Page 146 of 191 FirstFirst ... 46 96 136 144 145 146 147 148 156 ... LastLast
Results 4,351 to 4,380 of 5728

Thread: Controversial Music Opinions...

  1. #4351
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Milwaukee
    Posts
    3,929
    Mentioned
    75 Post(s)
    Maybe it’s because I’m tired, but I don’t get the point of that article. I for sure do not want to hear what Taylor Swift or Katy Perry or Justin Beiber have to say about the current state of the economy or politics or social issues. Make (and by make I mean whoever their team of writers are) cookie cutter pop songs or party songs or how you’ve been wronged by ex songs- that’s what they do. Also fuck modern country music, it all pretty much sucks anyways so who gives a shit?

    Theres plenty of well known musicians in vast genres out there who are bringing politics and social awareness into their music for the last decade. It actually seems opposite to me. Not everyone and everything is going to have a political or social tone to it- nor does it need to be.

  2. #4352
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    180
    Mentioned
    5 Post(s)
    My Way by Limp Bizkit is a 10/10 song

  3. #4353
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    6,101
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    My Way by Limp Bizkit is a 10/10 song
    WrestleMania 17 is the only reason why. It's like the pilot of The Shield using "Bawitdaba", it was the right song for the right thing at the right time.

  4. #4354
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    berlin
    Posts
    1,830
    Mentioned
    65 Post(s)
    i think if i heard the last two taylor swift albums in their entirety i would really like them. every single is strong. i don't change the station when they're on.

    also i've seen a few vids of her concerts this year, and ... holy mother of shit, it's an event.

  5. #4355
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Posts
    155
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by kel View Post
    i think if i heard the last two taylor swift albums in their entirety i would really like them. every single is strong. i don't change the station when they're on.

    also i've seen a few vids of her concerts this year, and ... holy mother of shit, it's an event.
    Her pop music is infectious. I was never interested in her music until she skewed towards pop. Saw her during her last tour and it was amazing and I will see her again next month. If you have a chance, see her live!

  6. #4356
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    6,688
    Mentioned
    82 Post(s)
    Man on the Run by Bush is an excellent modern rock album.

  7. #4357
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    36
    Mentioned
    3 Post(s)

    A pseudo-essay on heaviness and if it's a thing or not, maybe it's all a little silly

    Even though I use the term myself, as it is very useful...

    "Heaviness" in music, particularly guitar music, is a sleight-of-hand, a contradictory and conflicting set of various vaporous ideals that exists largely because of common deficiencies in the way we imagine and engage in discourse about music. One's own ability to perceive "heaviness" is tied up in a fairly personalized set of aesthetic tastes that are highly finicky and not often coherent.

    In actuality there is less consensus in what the term gestures toward than is commonly acknowledged. No real, broad agreement in terms of timbre for "heaviness", even if he we can acknowledge that multiple types of "heaviness" can exist. Which is why deathcore folks and death metal "purists" can both lay stake to the ideal of greater "heaviness" among those of similar tastes, and attempts at qualifying "heaviness" quickly become incoherent (yes the source is a silly website). As with the former example, "heavy" is rendered as synonymous with "good" often enough in music discourse to fuck this whole broader conversation up1.

    Separating "heaviness" from any concept of intrinsic value: I still have my doubts about our ability to nail down what it means. I am not sure it's even fair to state that a lower-tuned guitar playing chugs is intrinsically "heavier" than one tuned not as low2. In this example obviously guitar tone intersects, but that only further complicates the issue. What textures are heaviest, what frequency distribution is heaviest, and how do all these things intersect with the other instrumentation (or lack thereof) and the parts being played? Obviously a guitar riff will degenerate into white noise if distorted far enough, achieving heaviness is as often a matter of restraint as a matter of excess.

    Unless we reject the idea of restraint (at least along specific textural lines) entirely, which then suggests the question...

    Is noise heavy? If we accept noise music as a heavy genre, then do we also accept literal white noise (and pink noise and such) as heavy? Or does it have to be more sculpted, but if so what does that sculpting look like? I can hear differences in the tracks across Merzbow's Pulse Demon and Venereology, the two records I seem to hear most intensely represent the abrasive abyss his music can be for varying reasons. Yet, I struggle to give language to what those differences are. I know that Venereology, is explicitly inspired by death metal, but if stripped of that context would I piece that observation together? This whole thing I am writing feels indulgent as is, I am going to bypass any discussion of noise vs. power electronics.

