Forum Overview :: No Stairway to Heaven
 
All the albums I've bought, in order. The horror . . . the horror. by Senor Barborito 04/16/2003, 10:43pm PDT
Fussbett wrote:

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:

I don't see how pop music, beyond boy bands and the Spears/Aguilera segment, survives this song. Worse, I don't see how it *should* survive, or that it deserves to. If 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' killed off hair metal, then surely 'Blinded' here has done the same to pop -- and worse, it did it from within.


I think middle of the road "pop rock" was already well dead (Pop Rocks, however, remain live and LETHAL if combined with Pepsi) before Third Eye Blind's new song got to the party. If anything, Linkin Korn Biscuit and neo-grunge Nickel Creed already killed it. I asked Semisonic and Matthew Sweet if pop rock music was going to make a comeback. They're getting back to me on it.

Anyway, I had a similar rock music meltdown the other day when I saw the video for Counting Crows with Vanessa Carlton doing Joni Mitchell's crusty whore of a folk song "Big Yellow Taxi". As if that wasn't offensive enough, the song was apparently for the soundtrack to the vapour movie "Two Weeks Notice", so interwoven between shots of musicians trying to kill music forever was scenes of Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant being cute and charming. It was as if somewhere my arch-nemesis had gathered together all the anti-Fussbett elements in the universe in a final attempt to kill me once and for all. And it's almost worked. I had to listen to Burnt By The Sun for 3 hours straight just to snap out of the daze.

This brings up another concept I always find amusing. Remember bands like the Gin Blossoms? They were all over the goddamn place at one point. Was anyone a Gin Blossoms fan? No. You could never track one down! Who's buying that boring shit? I developed a theory that some of these company/radio-pushed bands had no actual fans but instead were successful because of birthday and Christmas presents. That 300,000 unit sales figure is all from well-meaning relatives buying safe gifts for receipients who say "thanks", and listen to the album's singles twice before leaving it in the bottom of their CD collection forever. Thus, once the record company stops their money-backed push of said band, they disappear off the face of the Earth. No fan base.


Actually I bought a Gin Blossoms album at age 13, because compared to the Christian crap my parents, relatives, and friends were foisting on me at the time it was actually (comparatively) pretty damned good.

Here, let's track through my album purchases history and watch my parents' influence fade. Please note that I only buy albums of bands I *really* *really* like. Back when I was at RPI, I grabbed hundreds of MP3s from bands I was mildly into.

Michael W. Smith, all works (Christian Pop Rock for Teens extremely bad late 80s ripoffs) - given to me by family and friends, mostly. I purchased two, I think, at age 12 and 13.
Ace of Base, the Sign - in 1993 this CD was on every station, every other track.
Gin Blossoms, whatever their 1994 'hit single' album was - welcome relief from the prior two.
REM, Monster - '95s very welcome relief from the previous three. Also goddamned weird.
Silverchair, both Frogstomp and Freak Show - I fucking worshipped Silverchair as a 15-year-old. Oh the ignominy and shame,

*** The painful sucking stops here, the conformity begins***

Soundgarden, Down on the Upside - not as good as Superunknown, but still alright. I think buying this instead of Bush's 16 Stone was a mistake I'd regret for years (and still regret)
Pearl Jam, Ten - this is not a bad album, really, if you can stand Pearl Jam (I like Vedder's crooning, sorry). The only other album I sorta wished back then I'd spent the money on was Garbage's debut.
Nirvana, Live in New York - OK, what teenager from my time period - did not - buy this album? Seriously, I knew no person in high school who didn't have a copy. I downloaded Bowie's original "The Man Who Sold The World" and Cobain beat him at his own game on that song by only a few orders of magnitude.
Nirvana, Nevermind - This is still a great album
Tool, Aenima - This is an amazing album, and probably the only thing you heard on the radio between '94 and '98 that is still worth listening to. I actually pop it in the tray once every couple of months and give it a cover-to-cover listen. If you can find this one anywhere, I still suggest you buy it.

***The indie starts here, thank you Pitchforkmedia***

Death Cab for Cutie, all works - these guys are hard to corner. They're not quite emo, but they lean heavily in that direction. Emo that knows how to lighten the fuck up, have a little fun and mix an ungodly number of hooks into every song ala anything by Kim Deal? Sign me up. I can't say I'd have their manbabies, but I like then & enjoy them a ton.
Godspeed You Black Emperor, all works - I actually have the person I hate the most in #ga to thank for exposing me to GYBE, and I wouldn't have my current level of interest in indie/punk (or music at all) if not for exposure to this band. You *MUST* buy 'slow riot for new zero kanada' at the very least.
And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Source Tags and Code - this is an amazing fucking album. Tons of energy and young but with some serious sophistication for a young post-punk band. Excellent stuff.
Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights - if you buy one album from the past ten years, this should be that album. Absolutely the best thing I've heard without exception.
Mclusky, Mclusky Do Dallas - I'm not big on their older, rawer work - but what Steve Albini has done with LLB's band is simply fantastic. If you want punk and lyrics with an OMM sensibility to them done by a band that to me sounds like the Pixies and to veronica sounds like Big Black, this would be a wise choice.

I've listened to a lot of other indie albums via MP3 (pre-Caltrops, no more warez fun for Barbie since the server went up due to possibility of police seizure for running a server where anybody can post potentially illegal content), and veronica's given me a taste of a wide spectrum of punk bands.

--SB
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Third Eye Blind's charming new single! by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/16/2003, 2:46pm PDT NEW
    pop is the soy of music by foogla 04/16/2003, 3:36pm PDT NEW
    Also bad: Counting Crows plus Vanessa Carlton plus Joni Mitchell by Fussbett 04/16/2003, 6:26pm PDT NEW
        OMG Vanessa Carlton BONER by Bill Dungsroman 04/16/2003, 6:35pm PDT NEW
        All the albums I've bought, in order. The horror . . . the horror. by Senor Barborito 04/16/2003, 10:43pm PDT NEW
            Also an ex-Gin Blossoms fan (also SB's MUST-HEAR list) by FoK 04/17/2003, 9:53am PDT NEW
                Re: Also an ex-Gin Blossoms fan (also SB's MUST-HEAR list) by Senor Barborito 04/17/2003, 10:50am PDT NEW
                    Re: Also an ex-Gin Blossoms fan (also SB's MUST-HEAR list) by FoK 04/17/2003, 11:49am PDT NEW
                        Re: Also an ex-Gin Blossoms fan (also SB's MUST-HEAR list) by RoryleeLuloff 04/17/2003, 12:25pm PDT NEW
                            uroboros? How effete of you. NT by jeep 04/17/2003, 1:57pm PDT NEW
                        Not an ex-Gin Blossoms fan. Some new-ish records are good, too. by jeep 04/17/2003, 2:17pm PDT NEW
                            D-d-dismemberment Plan did WHAT? by Fullofkittens 04/17/2003, 2:25pm PDT NEW
                                The made one more record, "Change," and then they broke up. NT by jeep 04/17/2003, 2:29pm PDT NEW
                                Death Cab has effectively stopped playing together, too, chief. NT by Senor Barborito 04/17/2003, 2:38pm PDT NEW
                                    Damn! Well, at least Burning Airlines is still together! NT by Fullofkittens 04/17/2003, 3:16pm PDT NEW
                                    Wait, Death Cab for Cutie broke up?! Or are they on sko gay 'hiatus?' Motherfuck NT by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/17/2003, 3:21pm PDT NEW
                                        There's nothing official, they're just not doing anything together at the moment NT by Senor Barborito 04/17/2003, 9:06pm PDT NEW
                Re: Also an ex-Gin Blossoms fan (also SB's MUST-HEAR list) by Ice Cream Jonsey 04/17/2003, 2:07pm PDT NEW
                    That was the name of the single, yeah. Fuck now I can't get it out of my head. NT by Senor Barborito 04/17/2003, 2:11pm PDT NEW
                    Re: Also an ex-Gin Blossoms fan (also SB's MUST-HEAR list) by FullofSemen 04/17/2003, 2:16pm PDT NEW
                        My theory, revised. by Fussbett 04/17/2003, 8:31pm PDT NEW
                            All the cars with rear-wheel drive, I've bought, in order . . . by Senor Barborito 04/17/2003, 9:13pm PDT NEW
                                My favourite SB post ever. Funny. NT by Fussbett 04/18/2003, 3:37am PDT NEW
                                I DIDN'T -nt- by Entropy Stew 04/19/2003, 5:36pm PDT NEW
                                    FUCKDAMN THREADS NT by Entropy Stew 04/19/2003, 5:36pm PDT NEW
                                        MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE PROGRAMMED A FILTER THAT MAKES POSTS GO WHERE THEY BELONG NT by creativepig 04/21/2003, 2:17pm PDT NEW
                                            MAYBE I'LL FILTER MY COFFEE THROUGH YOUR MUCOUS FUCKING MEMBRANES, LOVEY NT by Entropy Stew 04/21/2003, 7:59pm PDT NEW
                I HAVE LISTENED TO THE VELVET TEEN, GOD FUCK IT by Alternate789 04/17/2003, 10:03pm PDT NEW
                    ...*blink* by Fullofkittens 04/18/2003, 12:01am PDT NEW
                        A Reply; and also A Special Message to Barbie and GYBE! Fans by creativepig 04/21/2003, 2:31pm PDT NEW
                            Re: A Reply; and also A Special Message to Barbie and GYBE! Fans by Alternate789 04/21/2003, 8:30pm PDT NEW
                                The True Face by Fullofrenes 04/21/2003, 10:46pm PDT NEW
                                    Holy fucking GAY, sir. by Senor Barborito 04/22/2003, 3:20am PDT NEW
                                        Re: Holy fucking GAY, sir. by FoK 04/22/2003, 7:30am PDT NEW
                                            Fag NT by MOAB 04/22/2003, 8:01am PDT NEW
                                            "Men" like you built the atom bomb. by Senor Barborito 04/22/2003, 11:14am PDT NEW
                                            So, what you're saying is that you sucked intentionally in order to be edgy? NT by Entropy Stew 04/22/2003, 1:10pm PDT NEW
                                                That's what my brother's band did. by Chairman Mao 04/22/2003, 1:14pm PDT NEW
                                                    That's also what the sex pistols did. by MOAB 04/22/2003, 1:31pm PDT NEW
                                                        and Steely Dan by veronica 04/22/2003, 7:28pm PDT NEW
                                                            HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHHAAHAHAAAAAAAAHAhahahahaHHAHAHASHAHHAHAHAAHA NT by Entropy Stew 04/22/2003, 9:08pm PDT NEW
                                                                Poor ES, not a Dan fan by veronica 04/22/2003, 10:06pm PDT NEW
                                                                    George Carlin also. by Jhoh Creexul 04/23/2003, 12:49am PDT NEW
                                                No. by Fullofkittens 04/24/2003, 4:53pm PDT NEW
                                        On the contrary, by creativepig 04/23/2003, 9:15pm PDT NEW
    Re: Third Eye Blind's charming new single! by Ice Cream Jonsey 05/23/2021, 9:27pm PDT NEW
        We were all so much darker and grittier in 2003 by Roop 05/24/2021, 7:23pm PDT NEW
 
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