Make contentious statements

[Guest godthedog]

rebuttal: s.o.d. is good i think, in that they're trying hard to define their own sound & not sound like anybody else.  

 

statement: prodigy sucks.  they sucked before they were popular, they sucked when they were popular, and they will always suck.  'smack my bitch up' is possibly the stupidest non-mainstream song ever (although the video is really cool).

[Guest evenflowDDT]

statement: prodigy sucks.  they sucked before they were popular, they sucked when they were popular, and they will always suck.  'smack my bitch up' is possibly the stupidest non-mainstream song ever (although the video is really cool).

Rebuttal: Just a teensy bit biased, are we? Although Prodigy is far from my favorite band, "Smack My Bitch Up" is not their only good song (and its certainly not as bad a song as you claim).  They've also got several other good songs, my favorite being "Poison" because I'm still not really familiar with their music to have heard it all.  They were also one of the few live electronica (what sub-genre of electronica best describes Prodigy?) bands in the early '90s (for argumentative purposes I'm not counting new-wave as electronica, although both use synthetic instruments any fan of either will be able to attest they're totally different genres) that were able to attain and captivate a fairly mainstream live audience.  Their lack of work since (or at least, lack of mainstream work that I would hear about) shows that the worst insult against them might be that they're a fad.  But everyone has different tastes.

 

Statement: The style of "pop/punk" popularized by the Ramones and bastardized by popular late '90s bands like Green Day (I love 'em but its the truth) and Blink 182 is fun to listen to but really simple music.  No "pop/punk" band or artist has ever excelled in anything other than popularity because the genre itself is so musically detrimental.  Sorry, this is the best "Statement" I can think of during school time...

[Guest muzanisa]

Rebuttal - Green Day, Blink 182, The Strokes and all of their ilk aren't very good because they don't take their music any further than their influences. The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Buzzcocks and the Undertones may have all been influenced by The New York Dolls and other Punk bands but they actually had the wit and talent to take it further.

 

 

Statement - PR and Image consultants are more important to a band making it today than the ability to make good music

[Guest Kinetic]

Statement - PR and Image consultants are more important to a band making it today than the ability to make good music

Rebuttal: Yeah, but it's been that way for quite a while.  Once record labels realized that pre-fab bands were easy to control and tended to make huge profits, that was it.  They take them, or even actual musicians in real bands, and put them in all of the right places so that they get noticed.  And then there's the not-quite-payola agreements between the labels and radio/MTV, which ensures that only 1% of all music being released at that time has a chance of being heard by a large audience.  So we're in agreement, I guess.

 

Statement:  Modern country is the worst form of music imaginable.

[Guest razazteca]

Statement - PR and Image consultants are more important to a band making it today than the ability to make good music

 

Rebuttal:  This is so true, just look at the Orlando boy band explosion.  And to an extent Outkast with the crazy clothes.

 

Statement: What is the next big thing?  Trance, Rap-Rock, Metal, Soul, Studio produced cookie cutter pretty people?

[Guest Kinetic]

Rebuttal:  This is so true, just look at the Orlando boy band explosion.  And to an extent Outkast with the crazy clothes.

Bad example.  Outkast is one of, if not the, best rap act(s) out there today.  I trust that Andre 3000 is completely sincere in his desire to wear those clothes.

 

Next big thing:  Garage rock.  Not real garage rock, but the mainstream equivalent.  The Hives, the Strokes, even the White Stripes...it's coming, people.  Brace yourselves.  

 

I'll reserve a statement until someone rebutts or agrees with my modern country one.

[Guest razazteca]

Rebuttal:  Outkast is a great rap group but the image that they promote in the music videos and at live tv performances suggest that they are crazy circus retro freaks.  This image helps them by setting them apart from the usual player thug image that has been so popular for years.  Without this image they would of been forgotten and like the other comedy rappers like Afroman and Biz Markie

 

I dont listen to country so I have no comment on that, but the country pop sounds just like every other adult comtempory act if your talking about Dixie Chicks as modern country.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Statement:  Modern country is the worst form of music imaginable.

Rebuttal: While modern country has nowhere near the shred of soul, talent, and meaning of older country classics, it is FAR from the worst music imaginable... in my opinion that honor goes to "hardcore" thrash where the music is headache-inducing sludge and you can't understand a word the singer is saying, only to find the lyrics are incredibly negative and expletive filled for no real reason.

