The One & Only Official Music Geeks' Thread

[bryan]

Good to see somebody mentioning The Pixies. There would have been no Nirvana without The Pixies. Even Kurt himself said that Smells Like Teen Spirit was just his own attempt to make a song as good as Debaser.

To me Nirvana are overrated eenheidsworst. (unity sausage)

My favourite cover is Mano Negra's version of Rock Island Line.

[raymon]

The Pixies are great! Still remember them from a performance in the Jaap Eden Hal yeeeeeeeears ago (remember Drecul?) and it was great. I love them. Death to the Pixies! :xyxthumbs:

[Per]

Obviously there is somethiing really serious we've got to get down ro the bottom with:

Aveslacker, Wonderwall by Mike Flowers Pops.

NOW I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOU DEFEND THAT!

[DanK]

I noticed in an english poll recently that Radioheads' OK Computer' was again voted the greatest album of all time. Q mag had this at number 1 a few years ago as well. (Something that I tend to agree with).

Do I open up a can of worms and see what response we have for greatest albums?

My fav 3:
Radiohead - OK Computer
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

I am sure this wont cause any arguements :xyxthumbs:

[aveslacker]

Obviously there is somethiing really serious we've got to get down ro the bottom with:

Aveslacker, Wonderwall by Mike Flowers Pops.

NOW I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOU DEFEND THAT!

I gather you didn't like it?

I thought it was a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek takedown of Oasis, a band I find a) highly overrated, b) way too self-important, c) a poor imitation of the Beatles (although I do like some of their songs), and d) highly overrated.

When Oasis's version of "Wonderwall" came out, radio stations played it 25 hours per day, (at volume 11 ;) ) 8 days a week. It killed the song for me, as did the Gallagher brothers' stupid, self-important attitude. I bought the album, and couldn't say that I liked it all that much, with a few exceptions.

So when this wonderfully cheesy guy comes along and turns the song into this post-lounge lounge song, I just had to sit back and admire his cheek. I mean that was some funny shit, man. :headbang: :D

[aveslacker]

I noticed in an english poll recently that Radioheads' OK Computer' was again voted the greatest album of all time. Q mag had this at number 1 a few years ago as well. (Something that I tend to agree with).

Do I open up a can of worms and see what response we have for greatest albums?

My fav 3:
Radiohead - OK Computer
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

I am sure this wont cause any arguements :xyxthumbs:

Y'know, I never got into OK Computer. I listened to it a lot, but I just couldn't get into it, although there are some good songs.

Anyway, my list... probably changes a lot, but today, I would have it as follows:

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Midnight Radio
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual

I'm currently in a music funk, however, and nothing seems to inspire me these days... :sad:

[Kowalczyk]

Y'know, I never got into OK Computer.

Ah, time for confession, eh?

Okay - my turn then: I don't understand the whole Jeff Buckley thing. My whole generation seems to think he's a God, but at the time I thought he was a melodramatic whiner, who could do a lot of acrobatic stuff with his voice but could't write a devent tune to save the world.

I slightly changed my mind later. I can now hear the intensity and a certain form of beauty in his work, but it still isn't my cuppa tea at all, to be honest. Not my type of beauty; not my type of emotion.

Right. Don't kill me.

As for my favourite three albums of all-time... It is absolutely, absolutely impossible for me to give you my three favourites, because I love almost every genre - and genres from almost every decade. Also, my list of favourite albums of all times changes by the week.

There is one thing I can tell you, though. There is only one album that I think changed my life and made me the person I am today - and that is Nirvana's Nevermind. No other album in the history of music struck a chord with me so mercilessly. At the time it felt like that album was about me. It saved me, in a way.

K.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Old Boy straying into young guys domain here for the top 3 albums:-

Doors ............................. LA Woman
Who................................ Tommy
Unforgettable Fire.............. U2.

Old boy now exiting stage right.

[aveslacker]

There is one thing I can tell you, though. There is only one album that I think changed my life and made me the person I am today - and that is Nirvana's Nevermind. No other album in the history of music struck a chord with me so mercilessly. At the time it felt like that album was about me. It saved me, in a way.

