On That Note - Wax and Wane
- Thread starter MeanDean
- Start date
I feel like when REM had their huge success with Losing My Religion, that they almost instantly felt played out. Anything from Monster still holds up for me.
Add me to the list of misguided youth who once thought Korn and Limp Bizkit were entertaining. Fred Durst is the douchiest of d-bags.
You can probably add Marilyn Manson to the list as well.
Not sure if I didn't like him, but never totally got into him, but I can definitely at least really respect John Mayer's career.
Put out earlier albums that sold big and were popular with the high school and college crowd but still respected by contemporaries, then cruised through some blues stuff, and seems to just throw out a single here and there to keep up, and now touring with the Dead.
Put out earlier albums that sold big and were popular with the high school and college crowd but still respected by contemporaries, then cruised through some blues stuff, and seems to just throw out a single here and there to keep up, and now touring with the Dead.
Dave Matthews Band was huge and seemed awesome when they blew up in the 90s. I've always been a music nerd who likes jazz and other types of music, so it seemed like a marvelous new era of music. Then their follow up albums were just ok, and then the newness wore off and they didn't seem so great anymore.
I'll still listen to a song if it comes on the radio, but I'm not pulling out my DMB CDs any time soon or going to an overpriced music festival to see them.
I don't mind him and think he himself is a good musician but I'm not paying to see him just on the premise of standing around the frat crowd yelling all the words.
I'm several years older than what would've been typical target age for the period of Korn, Bizkit, Manson, so I was less likely to fall bass-ackward into digging them only to regret it later. (Each has a few things I thought were OK, at the time). That made me try to think of my examples of "future embarrassment music" would be.
Kiss is probably one case that's similar, but I've gone kind of back-and-forth about that. First, I abandoned it, then maybe 10 years later, I got briefly nostalgic for it (I even bought a discount used copy of Alive II on vinyl). When Kiss regrouped w/ makeup in '90s, it was kinda cool, but I didn't have all that much interest.
"KIss My Ass" tribute album had a few worthy cuts, actually that was more intriguing to me than Makeup-Kiss Mark 2. Garth Brooks performed a song for it, for chrissakes (Hard Luck Woman). And it's actually Good!
But I digress. I'll try to think of other stuff from my 20/20 Hindsight of Regret.
For my taste(s), if I invented personal genres, DMB would be in the Mixed Bag category. Some of it, even a few that were grossly overplayed, sound fine. Other stuff doesn't move the needle for me at all. (Plenty of music artists could fit the mixed-bag niche for me. That's a topic for another day).
It’s hard to pick a particular artist, but house and trance music has grown on me.
I'm getting a bit tangential here but here are my feelings about DMB.
I'd like DMB if DM wasn't part of it. Or at least if he didn't sing. I guess I just find his voice and vocal inflections to be annoying.
I share that sentiment to a degree. Sometimes his singing style serves a song well, but it can be a distraction or detriment at times. I have no issue with his guitar-playing or technique.
For the most part, I'm more drawn to DMB's funkier output, slower-tempo songs kinda bore me.
I haven't embraced much of the jam-band genre in general, wasn't into the H.O.R.D.E.-esque groups to any extent. Instrumentally, I can't argue against it, but largely, Not My Bag, Baby. Although, like many niches, I'm sure there's more to offer if I delved into deeper cuts. Usually, I wasn't intrigued enough to get to that point.
This example almost slipped my mind:
Soul Asylum
Caveat: I still think the band is unfairly pigeonholed for its breakthrough hit, “Runaway Train.” Of course, the video was massively overplayed, and for me the song was lukewarm water, especially side-by-side with the group’s catalog to that point.
I now realize, I might’ve unwittingly participated in the backlash; I haven’t consumed or pursued anything new by S.A. since “Let Your Dim Light Shine” (and the band has released 4 studio albums since then -- I couldn't name a single song from any of 'em).
The last definitive track from my frequent-rotation Soul Asylum phase is this (it still holds up for me today). From the same album as “Runaway Train.” Isn't it ironic, don't ya think?
Soul Asylum
Caveat: I still think the band is unfairly pigeonholed for its breakthrough hit, “Runaway Train.” Of course, the video was massively overplayed, and for me the song was lukewarm water, especially side-by-side with the group’s catalog to that point.
I now realize, I might’ve unwittingly participated in the backlash; I haven’t consumed or pursued anything new by S.A. since “Let Your Dim Light Shine” (and the band has released 4 studio albums since then -- I couldn't name a single song from any of 'em).
The last definitive track from my frequent-rotation Soul Asylum phase is this (it still holds up for me today). From the same album as “Runaway Train.” Isn't it ironic, don't ya think?
That's my favorite Soul Asylum song as well. I remember picking up the CD because Runaway Train was a big deal, and then liking the other songs more than their big hit.
I think my issue with DMB is people rave because there's a violin and his chords are sort of complex but there's also a reason your local small town bands cover DMB and can replicate it to where people think it's really amazing. Ex. Ants Marching's main musical premise is iirc a D and G chord with some fills and just because the person playing the chords flops their feet around doesn't make it any more complex or interesting.
And I'm not saying good music has to be crazy complex or mathematically mind blowing because some of my favorite songs are from guys like John Prine and Dylan who made their cash from writing words in line with 3 chord progressions, but good look finding someone who can play it in the same vein as them. I COULD play Crazy as a Loon in no time flat but I'm not going to be able to play it in a way that recreates that fine line between snarky, comical and self defeating but all the while slipping some real truth into it.
Sorry for the rant...coffee.
If I ever saw KISS it would have to be in that generic hipster way like at Bonnaroo or something like Alice Cooper several years ago. Am I going to sit around and listen to them? No. But would it be really fun to see them in that setting? Absolutely.
I took this as what artist did you like before, and don't like at all now and vice versa.
For me, there are many artists that I don't like their recent offerings, but still love the early recordings. See REM and Bruce Springsteen.
As for waxing artist, I have Beck. Back in the 1990's I tried to like Beck, but it didn't take. Now I'm a big fan.
The waning artist is Ryan Adams as a result of him being a jerk.
For me, there are many artists that I don't like their recent offerings, but still love the early recordings. See REM and Bruce Springsteen.
As for waxing artist, I have Beck. Back in the 1990's I tried to like Beck, but it didn't take. Now I'm a big fan.
The waning artist is Ryan Adams as a result of him being a jerk.
As a longtime Beck enthusiast, I'm curious, was there a specific turning point when you latched onto his music? After you became a fan, do you embrace the 90s stuff retrospectively, even though it didn't resonate at the time?
Totally. Not sure why I didn't buy in back in the 90s, but the wife and I saw Beck coming to town and bought tickets about 5 years ago. From time to time we will look at a show and think "not a huge fan, but we should probably be going to see this show". So the live show really was the trigger for me to go back and revisit the early stuff that I really didn't give much credit to at the time. Glad I did.
