artists you don't get

[Guest Felonies!]

Inspiration and imitation does not put two bands on the same level. Sorry.

But nobody with a clue is arguing that here, so why has this gone on so long?

[Slayer 0]

Ok. Radio Head & Cold Play sound the same. And Bob Dylan & Harry Chapin. And Nirvana & the Pixies. And Pearl Jam & Creed.

And Bono & snuffbox.

 

Wait, that's the lookalike category.

[snuffbox 0]

Heh. Nice.

 

I was responding to incandenza's reprimanding of me. He apparently didnt understand what I had been posting.

[Annabelle 0]

i dont know much radiohead. but there is certainly a correlation between radiohead's acoustic singles from the mind 90's and some of coldplay's earlier singles. not so much their later ones, but yellow, come on, thats so radio friendly radiohead inspired.

 

i think my hatred for radiohead grows by the day, by the way. i know, i am no fun.

 

no one has mentioned any rap artists yet. weird. i'd even be inclinded to hear felonies opinion on this. snuffbox, you too.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

The Wu Tang stuff I've heard has been good, but I'm not sure why they're worshiped to such an enormous degree, especially by elitist rock fans.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

"High and Dry" was one of my favorite Radiohead songs. I still like it a lot, but after hearing the "Sexual High" mashup of that and "Sexual Healing," which improved on both songs vastly, I devalued it a bit.

 

As for Wu-Tang, their debut is incomparable. Mixed results thereafter. But the debut is scary, angry, fun, funny, and a bunch of guys really gelling together as a group, not just a bunch of guys. And even if the RZA's production's been mimicked countless times since, I think it holds up tremendously.

[Toshiaki Koala 0]

I'll have to get my hands on it. I actually don't think I've heard any of those songs.

[snuffbox 0]

I enjoy a large amount of underground hiphop, really any hiphop with real poetic lyrics without a need to dumb it down to the middle school level of radio. As far as rappers that have gained much success, the only I really care for are Kanye West, the Roots, Tupac, Biggie, and a few Eminem & Jay-Z tracks. I'm probably forgetting something though.

[Guest Felonies!]

no one has mentioned any rap artists yet. weird. i'd even be inclinded to hear felonies opinion on this. snuffbox, you too.

I understand why it's popular. My problem is that I just find most rap music to be unfulfilling for a variety of reasons, and that's basically it. I appreciate clever wordplay, but I can't bring myself to care about the greater hip-hop culture that's so important to rap music, so I just bypass the genre, save for a few singles I liked as a child. If I was going to single out one artist whose critical acclaim I can't wrap my head around (because I can understand the popularity), it would be Jay-Z, and we already went over this in the Kingdom Come thread.

 

The Wu Tang stuff I've heard has been good, but I'm not sure why they're worshiped to such an enormous degree, especially by elitist rock fans.

This whole phenomenon is what boggles my mind more than anything else in rap. I'm like the only music-fan asshole that doesn't carve out a special place in one's heart for The Chronic or something.

[snuffbox 0]

I really don't "get" the appeal of much mainstream pseudo-gangsta rap. Is it really just a simpleton craving of well-off people to want to relate to harder lives & lifestyles? This goes for both the people that buy the records and make them.

[Annabelle 0]

i think wu tang has resonated with so many people because of the real grimy dirty beats that really hasn't been seen in rap up to that point. most of the nyc shit had the hardcore rhymes but the production was sparse. infact, it was the rza's gritty soundscapes that essentially created a decade of imitators. addionally, they had some of the craziest characters in rap history with them. mcs who managed to parlay their wu tang successes into successful rza produced solo albums. the debuts of method man, gza, raekwon, ol dirty, and ghostfaces albums were all enjoyable. and they were all in the vision of 36 chambers. of course, with everyone focusing on their solo shit, the wu tang's collaborative efforts became overblown with second rate material.

 

i'd even dare to say what wu tang did in the early 90's influenced some of biggie & nas's early works.