K.

I remember very clearly when Nevermind came out. I was in college (university) then, and there was this explosion of good music: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Pixies, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Jane's Addiction, even some good Metallica (before they sucked). It seemed like practically every week some band was coming out with awesome music. And "alternative" too, right before "alternative" became the preference for a majority of people.

Grunge was, to me, the punk of my (our?) generation. Just like punk kicked disco in the ovaries, grunge exposed crotch rock for the silliness that it was. Of course grunge eventually went the way of disco, and bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Bush eventually coopted it, but when it first came out it was raw, honest, real.

I'm sure a lot of this has to do with who I was when it first came out (about the same age as Ko, and going through the usual existential crises that people that age go through). As good as the music was, I will remember it not only for its quality, but for how I empathized with the angst as much as the rhythm and the guitar.

Unfortunately, SoundScan came along, record companies realized that "alternative" was really marketable, some of the joy was lost. But not all was lost -- Bush's record sales enabled Gavin Rossdale to get Gwen Stefani. That's gotta count for something, right? :X

[Kowalczyk]

You're right: for reasons of 'existentialism' the musical taste of a person is usually determined around age 15 - and the music you get into between, say, 15 and 20 will stay with you forever.

I was into Dinosaur Jr, The Pixies and Sonic Youth before the grunge hype, but Nirvana, the Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and Love Battery just hit me like a hammer. I was 16 in the year of Nirvana's 'big break' (1991). The perfect 'Nirvana age'. It was, indeed, my punk revolution.

It may be hard to imagine :hypocrite: but I was dealing with a lot of anger and frustration at the time. I was a major problem at school (marks were alright, but I was constantly at war with everyone), I fought a lot and I was 100% convinced that it made no sense to have ambitions because it wasn't gonna happen anyway. I was also very frustrated, because no-one seemed to understand. My parents were great, but I absolutely hated my teachers and most of my classmates, because they were boring, politically correct grown-ups already. They did their homework and stuff and in my opinion they were already dead. I can still recall the feeling my classmates gave me. It was disgust. Pure hatred. Quite scary, if I look back at it.

And the anger... when I think back of the time when I was 16... my God, how can a person be so angry? It's amazing and, in hindsight, there wasn't even a real reason. It's lightyears away from where I am now.

Nirvana seemed to understand. The band was about all the things I was feeling. It appeared that there were people like me out there after all! Alright, I was a frustrated loser in a shit world full of people who thought they were 'winners', but at least I wasn't the only one. That kind of thing.

I can laugh about that time now. In hindsight it was just your typical teenage angst in the head of a very happy middle-class kid, who had nothing to complain about. But I remember how real the feeling was at the time - and I will never say that those years were 'the happiest of my life' (which is what many people say about their teenage years). I am a million times happier now than I was at the time. I doesn't even feel like I have less freedom or less time on my hands now, as an adult. Quite on the contrary.

You know, I saw Queen play live last week. Always hated them: they embody everything that music is not about to me. It wasn't even Queen, actually, it was a Queen coverband with Brian May and Roger Taylor in it. Anyway: over there I saw many boys of 16, 17 years old. With their dads, wearing Queen T-shirts, carrying a 'tour book' (30 euros) and singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody...

I thought: this can't be true... Come on, dude, you're 17 and you like Brian May's guitar solos already...? My God, where will you be when you're fifty? You're supposed to hate old people in general and old rockstars (and your dad) in particular. You're supposed to wear a 'Kill Yr Idols' T-shirt and hold up a 'Dinosaurs Must Die' banner. You're supposed to break stuff and steal the merchandise guy's box full of overpriced tourbooks...

But I guess that's just me.

K.

[aveslacker]

The soundtrack to my angst-filled adolescence (and college days) was something like this:

10 - Pearl Jam
Nothing's Shocking and Ritual de lo Habitual - Jane's Addiction
Achtung Baby - U2
Master of Puppets - Metallica

and would latterly include

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes, even though I got into them late.