 

Statement: The WWF has some surprisingly good entrance music.  Some of its better tracks can actually hold up as good songs out of a wrestling event/context... and no I don't mean "Girls in Cars"

[Guest Kinetic]

Rebuttal:  Outkast is a great rap group but the image that they promote in the music videos and at live tv performances suggest that they are crazy circus retro freaks.  This image helps them by setting them apart from the usual player thug image that has been so popular for years.  Without this image they would of been forgotten and like the other comedy rappers like Afroman and Biz Markie

 

I dont listen to country so I have no comment on that, but the country pop sounds just like every other adult comtempory act if your talking about Dixie Chicks as modern country.

I'll just go free-form, because there's a lot to respond to.

 

First of all, in what alternate universe are OutKast considered comedy rappers?  You've been misinformed or something.

 

And seriously, out of all of the modern country crap that I've been subjected to due to my parents...the Dixie Chicks are probably the best of the bunch.  Nothing I would ever voluntarily listen to or, god forbid, purchase but definitely not as consistently cringe-inducing as Shania Twain or Faith Hill.  They even have elements that separate them from normal pop music, which is kind of refreshing.  They still suck, but I give them points for playing their own instruments and actually sounding like country music.

[Guest Kinetic]

Statement: The WWF has some surprisingly good entrance music.  Some of its better tracks can actually hold up as good songs out of a wrestling event/context... and no I don't mean "Girls in Cars"

Rebuttal: I'm going to get very in depth on this topic very soon.  While some of the stuff sounds good in the context of wrestling, I can't imagine listening to it for pleasure.  And it's all gotten so generic.  When I first started watching wrestling in the early 90s, everyone from lower midcarders and up had distinct theme music that fit their character.  If they turned heel or face, the music changed.  Remember Jake "The Snake"'s awesome heel "Trust me" theme?  There's nothing like that anymore.  If Brock Lesnar and Mark Henry swapped music right now, I don't think I'd even notice.  But again, expect more on this subject in the near future.

 

Statement:  The new Wilco will prove to be the best-reviewed album of the year.  It'll be number one on all the lists that matter, more or less.

[Guest redbaron51]

in my opinion that honor goes to "hardcore" thrash where the music is headache-inducing sludge and you can't understand a word the singer is saying, only to find the lyrics are incredibly negative and expletive filled for no real reason.

While I don't think Hardcore Thrash music is the best, surely its not the worst. I mean bands like Vision of Disorder, Zao, (just examples people) are great thrash bands, they are extremely talented. Some of them have really deep lyrics, but most of them just tries to be the next Limp Bizkit, but make it heavy, and hopefully try to make it big.

[Guest muzanisa]

Just to stick up for New Country, Lucinda Williams is ace, as are a lot of the bands out there, you've just got to wade through a lot of shit to get to the good stuff. Same as ant other genre.

 

 

Hardcore thrash is exactly the same I'd think.

 

The worst form of music around? Pop or more specifically euro-pop, or the reworking of old swing classics by crappy pop acts like Robbie Williams. But definately Pop music.

 

I can't do a rebuttal because I don't know who Wilco is. Sorry.

[Guest razazteca]

Rebuttal:  in response to the Outkast comment, well just look at their image, they look like the offspring of George Clinton and P-Funk.  The 1st album ATLiens cover art, insert booklet, and 1st single "Elevators" support returning to their home world.  The Aquemini album had a zodiac on the cover art and the album was more 70's funk influenced.  The recent video of the "Whole World" they are in a circus theme, which seems funny to me.  The Outkast may not be a traditional comedy group but they do get attention for the LOOK which is humorious to me.  The music does have serious topics such as religious, abuse, political themes.  The Dungeon Family is the rebirth of the P-Funk with crazy characters and crazy clothes with great music.  It may not be comical but it sure is not as serious as say Fiona Apple wanted to be.

 

Rebuttal 2:  yeah I dont understand how Robbie Williams can be so popular in Europe, yet be so tiresome here in the USA

 

Rebuttal 3:  WILCO?  is the same as Roger Wilco?  Well it might get good reviews from SPIN magazine and others but I doubt if it will sell millions if it does not get a video on VH1! or MTV or at least a soundtrack.  But of course talent does not always mean money.  If I remember it right WILCO is a garage or collage band back when the alturnative music was the vogue.