 

and why do people buy gangsta rap albums? for some i'm sure it is the emulation of the lifestyle they glorify. for myself, it usually lies within the production. i prefer the harder rhythms that coincides with a lot of the commercial nyc "gangsta rap". likewise, what happened in l.a. with death row & dre, again, has a lot to do with the production. it has a lot to do with the funky electronic stylings that has been cropping up in mainstream pop music in this century. some of it is certainly influenced by dre. underground rap, for me, struggles because of its independent nature. while lyrically on point, not up to par aesthetically with popular hardcore rap music. how can you compete with the budget of a dr. dre, kanye, or pharrell? the neptunes spent several years to create the latest the production for the latest clipse album. pharrell has the time, money, and leisure to work on formulating a unique yet commerical glaze to spread on the album. independent or "underground" djs to not have the luxery of time.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Czech, have you heard Jay-Z's Blueprint album?

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

I don't get death metal or any kind of music where the artist screams, I can't imagine why you'd want to listen to it, it seems very unpleasant and I personally, at least, can't understand the lyrics most of the time.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

David Bowie... I like some of his work but what am I missing that makes him so hyped? Or am I delusional that he has any hype?

[snuffbox 0]

So you'd rather the violent lyrics be nice and clear like in 'Jack Straw'?

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

David Bowie... I like some of his work but what am I missing that makes him so hyped? Or am I delusional that he has any hype?

 

Depends what you've heard. Either you're missing the boat because you've only heard recent Bowie and "Let's Dance," or else...I don't know what to tell you. If you can't find anything that blows your mind on Hunky Dory, Low, Heroes, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust... Aladdin Sane, or Station to Station, you can just safely assume you don't "get it." Guy's simply a genius when it comes to pop rock songs, and bending genres and genders to his own devices.

[Red Baron 0]

Don't knock Lets Dance.

[snuffbox 0]

I don't get how a few of my friends can be so into Metallica that they can convince themselves that they have been cool/good for the last 10 years.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Two of the last three original albums have been good driving music (listen to the decent groove going for half of ReLoad and you'll see what I mean), but...yeah, fucking punch your friends in the head. Hard. Repeatedly. With brass knuckles, if at all possible.

 

Children of Bodom. I don't mind 'em, but I have quite a few friends simply jizzing themselves over them. I'll admit that Follow The Reaper is a fucking awesome album, and I liked their combination of death, black, and power metal (more so like power metal with the minor ambience of black metal and the vocals of death metal)...but Alexi plays the same fucking thing over and over again in each song. It's paint-by-numbers, really, and his lyrics are pretty much KoRn lyrics only growled.

[snuffbox 0]

These pals "enjoyed" St Anger and that 'I Dissappear' song...and gave a pass on the suing the fans deal...sadly, even brutal beatings cant help such people.

[Red Baron 0]

Snuffbox: Are your friends "bros?"

 

In Metal there are two bands I don't get really. I like em, but I don't get the whole deal about them.

 

Opeth

Strapping Young Lad

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

Strapping Young Lad has actually grown on me quite a bit. They're far from my favorite, but I really like the way he handles production. Everything is balanced well, and mixed loud to the front. Nothing is subtle.

[Slayer 0]

SYL is loud fast and angry metal, pretty much what should have become popular instead of what MTV pushed as nu-metal shite.

[Guest Legalise Drugs and Murder]

They have a good tongue-in-cheek sense of humor about them, too.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Certainly helps that Devin Townsend is pretty fucking solid, to say the least, on guitar, too. You all admire the dreaded skullet! You know you do.

 

baron, I can get you with the Opeth one. They're a band I respect through and through, but I can't sit down and listen to a full song. Amazing musician that Akerfeldt is...just, as is the problem with most metal musicians, needs to learn to write a song that is both long and attention-getting throughout.

[Gary Floyd 0]

It's funny. At first, I talked about how I didn't "get" Slayer.

 

Well, after a blind buy of Reign in Blood at a used record shop about 2 months ago, I like them more now. I've got a few more (the ones a friend of mine recommended) to get, but I'll wait for a while.

 

Hey, at least I'm liking them now. That's a start, I guess.

[Black Lushus 0]

SYL's "Alien" is one of my favorite albums...I can listen to Shitstorm, Love?, Possessions and Zen over and over again.

[snuffbox 0]

Snuffbox: Are your friends "bros?"

 

Obviously.

[Brett Favre 0]

no one has mentioned any rap artists yet. weird.

 

Jay-Z.

 

What? Hip Hop?