There were plenty of others, but those stand out (at least right now).

[AsgAarD_xxx]

I'm waiting for 29.05.2005! This is the day of Mystic Festival in Chorzów, Poland. Iron Maiden, Nightwish, Kreator, Behemoth (polish death metal band, nominated to British Metal Hammer Awards in categorie 'best underground band'), Primal Fear, Frontside and Dragonforce.

It will be the day of great music :headbang: :D

[raymon]

I was totally overwhelmed by the intensity of Nevermind until I heard Bleach. Listening to Bleach made Nevermind an over-produced middle of the road album. Not because of the songs, but it sound so neat, so 'save'. If Cobain would have sung (sing, sang, sung?) the Nevermind songs the same way as he did on Bleach it would have been even better. Much better!

[raymon]

Also one of my favourite albums: Lou Reed - Perfect Night live in London

Great tunes, although without the lovely Nico. Saw Lou Reed live a few years back in Carre, Amsterdam. Amazing show. Definately one of the best shows I've ever seen.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Also one of my favourite albums: Lou Reed - Perfect Night live in London

Great tunes, although without the lovely Nico. Saw Lou Reed live a few years back in Carre, Amsterdam. Amazing show. Definately one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Saw Lou Reed supporting The Who back in 1973 or 1974 or ..... - he was absolutely amazing that day and whenever I have seen him on television recently he doesn't appear to have lost it either.

[DanK]

Y'know, I never got into OK Computer.

Ah, time for confession, eh?

Okay - my turn then: I don't understand the whole Jeff Buckley thing. My whole generation seems to think he's a God, but at the time I thought he was a melodramatic whiner, who could do a lot of acrobatic stuff with his voice but could't write a devent tune to save the world.

I slightly changed my mind later. I can now hear the intensity and a certain form of beauty in his work, but it still isn't my cuppa tea at all, to be honest. Not my type of beauty; not my type of emotion.

Right. Don't kill me.
K.

Don't worry Ko I am not going to kill you. I Understand you totally. I love JB. His voice brings me to another place, but at first I didn't see what the fuss was about. It wasn't until after he passed away and I realised how much he meant to people, that I started to pay attention to his music.

As with most brilliant albums, the more I listened to it (really listend to it), the more it started to sink in. Now as soon as I hear that voice, everything else seems to fade into the backround.

As for my fav CD being OK Computer. I guess there are a lot of CDs that I could list as my fav, depends on my mood, but OK Computer is just one of those CDs that even after all the years of listening to it, I still hear new things, or hear parts of songs in a different way. For me this has the perfect balance of emotion, power and ambience that no other CD come close to.

The three I listed just seem to be the ones I always come back to.

Thats what I love about music. Each genre has its own feeling and everyone can get something from it. You can like generic bloody pop for all I care, but if you like it then thats fine with me...listen to me. Sound like I am preaching.

[Per]

MY GOD! I'm away for an evening and the thread explodes!

Jeff Buckley, some of the best songs ever, not great album. That's my low down on him. Morning theft is to me one of the best songs ever.

As for Nirvana, they brought my interest in music. That's probably the best grade you can give any band. Not that I think that the album is the best anymore, but it opened my eyes to music and I will forever be grateful for that. BTW - I was one of the polite school-boys Menno. Happy we didn't share class-rooms..... ;)

As for albums....I can only give you guys a pick of the albums that have stuck in the most through my lifetime (not in any preference order).

Massive Attack - Blue Lines

Radiohead - OK Computer

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon COllie and the infinite sadness

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

Nick Cave - Boatman's Call

Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball

Mazzy Star - Among my Swan

Marvin Gaye - What's going on

Ryan Adams - Gold

Håkan Hellström - Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg

I'm quite sure I forgot more than a couple but thse, regarded as albums, a off the top of my head top notch.

Of course - discussing bands and artists is a different story alltogether....

[DanK]

MY GOD! I'm away for an evening and the thread explodes!