 

no statement I'll pass to the others

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Statement:  The new Wilco will prove to be the best-reviewed album of the year.  It'll be number one on all the lists that matter, more or less.

Rebuttal: Thugh I admittedly have yet to hear any tracks from the new Wilco album (is it out yet?), I highly doubt it will surpass Summer Teeth.  Then again, unless the new album was Mermaid Avenue vol. III I probably could care less about it anyway.  I'll admit that, from what I've heard, Wilco is a good band, but they sound too much like a dark Beach Boys to me (although again, I'll admit my shortcomings - I've only heard a few songs off Summer Teeth to judge).

 

Statement: I downloaded some songs from that White Stripes band and (surprise!) it actually was pretty good after all.  Never one to repeat statements though, and always one to get on Kinetic's nerves, I'll pretend otherwise.  The White Stripes don't have any characteristics that immediately stand out and aren't really that great, tell me why I should listen to them.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Rebuttal: I agree completely. This new form of "Garage Rock" is certainly listenable but I don't see it creating any dire musical trends. While the music is catchy, usually the instruments are there to mask the shitty voice of the lead singer. You should listen to them because you have absolutely nothing better to do.

 

Statement: The death of the TLC chick is infinitely more tragic than the death of Alice In Chain's Layne Staley

[Guest swan]

Statement: The death of the TLC chick is infinitely more tragic than the death of Alice In Chain's Layne Staley

Rebuttal: Maybe for Suge Knight.

[Guest swan]

Statement: The death of the TLC chick is infinitely more tragic than the death of Alice In Chain's Layne Staley

Rebuttal: I want to add to my last statement. Wile a place exist in music history for Lisa and TLC I believe it would be the music of AIC that will be remembered and stand the test of time. AIC were part of the Seattle grunge movement and I firmly believe they took it to another level. If they were to release an album and go on tour (which is no longer possible) it would be huge. TLC on the other hand had three so-so singers (not musicians) and did the standard pop music that won’t age well and that won’t get any body into any kind of hall of fame. In the end Lisa was just an average singer and rapper that excelled when part of a group. Layne Staley was an innovative singer in an innovative band whose music sounds as fresh today as it did 10 years ago.

 

Statement: Metallica looked as old and beat-up as there last few albums did at the Aerosmith tribute.

[Guest Kinetic]

Statement: The death of the TLC chick is infinitely more tragic than the death of Alice In Chain's Layne Staley

I'll agree with this.  She didn't light herself on fire or drive her car into a pole.  Staley was directly responsible for his own death, which makes it altogether less tragic.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Statement: Metallica looked as old and beat-up as there last few albums did at the Aerosmith tribute.

Rebuttal: Well, seeing as how the members of Metallica are closer to Steven Tyler's age than say Kid rock, there looking like geezers doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is Metallica's last few albums have resembled Aerosmith's last few albums in general overall crappiness. Here's to hoping both bands call it quits except for 15 reunion tours where they have session musicians playing all the instruments because they can't perform anymore.

 

Statement: Pearl Jam will follow a career path resembling the Grateful dead, disappearing from the charts but drawing huge amounts of people to their live shows.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Statement: Pearl Jam will follow a career path resembling the Grateful dead, disappearing from the charts but drawing huge amounts of people to their live shows.

Rebuttal: Although I definitely see Pearl Jam as becoming more of a live band amongst their fanbase rather than an album-based band with a lot of hit singles, the fact that they have had many hit singles in the past is already a huge difference from the Grateful Dead.  My father is a huge Grateful Dead fan, and he has always told me that they have had modest success at best with album cuts, and that the only reason they are such a good band is because they put on such phenomenal, unique, and varied live shows.  In that aspect, I'd say the band whose career path most resembles the Grateful Dead now is Phish, who to my knowledge have never had any hit singles from their albums (come to think of it I've never heard a Phish album cut on the radio or CD compilation, only a few live tracks).

 

Statement: Inspired by the "artists who've gone downhill" thread, David Bowie hasn't made a good album since Scary Monsters, if not Heroes.

[Guest]

Statement: Inspired by the "artists who've gone downhill" thread, David Bowie hasn't made a good album since Scary Monsters, if not Heroes.

