Unpopular Opinions about Music

[Dandesun]

Sometimes at work I need some aggressive shit. One day that need could not be sated with anything less than Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. 

[27bored]

UO: I’ve probably said this before, but taking a song and doing an “unplugged”, slowed down, “intimate”, stripped version of it doesn’t automatically make it better. Usually it makes it worse and boring.

This is a general point, but I’m especially talking about some of the renditions of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” I’ve heard lately. I’ve heard more than a few singer-songwriter attempts at that song and they all suck. Stripping down songs does tend to place more emphasis on the lyrics, but taking the bop out of songs, the part that makes people tap their toes, nod their heads, want to dance —especially songs like that — miss the point. It’s supposed to be a festive little ditty, not a spare, longing ballad about unrequited love. 

I swear that’s the one bit of hacky, rote, industry advice American Idol has wrought on an entire generation of musicians: this nonsense about “making a song your own”. How about if you can’t do the original justice, pick another song. I get it; not everybody is Mariah Carey. Hell, Mariah Carey isn’t even the same Mariah Carey who recorded that song. But leave it where it is and do something else. 

Edited December 17, 2019 by 27bored

[proserpina65]

I hate All I Want For Christmas Is You.

[Annber03]

I can't hear that song without thinking of my sixth grade art teacher. She played it every. single. day during class, from the time we got back from Thanksgiving break to the day right before Christmas break. So...yeah :p. 

[UYI]

I hate Pentatonix. 

[27bored]

On 12/17/2019 at 7:01 PM, UYI said:

I hate Pentatonix. 

Ha! Why? I do too kinda, but I wanna hear your take.

UO: We might have to cancel Camila Cabello.

First, uh, not sure if you guys heard but apparently Camila Cabello is in some hot water because her own Tumblr resurfaced where she had posts of all kinds of racially insensitive things back when she was a teenager (including a photo of a white female basketball player holding a bucket of chicken away from a black player and a redrawing of Piglet with an Afro and brown skin, and yes, they renamed Piglet, and yes it’s what you think it is, and no, I won’t be repeating it here). She’s come out and apologized but there’s a line between finding offensive jokes funny because you’re immature and devoting a portion of your social media presence to Racial jokes. And she’s been propped to an extent because of her Cuban heritage and the cultural moment we’re in. 

I’m normally not a fan of canceling people but aside from the racial stuff, I’m tired of them pushing this plain chick on us. She’s an average singer, average in the looks department, makes mostly uninteresting pop music, and yet they want her to be everywhere. I think it’s starting to slow down, though. Apparently her album Romance that just came out flopped, she’s scheduled to be in this ridiculous adaptation of Cinderella that not too many people are interested in, more and more people are convinced her and Shawn Mendes are fakety fake fake, now this. Maybe Camila needs to take the next  year off.

[WendyCR72]

On 12/17/2019 at 7:01 PM, UYI said:

I hate Pentatonix. 

OMG, this. Why are they all over Christmas radio? (And I'll say it: I don't get how "Hallelujah" is a Christmas song. And the only listenable version of the song to me is not by them but by the late Jeff Buckley.)

[27bored]

46 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

OMG, this. Why are they all over Christmas radio? (And I'll say it: I don't get how "Hallelujah" is a Christmas song. And the only listenable version of the song to me is not by them but by the late Jeff Buckley.)

Pentatonix is too YouTube-Gimmick-Made-Good. I don’t think a capella singing is a gimmick per se, but it does kinda have its place. Caroling, recital halls, in front of the quad of college on TV...that kind of thing. Not on drive time radio or harmonizing with Stevie Wonder on the Grammys, y’know? 

And they even look a little bit like the creation of some Lou Pearlman type (currently incarcerated founder of *NSYNC and BSB). They’re like the Planeteers of singing groups. 

But really, I just think they’re filing the void left by the industry not signing actual talented people. People want to hear vocal harmonies and runs and riffs. Nothing wrong with that, but maybe we could hear that in the context of fully fleshed out music compositions. Not from kids who look like extras from DeGrassi.

