i need to rant about some overrated bands/genres. first on my list is the counting crows. everyone likes em and i admit, theyre ok. but lets face it, the counting crows are to contemporary rock what the googoo dolls were in the late nineties. they write decent pop-rock ditties that all sound roughly the same. yet, everyone takes adam duritz for the reincarnation of bob dylan. bullshit. nuff said. movin' on.
next, what is with pop-punk? sum 41, new found glory and good charlotte? pah-lease. at one point, i thought blink 182 was funny with some decent tunes, but if i had known they were gonna spawn this tidal wave of crap (picture it - a tidal wave of crap- aaaugh! run!) i mightve carried out some terroristic plot to stop it. too late now. i just wish it would go away. it has ruined all that is good about punk music. just listen to the clash and the sex pistols, people. thats all the rant i have for now but more will come later.
one final question, however. has anyone noticed the trend in music videos lately using this new sort of paper-looking animation? you can see it in the new radiohead there,there, and the new train video (train is also on the overrated list). i think this trend/technique started with coldplay's trouble and the red hot chili peppers' otherside, but correct me if im wrong. i dont like this trend much. maybe i just prefer reality to virtual reality. but i really dont like that almost every video ive seen lately uses it. whats worse is the digital realities in the creed and linkin park videos. theres no plot - just random fly-by shots of futuristic far away places.
The Crows are a shining example of the Aerosmith Syndrome, in which a talented band suddenly dives into profound mediocrity. It's ugly to watch. The death knell in this case was when the Crows covered Joni Mitchell. It's perhaps the shittiest song on the radio right now, and that's saying something.
Posted by: mesh at June 25, 2003 3:39 PMThis sounds cliche, but the Counting Crows' older stuff is really good, and the newer stuff just isn't as good. Recovering the Satellites is, in my opinion, a very solid album with some great songs.
Did they cover the Joni Mitchell song before or after the truly unfortunate collaboration with Sheryl Crow, "American Girls"? Speaking of Crow, I'd say she's another example of talent gone bad. I do like her recent duet with Kid Rock, but that is something of a guilty pleasure.
Posted by: John at June 25, 2003 3:52 PMJohn...thanks the LORD that you admitted it was a guilty pleasure...
But ya. Man. Early Crows was great! Maybe I'm just sentimental, because August and Everything After along with the Spin Doctors Pocket Full of Kryptonite were the first two CD's I purchased.
But DP, you're right. Pop-Punk is disgusting.
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 25, 2003 4:02 PMBoth "American Girls" and "Big Yellow Taxi" are on the newest album, Hard Candy. "Taxi" is a hidden track at the end of the album. How do I know this, John? Because I have no life.
Posted by: mesh at June 25, 2003 4:52 PMSometimes I have music-nostalgia for 1996 (give or take a couple of years) because I love stuff like early Counting Crows, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and all that acoustic-pop-rock stuff that was on the "alternative" stations back then.
99X in Atlanta has a program called "Organic X" that I loved listening to when I lived down there. You can listen live online, actually -- it comes on every Sunday morning.
Josiah, what's one of your musical guilty pleasures? I'll share another of mine: 80s pop. A couple years ago for Valentine's Day, Genia and I put together a mix cd of 80s songs and mailed it to all our friends. It was actually a cool mix of actual classics and songs in the "so bad they're good" vein. How's that for having no life, Mesh?
Posted by: John at June 25, 2003 8:57 PMCounting Crows was much better when Adam Duritz was depressed all the time. Once he started making money and getting happy, their music went down hill (though they are nowhere close to being as bad as the googoo dolls.)
Posted by: Christin at June 25, 2003 10:09 PMJohn,
I'm all about 80'pop, and hell, even early 90's pop stuff too, and let's not forget the soft-rock genres. But what I figure is, if you're listening to the stuff ironically/humorously, you can get away with it alot more, and it's not quite the guilty pleasure, also given that the 80's stuff is 20 years ago...so it has a bit of nostalgio to it, keep it again from being purely a guilty pleasure.
But new stuff. Well. I think that's different...why...I dunnoo...gotta get a shower...
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 26, 2003 10:18 AMi still remember the ace of base raves we held in wes's room on catacombs after hed gone to bed.
Posted by: dp at June 26, 2003 1:06 PMThis may have been before your time DP, but Me and Cock used to do Naked Thursdays featuring The Backstreet Boys. It was great. Freaked the heck outta Benji Sweetbuns Swinburnson though, let me tellya.
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 26, 2003 3:43 PMDangit...I can't find this last part of yourstylesheet that is off! driving me nuts...
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 26, 2003 3:49 PMThis comment comes two and a half years after the last one but I thought I'd weigh in anyway.
Personally, I think "Mr. Jones" was the only Counting Crows song worth a listen. Even it overstayed its welcome at 4:33. Everyone knows great pop/rock songs shouldn't last much more than 2:30 but I digress...
To my ears, whoever writes songs for the Counting Crows apparently doesn't understand how to do it effectively. I say that because there simply aren't any high quality songs in their catalog. When you consider that they've been around professionally for 12 years, that's not a good sign.
Granted, this inability to write high quality pop/rock songs is a widespread problem and has been for a couple decades now but at least the Counting Crows can point to "Mr. Jones" as being passable. Too bad their story ended there for most of the world.
Aside from Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, there don't seem to be many relatively young songwriters these days who have a clue about how to do the job correctly. Hopefully that will change one day soon.
Posted by: Scott at January 18, 2006 3:16 PM