Red Mosquito

But can you properly categorize your feelings as guilt?

The Offspring were a great band.

Soma. wrote:But can you properly categorize your feelings as guilt?

The Offspring were a great band.

Blink weren't so bad either, bro.

Soma. wrote:But can you properly categorize your feelings as guilt?

The Offspring were a great band.

LET'S NOT GET CARRIED AWAY HERE

Jorge's right. Admitting to enjoying The Offspring is really one of those things you should take to the grave. I mean the internet is forever, a potential employer or girlfriend/boyfriend/mail-order Russian tranny bride could find this one day. TO THE GRAVE.

I'm more concerned about the Blink 182 part

Alanis Morissette's cover of Seal's Crazy
Hemorrhage (In My Hands) by Fuel - I have to play that at least twice a year.

I personally don't think that was the angle Jorge was taking at all. But he is kind of a dick.

Soma. wrote:I personally don't think that was the angle Jorge was taking at all. But he is kind of a dick.

I'm just trying to make a fuck, Dos.

i always made fun of bruno but i think this songs great.. kinda like a combo of sting and michael jackson with the voice and i like the instruments also

im not into much modern metal or whatever shinedown is.. it starts off kinda odd, but the chorus part is pretty great.. that out on the front line, etc part....

MattA75 wrote:Shinedown, though Brent Smith can sing his fucking ass off

i saw them open for van hagar back in 04. the dude can sing, but he knows it, and every song had him modify and/or extend his vocal lines to the point it was aural masturbation. i haven't listened to them since.



i guess my guilty pleasure would be janet jackson. janet. is a fine album, and the velvet rope is right there with it.

Heathen wrote:I'm more concerned about the Blink 182 part

Sorry but Blink is a really solid band. Enema of the State is a great album and from that point on they've showed constant growth and dedication to growth. Over 60 million in sales worldwide. They've started throwing in an acoustic set. They've lasted 20+ years.

Travis Barker is an unbelievable drummer. That he can play a two hour show at the beats per minute they play at is unreal and just not done by any other drummer. Most punk bands play 75 minutes.

How would they ever count as a guilty pleasure!!!

I dunno, I don't think you can present their tenure or commercial success as evidence of their quality-- a lot of really bad acts have been around forever and sold millions of records.

For a while there, Blink 182 personified a lot of what was terrible about late-90s, early-aughts pop-punk: super formulaic songs, glossy-clean production, lazy melodies and reliance on dick-and-fart jokes. "Enema of the State" is one of those really dreadful albums from that period. They got slightly better when they incorporated elements of hardcore and New Wave into their music (the self-titled album, which has a few good tracks-- namely "Always" and "Stockholm Syndrome"), but, as a whole, they're pretty bad.

That latest album is horrible and sounds like tinny, overly-processed garbage. Tom DeLonge can't sing for a fraction of a second without covering his voice with effects.

theplatypus wrote:I dunno, I don't think you can present their tenure or commercial success as evidence of their quality-- a lot of really bad acts have been around forever and sold millions of records.

For a while there, Blink 182 personified a lot of what was terrible about late-90s, early-aughts pop-punk: super formulaic songs, glossy-clean production, lazy melodies and reliance on dick-and-fart jokes. "Enema of the State" is one of those really dreadful albums from that period. They got slightly better when they incorporated elements of hardcore and New Wave into their music (the self-titled album, which has a few good tracks-- namely "Always" and "Stockholm Syndrome"), but, as a whole, they're pretty bad.

That latest album is horrible and sounds like tinny, overly-processed garbage. Tom DeLonge can't sing for a fraction of a second without covering his voice with effects.

Please name these lots of REALLY BAD acts that have been around forever and have sold millions. I don't understand formulaic as a critic, it's rock it goes verse chorus verse chorus verse chorus out. Name one song with a fart joke, just one. I'd far rather take the fun of a song like Blowjob over the douchebag pretentinous of a song like I'm Open.

If you don't like Enema of the State, I'd chalk that up to you not having any appreciation for that type of music. When your critique is glossy clean production, which while it may be clean there's nothing glossy about it, I wonder how you can stand any music that's well engineered. Dark Side of the Moon must really piss you off. You mention their self-titled album and don't mention the brilliance of the drum intro to Feeling This. An amazing beat and introduction to the song made better by the production of the drums.

I will agree that the vocals on the last album were weak but name a band around for 20+ years where that's not the case. However they still show so much growth, mixing in genres pretty seamlessly while still staying true to themselves.

someone's a little touchy

surfndestroy wrote:Name one song with a fart joke, just one. I'd far rather take the fun of a song like Blowjob...

Um.

Heathen wrote:someone's a little touchy

No shit.

Hold your horses, Tyler. You're making a buttload of assumptions there.

When I say "formulaic", you assume I'm talking about structure, but I'm talking about the songwriting. Structurally, the enormous majority of rock music follows a very specific template. The best band are able to operate within that structure and offer, within the constraints of their sound, some degree of variety and innovation and imagination. If you look at the absurd number of B182 songs that follow the exact same chord progression, you realize they're either: a) unimaginative songwriters or b) trying to score a pop hit (I-V-vi-IV being irresistible radio fodder). Either way, their music is formulaic. That isn't necessarily a bad thing-- sometimes it really works and produces an affecting, infectious piece of music like the aforementioned "Always" or earlier songs like "Carousel". But other times I'm just like "ugh, again, really?"

Another assumption: that I don't have "any appreciation for that type of music". I love, and will defend to the grave, a lot of bands that could be categorized as "pop punk", a lot of which B182 are greatly influenced by-- I'm talking about The Descendents, The Vandals, the Ramones, Diesel Boy, Buzzcocks, Millencollin, Rich Kids on LSD, No Use for a Name, Social Distortion, Guttermouth and even stuff like The Ataris. I just think B182's brand of pop-punk is watered-down, unexciting and dull.

Which brings us to your next assumption: that I can't stand music that is "well-engineered". In reality, this has everything to do with the production choices by Jerry Finn-- on "Enema", the bottom end is flimsy, the guitar sound is sanitized and stripped bare of any grit, the vocals are double-tracked and filtered to sterility. The whole thing sounds like it was put together in a lab by scientists trying to appeal to 13 year olds (which I guess they were successful in doing, considering this album's popularity among grade-schoolers when it came out). The approach worked a lot better on the self-titled album, which had an overall punchier sound (and better songs). Yes, if "Dark Side of the Moon" sounded like "Enema of the State", it would probably piss me off. Thankfully, it doesn't.

All that said, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on the overall quality of the band. I think they're boring songwriters. And though Travis is an impressive drummer, they're also one of the worst live bands I've ever seen (which is fine; not every band has to be a great live experience). And I get the appeal of bobblegum pop-punk-- catchy melodies, teenage pathos and power chords, who doesn't love that? But in a world where there's an extensive back-catalogue of forgotten punk gems from the 70s, 80s and 90s, why settle for this soulless ersatz?

I don't like to jump down the necks of bands I don't care for, but I saw Blink 182 open for Primus on their 1998 tour, and then saw them as part of an all day college fest called Parkfest in 1999. Both times they were simply the worst band I've ever seen. The drums and bass were not anywhere near coordinated, and you couldn't ascertain any semblance of a song during their set as each piece was in complete dischord from the other - and not in a trippy Sonic Youth breakdown kinda way...in a these guys can't play their instruments together at the same time and make a cohesive sound way. It was so bad that I couldn't ever give them a third chance. For the record, both times their sets ended with an angry crowd booing and throwing things at them.

Hey guys, lets analyze the fuck out of Blink 182. That'd be a really swell use of our time.