when good bands crank the suck up #1
Man, several things break my heart more than good bands going to shit (like people who kill their kids, they should be killed until dead), but it’s up there.
Lets look at two today shall we?
Case study #1: Everclear
Not the “coolest” band in the world. Nonetheless, their second and third albums were genuinely good modern rock IMHO. Full of angst and creativity, personal and gritty – and yet still accessible and sometimes catchy. They went from that to some of the lamest pansy shit I have ever heard. Basically, standard alt-rock radio fair. And now, 5(?) albums later they are still churning out 100% crap. Take a listen to the shyte on their myspace page. Their suck knob is stuck on 14. Of course, the fact that the singer replaced the entire rest of the band is usually a clue in that direction…
Check out these two tracks I like, and then one I don’t like. Sorry, I can’t stomach posting more than one piece of crap. It’s painful. It’s like Art (the singer-songwriter) got blown by a carebear (probably Tenderheart bear, that saucy little punk likes to suck all the spit and vinegar out of the creative, reducing them to Disney-cringe-worthy sonic filth) and all the goodness drained away.
Case study #2: My Little Dog China
You prrrrrobably haven’t heard of these guys. No, I’m really serious. But anyway, they put out one really good album in the early ’90s. It was one of very few decent “Christian” cds to come out in that time period, and in fact the only decent grunge cd that I can remember coming out of the Christian music scene. Now, I don’t have a problem with musicians being a given religion or whatever, as long as it doesn’t fuck with their music. But often (85% or more of the time) Christian is pure, unadulterated suck. Ok, that’s not quite true – it’s usually quite adulterated. It gets run through some kind of processed machine (kind of like Disney music) and comes out sounding like trite, childish, bullshit with the lyrics (again) at the complexity level of a bad Disney artist.
So, when I was a young Christian (of which it should be obvious that I am no longer either) it was awesome to find groups that were both populated by Christian musicians and not raped by the suck-knob. MLDC sounded like they could have actually come out of the grunge scene, and their lyrics were smart enough that they didn’t beat you over the head with shit. Well, recently I found out that they made another album beyond the one I so enjoyed back in the day – they made it about 10 years later in fact. Hmm, only one original member – the singer/songwriter. Do I sense a trend?
So I ordered said disc on ebay for $5 or so, why not right? Take a chance! OUCH. I got BURNED. The suck knob was wedged up the rectum and ripped out the mouth pulling trite, childish, standard go-Jesus fair lyrics with it. Now, it is nowhere near the bottom of that trite/stupid pile, but it is quite visibly resting amidst that rubble.
Here’s two good tracks from the first album, and one painful track from the more recent one. Also notice that all the “bite” is gone from the sound. Sucked out by the wannabe-mainstream Christian music industry possibly. Or maybe a certain sneaky carebear…
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