Controversial Music Opinions...

[Space Suicide]

I've always loved Machina II, but have only recently come around on Machina I and Adore. Both are great. My most controversial SP related opinion is probably not really liking Gish much. The pre-Gish material is so much more awesome, IMO.

Case in point:

Wanna talk controversial SP? I dislike Siamese Dream a great deal. Only song I like on the album is Disarm.

[GulDukat]

Wanna talk controversial SP? I dislike Siamese Dream a great deal. Only song I like on the album is Disarm.

That is controversial. "Luna" is about the best song Billy ever wrote.

[frankie teardrop]

I've always loved Machina II, but have only recently come around on Machina I and Adore. Both are great. My most controversial SP related opinion is probably not really liking Gish much. The pre-Gish material is so much more awesome, IMO.

i like gish just fine, but i couldn't agree more about the pre-gish material. of course, that should come as no surprise, given that 80% of what i listen to is post-punk/darkwave/dream pop... most of my favorite songs of theirs date from the early period... jennifer ever, there it goes (which they played for us at a VIP backstage performance), i fall, snap, honeyspider, stars fall in, hope, the vigil, sun etc... some of my very favorite pumpkins songs of any era.

[henryeatscereal]

The only thing is that the sound on Machina 1 and 2 is extremely different. Machina 1 is a heavily produced studio album, where as Machina 2 is really raw and almost lo-fi, like listening to the band in their rehearsal space or something. So I feel like rolling them into a single album would sound weird, unless they give them totally brand new mixes that make it all sound consistent.

I agree on the production values of both Machinas, actually Machina I has too much production it can be "unhearable" if you play it in the wrong system (for example some ipod speakers...)
Still i would like them as a double album release with no remixing or reordering, just the two CD's packaged together with some extra tracks and each one as they were...

[Mantra]

Boards of Canada fucking suck.

'music has a right to children' somehow got shoehorned into the greater musicdork consciousness as a timeless canonical album, but it's basically just fluffy, easy-listening lifestyle music. appropriate for cell phone commercials. they're like the kenny g of electronic music. soulless "vibey" garbage. have they ever made even one awesome song? No, of course they haven't.

i say we all get together and BURN THEM TO THE FUCKING GROUND

[implanted_microchip]

As long as we're on the subject of the Pumpkins . . .

I would hate the "reunion" tour that so many fans are always talking about. It seems like every year or so there's some rumor about getting the old band back together, and I couldn't imagine a worse thing happening to SP. It's done, it's over, they stopped feeling it together, the last thing I'd want to see is some forced reunion where James and Billy obviously don't like each other but stand beside one another anyways and pretend/fake it. Just let it go; it's been well past ten years.

I actually don't mind Zeitgeist and think the songs themselves are mostly pretty good (Neverlost is one of my favorite Pumpkins songs in general, of any era), it's just the production that hurts it so much. Also, people were wanting to be as critical as possible since it was the first album without all of the original members. If you take it for what it is there's a lot to like.

I'm all for a remastered/remixed double album of Machina I and II. It's what I've been looking the most forward to from the reissues. As much as I like the difference between the two albums, I think if they put them together as they stand it would sound incredibly off and lack any flow. Making them sound closer to one another, finding a good middle ground between over-production and demo-quality and sequencing it like it was originally intended sounds fantastic and I can't wait if that's what ends up happening.

Oh, and I second There It Goes being one of the best SP songs. A whole album of material like that would be more than welcome.

[allegro]

Wait, that was his tea shop?

Tea House and Art Gallery, just blocks from his house. He's really involved in the community, likes to contribute. Plus, he doesn't drink alcohol so he's *really* into tea.

what we missed yesterday.

He's been there for about a year and a half, and he's trying to get this whole "art" thing more established to get more customers, for artistic community involvement or something. kinda bohemian. Unfortunately, it seems like the only time a shit ton of people show up is when they know he's there. And the place is really small. But the community is really supporting him, everybody loves him.

[Joy Prevention Hotline]

Tea House and Art Gallery, just blocks from his house. He's really involved in the community, likes to contribute. Plus, he doesn't drink alcohol so he's *really* into tea.

what we missed yesterday.

He's been there for about a year and a half, and he's trying to get this whole "art" thing more established to get more customers, for artistic community involvement or something. kinda bohemian. Unfortunately, it seems like the only time a shit ton of people show up is when they know he's there. And the place is really small. But the community is really supporting him, everybody loves him.

I’m not so cynical that I can’t see the good in it. But a tea shop does kinda line up with his image as a flying nutball, however endearing it may be.

(Goddammit Safari, stop autocorrecting “nutball” into “nutgall.”)

I also have to consider that an unknown artist doing an 8 hour electronic thing in his own personal tea shop wouldn’t have been such a magnet for ridicule. It’s not easy being weird when everybody knows who you are.

I aspire to being an eccentric someday, but hardly anyone is going to care.

[think i'm a fire engine]

As long as we're on the subject of the Pumpkins . . .

I would hate the "reunion" tour that so many fans are always talking about. It seems like every year or so there's some rumor about getting the old band back together, and I couldn't imagine a worse thing happening to SP. It's done, it's over, they stopped feeling it together, the last thing I'd want to see is some forced reunion where James and Billy obviously don't like each other but stand beside one another anyways and pretend/fake it. Just let it go; it's been well past ten years.