Ryan Adams - Gold

Håkan Hellström - Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg

Sorry guys. I knew I shouldn't have started it, but I am always interested in peoples taste in music. It has been an interesting thread that could and probably will go on for a while.

Per: If you love RA - Gold. His new album is fantastic (Cold Roses). I feel probably his best as a collection of songs since Heartbreaker/Gold.

Håkan Hellström - that one escapes me mate. You seem to have similar interests I will check it out.

Oh yeah. I just remembered. This is for Ko...
You have the best job in the world. We all hate you ;)

[Per]

MY GOD! I'm away for an evening and the thread explodes!

Ryan Adams - Gold

Håkan Hellström - Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg

Sorry guys. I knew I shouldn't have started it, but I am always interested in peoples taste in music. It has been an interesting thread that could and probably will go on for a while.

Per: If you love RA - Gold. His new album is fantastic (Cold Roses). I feel probably his best as a collection of songs since Heartbreaker/Gold.

Håkan Hellström - that one escapes me mate. You seem to have similar interests I will check it out.

Oh yeah. I just remembered. This is for Ko...
You have the best job in the world. We all hate you ;)

I second that on Ko's job.... :headbang:

Regarding Håkan Hellström: He only does things in Swedish. Lyrics are kinda important and unless you understand Swedish I don't recommend it.

[DanK]

Regarding Håkan Hellström: He only does things in Swedish. Lyrics are kinda important and unless you understand Swedish I don't recommend it.

I just spent 2 weeks in Sweden and only picked up about 4 words. Maybe my wife will have better luck as she is working there for a few months and can translate it for me when she gets back!

Actually, one of my fav bands are Sigur Rós who only sing in Icelandic so not understanding doesn't always bother me, although I must admit, it does make it a little easier.

Actaully speaking of songs in a different language. I heard Ko's fav band are the legends of Dutch Rock 'de havenzangers'. Any truth to this Ko??? It's OK I wont tell :X . I am sure my Dad will be happy to send you over one of his 33 1/3 LPs, mint conditioned copies of one of their albums.

[Kowalczyk]

Actaully speaking of songs in a different language. I heard Ko's fav band are the legends of Dutch Rock 'de havenzangers'. Any truth to this Ko???

Yeah...? So...? Anything wrong with them...? :D

Seriously: an uncle of mine was a trucker and he was my hero when I was a kid. He took me with him a few times and I felt like the king of the world, sitting in the front, pushing the buttons to open the truck and all that. All the truckers used to listen to a Dutch cowboy/trucker dude named Henk Wijngaard, who made a sort of Dutch-language country music of the corniest kind. I was a big fan and I wanted to be a trucker myself (so don't envy me for being a music critic; I failed, in fact...). This was my favourite Henk Wijngaard album: Volle Bak (1980)...

http://www.henkwijngaard.com/Foto/Albums/vollebak.htm

K.

[jakobg]

Jeez, you guys have a huge interest in music. Does anyone of you play any intrument as well?

I myself used to play guitar in a band (S.W.O.T) a few years ago. We actually released a four-song album called Deadline, but since I wasn't that musically gifted I quit after some time. Nowadays I only play my acoustic guitar at home every once in a while.

[Kowalczyk]

Jeez, you guys have a huge interest in music. Does anyone of you play any intrument as well?

I play a very little bit of guitar (only simple, open chords) and I am also the singer in a very famous band named The Fucking Assholes. You might want to take a second, fold your hands and thank The Lord for the fact that we've only performed outside of the rehearsal room three times in total: we did two electric gigs at friends' weddings and one acoustic gig at a friend's birthday party. We play covers of bands such as Green Day, Oasis and The Hives, but we're so loud and so bad that people won't ever recognize them, so we might as well say we wrote them ourselves.

The Fucking Assholes were first founded when my good friend Jan got married. It was an idea of Jerry, Jan's best friend, to play some hard-ass rock & roll with a band consisting of guys who are all friends of his, but - in most cases - did not know each other yet, so that he would be surprised to see us together. We started rehearsing and after two rehearsals we decided that our goal was to scare the living hell out of the grandparents, aunts and neighbours of the newlyweds.

