artists you don't get

[Vyce]

Anniversary bump!

 

I re-attempted and succeeded at The Arcade Fire like a week after failing. Radiohead is still a favorite. I expanded my Lou Reed horizons and rescind my criticisms of him. I'm listening to New York right now! I still don't get Weezer. I still don't like Vyce.

 

You will eventually. I'll wear you down.

[Toshiaki Koala]

I'm planning on giving Marquee Moon another shot sometime soon. Findings may be reported.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Television were good, but Marquee Moon, after the title track, is a chore to slog through. I probably said that elsewhere in this thread. I also probably said that while though Adventure lacks the highs of its predecessor, it's a lot more consistent and easier to get through.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

For me, Most classical music.

 

There's pieces I really like, and just thousands I can't recognize from another. I'm a rube.

 

I'm curious if you explored this any further. I'd think you might enjoy some Bartok and maybe even some Holst - there's a fair share of The Planets Suite in King Crimson's early period. Stockhausen, Varese (who was an influence on Zappa), and Stravinsky might appeal to you as well.

 

Varese is really interesting. I think I like Varese The Person more than Varese's music, really. I love his early electronic composition though. Major ground-breaker.

 

I haven't jumped in feet-first or anything, because it always seems like there's other stuff I'm after. I did pick up some Orff and Bizet. The cymbals are my favorite classical instrument next to the Bassoon. That thing just sounds fucked up.

[Guest Felonies!]

I think FZ was also a big bassoon fan, because he said something like "the bassoon is great because it doesn't sound like anything. It just sounds like a bassoon."

[The Man in Blak]

Another off-beat classical recommendation: Harry Partch. Partch worked in microtonal scales and created his own instruments to match, making some generally weird music, from what I've been told. I haven't had a chance to listen myself, but some folks (Christgau, for one) has cited him as an influence on Tom Waits' later work.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I might have to make a trip to the library in the morning and just get ten or fifteen totally random composers. I love my local library's music selection. It's ostensibly organized alphabetically and by genre, but I've found Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam right behind Neu.

[AntiLeaf33]

Radiohead and Coldplay are my 2 biggest ones. I just dont get them. Can't really elaborate on it cause I just understand what the fuck either is trying to accomplish

[Hawk 34]

Radiohead and Coldplay are my 2 biggest ones. I just dont get them. Can't really elaborate on it cause I just understand what the fuck either is trying to accomplish

 

Czech or Edwin, probably have large anthologies of dissertations on the social relevance and musical genius of Radio Head.

 

As for Coldplay, who cares?

[Edwin MacPhisto]

Radiohead's sweet and the live incarnation of "I Might Be Wrong" is one of my favorite tracks lately. That's all I've got for ya.

[Mecha Mummy]

I do not get the appeal of Sufjan Stevens. I find his music to be amazingly boring, and I like a lot of music that is usually classified by many as being boring. Could someone, anyone explain why he's like the golden boy of indie pop when it really isn't very hard to find people who are much better than him?

[MrRant]

I also don't understand why Supertramp is beloved by so many across the world.

 

I like "Take The Long Way Home" but the time I was dragged to one of their concerts I almost slit my wrists with a ballpoint pen.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I do not get the appeal of Sufjan Stevens. I find his music to be amazingly boring, and I like a lot of music that is usually classified by many as being boring. Could someone, anyone explain why he's like the golden boy of indie pop when it really isn't very hard to find people who are much better than him?

Why he's popular: he has a flair for doing the singer-songwriter thing on a very grand scale, with chorales and big piles of instruments. He ends up with lots of memorable mini-epics like "The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts" and "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades," which in different hands might not be so complex. He's also kind of quirky and twee, and the whole albums-about-the-50-states thing and his extremely long song titles make him ironic/clever enough to pass muster. On Illinois he really pushed his boundaries and I think successfully broke out of the somewhat-boring/ineffectual mode that drifted in and out of his earlier albums.

 

I like him for most of the above reasons, but mainly just because I think he writes really good songs.

