A Thread for Musical Blasphemy you Truly Believe

[Lammycat]

Vedder has always come off as pretty humble to me. Weird.  Never really appreciated Andrew Wood's voice. Oh well.

[Atticus]

I have really, really tried to appreciate the Replacements.  I like 1 of their songs a lot.  

 

I recognize that there are some good songs there, but the guitar tones and the general production of those records is just insufferable to me.  I just can't get there.

[bjorn_skurj]

In contrast to the above, I will say that any punk-rock album that sounds like it was made in a studio with real recording equipment has totally missed the point. (I give "Fear - The Album" a pass on this because I love that record.) Further, Green Day completely sucks warted moosedick, but everybody knows that. 

[NoJ]

In contrast to the above, I will say that any punk-rock album that sounds like it was made in a studio with real recording equipment has totally missed the point. (I give "Fear - The Album" a pass on this because I love that record.) Further, Green Day completely sucks warted moosedick, but everybody knows that. 

^Oh so very true^

[lamradio]

Oh, and the Kings of Leon suck tremendous. That they are hugely popular in Europe pretty much negates the argument that Europeans have better taste than Americans.

 

Agreed.  I place them in the same category as Nickleback and Creed.  

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I may have already posted it on here before, but Big Star is a seriously overrated band. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were decent, but the way indie music fans talk about them, you'd think they should have been as big as Pink Floyd or The Beatles or something.

[LouieB]

I may have already posted it on here before, but Big Star is a seriously overrated band. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were decent, but the way indie music fans talk about them, you'd think they should have been as big as Pink Floyd or The Beatles or something.

You know it is funny. I don't disagree with this. Sometimes the little bands that become cult favorites and then find a degree of main stream success, aren't as good as they appear in retrospect. This was interesting considering the comment under the Lou Reed thread wondering why Lou Reed's death was such a big deal since he and the Velvet Underground weren't big names. In point of fact VU and Lou Reed were big names, both at the time they were new and in the decades after. It was Alex Chilton who had major success with the Box Tops (remember them? I do!!) and then fell into cult status with Big Star and then into obscurity for his solo career, whereas Lou Reed actually charted songs with both the VU and as a solo artist and continued to produce high profile work most of his career (both good and bad, but whatever...)

 

I like Big Star, but their status now is way beyond both the actual songs they produced and to an extent the influence they provided to those of their time. I would have to say at this point lots of people point to them as influences, but long after REM and the Replacements already have claimed them as antecedents. So you can say Big Star influenced you, but mostly because they influenced REM and the Mats, both of whom achieved significant success.

 

LouieB

 

LouieB

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Very interesting points, Lou. I don't dislike any of these bands I have been mentioning here, but R.E.M. and the Mats never did much for me either, so I am not surprised that Big Star were an influence on them. It's kind of interesting that they were an influence on Wilco, because I like Wilco so much. I can even hear the Mats influence in some early Wilco, but I still like Wilco a zillion times more.

[jff]

I may have already posted it on here before, but Big Star is a seriously overrated band. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were decent, but the way indie music fans talk about them, you'd think they should have been as big as Pink Floyd or The Beatles or something.

 

I can see why peope would feel this way.  I didn't like them all that much at first. I owned the Big Star recordings for a long time before I really started to like them.  Now I like them very much, aside from Third, which I still feel is a terrible, depressing mess.   But I'll probably eventually really enjoy that one, too.  Maybe "enjoy" is the wrong word for a record like that.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I can see why peope would feel this way.  I didn't like them all that much at first. I owned the Big Star recordings for a long time before I really started to like them.  Now I like them very much, aside from Third, which I still feel is a terrible, depressing mess.   But I'll probably eventually really enjoy that one, too.  Maybe "enjoy" is the wrong word for a record like that.

Okay, you talked me into it: I'll go back and give Radio City/#1 Record another shot. I do like Jeff's cover of Thirteen a lot, so...

[tinnitus photography]

I have really, really tried to appreciate the Replacements.  I like 1 of their songs a lot.  

