Your "It's Complicated" musical relationship - some questions

[toomanyhatz]

I'm not talking about bands you love that you hate certain periods of, or the reverse. I mean bands that you can't decide whether you love or hate, or that have certain characteristics that you love and others that drive you crazy. Bands that draw you in only to frustrate you ultimately.

What do you like about them?
What do you hate about them?
Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?
What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?
What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

[never/ever]

I'd say Kiss.
Like a lot of their songs and they bring you a good show live- it is entertaining.
Shame that the individual members are such cocknozzles. Gene especially with his latest antics, trying to rip off Ronnie's legacy can go fuck himself.
Any change would include a total lobotomy for him. I'd give up on them completely if he is successful in court.

[fange]

Blue Oyster Cult for me.

I've been told by many people over the years that they should be right up my alley, and i've tried over and over again during the last 30 years to see if they click, but they remain a band who i love 2 songs by (Reaper and Burnin For You) and the rest just frustrates me.

Sometimes it's the singing, but there are many "non-perfect" singers i love; sometimes it's the songs, which seem to lack a memorable edge, or shift times and try to be too smart for their own good; sometimes it's the playing, and especially the rhythm section, which for me at least sound dead boring, with a drummer who couldn't find a decent groove if you threw him in a ten-foot ditch.

Just a frustrating band.

[Loki]

Blue Oyster Cult for me.

They definitely need more cowbell.

[Bent Fabric]

The Moody Blues

What do you like about them?

At best, a real innocent, pure, unfiltered sincerity of romantic melodicism and openness/vulnerability. The sort of baroque touches - acoustic 12 string, flute, mellotron, symphonic accompaniment - really "cushion" the music beautifully. Classic LSD era balladeers, right?

What do you hate about them?

Conversely, there's a real creepy, predatory "portentousness" to them a lot of the time - like a university philosophy professor who turns the co-eds on to literature and marijuana and..."moderately consensual relations."

It comes out in various musical areas - sometimes those reverbed out stacks of wordless harmonies can be fatiguing. The poetic interludes don't become MORE compelling with each subsequent album. What the hardcore faithful refer to as "The Core Seven", I'm likely to regard as "The Chore Seven".

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

Nope. They are clearly all in this together.

What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

I've kind of made my peace with the love/hate relationship.

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

Dear Lord, no! They are possibly helping me learn to judge things/people at their best. Just as I'd wish to be evaluated.

[toomanyhatz]

It was the frustrating, occasionally brilliant and occasionally infuriating Grateful Dead that brought the subject to mind.

What do you like about them?

There is a real innocence to their best stuff. They are rooted in folk music, and you can tell. Occasionally they'll hit on a gorgeous, weightless, Celtic-y melody. Also, Tom Constanten was (and I presume is, at least till very recently) a great arranger.

What do you hate about them?

There are few bands more boring at their worst. Sometimes the jams where THEY think they're grooving on an inner plane are the same ones that keep droning on well after the inspiration has passed.

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

Mixed feelings about Garcia. His vocals (and his guitar playing, for that matter) can be affecting or whiny. With some exceptions, I think of Bob Weir as fortunate to have been there from the beginning, and having contributed very little of substance. I've already confessed my love for Constanten. I think Phil Lesh is an underrated bass player. Whenever I focus on him he seems to be doing something interesting.

What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

Get a really jaw-droppingly good singer. They've never had one.

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

I tend to avoid the covers.

[The Modernist]

I'm not talking about bands you love that you hate certain periods of, or the reverse. I mean bands that you can't decide whether you love or hate, or that have certain characteristics that you love and others that drive you crazy. Bands that draw you in only to frustrate you ultimately.

I rarely feel this way about any musical act as I find I'm quite polarised in the way I respond to music, but there is one band I do have these conflicting feelings about..funnily enough The Band.

What do you like about them?

Let's just say everything I love about them is embodied in that performance of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" from The Last Waltz; I've watched this repeatedly over the last few years. It's really as good as music gets - an incredibly hearfelt and soulful vocal performance, poignant lyrics, great playing which manages to sound effortless.
What do you hate about them?

Hate is too strong a word, but I am disappointed by how mediocre they often can be, even on the first two supposedly classic albums. Too many songs that sound like genre excercises in "good time" Americana ( Rag Mama Rag is a good example of the kind of thing I mean) and which just don't stick with me. Great musicians, but I've come to the conclusion there just wasn't enough strong songwriting within the group (Robertson is obviously the best, but even he was hit and miss).
What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

More songs of the quality of The Weight and Dixie. It's a shame because there's something about the idea of them and their story which attracts, but I haven't entirely given up on them.

[Mike Boom]

The Moody Blues

What do you like about them?

At best, a real innocent, pure, unfiltered sincerity of romantic melodicism and openness/vulnerability. The sort of baroque touches - acoustic 12 string, flute, mellotron, symphonic accompaniment - really "cushion" the music beautifully. Classic LSD era balladeers, right?

What do you hate about them?

Conversely, there's a real creepy, predatory "portentousness" to them a lot of the time - like a university philosophy professor who turns the co-eds on to literature and marijuana and..."moderately consensual relations."

It comes out in various musical areas - sometimes those reverbed out stacks of wordless harmonies can be fatiguing. The poetic interludes don't become MORE compelling with each subsequent album. What the hardcore faithful refer to as "The Core Seven", I'm likely to regard as "The Chore Seven".

