Controversial Music Opinions...

[GulDukat]

What is all this nonsense? Frank Sinatra is mediocre at best...He's got a couple mildly decent songs I guess, like Summer Wind, and his Only the Lonely album has this late-night melancholy vibe that I like, but by and large he just made all these boring-ass white bread lounge songs, and some of it is just laughably idiotic. Even at his worst, Kanye has never made a song as atrocious as "My Way." Dear god, that song is so horrible on every level (cheesy chords, stupid melodramatic production, the pathetically embarrassing lyrics, etc). Seriously, fuck that song.

Kanye's public persona might be a little grating for some people (I personally find him fun and entertaining, but I obviously get why someone would be annoyed with his antics). Still, there's no denying that his albums are fucking solid. Obviously Sinatra has his a certain historical significance, mainly just for becoming this kind of brand-name cultural icon for that generation, but if we're gonna talk about the quality of his actual songs, come on, he really isn't that good. I don't care if he lived for ten thousand years, he'd still never be able to put out an album as awesome as Late Registration or Graduation. I feel like this should be obvious to pretty much every person under 70.

In fact, what the hell do these two dudes even have to do with each other? This whole comparison is just weird.

The comparison is weird. It's like comparing a Ford Pinto with a Bentley.

I respect your opinion and POV, and this is just me giving my opinion, but I disagree.

People have been listening to Frank for over 60 years. Let's see if people listen to Graduation in 2075. It's all subjective and a matter of personal taste, but to me it isn't even close. Frank's albums (especially from the 50's) blow away anything Kayne has ever released. I don' know why people "under 70" should automatically prefer Kayne West over Frank. I personally don't understand what's so awesome about Kanye West and I'm 35. His music is sort of interesting, but it's not really my thing and his stupid posturing is just, well, stupid, IMHO.

And I love "My Way," although Frank didn't. "September of my Years" is one of the greatest songs ever recorded by old blue eyes--such feeling, so beautifully written and arranged--far better and more meaningful than anything Kayne could perform or write.

Frank is in a class all by himself, second to none.

[kel]

i think babymetal is kinda cool and fun. and i'm not a j-pop or k-pop or anything else kind of asian pop kind of guy. in any sense.

also i really fucking love jill scott. are there any other fans here?

[Exocet]

I recently read that in some NME poll, The Smith's The Queen is Dead was voted the "best album of all time."

So since I'm going to a festival where Morrissey is headlining, I figured why not, and the other day I bought a vinyl copy of it and listened to it. I'd heard some of the songs on it before, but never listened to the full album. I think "Some Girls are Bigger than Others" is maybe the most obnoxious song I've ever heard, and there's no way that an album with that song on it is the best rock album of all time.

I'm actually kind of embarrassed because I just don't get it. There's a handful of Smiths songs that I really like, with How Soon is Now being a really great track... but the massive appeal of this band is just eluding me completely.

For some reason the Queen is Dead has been cemented by critics as the diamond in their catalogue. Its come to be expected default for any publication to refer to the record as the Smiths best.
Same as is is for The Beatles with Sgt Pepper, Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street, My Bloody Valentine Loveless etc.
I and many others certainly dont think its their best . the Smiths had 2 eras. Their Self titled debut from 1984, and Hatful of Hollow are very different to the 3 albums that came after.
The 1st era is is dominated by dark ambiguous sexual confusion, repression its all very murky and gloomy.
The later material is more upbeat, more political, slightly, harder.
A lot see the Queen is Dead as the album which manages to encapsulate what The Smiths were about.
i dont think it contains Johnny Marr's best guitar work at all. Or Morrisseys best lyrics.
I like their first album the best.
The massive appeal? Awkward Outcasts related to Morrisseys lyrics, and Johnny was the best guitarist of the 1980s.

[Mantra]

I recently read that in some NME poll, The Smith's The Queen is Dead was voted the "best album of all time."

So since I'm going to a festival where Morrissey is headlining, I figured why not, and the other day I bought a vinyl copy of it and listened to it. I'd heard some of the songs on it before, but never listened to the full album. I think "Some Girls are Bigger than Others" is maybe the most obnoxious song I've ever heard, and there's no way that an album with that song on it is the best rock album of all time.

I'm actually kind of embarrassed because I just don't get it. There's a handful of Smiths songs that I really like, with How Soon is Now being a really great track... but the massive appeal of this band is just eluding me completely.

In general, I always feel like NME exists in their own bizarro alternate universe. They'll give bad or lackluster reviews for good albums and then turn around and sing the praises of some random forgettable band. They're always giving album of the year to ridiculous bullshit like Klaxons and Bloc Party. Their whole perspective on music is just bizarre.

[Krazy]

So, they're hipsters?...

[Mantra]

^I guess, but they also try to push the whole British angle, so their shit doesn't even correspond with the rest of the "hipster" scene. They still cover international music, but they've always got that slant, so when all the other indie publications are losing their shit over Animal Collective or whatever, they're still prioritizing Klaxons and stupid shit like that. It's the same reason they've got The Queen is Dead as the greatest album of all time. And the thing is, they also seem to favor a certain brand of British music over others, the whole 80s/90s brit rock thing. So they'll give cursory coverage to the various forms of underground electronic music in London, but they're mostly fixated on trying to rekindle the glory days of Blur and Oasis and "real rock and roll."

[Jon]

They still cover international music, but they've always got that slant, so when all the other indie publications are losing their shit over Animal Collective or whatever, they're still prioritizing Klaxons and stupid shit like that.

Soooo... hipsters then?

And NME voted Animal Collective #1 in their Future 50 poll, so maybe not a good example.

[Exocet]

NME was great for a while and did a lot of good, they would take underground regional American scenes, (that they liked) that were struggling to get heard, and bands that mainstream America was ignoring and make them huge in Britain, its smaller and easier to create hype quicker, sometimes it would really work, sell loads of records here and Europe before big record labels start truly paying attention and investing in them, then they would then get big in U.S and in rest of world, sort of ping pong effect across the atlantic, it was a way to speed up the process of getting big...rather than slogging across the fucking gigantic landmass of 50 states for years playing in small bars....Seattle scene was a notable example, Nirvana broke in 1989 here, other U.S, Indie bands Sonic Youth were big in the mid 80s hung out with Jesus and Mary Chain,..Pavement, Hole, Scissor Sisters, Mudhoney, Pixies, the New York punk thing with The Ramones, Television etc, or The Strokes, White Stripes, were all given a boost thanks to mostly just the NME creating a buzz. But its not been the same magazine for well over a decade. The internet killed its influence. Now a lot of its just tabloid fodder, and endless top 100 lists.

[WorzelG]

The NME seemed to me obsessed with making 'scenes' and I hold them partially responsible for those terrible identikit indie landfill bands of the mid 2000s. There's quite an entertaining article in the Quietus about a particular band whose album got pulled the day they got an 8/10 review in NME
http://thequietus.com/articles/00208...jing-jang-jong

[Jinsai]

in that same magazine, Arctic Monkeys got the nod for the tenth best album of all time or some horseshit...

[eversonpoe]

by all accounts, i SHOULD like Big Audio Dynamite, but i absolutely can't stand them. it's incredibly frustrating >.<

[aggroculture]

Frank Black and Jack Black should make a record together.
Jack White should guest.

[eversonpoe]

Frank Black and Jack Black should make a record together.
Jack White should guest.

Frack Grey?

[aggroculture]

I'm thinking: Jank Frack

[fillow]

Two days ago I saw The Black Keys as a festival headliner, with great sound and somewhat impressive stage/video production.
Still, they were one of the most boring acts of the entire event. I didn't (and don't) hate them or anything, but I don't get why are so many people into them.

[Khrz]

Perhaps not controversial, but I have a hard time understanding why Jamie XX's album got 9.3 on Pitchfork...

[Presideo]

Perhaps not controversial, but I have a hard time understanding why Jamie XX's album got 9.3 on Pitchfork...

Agreed...it deserved a 10

[Khrz]

Yeah just to be clear, I'm not bashing it, I like it, just not to a "timeless piece of art and culture" level, and I was wondering why ​it could be deserving so much...

[Sutekh]

by all accounts, i SHOULD like Big Audio Dynamite, but i absolutely can't stand them. it's incredibly frustrating >.<

feel the same way about the clash! They have good songs but patchy albums and to me they seem a bit phoney. I also feel like I should hate the sex pistols, but I love them

[ambergris]

Perhaps not controversial, but I have a hard time understanding why Jamie XX's album got 9.3 on Pitchfork...