    There's no real segue here: though I am going to go further to postulate that the best "heavy" bands typically have some kind of intrinsic, visceral understanding of all this3, even if they can not articulate it. Instead they arrive aesthetic choices that render their music "heavy" through other, and more complicated motivations. I will say that proving this last assertion to my own satisfaction seems Herculean to write, and then maybe to read.

    I feel other arguments just out of reach, but no, this is the abrupt ending to this I would not want to go with if this was, say, being submitted academically. Fuck, I came into this wanting to say something about EDM (read: post-Skrillex) and it's roots in metalcore, but that's clearly not here. Maybe my real point is that "heaviness" is so full of baggage that we need to move onto new vocabulary.

    Fuck heaviness, but, as an addendum, long live heavy music.

    1. On the now frustratingly deleted, borderline reactionary, but fascinating music blog Stuff You Will Hate, I remember a post about the band Traitors, therein described as "sludgewave." The author was deeply conflicted about them, their focus on a specific ideal of downtuned "breakdown" style chugging was at once what the site's particular "am-I-ironic-or-am-I-not-fuck-you-you're-stunted-if-you-don't-get-it" voice continually longed for, but here it was, and it was fucking boring.
    2. God, I swear Jami Morgan, or some other member of Code Orange agrees with me and has said as much in an interview, but I cannot find it.
    3. Except maybe Nails (to clarify: not the band this board is about), if: I am being cynical.

  8. #4358
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    661
    Mentioned
    17 Post(s)
    @Alabaster Creature

    I think that the concept of heaviness has two categories; abrasiveness, and the one that you seem to be having trouble articulating, thickness. Abrasiveness could be represented by a band like The Dillinger Escape Plan, who play in standard tuning with few effects, but are abrasive enough to be considered heavy. The "thickness" that I refer to could be represented by Jesu or Earth, both bands that are relatively slow paced and soothing compared to most metal and instead focus on atmosphere and tone. I think the brain associates deeper or more "full" frequencies with literal heaviness, it feels like they have weight, while higher pitches are more ethereal. The ambient sounds in a quiet room feel "lighter" than what you would hear under water, for example. The bands that are "heavy" through thick tones instead of abrasiveness capitalize on this feeling. I'll give some examples of each, with some unusual examples of the concepts as well.

    Abrasiveness:







    Thickness:






  9. #4359
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    36
    Mentioned
    3 Post(s)
    Zecho, thanks for the reply. I think looking at "heaviness" as primarily consisting of qualities of abrasion and thickness does provided some desired granularity. Though I think it's not quite enough, yet. I might say that Meshuggah song is more "thick" than it is "abrasive," but really I can imagine qualifying either quality as the most salient.

    It's even interesting to me that you present your first example as the Dillinger Escape Plan, since I was definitely thinking about them when I was writing my bit. Guitarist Ben Weinman in the past has explicitly called out that unlike the popular metal acts of the time they were getting started (late 90s, early 200s) they did not down-tune their instruments - at least not as much. Yet, to most people they read as more extreme than say... Korn.

    Related: I just discovered today this interesting interview with Dominick Fernow (Prurient, Vatican Shadow, Cold Cave) and William Bennett (Whitehouse, Cut Hands) where Fernow rejects the very idea that his music should be considered "extreme" almost immediately. Though there's a lot of cool bits in that interview, including others that I could maybe tie back into this dialogue.

  10. #4360
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    180
    Mentioned
    5 Post(s)
    Yeah, "heavy" is a weird/very vague term when you think about it. It can take on literal forms: (frequencies, notes, tuning, effects, harsh vocals, abrasiveness etc) but there is also symbol/intangible heaviness in emotionally dark/powerful music (Hurt by NIN for example) that is very soft/quiet.

  11. #4361
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    36
    Mentioned
    3 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    there is also symbol/intangible heaviness in emotionally dark/powerful music (Hurt by NIN for example) that is very soft/quiet.
    Absolutely, I appreciate definitions of heaviness that move away from sonic qualities, and into more abstract considerations. The now dead 'Damn that Song is Heavy' feature on Party Smasher Inc. pushed against1 simplistic aesthetic ideas of what the word meant as routinely. At least as routinely as such a short lived feature could be said to do anything routinely. One of the writers that wrote for that feature a couple times, Max Frank, has written his own contrarian takes on what heaviness as an aesthetic within guitar music means, including this one.

    1. I don't think being a counter-narrative was the point, but just an inevitable result of opening up about other modes of expression.