 

[Jaded]

48 minutes ago, 27bored said:

Pentatonix is too YouTube-Gimmick-Made-Good. I don’t think a capella singing is a gimmick per se, but it does kinda have its place. Caroling, recital halls, in front of the quad of college on TV...that kind of thing. Not on drive time radio or harmonizing with Stevie Wonder on the Grammys, y’know? 

And they even look a little bit like the creation of some Lou Pearlman type (currently incarcerated founder of *NSYNC and BSB). They’re like the Planeteers of singing groups. 

Lou Pearlman died on Aug 19, 2016. (I thought it was before that honestly)

I've only seen Pentatonix sing on TV a few times and that was enough for me. I agree with them seeming like a gimmick and too put together if that last part makes sense.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Jaded

[GaT]

2 hours ago, 27bored said:

UO: We might have to cancel Camila Cabello.

Not a UO IMO, I find her annoying & when she was in Fifth Harmony, I always thought of her as the one with the odd voice.

[truthaboutluv]

29 minutes ago, GaT said:

Not a UO IMO, I find her annoying & when she was in Fifth Harmony, I always thought of her as the one with the odd voice.

IMO, I can't cancel someone who was always, in the words of one Evelyn Lozado, a complete non-muf'ing factor to me. Camilla Cabello is the definition of a who to me.

Don't care about her music, her maybe P.R. relationship, that she apparently has a racist and xenophobic past. Just a complete DO NOT CARE. 

I am slightly amused though that her camp spent all that payola to buy her these bogus awards (hello Video of the Year/Artist of the Year VMA) and yet didn't spend some of that time trying to clean up her past  social presence.

Edited December 20, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[UYI]

3 hours ago, 27bored said:

Ha! Why? I do too kinda, but I wanna hear your take.

 

"Hate" might have been a bit of a strong word to use for them here, but I definitely don't care for them at all, and yet I somewhat struggle with actually coming up with a concrete reason why I feel that way. Maybe they're too chipper for my taste? Maybe I just have a limit on how much a cappella music I can handle at one time? I'm not completely sure, but they do irritate me, and the way they have been elevated as a must-listen Christmas act at this time of year does NOT help. (And I MAY have just found my answer right here! 🙂 )

Edited December 20, 2019 by UYI

[27bored]

6 hours ago, Jaded said:

Lou Pearlman died on Aug 19, 2016. (I thought it was before that honestly)

I've only seen Pentatonix sing on TV a few times and that was enough for me. I agree with them seeming like a gimmick and too put together if that last part makes sense.

Wow, I had no idea. Okay, YouTube started randomly suggesting videos to me about him a few weeks ago. Just out of the blue. I don’t know why I thought he was still alive. 

[GaT]

I don't think Pentatonix would have become as popular as they are if it wasn't for "Pitch Perfect". Everyone went a capella crazy after that movie came out.

[proserpina65]

On ‎12‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 10:45 PM, GaT said:

Not a UO IMO, I find her annoying & when she was in Fifth Harmony, I always thought of her as the one with the odd voice.

I like a couple of her songs, but otherwise I don't give a rat's ass about her one way or the other.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

On ‎12‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 8:41 PM, 27bored said:

UO: I’ve probably said this before, but taking a song and doing an “unplugged”, slowed down, “intimate”, stripped version of it doesn’t automatically make it better. Usually it makes it worse and boring.

This is a general point, but I’m especially talking about some of the renditions of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” I’ve heard lately. I’ve heard more than a few singer-songwriter attempts at that song and they all suck. Stripping down songs does tend to place more emphasis on the lyrics, but taking the bop out of songs, the part that makes people tap their toes, nod their heads, want to dance —especially songs like that — miss the point. It’s supposed to be a festive little ditty, not a spare, longing ballad about unrequited love. 

I swear that’s the one bit of hacky, rote, industry advice American Idol has wrought on an entire generation of musicians: this nonsense about “making a song your own”. How about if you can’t do the original justice, pick another song. I get it; not everybody is Mariah Carey. Hell, Mariah Carey isn’t even the same Mariah Carey who recorded that song. But leave it where it is and do something else. 

I enjoyed Helene Fischer 's cover here, she looks lovely.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

 

[Annber03]

My mom loves that Vince Vance song. 