[Guest Felonies!]

I agree that he writes good songs, but he doesn't write many of them. I think I only liked about 15 minutes of the 72 or so that accounted for Illinois. His signature sound of vibes and strings and children's choirs for everything is kinda cool at times, since it's sort of a Pet Sounds deal, but a whole double album of that is like eating a bowl of maple syrup for breakfast. I mean, for me, at least. "Chicago" is a fine song, though, and no overorchestration burnout will ever take that away.

[snuffbox]

If you can't make out the differences between Coldplay & Radiohead (or Radio Head as the PBP calls them) then you might want to consider giving up on music altogether.

[The Man in Blak]

I don't think popular radio and the mainstream music industry at large has realized how much Radiohead has changed from their OK Computer/The Bends heyday. It's easy to compare Coldplay to Radiohead if the only Radiohead tracks you've heard are "Fake Plastic Trees", "High and Dry", and "Karma Police".

[snuffbox]

Yeah, no.

[The Man in Blak]

You know who I don't get? snuffbox.

 

You really don't think "High and Dry" is in the same ballpark as any of the dopey acoustic ballads that Coldplay has released? You can't find any similarities within Parachutes at all?

[snuffbox]

For Parachutes you should try an Oasis comparison then come back later.

 

"But, snuffbox, the Oasis singer doesnt sing high like that!"

-The Man in Blak

[The Man in Blak]

Sure, Definitely Maybe is certainly comparable to Parachutes. You can spot U2 and Pink Floyd hanging around in there as well, influences that they share with Radiohead.

 

That's a bit of a misdirection, though - would you like to answer the questions I posed in my previous post?

[snuffbox]

I dont care if Coldplay was inspired by Radiohead (which Im sure they were, theyve also said they were inspired by Jeff Buckley) but to compare something as paint-by-numbers as Coldplay to either is really reaching.

[The Man in Blak]

If you're talking about the total catalogue of Radiohead's output, then yeah, it's an absolute stretch. However, if you're looking from the perspective of your typical casual "mainstream" listener (which is why I limited it to those three tracks above) the music is not so dissimilar that it would be insane to make such a comparison.

[C Dubya 04]

I agree with TMIB. You're average listener isn't going to make much of a difference between say "High and Dry" and "Yellow".

[Guest Felonies!]

Ever heard Jamie Cullum's cover of "High and Dry"? Barf. It's not even a great Radiohead song.

 

Back on topic, of course Coldplay isn't in Radiohead's league from a creative standpoint, but there is a lot of The Bends in their sound. But considering full catalogues, lumping them together like that one guy did doesn't make a great deal of sense.

 

Anyway, what Coldplay is out to do is steal as much Bends-Radiohead and Eno-U2 as they can and make a lot of money. What Radiohead is out to do is position themselves as the foremost cerebral rock band of their time and make a lot of money.

[snuffbox]

Bob Dylan inspired a million other musicians...they must all sound just like him too.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

snuffbox, it's okay to admit other people are right.

[snuffbox]

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

[Guest Felonies!]

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

To the untrained ear, Pearl Jam does sound a lot like Creed; if nothing else, Scott Stapp sounded a lot like Eddie Vedder. If you don't know all the nuances of these bands and just go off a very limited sample size, it's easy to say x and y sound similar even when in the grand scheme of things, they really don't.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

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

Must it be pointed out to you repeatedly that no one was talking about Radiohead's discography as a whole? It must, because here I am, doing it again.

 

Coldplay obviously took cues from the early Radiohead, specifically the maudlin balladry of "High and Dry" et al. Okay, yeah, Coldplay did so without any sense of the dynamics involved with Radiohead's more "accessible" songs, but they're still lifting the sound.

 

I don't get why you don't understand that. Are a Coldplay fan, tired of them being bullied around?

[snuffbox]

Not sure what that means.

 

I have already, a couple of times, stated that it is obvious that Coldplay is inspired by many things...early Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Oasis. Inspiration and imitation does not put two bands on the same level. Sorry.