  12. #4362
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Chicago, Illinois
    Posts
    10,565
    Mentioned
    528 Post(s)
    i fucking can't stand Florence + The Machine

    i hate her voice
    i hate the music
    i hate that it makes me feel so hateful

    it's not just one song, it's every song i've ever heard by them

  13. #4363
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Bayonne Leave It Alone
    Posts
    5,338
    Mentioned
    120 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by eversonpoe View Post
    i fucking can't stand Florence + The Machine

    i hate her voice
    i hate the music
    i hate that it makes me feel so hateful

    it's not just one song, it's every song i've ever heard by them

    but but but she runs around on stage barefoot & FREE!!!

  14. #4364
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    180
    Mentioned
    5 Post(s)
    I'm really getting into Sum-41 and Chevelle. I don't think Chevelle is too controversial here but Sum...

  15. #4365
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Posts
    9,216
    Mentioned
    551 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by eversonpoe View Post
    i fucking can't stand Florence + The Machine

    i hate her voice
    i hate the music
    i hate that it makes me feel so hateful

    it's not just one song, it's every song i've ever heard by them
    F&tM sounds like a shrewd advertising company ripped off Annie Lennox to make the music for a soap commercial.

  16. #4366
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Chicago, Illinois
    Posts
    10,565
    Mentioned
    528 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by bobbie solo View Post
    but but but she runs around on stage barefoot & FREE!!!
    so does steven wilson, but i love him

    Quote Originally Posted by Jinsai View Post
    F&tM sounds like a shrewd advertising company ripped off Annie Lennox to make the music for a soap commercial.
    that is terrifyingly precise

  17. #4367
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    4,139
    Mentioned
    62 Post(s)
    I love Florence + The Machine, and I don't care who knows it. She's way better than, say, Taylor Swift, who is basically the female Kanye West in the sense that she gets fawned over every time she takes a shit in public.

  18. #4368
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Chicago, Illinois
    Posts
    10,565
    Mentioned
    528 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by BRoswell View Post
    I love Florence + The Machine, and I don't care who knows it. She's way better than, say, Taylor Swift, who is basically the female Kanye West in the sense that she gets fawned over every time she takes a shit in public.
    yeah, but, like... that doesn't make florence good, that just makes her not as bad as tay sway

  19. #4369
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    the beginning of the end
    Posts
    9,342
    Mentioned
    732 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Alabaster Creature View Post
    Absolutely, I appreciate definitions of heaviness that move away from sonic qualities, and into more abstract considerations. The now dead 'Damn that Song is Heavy' feature on Party Smasher Inc. pushed against1 simplistic aesthetic ideas of what the word meant as routinely. At least as routinely as such a short lived feature could be said to do anything routinely. One of the writers that wrote for that feature a couple times, Max Frank, has written his own contrarian takes on what heaviness as an aesthetic within guitar music means, including this one.

    1. I don't think being a counter-narrative was the point, but just an inevitable result of opening up about other modes of expression.
    There's also grooviness. I once read a Geddy Lee interview where he talked about people perceiving groove as heaviness. He even said something to the effect of that it's a "big part of what people think of as heavy,."

    Rush (and Tool) are great examples of this phenomenon
    For instance

    Last edited by elevenism; 08-30-2018 at 11:41 PM.

  20. #4370
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    4,139
    Mentioned
    62 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by eversonpoe View Post
    yeah, but, like... that doesn't make florence good, that just makes her not as bad as tay sway
    What makes Florence + The Machine good is the music and her lyrics. Her stuff evokes imagery and mood, not just generic "woe is me" feelings. The music is well put-together and thought out, not some generic hip-hop beats under some overly processed vocals. She also draws from a lot of different influences, which is also why she gets a lot of respect and admiration outside of the pop genre.

    I mean, I get it if you've only heard one or two of her songs and find her to be just as generic as the rest of them, but having listened to all her albums, she's got a depth to her work that a lot of other pop singers don't have.

  21. #4371
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Posts
    9,216
    Mentioned
    551 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by BRoswell View Post
    What makes Florence + The Machine good is the music and her lyrics. Her stuff evokes imagery and mood, not just generic "woe is me" feelings. The music is well put-together and thought out, not some generic hip-hop beats under some overly processed vocals. She also draws from a lot of different influences, which is also why she gets a lot of respect and admiration outside of the pop genre.

    I mean, I get it if you've only heard one or two of her songs and find her to be just as generic as the rest of them, but having listened to all her albums, she's got a depth to her work that a lot of other pop singers don't have.
    And I appreciate your defense of the music... but to me, it sounds like a laundry detergent ad written by that guy who hiked the price up on life saving drugs for HIV patients.