[MaryPatShelby]

On 12/17/2019 at 6:01 PM, UYI said:

I hate Pentatonix. 

God yes.

[Ohwell]

On 12/17/2019 at 7:01 PM, UYI said:

I hate Pentatonix. 

HAAAAAATE!

[Silver Raven]

Lou Pearlman had nothing to do with Pentatonix. They put themselves together.  The first three went to high school together, and when they tried out for the a capella singing competition The Sing Off, they were told they needed five members, so they found two others who helped to round out their sound.  They have producers, yes, but they do a lot of their own arranging.  They are not even close to a manufactured group like the ones Lou Pearlman made.

 

[WendyCR72]

Speaking of Pentatonix, my local radio station, when doing the usual 24/7 Christmas music, played a version of Whitney Houston's "Do You Hear What I Hear?", but the music from the original version was excised out, to be replaced by Pentatonix "oooohing" and whatever. It's billed as "Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Pentatonix featuring Whitney Houston, which is garbage, since Houston does the overall singing.

For the record, it is the exact recording of the song by Houston from '87. The vocal track is identical. Like I said, the music to it was just deleted for Pentatonix as backup.

[Silver Raven]

24 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Speaking of Pentatonix, my local radio station, when doing the usual 24/7 Christmas music, played a version of Whitney Houston's "Do You Hear What I Hear?", but the music from the original version was excised out, to be replaced by Pentatonix "oooohing" and whatever. It's billed as "Do You Hear What I Hear?" by Pentatonix featuring Whitney Houston, which is garbage, since Houston does the overall singing.

For the record, it is the exact recording of the song by Houston from '87. The vocal track is identical. Like I said, the music to it was just deleted for Pentatonix as backup.

And?

 

[WendyCR72]

2 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

And?

 

And...what? Connected to the Pentatonix talk.

[MaryPatShelby]

I have an unreasonable hatred for Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud". I cannot lunge for the car radio quick enough when it comes on.  Yet it's gotta be one of his biggest hits considering how much play it gets.

On the other hand,  I think his "Castle on the Hill" is one of the best songs of the decade.  

[Dandesun]

On 4/25/2020 at 4:12 PM, icemiser69 said:

Back in the seventies, Kiss was incredibly popular.   Just about every grade school classmate wore a Kiss t-shirt.   I never wore a Kiss shirt, and was never a fan of the band.   I didn't understand the popularity of the band then, and all of these years later, I still don't understand why they were ever popular.

They were very easily accessible. The late 70s was also when disco was on the rise and prog rock was huge. Disco ruled the airwaves for a decent amount of time and while it's well known now that it came up through the underground gay clubs a lot of the kids back in the day probably didn't know that. But typically, young boys would scoff at anything the girls liked... and girls liked to dance and disco was all about that. Plus, it involved a lot of women performers.

Prog rock was good stuff but it also got up its own ass, too. You hear stories about bands on tour just turning their back on the audience so they could just jam with each other and... why go see a show if that's what's happening?

KISS was all about getting that audience. Their songs weren't overly complicated (easy air guitar!) Their look was unique. Their show was over the top. Explosions! Fire! Blood! Loud! And they had no qualms about appealing to the masses... they wanted people to buy their merch, and so they did.

[UYI]

"We Built This City" is the most overhated song of all time. 

I'll be jamming to be this song until the final breath leaves my body, straight up.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Just now, UYI said:

"We Built This City" is the most overhated song of all time. 

I'll be jamming to be this song until the final breath leaves my body, straight up.

I'll add on to that:

My favorite incarnation of Grace Slick isn't young, sexy, acid queen lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, but middle-aged, Reagan-era sellout member of Starship! 

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, UYI said:

"We Built This City" is the most overhated song of all time. 

I'll be jamming to be this song until the final breath leaves my body, straight up.

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is my Starship jam, but I agree the "worst song of all time" hatred is unwarranted. 

Several years back, GQ ran an oral history of "how 'We Built This City'—the most detested song in human history—got built".

[WendyCR72]

I only like two Jefferson Starship songs (and none from the Jefferson Airplane era): "Runaway" from the late '70s (only a wee one then, but my parents liked it, as did I!) and "Wild Again" from the Cocktail soundstrack. Never "got" them otherwise.

Same goes for Styx (of which "Renegade" is overplayed, but I liked "Snow Blind", but that is it!) and Kansas (ENOUGH with "Dust in the Wind" damn it!).

[UYI]

21 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Kansas (ENOUGH with "Dust in the Wind" damn it!).

Which leads me to this UO:

"Point of Know Return" (ugh, that SPELLING) is my favorite Kansas song. Maybe UO: I can still listen to "Dust in the Wind" anytime; it's "Carry On Wayward Son" I'm sick of hearing. 

[WendyCR72]

Just now, UYI said:

Which leads me to this UO:

"Point of Know Return" (ugh, that SPELLING) is my favorite Kansas song. Maybe UO: I can still listen to "Dust in the Wind" anytime; it's "Carry On Wayward Son" I'm sick of hearing. 

Add "Carry On, Wayward Son" to the no more list! And it's "Point of Know (not "No") Return"?! WTF? Doesn't even make sense!

[UYI]

13 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

Add "Carry On, Wayward Son" to the no more list! And it's "Point of Know (not "No") Return"?! WTF? Doesn't even make sense!

It is! Along with the album it's on! I have no idea why! 

ETA: Okay, I googled it, and came up with a blog on the album that said this:

Quote

The point of “know return” is a point of “no return” to past ideas and experiences. 

https://zeegrooves.blogspot.com/2010/01/kansas-point-of-know-return.html

Still aggravating to see the way it's spelled in the title, and I feel like the meaning isn't as deep as the band might have intended it to be, but at least I have an explanation. Still love the song, but the spelling will always bother me, deeper meaning or not. 

Edited April 28, 2020 by UYI

[Blergh]

I actually liked a great deal the Genesis single 'Living Forever' and never understood why this was one rare of their single releases during that time that did NOT have a video accompanying it.

  I would have thought they could have had their fun with them starting out as three cavemen finding a 2001-type monolith who gain immortality and superhuman strength, then next seen as Egyptians, then Greeks, Romans,Celts, etc. then a contemporary one of them expressing their laments to three mortal women before more time zooms by.  Finally, the sun  becomes a red giant which  explodes and destroys the earth- and the three are last seen swimming their way through space seeking a new planet (with Phil Collins cracking a joke/zinger as only he could do back then) ! 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Blergh

[proserpina65]

I don't know if this is unpopular, exactly, but I think Darkness on the Edge of Town is a better album than Born to Run.

[Blergh]

11 hours ago, DarkHorse said:

I don't think that many of the contestants, even the winners, of the various singing contest shows (Idol, Got Talent etc) would have been able to cut it in bars like they did prior to the 2000's. I doubt that many of them would have succeeded in any way at all. 

I also think most bands,singers etc now are bland as hell. 

Agree! It seems most of these 'winners' only are anything being close to 'stars' due to being constantly shoved down the viewers' throats and NOT due to them actually being talented! 

[Dancingjaneway]

I don't care for any of the new artists. Lizzo is the only one that I'm a semi-fan of. None of them can sing & their songs are TERRIBLE. I miss the 80's & 90's. Artists like Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Al Jarreau, Journey(I don't care for the new frontman), Hall & Oates, Prince, Lisa Stansfield, etc. I miss R&B. 

I don't like emo music at all. I don't want to hear whining in place of singing. Also half the guys are douchebags who don't deserve the women they trash in their songs. 

I wish when events were hiring a Latin singer they would stop using J.Lo. She is NOT the only Latin artist, she can't sing, she's a bitch, plus she stole her vocals from a Black woman(Ashanti). Gloria Estefan is still performing & a much better rep for the Latin community. 

[Popples]

15 hours ago, Dancingjaneway said:

I wish when events were hiring a Latin singer they would stop using J.Lo. She is NOT the only Latin artist, she can't sing, she's a bitch, plus she stole her vocals from a Black woman(Ashanti). Gloria Estefan is still performing & a much better rep for the Latin community. 

YESSSSS, all of this! Also, she stole vocals from a whole lot of women, not just Ashanti.