 

I recognize that there are some good songs there, but the guitar tones and the general production of those records is just insufferable to me.  I just can't get there.

agreed that Tim and Pleased To Meet Me sounds really dated/like ass, but the production on Let It Be is spot on.

[Atticus]

I will give it a re-listen.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

I may have already posted it on here before, but Big Star is a seriously overrated band. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were decent, but the way indie music fans talk about them, you'd think they should have been as big as Pink Floyd or The Beatles or something.

 

 

It's a common problem. Bands that got lost or sodomized in the record industry dance in the 70's are often mythologized to the point that the hype overwhelms some really nice bands and records.

You know it is funny. I don't disagree with this. Sometimes the little bands that become cult favorites and then find a degree of main stream success, aren't as good as they appear in retrospect. This was interesting considering the comment under the Lou Reed thread wondering why Lou Reed's death was such a big deal since he and the Velvet Underground weren't big names. In point of fact VU and Lou Reed were big names, both at the time they were new and in the decades after. It was Alex Chilton who had major success with the Box Tops (remember them? I do!!) and then fell into cult status with Big Star and then into obscurity for his solo career, whereas Lou Reed actually charted songs with both the VU and as a solo artist and continued to produce high profile work most of his career (both good and bad, but whatever...)

 

I like Big Star, but their status now is way beyond both the actual songs they produced and to an extent the influence they provided to those of their time. I would have to say at this point lots of people point to them as influences, but long after REM and the Replacements already have claimed them as antecedents. So you can say Big Star influenced you, but mostly because they influenced REM and the Mats, both of whom achieved significant success.

 

LouieB

 

LouieB

 

i posted my response before I red Lou's . It is scary how often we are not only on the same page, but on the same paragraph.

[LouieB]

i posted my response before I red Lou's . It is scary how often we are not only on the same page, but on the same paragraph.

Interesting.

 

LouieB

[CortezTheKiller]

I may have already posted it on here before, but Big Star is a seriously overrated band. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were decent, but the way indie music fans talk about them, you'd think they should have been as big as Pink Floyd or The Beatles or something.

Perhaps, but those first two records are fucking incredible.  I come at things from outside the "Indie World," so they don't get enough props in my universe.

[CortezTheKiller]

Now I like them very much, aside from Third, which I still feel is a terrible, depressing mess.

Yup.  I get the context, but I find that record borderline unlistenable.

[LouieB]

Yup.  I get the context, but I find that record borderline unlistenable.

So there seems to be some agreement that Big Star has two decent albums.

 

LouieB

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Interesting.

 

LouieB

 

Of course, I am usually much more crass than Lou.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I'm listening to the #1 Record/Radio City package tonight and I'm really just hearing what I heard the last time I listened to it: it's decent. I don't really see how it's any better than other records from that era from a huge number of other unsung bands, from Jo Jo Gunne to Badfinger to Todd Rundgren's Utopia, but it's decent. Not what I would call a "consistent" sound throughout, but nothing really wrong with it either.

[GtrPlyr]

So there seems to be some agreement that Big Star has two decent albums.

 

LouieB

 

I must be in the minority. I think Third is a fantastic record, Musically, emotionally, and from a production standpoint it has more range than the first two records. I love those first two records to death, and listen to them more than Third, but I still think it is in its own way is as strong as #1 Record and Radio City.

[CortezTheKiller]

So there seems to be some agreement that Big Star has two decent albums.

 

LouieB

Yup.  Seems to be.  Except for those that would include Third.

[John Smith]

I will add the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground to this Big Star conversation. The Dolls I've heard almost nothing that even appeals to me, sound, lyrics image etc... The VU get a little more attention from me, but they really don't hold my attention very much. It's probably why Lou Reeds death mention very little to me. Now that's blasphemy.

[worldrecordplayer]

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is unlistenable to me. Though I do love every one of those songs as performed live.

[bjorn_skurj]

Oooo, those last two posts should definitely go on the "Now That's What I Call Musical Blasphemy" comp CD.

[tinnitus photography]

Oooo, those last two posts should definitely go on the "Now That's What I Call Musical Blasphemy" comp CD.