And we did. We opened with Oasis' Rock & Roll Star, everyone under 30 went mad and everyone over thirty ran away. Seriously. :yes:

There is a DVD of this legendary first ever Fucking Assholes gig - and I swear to God that I will do a 'Kurt Cobain' if this footage ever pops up on the internet. I am afraid that this might be a reason for my bandmates to upload it, because they want to be famous of course and our only chance of getting famous is if the singer commits suicide.

Anyway: we had a lot of fun in the rehearsal room and after our (now legendary) gig we were chased by sexy (and pissed) girls for the rest of the evening. So, as you'd expect, we made the same tragic mistake as the Rolling Stones, Kiss and Deep Purple - right there, on the spot: we decided to not call it quits but to carry on. We rehearse once a month in the great Melody Line music centre in Amsterdam-East (click 'gallery' for pictures of the rooms). And guess what? We're still shit! :headbang:

Two of the guys in our band are from a town named Krommenie, 20 minutes north of Amsterdam. They are friends of the owner of a local pub named Atlantic. This pub has a sort of backroom with a stage. Holds approximately 200 people. It has become our life ambition to play there. Here's the plan: we rent the place, invite 40 people each, have everyone sign a contract in which they swear not to tell anyone about what they are about to experience, wait until everyone's so shitfaced that they will definitely forget about everything - and then we play a 45 minute set (with porn images on big screens smoke machine!). After that we will take place behind the decks (Fucking Assholes Sound System) and give the people what they deserve: some crisp tunes to which they can dance, drink, make love and - who knows - even fight!

This is going to happen, you know. No kidding.

K.

[Tom_]

Well. The "angsty" teenage band, which I've actually been listening to since the first CD came out when I was 8, but didn't understand till much later, is Rage Agaisnt the Machine. The high energy mix of heavy metal, politics and energy is exactly what a teenager needs. Unfortunately they became the "mainstream alternative" if you see what I mean, but I still listen to their stuff every now and again.

Favourite CDs today? I can't possibly articulate this. But I'll try.

1. Tool -- Lateralus

Probably sounds like a really obvious choice. But there's a lot more to Tool than dark, angry, heavy music. These guys are actually bloody fantastic artists, the lyrical and musical themes are brilliant. You could call Opiate and Undertow angry, but not Lateralus, which is basically about communication, healing, and reconciliation. It's a very solemn, thoughtful record: I actually used to listen to it for focus before I sat exams. According to iTunes my Lateralus play count is 62 times in the last 12 months (!), you can at least double that to include all the times I've played it on my stereo, in my car etc. And it still gets better every time I hear it. I don't know how to do justice to it in words.

2. The Mars Volta -- Frances the Mute/De-Loused in the Comatorium

I can't pick betwen these two albums. TMV have to be the most intense, high energy band I know of. The stories that the lyrics tell are incredible and fantastic, particularly on FTM. Musically they are way ahead of their time, emotional and captivating. I really think people will talk about TMV in 20 years the way they talk about King Crimson etc. today. Suffice to say, there is a 32-minute song on Frances the Mute, and if I start it there's no way I can stop listening until I get to the end.

3. Too hard

Maybe QOSA -- Songs for the Deaf (not only great rock but very musical); maybe Tom Waits -- Bone Machine (can't describe it; brilliant). Also rans are System of a Down, Radiohead, At The Drive-In.



Well I'm done, doubt anyone will read this post anyway...

[AsgAarD_xxx]

I must recommend you few Polish heavy metal bands (hehe I am patriotic :D )- for example: Asgaard (Polish Metal Hammer call his music dark metal, because they don't know what it really is :D - it's something like mix of black metal and gothic) or Esqarial (especially one song- True Lies- they have transformed one symphony of Jan Sebastian Bach to heavy metal :D )... I also love Dark Tranquillity (Haven rulzzz), Godsmack, Children of Bodom and In Flames...