Music Music Music

[poorpete]

Ah yes, this band. This is one of the good ones because it's issues are relatively harmless.

1. It sounds a lot like The Kooks. Hey but, Green Day has gotten into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame imitating their favorite British bands, so whatevs.

2. That weird obsession with not liking what's on the radio. What's on the radio? You are, you schmucks.

Congrats to their future #1 Hit "What's Popular on the Radio Doesn't Speak To Me"

[Phoebe]

Wellll... when they wrote that song they had no expectation of blowing up the way they did, so I don't mind. The very early songs they experimented with are, well, odd. Guy tooling on his piano and ukelele not exactly radio friendly. I agree with everything Kyle says above - and yes, they were amazing live - but for me the fact that they're clearly Christians is a feature not a bug. That probably explains why they are just insanely popular where I live. However, that audience was 110% white people.

[Kyle]

[poorpete]

By criticizing I'm simply adhering to their demand "help me polarize."

[Phoebe]

I never heard Fairly Local on the radio until long after Stressed Out was a hit, and still have hardly ever heard it there, but who knows. The reasonableness of expectations can be judged, but they're also somewhat relative and I don't think we know enough to do it in this case.

I didn't say that Kyle found being a Christian band a bug rather than a feature; I said that for ME it's a feature and not a bug, which explains why I take no issue with whatever he's talking about in Heathens. I interpret it as a self-reference as much as a manual for proselytizing, but either way, fine with me. I'm about the least effective proselytizer on Earth but am still curious about why it's offensive. I mean, to the extent any proselytizing is offensive, then maybe it's offensive, but if I had the choice, I'd rather have proselytizers who don't shove it in your face unasked. I don't really know what the song means, though.

Also don't think they're drug abusers. I have no way of knowing but I have no reason to think they lie.

[Phoebe]

Buffy says that numerous other songs are about Christianity, but not so much this one in her opinion, and maybe it's about mental illness, but she doesn't know for sure.

[Phoebe]

Oh, so I'm FAILING MISERABLY, am I? Indeed!!! I came on here to post some more stuff, so... you just wait. Slow and steady, that turtle. I have amazing reserves of patience. We will reach 365 and then some! The suggestion that Cyndi Lauper might be underrated was somewhat redemptive.

Anyway, Most recently:
36. PJ Harvey, The Hope Six Demolition Project
I tried really hard with this one, it had bright spots, I feel like I SHOULD like it, and then to be honest as soon as I trudged through it I clicked "Play" on a Prong track, and then Pantera, and it felt very cleansing. So that led to:

37. Pantera, Far Beyond Driven
Maybe I'm just in a bad mood what with all the North Korea this, bombing that, people being deported in a silent, steady stream, but... SATISFYING.

[poorpete]

Failing I only meant as a sign of respect, and also I'm sorry I shouldn't have been fussing. I'm very happy you are doing this challenge, and enjoy talking music with you.

Yeah, liking Lauper was unexpected for me, but after Kinky Boots I was excited to listen to her debut, which is pure 80s.
After the pure pop joy of side 1, I really liked her take on other 80s genres on side 2.
Witness would be a great Elvis Costello song
I'll Kiss You would be a great Squeeze song
Yeah Yeah could have been done by Madness

And totally forgot how great All Through the Night was. I really want to cover this song.

[Phoebe]

No worries, I am just kidding! Serious about failure not being an option, of course.
My numbering system got all screwed up so I have to post a new list.
39. is Suzanne Vega - 99.9F, which has pretty much blown my mind because it's so good.

[Phoebe]

l love this woman, she's such a powerful person. I spent a year in about 1989 realizing a naturally wavy haired person cannot have her hair. Oh well.

[Kyle]

[Phoebe]

Yep, I have that going on with kid too, though she's equally into Hamilton at the moment, and maybe Panic at the Disco. Morning noon and night there's a high probability of spontaneous Hamilton outbursts

Anyway, I will be really bummed if they do drugs. They gave a big speech at our version of the concert about not doing drugs. Also if they're on drugs and still able to perform like that, where are those drugs in my life? Cheated. But really, I hope that's not true.

[Phoebe]

If you really want annoyance, wth is this "chainsmokers" crapola? I could not for the life of me figure out one unit was responsible for all that disparate crapola, as apparently they change singers. That is some really bad, bad, bad music.

[poorpete]

I have yet to listen to Chainsmokers, but their name really really really turns me off. Band names are supposed to be cool, and when you infer coolness to chainsmoking, for kids and adults, it's irresponsible. Even if it's an ironic name or, like New Order/ Joy Division, intended to subvert the horribleness of the name, it nevertheless starts me off on the wrong foot.

So, for each week until I get tired of doing so, one of the seven albums I will be listening is a Frank Sinatra album. He is a huge blind-spot, considering how popular and important he was to music, especially in the 40s and 50s. Started off with September of My Years, which, gasp, is a concept album! Hey somebody make a jukebox musical of this. Lot of the songs sound the same, as they are about the same thing, growing old and sentimental.

"Don't Wait Too Long", which has all that wistful sentimentality, except "you are the summer and I am the autumn" pretty much is code for "you are 20 and I'm 55, let's get it on."

"It was a Very Good Year", a classic I've heard, and obvious highlight

"Once Upon a Time" stayed with me after three listens, musically just about the same as everything else, but liked associating his best love affair with a fairy tale, in how perfect it was, but how long ago and so far away from his current state, that it's almost fiction now.



I'd love to include his Columbia Box Set, to get the full experience of Sinatra at his prime (and before albums became the primary mode of listentainment) but counting 12 discs as 1 album is a bit much. Same counting 12 discs as 12 albums would go against the spirit of the challenge.

[Phoebe]

Earworm of the day, also nice for those of us who fundamentally enjoy yarn!



I'm trying to jumpstart ye old album challenge but again it's difficult to get into "extended listen" situations. Often I will put something on and then get so distracted by what I'm working on that I miss half the album, or I have to interrupt, restart, etc. Right now working on Bjork and Adele 25, which is mostly done. It is indeed a great album. My favorite one so far is Water Under the Bridge, though it had to take some time to grow on me.

[poorpete]

Bjork talk from a few weeks ago reminded me to take a listen to her Sugarcubes stuff. I like the 80s alternative rock musicality of the band, the fun weirdness (though this might be their least weird song) but still, by far, the best is her voice. Does any artist other than her scream growl, and if they do, do they make it sound remotely as ecstatic?

[Phoebe]

Bon Scott is the only one who springs to mind, but that's a different thing again.

40. Adele – 25

Love it; Water Under the Bridge was the favorite but I could easily see that shifting around to something else. I find this one easier to listen to in larger doses than 21, maybe because there are some more uplifting songs, or at least a range of problems!

41. Chemical Brothers – Exit Planet Dust

Not as big a fan of this as I expected to be; it was okay but seemed somehow pedestrian, like it was merely dance music without all the extra depth one is used to from them. Then I realized this album is from 1995. They've evolved in a good way, so I would rather listen to other stuff of theirs.

The turtle keeps plodding along. Not sure where to next... I need to scan back through Pete's list for some inspiration!

[Phoebe]

Green Light is such a perfect radio song. Still have a broken car CD player, yup. My best CD will be stuck in it forever, I suppose. Maybe a summer project can involve learning to extract that thing myself. I am not stupid, right? The whole CD player can come out, right?

[Tahlvin]

[poorpete]