    I don't want to take away your appreciation for the music. This is all subjective. There's music to Commodore 64 games that bring a tear to my eye, so who am I to judge... but... Florence (and the machine as well, I guess) is like an overly pleasant enema, and it's happening in my brain.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    My Way by Limp Bizkit is a 10/10 song
    Sadly, we shall never be friends.
    Last edited by Jinsai; 08-31-2018 at 04:33 AM.

  22. #4372
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    4,139
    Mentioned
    62 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Jinsai View Post
    And I appreciate your defense of the music... but to me, it sounds like a laundry detergent ad written by that guy who hiked the price up on life saving drugs for HIV patients.
    Maybe if you've only heard "Dog Days Are Over" repeatedly, but I'm not sure how someone could listen to something like this and think about a laundry detergent commercial:

  23. #4373
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    123
    Mentioned
    2 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven View Post
    My Way by Limp Bizkit is a 10/10 song
    Boiler is the shit too.

  24. #4374
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    6,688
    Mentioned
    82 Post(s)
    I love Ozzy and he's a legend. That said...Alice Cooper>Ozzy.

  25. #4375
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    6,101
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    I prefer Ozzy. Hell I prefer Ozzy solo to Sabbath.

  26. #4376
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    36
    Mentioned
    3 Post(s)
    I think Florence and the Machine is kind of in a weird spot with regards to the tastes of alternative audiences at large. Aesthetically they do not have any sharp edges (or they are not sharp enough) in an era when enough of the underground has been co-opted that it renders our collective ideas of what a "credible" musician should sound like a bit tweaked and increasingly narrow. They are not quite baroque or arty enough to have the relative alt credibility of say Arcade Fire (or at least the Arcade Fire of yesteryear).1 In this specific regard I guess they are kind of in a similar space to the Black Keys, a mainstream commercial face of alternative music that is not that widely beloved by many people in that many actual underground scenes.

    It's clear that Florence Welch is a very competent songwriter, and though I am increasingly dubious about notions of "authenticity" in music (at least on the broadest thematic levels), it does not seem she's posing too much, if really at all, in her work to make it more palatable to audiences on the scale she reaches. As somebody that writes songs, I can see that the band's work is tightly written with a sensitivity to how instrumentation and arrangement affect how a song is ultimately articulated. Writing anthems so big they actually start to cross-over into banality is hard, I wish I could do it. Though, this leads to me listening to her music in order to put it under the knife, to see how it works, not because I get something in my gut or my feelings from it.

    Their music seldom really cuts at me. I do not often care much for "indie rock" bands2 that achieved commercial success after the 90s. For a long time many of them seemed incurious and aesthetically unadventurous. Nothing about it felt like it had any chance of falling apart, it was tasteful, but only because it reiterated what we already knew to be tasteful. That's how the argument might go. I have come around on this recently for various reasons, but my ingrained taste still does not incline me to liking music in that broadly defined space. Florence in the Machine falls in this space for me, as uselessly huge as it is. I might speculate that other people on this board are having similar aesthetic stumbling blocks with their work.

    I think I like by them.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jinsai View Post
    written by that guy who hiked the price up on life saving drugs for HIV patients.
    I mean this as a piece of trivia: but this particular pull is interesting, because the individual being gestured to here was visibly a big fan of third-wave emo, enough so to financially back Geoff Rickly's record label.

    1. This is not me throwing shade at Reflektor or Everything Now
    2. There are definite exceptions to this

  27. #4377
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Posts
    6,688
    Mentioned
    82 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by onthewall2983 View Post
    I prefer Ozzy. Hell I prefer Ozzy solo to Sabbath.
    Ozzy's first two albums are stone-cold classics. But even those, overall, can't touch the first six Sabbath albums, imho. Hell, I'd even take the sole albums they released with Gillan and Hughes on lead vocals over them. I guess I'm much for of an Iommi fan.

  28. #4378
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    6,101
    Mentioned
    32 Post(s)
    I'm a tourist when it comes to heavy metal so my opinions shouldn't be taken too seriously on these things.

  29. #4379
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Chicago, Illinois
    Posts
    10,565
    Mentioned
    528 Post(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by onthewall2983 View Post
    I'm a tourist when it comes to heavy metal so my opinions shouldn't be taken too seriously on these things.
    you can tell all your friends you're just a tourist
    but you can't understand what they have planned until you try to leave

  30. #4380
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Milwaukee
    Posts
    3,929
    Mentioned
    75 Post(s)
    I like P!nk for what she is, but the pricing for her shows are fucking insane. Shit’s rediculous.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions