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Same as Van Morrison, boring middle aged men singing about how hard their lives are while they roll about in millions… mleh, give me a break
Van was the singer in Them, a rock band, blues based, before he went solo as a blues/jazz musician. He sings about how hard life is for others, and it was probably some considerable time be for Van, grumpy git that he is, made enough to be comfortable.
Something that a great many of today’s artists will likely ever be, until the likes of Spotify along with the record companies stop ripping off their artists and pay a proper royalty rate, equivalent to radio plays.
“I was born like this I had no choice, I was born with the gift of a golden voice” – The Late, great Leonard Cohen, not taking himself so seriously …
He never did, as a singer, but he was very serious about his writing, both as poet and songwriter. He never had any illusions about his voice.
great bands where the lead singer can’t actually sing
Thing is with these “non singer” singers, mostly they are better at conveying emotion than the technically proficient types… which is why their bands are great.
Which is exactly the point. Mark Lanagan being another, who’s also admitted to being a complete shit as a person, but he’s a superb songwriter and his voice is exactly what his music needs.
Someone was slagging off Zeppelin, and the Tolkien references in their songs, completely ignoring, or else ignorant of, just how popular Lord Of The Rings was at the time Zeppelin were recording, along with other Scandinavian references. For a folk-rock band, coming from a blues background, Tolkien references were almost inevitable.
Still, it’s so very easy to criticise music when you have absolutely no historical context with which to view it, and what was going on around the time within society, the arts, literature, politics etc.
Kids today, eh; no ****ing clue whatsoever.
There’s plenty of music, bands, artists, etc, who I really liked thirty-forty-fifty years ago, who I just can’t listen to now; equally, there’s still lots that I do, but my tastes haven’t ossified, I’m continually discovering new artists and bands, finding stuff that excites me, and it cost me quite a lot of money, too - I spent £80 on CD’s in Bath on Sunday, along with probably another £20 on downloads, among them Elvis Costello’s new album, Lana Del Ray, Fiona Apple’s new album, Tinariwen, Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief’s new album, Stars new album...
Oh, and I’ve ordered the Joni Mitchell Archive Vol.1 box set as well, that’s another £50...
Past, present and future, delightfully mixed together.
Can’t stand David Bowie’s music. Mostly sounds tuneless to me.
Someone was slagging off Zeppelin, and the Tolkien references in their songs, completely ignoring, or else ignorant of, just how popular Lord Of The Rings was at the time Zeppelin were recording,
That was me and I wasn’t ignoring or ignorant of. It’s just, in my opinion, very cheesy and cringeworthy hence why I don’t like them my precious. Put your 100 sided dice away and calm down. We’re allowed to like and dislike different things 😉
Others have said it, so I will too:
Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin.
Not so much as I can't stand them, just no comprehension what all the fuss is about, they seem to have both got a long way on very little.
for me its metallica. great thrash until burton died, then god awful formulaic ploddy rock for decades
oh and led zep, u2, oasis, the beatles, the who and the demented chimpanzee fondler that was michael jackson
great bands where the lead singer can’t actually sing
Velvet Underground preeminently I'd say. "Sings a bit like Lou Reed..." for years being reviewer code for "can't sing". (VU: universally critically-lauded but, unfortunately for the thread, brilliant.)
Yes folks even the great Sir Thomas Beecham was known to utter some absolute claptrap.
There hasn’t been a ‘musical revolution’ in the way that Acid/House/Techno/Jungle were in the years since.
I suppose that’s true if you ignore grunge, R&B, brit pop and the rest of it. My dad said something similar about the music I liked 🙂
When was the last 'musical revolution'? The ones you mention all happened decades ago.
(All happening on the internet, grandad.. 😀 )
Paul Weller, some of his lyrics are such cringeworthy toss. Especially when he was in the Jam. Dying to tell his fans that he grew up Working Class Scum but he's cultured like the result of an one-night-stand between Morrisey and Rodney Trotter. ****.
When was the last ‘musical revolution’?
Grime.
Grime.
That wasn't a revolution.... it was an attempted extinction level event
No idea what that is supposed to mean.
Grime
Felt at the time like aceeeed > d&b > grime more as continuum than revolution. Thinking of Labrynth club in Hackney. Anyway, bigger influence than I see acknowledged in, I dunno, the Guardian? Where else do I look?
Always thought of grime as a mix of dancehall and rap, I do enjoy it and acknoweldge that it's Britain's main new contribution to music this century - but it's maybe more of a regional flavour of hip-hop than a music revolution.
Are music revolutions driven by the availability of technology? Electric guitars for pop, cheaper recording for punk, synths for 80s pop and drum machines & Atari STs for dance music.
If so, it's hard to see where another one will come from, as computers improve incrementally and gradually.
Perhaps AI? That's what people say for everything else.
Some early grime/garage stuff was made on Music 2000 on the Playstation I believe.
I would say grime is a mix of hip hop/dancehall and garage (which comes from house), dnb/jungle was more revolutionary IMO but perhaps I'm biased.
I've been going down some UK drill rabbit holes on YouTube recently - it's thoroughly nihilistic and depressing. I used to listen to gangsta rap when I was young but this feels so much more bleak and joyless. It's mostly just gangs calling out one another or boasting about previous violence - I'm getting old.
I would say grime is a mix of hip hop/dancehall and garage (which comes from house),
Sure v much garage into grime, but other bits of the Venn include acid (house) based on clubs and E landan pirate stations. Hip hop is a lot of things including different sorts of music from electro to jazz and most things in between.
Paul Weller, some of his lyrics are such cringeworthy toss.
Have you actually listened to anything on Radio 1 recently...?
Virtually nothing played there will be relevant next week, let alone next year, and as for a couple of decades down the line...
George Harrison went up in my estimation after reading this.
I fear that's somewhat embellished.
https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/phil-collins/george-harrison-prank/
I fear that’s somewhat embellished.
Probably. Best to not fact check amusing anecdotes too carefully, they are generally embellishments.
Pink Floyd.
Bono.
Kanye.
Best to not fact check amusing anecdotes too carefully, they are generally embellishments.
Eh, that's exactly why you should. (-:
Eh, that’s exactly why you should.
Best to just think of them as metaphors.
That was spooky. I've literally just typed "is that a metaphor?" to a colleague in a Teams chat window.
Anyway.
Kanye West, although I'm not quite sure that critically lauded by Kanye West counts.
MAH played Thin Lizzy earlier and it got me thinking what a load of old toss they were. An example of a band where parody would not be possible.
Same as Van Morrison, boring middle aged men singing about how hard their lives are while they roll about in millions…
He's not middle-aged, in his 70's now. Has never sang or written songs about how hard his life was/is, as far as I'm aware. Full disclosure: have seen him live twice and have around 50 VM albums. Certainly by the end of the 80's he was past his peak, imo.
As regards 'boring', well he's explored different musical genres as well as religion and faith which I believe brings another dimension to his work. Hardly boring but granted he is a curmudgeon.
granted he is a curmudgeon.
Which is possibly understating things a tad...
I saw Mark Lanegan play with Isobel Campbell some years back, and after each song he just turned and walked off the stage, leaving Isobel just standing there staring at his back, eyebrows raised, looking a bit nonplussed!
I think the other two members of Screaming Trees might have some words to say about him as well.
He’s perfectly open about his behaviour too.
Universally critically-lauded artists that you just can’t stand
Let's say I only like Carpenters, ABBA, Bee Gees, Elvis (only some of his songs), Pelageya ... Yes, countable.
The rest are just like stream of water flowing into the sea to be diluted into unknown.