...this new trend of "minimalist" rock groups - you know, stuff like The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, etc. etc.
I post on another music forum and the board is completely torn between "shit" (where most of the I-hate-anything-popular crowd stands) and "possibly the saviors of rock music" (which is pretty much where I am - let this be the Nirvana to nu-metal's hair metal, or if you prefer, let this be the punk rock to nu-metal's disco, I beg you).
And besides, "White Blood Cells" is probably the best rock CD to come out in the past year anyway. And Meg White is insanely hot, and that don't hurt.
EDIT: The best rock CD to come out in the past year, excepting, of course, Jack White's evil doppelganger Jack Black's Tenacious D! Love live the D!
(edited by OlFuzzyBastard on 13.7.02 2119)
"The only difference between lilies and turds are those humankind have agreed upon, and I don't always agree." ---George Carlin
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." ---Anon.
Hey, I think it's great. Watch, it'll probably go the route of alternative, but I hope it follows the path of punk and goes back underground. 'Specially now that I sort of have a clue about it.
A bunch of people that can't get their heads out of the 70s. If I want Velvet Underground and bands like that, I'd go listen to THEM.
The Hives I might hate more than ANY band out there.
BLARGH! RARGH! God... SO ANNOYING!!!!
"You can save the planet, I'll save your seat"- Uncle Kracker, Better Days "Confucious say: Man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day!"- Crank Yankers
Originally posted by BullittTry The Hives, too...Get Free is a great song.
I think you mean The Vines. Their album comes out tomorrow here in the States. (I think it's already out in Europe). I'm gonna go buy it, yup.
As for this minimalist rock revival, all I can say is About F'n Time. I'm so sick and tired of this nu-metal crapola being shoved down my throat, and I'm glad something is finally starting to change.
The Hives of 2002 are the New Bomb Turks of 1993 are the MC5 of 1969, and that's a GOOD thing on all counts. Same raw, unpolished, classic sound that doesn't get old or die out -- it just resurfaces at intervals in a different place. There's very little new under the sun.
An awesome quote from the Hives' lead singer:
Rock music, Almqvist theorized, was probably invented by 50 drunk people who were trying to have fun together.
"The way I see it, it has to be simple and in its purest form, Almqvist said. "It has to be bigger than the sum of its parts. And it's OK to just have two chords, if it's the right two chords."
I haven't heard the other bands mentioned, so I won't comment on those.
(edited by vsp on 15.7.02 1018) "No society has managed to invest more time and energy in the perpetuation of the fiction that it is _moral, sane and wholesome_ than our current crop of _Modern Americans_." -- Frank Zappa
I like everything I've heard out of the Stripes, Strokes and Hives so far. The only BRMC song I've heard, I didn't care for all that much, but am willing to hear more.
I certainly don't think any of these bands are going to "save" rock'n roll, but I am glad to hear some new music on MTV2 with actual guitars and hooks, and not samples and pop. It's all decent enough until something REALLY good comes along. Not sure if it ever will tho.
The last really good albums (albums where I like almost every song) I've heard were Ben Folds and They Might Be Giants last discs. Then again, I'm an old fogey, and the real rock 'n roll thing has aleady passed me by. There's been some good stuff since, but nothing will ever top 88-92 for me.
And the last Ben Folds and They Might Be Giants discs both came out on September 11th... I don't know why I felt compelled to share that, except for the fact that I bought them both that day and now have a lot of unintended mental connections in those songs. A track about "Hopeless Bleak Despair" doesn't seem quite as throwaway, you know... Or lines about revamping the airport completely... And, hell, "Still Fighting It" still depresses the holy hell out of me...
(Of course, They Might Be Giants put out a Christmas LP and a kids album since then, but that's just being technical...)
"The only difference between lilies and turds are those humankind have agreed upon, and I don't always agree." ---George Carlin
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." ---Anon.
And the last Ben Folds and They Might Be Giants discs both came out on September 11th... I don't know why I felt compelled to share that, except for the fact that I bought them both that day and now have a lot of unintended mental connections in those songs.
Also Drink..which is not only a song about New York City, but contains the chorus of "What words rhyme with buried alive?"
I remember going out at midnight September 10th to buy those two albums. I saw Ben Folds live on the 12th.
"Hollywood Hulk Hogan lost his hair match to Mother Nature, dude!"
That is a really creepy TMBG thing there. At least they didn't have the cover of New York City on that album. Then I'd really be weirded out.
P.S. - I bought that disk in the afternoon - last open record store in town. I suppose that kinda makes me a self-centered asshole. Or maybe I just like TMBG. Who knows.
I actually bought Ben Folds, They Might Be Giants and Bob Dylan that afternoon as well. I don't think it made me at all self-centered, though. I needed something, I was going insane. I finally got ahold of a friend of mine who lives in Manhatten and worked down the street from the WTC, and I needed some sort of pause for celebration, I suppose.
And, yeah, the Best Buy I bought them in was pretty much the only store open I could find. (The Century III one. That was open and the Toys R Us was open, but that was about it. Hell, maybe you were the other guy in line...)
"The only difference between lilies and turds are those humankind have agreed upon, and I don't always agree." ---George Carlin
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." ---Anon.
I'm not exactly sure that this is the "big revolution" that will define rock in the aught-decade that we're currently in. It's definitely an alternative that is built to oppose the "synthetic" music that's going on right now, but I'm not sure if it will catch on. Who knows?
I will say that I'm like Paul Westerberg's new album and Grandpaboy stuff, so some of it's not bad. I haven't got into The Strokes all that much, but they're apparently the ones that MTV has latched onto. We need alien rock NOW.
To add on, I would like to point out that the next time I here that New Found Glory song I'm going to scream. I had heard for some time about how New Found Glory was the next big thing of rock, and then I finally hear some of their material and realize that they are nothing more than a bad Blink 182 clone. And Blink 182 isn't that great to start with.
Gotcha! You thought this would be a list thread, didn't ya? Anyways, I just want to say that the Pink video for Family Portrait is pretty great, all due to the little girl who "sings" most of the song.