I actually don't mind Zeitgeist and think the songs themselves are mostly pretty good (Neverlost is one of my favorite Pumpkins songs in general, of any era), it's just the production that hurts it so much. Also, people were wanting to be as critical as possible since it was the first album without all of the original members. If you take it for what it is there's a lot to like.

I can't agree more.

[BRoswell]

...but it's basically just fluffy, easy-listening lifestyle music...

Go listen to Geogaddi or Tomorrow's Harvest again and then come back and tell me how "fluffy" their music is.

[Jinsai]

I don't think I like the arcade fire's music very much at all anymore, despite liking their first album a lot.

I am not a hipster.

[Space Suicide]

I don't think I like the arcade fire's music very much at all anymore, despite liking their first album a lot.

I am not a hipster.

They're super pretentious and I enjoy the body of the work as a whole in retrospect. I can only take them in small doses though. Neon Bible and The Suburbs are great though. Reflektor is all right but too long for me.

[Fixer808]

Reflektor the song, I like. What else I've heard from the album has been "MEH".

[BRoswell]

Might be alone in thinking this, but I feel like Reflektor was where any sort of pretension began. I'm all for artists trying new things, but it felt like they changed things up just because it would get attention, not because it was something they felt like they just HAD to explore. I like the album, but it rings hollow whereas the other albums ring true for me. Just my opinion of course.

[jmtd]

Totally haven't digged reflektor yet.

[allegro]

I don't think I like the arcade fire's music very much at all anymore, despite liking their first album a lot.

I loved their first album because I loved all that sadness that was disguised by deliberate over-the-top happiness in such a brilliant way. Then it all went downhill for me.

[blackholesun]

I like two or three songs on each Arcade Fire album, but for the most part I just can't get into them.

[aggroculture]

Can't into The Arcade Fire. I find them dull as fuck.
All I hear is cliche', I don't hear this band bringing anything new or original.
I don't understand the appeal and would appreciate someone explaining their success.

[Jinsai]

I don't know, but when they do stuff like this I recoil in abject horror.

[fillow]

The Final Cut by Pink Floyd fucking sucks. It barely contain any music, mostly just Roger talking over some noodling.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason on the other hand is a great album.

[elevenism]

Boards of Canada fucking suck.

Have you really got down and LISTENED to them?
BoC is something that grows on you.
Listen to it with headphones on, in the dark, maybe on a bit of some kind of hallucinogen or fun opiate.
They are my second favorite band after NIN. Their music is CERTAINLY not fluffy, a lot of it is REALLY scary.

But, music is subjective. If you don't like it, you don't fucking like it.

While i'm here, i'll drop a bit of contro.

I LOVE seal's first album. It kicks ass. It was one of the first tapes i owned. I loved it at 10 years old, and i've probably bought a dozen replacement copies.

I also love the first Counting Crows album.

i LOVE thunder road and born to run by bruce springsteen. Thunder Road is probably my favorite song of all time.

Two of my favorite albums are Manic Nirvana and Now And Zen by robert plant.


Jimmy Hendrix, i respect him but a lot of his stuff bores the shit out of me. Same with the doors.

[GulDukat]

Jimmy Hendrix, i respect him but a lot of his stuff bores the shit out of me. Same with the doors.

That is controversial. The Doors and the Jimi Hendrix Experience are two of the best bands from that era.

[Canuckle]

Considering all the disapproval of Arcade Fire I guess it's controversial that I really enjoy their albums. I couldn't be bothered with following their career or attending live shows (they are past the point of intimate venues and I'm not sold their sound works in arenas), but I'll take Funeral on a Sunday morning, or Reflektor on a Friday night most weeks.

Yes, some of the material is a little pretentious but the music landscape has been crowded with quality pretentious acts for decades. So I shrug it off.

[henryeatscereal]

The Final Cut by Pink Floyd fucking sucks. It barely contain any music, mostly just Roger talking over some noodling.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason on the other hand is a great album.

In the immortal words of David Gilmour:

"The Final Cut was the low point in our Pink Floyd career for me, personally. I started off trying to do my best on that record... I had tried to point out to Roger that some of the tracks he wanted to put on it were tracks we had rejected off The Wall album because we didn't like them, you know. Roger just thought I was interfering... he'd got to a sort of megalomaniac stage where he could not tolerate anyone else having any real say in what was going on. We did fight horribly throughout that whole period." - David Gilmour, Pink Floyd 25th Anniversary Special, May 1992 (aired by Westwood One Radio Network)

[Jinsai]

That is controversial. The Doors and the Jimi Hendrix Experience are two of the best bands from that era.

I've never been the biggest Doors fan (with exceptions), but Hendrix was a god. I'm firmly of the belief that if you don't like Hendrix, you either haven't heard the right live recording, or you just don't like guitars.

[aggroculture]

So which is the best Hendrix to listen to?
I love The Doors - Strange Days is a stone cold classic - but whatever Hendrix I've heard has always made me go meh.

[GulDukat]

So which is the best Hendrix to listen to?
.

[GulDukat]

As far as later-day Pink Floyd goes, I'd take The Final Cut over The Division Bell. TFC was at least interesting. TDB was just a crappy album, IMO.

I really liked A Momentary Lapse of Reason, but that's more of a Gilmour solo album.

[talkingnothing]

LOVE this track. probably my favorite jimi track. jimi's bass playing in the passage from around the 9 min mark to around 10:30 is one of my all time favorite recorded musical moments.

[GulDukat]

Such a shame he died before completing his forth proper studio album. First Rays of the New Rising Sun is still pretty great though.