Korean Job Discussion Forums

[seoulsucker]

Gotta go with Radiohead. RHCP stoked the fire a bit with Califonication, but have disappointed me not only with their albums but their live performances as well.

I saw them a few years back, and the opening act (one of my favorite bands as of late) Queens of the Stone Age blew the roof off the place. By the time RHCP got onstage, they seemed geriatric and lethargic.

[khyber]

whoa whoa whoa whoa whao....
sorry....when you say "the most consistent bands" in reference to radiohead, what exactly do you mean?
Cause I wouldn't say they are consistent.

you mean, consistently "take music in a new direction"/"consistently popular"/"consistent music style"?

I wouldn't really say Radiohead have been overly good at any of them except popular. They TRIED to take music, kicking and screaming, in completely uncharted territory with kid a and the like. But unfortunately, nobody followed except their fans. And while radiohead make kick ass albums i would NOT say they are consistent.

[Qinella]

[Qinella]

[Satori]

I think both bands showed great promise, and both went off the reservation and failed to live up to that promise. In the end, I don't think either band will go down in history as "great".

[robot]

[Qinella]

[Satori]

I think Kid A is completely unlistenable. They have totally gone off the reservation, and Im not sure even thier hardcore fans will forgive them. They will go down as a band with a lot of promise, who followed innovation for innovations sake, while forgetting that the first purpose is to make good music. You know, Yorkes lyrics are so much overly intellectual posturing and self pitying, morbid, morose, effete claptrap. And that worked only when it was levened by the bouyancy of the music, but the uplifting vocal melodies and pop hooks. Take away the beauty in the music, and the whole thing just doesnt not have enough push to get off the ground, and becomes a grating whinefest. They should have stuck to writing glorious pop tunes like Fake Plastic Trees etc and then they would have been one of the greats. That statement will annoy you, and you'll go "But, but, but, innovation, splutter, splutter". But the primary purpose of pop is make music that people enjoy. Innovation for its own sake, without a binding sense of musical direction that people can connect with, often takes a band down a rabbit hole, or worse yet, on a perilous journey deep into thier own fundamental canals...

[Qinella]

[flotsam]

[Satori]

[Demophobe]

[Satori]

They're free to pursue thier artistic desires, of course. But lets not pretend it's a pure pursuit. They make thier living from this for one thing. And when you take the step to release music commercially you are putting yourself under public scrutiny, like it or not. If they were so pure about thier art, they would do it in a basement and no one would hear it. They could get all the satisfaction they need that way. You seem to admire the fact they dont care what people want to hear, I think it makes them self absorbed wankers. Different perspectives. They will have a place in rock history. But it would have been a much bigger place if they had more of a balance between making listenable music and innovation for it's own sake. Further, you can make innovative music that is also listenable, it's just a lot harder than making music that is only innovative.

[Zyzyfer]

All I can say is that the guitarist (or bassist, I forget which) in Radiohead switched to pushing buttons on some box-like contraption to make beeps and hums. It took me a long time to adjust to accepting the keyboard as a musical instrument when I was younger, so of course I find this Box thing extremely foreign. What few Kid A songs I listened to between the CD and the video seemed like they would be very meaningful had I been stoned.

Innovation is great, but Radiohead losing those amazing, angst-ridden yet ingenious riffs is akin to Primus tossing out the bass for a piano. "Seas of Cheese" will never be the same.

[SPINOZA]

Even though RHCP piss me off, I voted emphatically for them against Radiohead. There's no accounting for taste is there? I know Radiohead's fans are very passionate about them and get annoyed at me for hating them and everything they stand for, but that's just the way it goes.

At least with RHCP, I can come across an 'Aeroplane' and 'Sir Psycho Sexy' as well as some very creditible ballads. Radiohead's pretty one-dimensional fare if you ask me.

It's nothing to do with being miserable either. I absolutely love wrist-slittingly miserable music. If I wanna listen to music that's out there, Pink Floyd, the era when Gilmour joined to 'Dark Side of the Moon' cuts it. I like miserable metal too like My Dying Bride and Type O Negative. Radiohead can go to Nepal and live as goats for all I care.