 

Rebuttal: I somewhat agree. 'Let's Dance' was a solid album, but didn't come close to what Bowie was releasing in the 70's. '1. Outside', 'Earthling' and 'hours...' are all solid albums as well, however they lack the innovative sound of his 70's work. David Bowie owned the 70's. Just about everything he released was fresh (It still is.) exciting, bold and daring. From 'The Man Who Sold The World' which pretty much lays the blueprint for the 'Alternative album' to the glam rock of 'Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars' and 'Aladdin Sane' to the daring conceptional 'Diamond Dogs' to the plastic soul of 'Young Americans' to the Berlin Period, in that ten years of time, I can't think of anyone outside of Miles Davis who released more groundbreaking work in such a short period of time. Hell, in 1977 Bowie released 'Low', 'Heroes', and worked on both 'The Idiot' and 'Lust For Life' with Iggy Pop. In one year. All albums are five star classics. Also, don't forget the production work that Bowie (And Mick Ronson) did on Lou Reed's 'Transformer' and Mott The Hopple's 'All The Young Dudes' (Bowie wrote the hit title track). So I agree that Bowie has not released a classic album since 'Scary Monsters', but he has released some solid albums later on in his career.

 

Statement: (Sticking with the Bowie theme) Outside of perhaps Bob Dylan, David Bowie is the single greatest artist of all time.

 

j.

[Guest Choken One]

Rebuttal-David Bowie is one of greatest masters but greatest? It's tough call, while I hands down consider Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye the best writers...I can see myself sticking Bowie in the top ten.

 

Statement-If Creed had a different lead singer but same band...Would they be as Huge as they are?

[Guest razazteca]

Rebuttal: not a big fan of Bowie other than Lets Dance and the song he did with Mick Jagger.

 

Statement:  Tom Petty had several hits in the 80s and early 90s and should be considered as one of the best for the time period.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

REBUTTAL: If Creed didn't have "holier than thou/Eddie Morrison" Scott Stapp as a vocalist and songwriter, they wouldn't be as big, but they'd be eons better in terms of quality of their music.

 

REBUTTAL: Tom Petty is one of the greatest artists ever. Get it? Got it? Good.

 

STATEMENT: Lemmy and the rest of Motörhead did more for heavy metal/punk/hard rock in the long run than any band, Sabbath and Zeppelin included, ever could have.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Rebuttal: No

 

Statement: Ozzy needs to retire now. He's such a shell of his former self, he is making a mockery of his legacy by continuing in such a pathetic state.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Gee, goodhelmet, don't try to make an intelligent rebuttal or anything...**rolls eyes**

 

REBUTTAL: Agreed, to an extent. His live show is still killer as all hell, and will forever remain in the top 5 of best live shows.

 

STATEMENT: Type O Negative is a joke band.

[Guest goodhelmet]

Rebuttal: Agreed. They can't decide if they want to be a hair metal band, a goth 80's retro band, or satan's spawn. Make up your mind already! The vocalist is absolutely horrible (like Motorhead ) and the music is uninspiring. And they covered "Summer Breeze" WTF!!!

 

Statement: IF Eddie van Halen dies of cancer, Mtv will not give him the Aaliyah tribute

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Actually...I meant it in a literal sense. Peter Steele said that Type O Negative was meant to be a complete joke, but people started digging them, so...

 

REBUTTAL: True. But then again, that's the nature of pop music. Plus, from reports by Sammie Hagar, Eddie seems to be a dickhead...also, Aaliyah died by circumstances out of her control, same for Left-Eye, whereas Eddie would die because of all those years of cigarette smoking (much as Layne died because of his heroin addiction).

 

STATEMENT: Power metal is infinitely more appealing than any other form of metal to non-metalheads, but can easily be confused with glam rock because of the singers' usually high-pitch voices.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Corey, my apologies for an improper rebuttal, but could you possibly give some examples of "power metal" bands? I know what glam rock is, though, and can't see any kind of "metal" ever coming close to it in terms of delivery.

[Guest swan]

but could you possibly give some examples of "power metal" bands?

Blind Gaurdian

Dragonheart

Gamma Ray

Helloween

Manowar

some may also label Iced Earth and Iron Maiden Power Metal too.