man's Alice in Chains. But a poor man's Alice in Chains beats most bands. They actually sound heavier if that's even possible.
I could never really get into Sonic Youth, despite my respect for them. Liked a couple of songs (such as the glum cover of "Superstar") but for the most part, found their music impossible to engage with. There's a kind of "deteched" quality to the band's sound and approach that make them seem cold and distant - to my ears, anyway.
The majority of metal leaves me cold as well. Long, thrashing guitar riffs don't really interest me. Strangely though, I love Slayer's Reign in Blood, even though they're generally considered more extreme than their peers Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden, whose stuff I don't like (for the most part).
Radiohead - a good band, but I'm not sure what people see in them. A lot of the electronic noodling in the past decade has gotten tiresome - I'd rather listen to artists who originated with that genre with experience in the field (e.g. Aphex Twin) than a rock band constantly meddling in it, with mixed results.
The majority of metal leaves me cold as well. Long, thrashing guitar riffs don't really interest me. Strangely though, I love Slayer's Reign in Blood, even though they're generally considered more extreme than their peers Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden, whose stuff I don't like (for the most part).
Radiohead - a good band, but I'm not sure what people see in them. A lot of the electronic noodling in the past decade has gotten tiresome - I'd rather listen to artists who originated with that genre with experience in the field (e.g. Aphex Twin) than a rock band constantly meddling in it, with mixed results.
^
Radiohead's kind of an interesting example for me. Everything up to and including Kid A is pure, unadulterated genius to me. Amnesiac felt less like a whole album than what it actually was: stuff from Kid A that wasn't good enough. And since then they've left me cold. I don't mind the digital noodling, I just feel like modern Radiohead is doing it for its own sake.
And yet I have friends who love the whole catalog front to back. So maybe I don't get modern Radiohead either.
Radiohead's kind of an interesting example for me. Everything up to and including Kid A is pure, unadulterated genius to me. Amnesiac felt less like a whole album than what it actually was: stuff from Kid A that wasn't good enough. And since then they've left me cold. I don't mind the digital noodling, I just feel like modern Radiohead is doing it for its own sake.
And yet I have friends who love the whole catalog front to back. So maybe I don't get modern Radiohead either.
This.
I'm with you here.
Although a new album is out pretty quick...and I'll probably give it a test drive on iTunes. I don't know if I'll buy it though...I've not purchased anything of theirs in a while, for the reasons you've mentioned.
Yeah, I agree. I'm not much a fan of grunge in general, but I like Soundgarden. Maybe it's due to the melodies, like you say.
Oh and speaking of Radiohead, yeah, there's another band I don't get. Not to say they aren't talented, but none of their music clicks with me.
I used to feel that way back in the day. But, I was 14 years old when OK Computer came out. So I basically knew nothing anyway.
It all changed when my buddies and I won tickets to a show on the Kid A tour off the radio. We were just glad to win anything. I knew they were highly regarded among some of my friends, but I didn't really care.
And then they opened the show with an extended jam on Kid A's "The National Anthem" and it knocked me flat on my ass! To this day, it's one of my top 3 personally witnessed live performances. From that moment on,I was a Radiohead guy.
I can definitely understand that. Sometimes live performances can make or break, oftentimes winning people over where the studio albums don't. It comes down to musicianship and stage presence.
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