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

Nope. They are clearly all in this together.

What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

I've kind of made my peace with the love/hate relationship.

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

Dear Lord, no! They are possibly helping me learn to judge things/people at their best. Just as I'd wish to be evaluated.

Feel exactly the same way, when they are good they are just the greatest thing I've ever heard and keep me wading through embarrassing cosmic sludge for more godlike gems (The Story in Your Eyes , Tuesday Afternoon , Legend of a Mind , Question etc) and when they're bad they are indeed (like a university philosophy professor who turns the co-eds on to literature and marijuana and..."moderately consensual relations.") truly awful.

[bobzilla77]

What do you like about them?

When they're good, they're really good - memorable tunes, awesome arrangements, highly advanced/ effective production. There's a sweetness about them that's a good counterpoint to the nastiness of punk rock. They have a sense of the traditional that they skewer and twist up, sometimes to great effect. They have put a lot of thought and effort into the visuals of their lives shows, which I once considered to be un-missable.

What do you hate about them?

At some point they seemed to drop all quality control and just put every unfiltered idea they had out there, and not every idea was good. They got involved in multiple side projects with pop stars, covers albums, 24-hour-long songs, and started to become tedious. It was nice that they got more experimental & weird as they got more popular, instead of replicating their biggest hit over & over again, but the stuff just wasn't very good. And frankly their psychedelic childrens' show shtick played itself out, and they never came up with another one. They seem to have literally burned me out; I made no effort whatsoever to get into their last 3 or 4 LA shows. I might consider going if someone invited me.

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

Not really.

What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

Two killer albums in a row.

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

Collaboration with Rebecca Black. I bet he's thought about it too.

[Snarfyguy]

C'est.. Com..Com...Compliqué

[Bent Fabric]

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

Not really.

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

Collaboration with Rebecca Black. I bet he's thought about it too.

[Quaco]

She's too good for him! "Friday" is great!

[Bent Fabric]

She's too good for him! "Friday" is great!

Good man.

[take5_d_shorterer]

Bands that draw you in only to frustrate you ultimately.

"Frustrate" is the wrong word. The right word is "puzzle", and the band is the Allman Brothers.

Their musicianship is phenomenal AND furthermore, they didn't just play things to impress people with their technical skills. They listened to each other as very few bands have.

And yet, for the most part, they are a dead end. I don't think musicians can take what they did and use it to create something new and interesting. (Although there are some weird exceptions. Some of the riffs from "Favorite Thing" from Let It Be feel as if they come from Duane Allman and Dickey Betts use of parallel fifths.)

If I had any advice to give young musicians, I would say to avoid the Allman Brothers's rendition of "Statesboro Blues". Go to the original by Blind Willie McTell. His rendition has something that you can use. The Allman Brothers's doesn't, but I can't figure out exactly why.

Much of the same problems plague Exile on Main Street, which also feels dead on arrival whereas Elmore James does not.

[pig bodine]

Keith Jarrett

What do you like about them?

He's a fantastic improviser, so much so that his best solo material sounds composed i.e. Bremen, Koln

What do you hate about them?

The fact that he perversely includes his annoying mosquito- like humming on record--it would be easy to edit that out.

He is a diva on the level of Mariah Carey

He is way too prolific

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

N/a

What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

Slow down on the release schedule--everything he plays doesn't have to be released

Filter out the humming

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

Nothing, but I certainly don't have the time or resources to keep up with him

[naughty boy]

Has to be REM


What do you like about them?

Put simply, they've written some very good songs. The combination of Stipe's vocal and Buck's arpeggio can be very appealing. '(Don't Go Back To) Rockville' is wonderful, 'Electrolite' is irresistible.

What do you hate about them?

At their worst they're intolerable, and it's often when they're aiming for some kind of Grand Universal Statement without being quite good enough musically, or interesting enough lyrically, to really hit the heights. (I haven't phrased that as clearly as I'd like - but I feel that, over the years, I've probably made my thoughts about the band very clear here on BCB!)

Also - I can't think of a single REM lyric I love, and many of them are out-and-out bad.

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?

It's pretty obvious, isn't it?

What small or large change could turn them into a band you unconditionally love?

Employ an outside lyricist?

What small or large change would make you give up on them entirely?

Oh, I don't know! More Stipe, less Buck, maybe.

[Quaco]

Has to be REM


What do you like about them?

Put simply, they've written some very good songs. The combination of Stipe's vocal and Buck's arpeggio can be very appealing. '(Don't Go Back To) Rockville' is wonderful, 'Electrolite' is irresistible.

Some, meaning five or six. It's not a complicated relationship, just the law of averages. Even Charles Manson was nice some of the time, and even Adolf Hitler liked animals.

[naughty boy]

[Rayge]

Neil Young

What do you like about him?
Electric guitar maelstrom and gonzo stylee; feedback

What do you hate about him?
Acoustic whining. Faint sense that he is a bit crap as a person

Do you attribute your love - or hate - to any one particular member?
It's all about him

What small or large change could turn him into an act you unconditionally love?
Surgical removal of acoustic whining from his back catalogue might have done it a decade or so ago; past saving now

What small or large change has made you give up on them entirely?
Getting old: him and me both

[naughty boy]

Any more?