Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Sour Notes

I heard Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" while treating my mother to Applebee's today; Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" played while I shopped at HyVee tonight. I assume that the respective songwriters did not anticipate exposure in those environments - as opposed to, say, Yanni.

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The Killers - I'm not on board. I was on the fence with "Somebody Told Me", and "Mr. Brightside" puts me squarely against them. Maybe it's that I don't like the lead singer. He dresses well and wears the right amount of makeup, but his tone offends me. When your inflection is less robust than, say, Radiohead's "Fitter Happier" robot (Windows Media Player required), you might want to rethink the "constant staccato shouting" technique. I can't be the only one who finds him annoying - would anyone really want Mr. Brightside stuck in one's head for the day? Check out this portion of the lyrics:

Now I'm falling asleep,
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke,
And she's taking a drag

Then they go into bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head,
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now

Now, and I don't know what you think of this song, now, but I don't think it's good, and I wonder if you're thinking the same things now, and maybe now he should think, now, about using less conjuctions, now.

For me, their music also leaves something to be desired. It's a wall of sound that hits you with all the subtlety of a brick through a windshield - where's the foreplay? If you want semi-glam rock that makes you work for it, in a good way, try The Golden Republic's "You Almost Had It" (Realplayer required).


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Congrats to Jack Johnson, who, after years of releasing the same song again and again, has finally made a single that sounds slightly different than his previous efforts. I had always expected more from the guy behind G Love's "Rodeo Clowns". "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" (Windows Media again) is the first song of his that I can stand since "Flake". Hell, it's almost enough to make me forget all about "Bubble Toes".

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The new Dave Matthews Band "American Baby" song blows pretty hard.

1 comment:

Floyd said...

I enjoy the Killers just because of their new wave, early '80s sound. I immensely enjoy "Somebody Told Me", although I have not been impressed with their follow-ups. Another new new wave band whose single I enjoy is the Bravery.

I agree about Jack Johnson, in that all of his music sounds the same. I don't dislike him, but would probably never purchase an album. I think I'd like it more if I smoked weed and was still impressed by "stoner that plays acoustic guitar".

I kind of like the new Dave song. Nothing special, but I disagree that it blows. Again, I doubt I'll buy the album.