Because Jamie XX is the currently hottest product of the british music hype machine, SO YOU MUST LIKE IT! However, I do not dislike the album, but it's also nothing special. It lacks a certain homogeneity to be really good. It can't decide whether it wants to be a new "Another Green World", or sonically adventurous like Arca's Xen.

[GulDukat]

Perhaps not controversial, but I have a hard time understanding why Jamie XX's album got 9.3 on Pitchfork...

That's not bad, but not something I'd run out and buy either. A lot of these types of bands, I don't know what you'd call it, ambient/electronic, whatever, sounds the same-ish to me. A lot of these new bands that Pitchfork loves, like Vampire Weekend, I'm not crazy about. Not a knock on them, just not my thing.

[The_Prowler]

Perhaps not controversial, but I have a hard time understanding why Jamie XX's album got 9.3 on Pitchfork...

I don't even know who the hell that is...

[GulDukat]

I don't even know who the hell that is...

Well, Pitchfork loves it, so it must be awesome.

[Dr Channard]

Perhaps not controversial, but I have a hard time understanding why Jamie XX's album got 9.3 on Pitchfork...

I don't even know who the hell that is...

　
You know that electronica music made and preformed live by guys sitting at a desk behind a laptop and turntable? Well Jamie xx is another one of those. The album has a few interesting moments but I’m not sure that it’s anything groundbreaking. More like the flavor of the day.

[Presideo]

Because Jamie XX is the currently hottest product of the british music hype machine, SO YOU MUST LIKE IT! However, I do not dislike the album, but it's also nothing special. It lacks a certain homogeneity to be really good. It can't decide whether it wants to be a new "Another Green World", or sonically adventurous like Arca's Xen.

I thought it was very cohesive overall - even the Young Thug feature flowed surprisingly well with the rest of the music.

Well, Pitchfork loves it, so it must be awesome.

http://www.metacritic.com/music/in-colour/jamie-xx

It's ok if you don't love the music, but don't gloss over the fact that In Colour is loved by more than critics employed by Pitchfork.

More like the flavor of the day.

Between The xx and his colab album with Gil-Scott Heron, he's been making acclaimed music for awhile now. More like flavor of the past half-decade.

[Dr Channard]

The album has a few interesting moments but I’m not sure that it’s anything groundbreaking. More like the flavor of the day.

Between The xx and his colab album with Gil-Scott Heron, he's been making acclaimed music for awhile now. More like flavor of the past half-decade.

Your general statement about the artist may be true, but please don’t misunderstand, I’m specifically referencing his debut album which has been out for all of several days now. Let's give the album some time to be, and then down the road revisit its lasting impact.

[GulDukat]

http://www.metacritic.com/music/in-colour/jamie-xx
It's ok if you don't love the music, but don't gloss over the fact that In Colour is loved by more than critics employed by Pitchfork.

Fair enough. I don't dislike it at all. Not bad, just not really my thing.

[WorzelG]

Somebody on my twitter said how wonderful this performance of Loud Places is and I listened and thought, this sounds like perfectly pleasant inoffensive dinner party music to me

[WorzelG]

Buzz Osborne says the Montage of Heck Nirvana documentary is 90% total bullshit

http://pitchfork.com/news/59856-melv...otal-bullshit/

[Mantra]

Yeah just to be clear, I'm not bashing it, I like it, just not to a "timeless piece of art and culture" level, and I was wondering why ​it could be deserving so much...

Well, they gotta give something best new music. Maybe this was the best they could find right now. Think of it as grading the music scene on a bell curve.

Maybe it sounds ridiculous, but I honestly do think that's what happens sometimes. That's probably one of the weird things about working regularly as a critic. I personally don't believe there are that many great albums/movies/books/games released in a single year. Sometimes you get a pretty eventful year, but by and large I feel like we get maybe 2 or 3 truly great albums in a year, tops. So what do you do if there hasn't been anything that amazing recently, but your whole business model is built around promising to deliver people suggestions to great music? You can't just tell people "Look everyone, I know it's been several months since we've scored anything higher than a 7.5, but it's not our fault! Music just hasn't been very good recently!" Come on, they'd laugh you out of business. It's your job to deliver SOMETHING that you claim is great music.

So who knows, maybe that's what happened this month. Jamie XX put out mildly enjoyable album, and he was the best they could find.