[Ohiopirate02]

On 1/6/2021 at 12:24 PM, proserpina65 said:

I don't know if this is unpopular, exactly, but I think Darkness on the Edge of Town is a better album than Born to Run.

I believe that is an established fact, but I might be a bit biased here.  Darkness is my favorite album.  

[Dandesun]

On 1/6/2021 at 9:24 AM, proserpina65 said:

I don't know if this is unpopular, exactly, but I think Darkness on the Edge of Town is a better album than Born to Run.

I'd say you're right... but I also cannot be objective about 'Thunder Road' and 'Jungleland.' Actually, I have a hard time quantifying Bruce albums because I think there's something I love unabashedly about all of them.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, Dandesun said:

I'd say you're right... but I also cannot be objective about 'Thunder Road' and 'Jungleland.' Actually, I have a hard time quantifying Bruce albums because I think there's something I love unabashedly about all of them.

Thunder Road is pretty much a perfect song, I agree.  Don't get me wrong, I love Born to Run, I just prefer Darkness.    I also prefer Tunnel of Love.  In fact the only Bruce albums which I've heard and didn't like are his first two.  4th of July, Asbury Park makes me positively stabby.

[Ohiopirate02]

15 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Thunder Road is pretty much a perfect song, I agree.  Don't get me wrong, I love Born to Run, I just prefer Darkness.    I also prefer Tunnel of Love.  In fact the only Bruce albums which I've heard and didn't like are his first two.  4th of July, Asbury Park makes me positively stabby.

There are only 3  good songs from Bruce's first two albums--Rosalita, Spirit in the Night, and Incident on 57th Street.  How 4th of July, Asbury Park became a fan favorite is beyond me.  

Thunder Road is my favorite Bruce song, but Darkness is a better album.  

[Dandesun]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Thunder Road is pretty much a perfect song, I agree.  Don't get me wrong, I love Born to Run, I just prefer Darkness.    I also prefer Tunnel of Love.  In fact the only Bruce albums which I've heard and didn't like are his first two.  4th of July, Asbury Park makes me positively stabby.

I, too, love Tunnel of Love. I also flat out ADORE Magic. 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes' is my 2nd favorite Bruce song, actually.

It took me awhile to get to appreciate his first two albums. I really like 'It's Hard to be a Saint in the City' and 'For You' from the Greetings from Asbury Park. And I quite like 'New York City Serenade' from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (as well as the aforementioned 'Rosalita' and 'Incident on 57th St.' Seriously, I can find something to love about every Bruce album, even the subpar ones. I can never hate Lucky Town because 'If I Should Fall Behind' is on it and that's just one of the most beautiful and real love songs ever written.

[Ohiopirate02]

14 minutes ago, Dandesun said:

I, too, love Tunnel of Love. I also flat out ADORE Magic. 'Girls in Their Summer Clothes' is my 2nd favorite Bruce song, actually.

It took me awhile to get to appreciate his first two albums. I really like 'It's Hard to be a Saint in the City' and 'For You' from the Greetings from Asbury Park. And I quite like 'New York City Serenade' from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (as well as the aforementioned 'Rosalita' and 'Incident on 57th St.' Seriously, I can find something to love about every Bruce album, even the subpar ones. I can never hate Lucky Town because 'If I Should Fall Behind' is on it and that's just one of the most beautiful and real love songs ever written.

I adore Magic as well.  My favorite 21st century Bruce albums are The Rising, Magic and Wrecking Ball.  Letters to You is also in the running.  

Honestly, the best thing about Bruce is that you can always find a gem even in his middling albums.  Well, except for Working on a Dream.  

[WendyCR72]

I'm usually one that MUCH prefers studio versions of songs over live. But one exception of a very few I have is Incident on 57th Street. The version from September 20, 1978 at the Capitol Theater is flawless, IMO. (And was two days after my 6th birthday, looking at the date. Damn, I'm old!)

 

[Kawaiiko]

On 2/3/2021 at 1:07 AM, Dancingjaneway said:

I wish when events were hiring a Latin singer they would stop using J.Lo.

She preformed at both New Year's Rockin' Eve and Joe Biden's inauguration. That was a bit much. I agree with you completely.

[GaT]

I think Gwen Stefani has moved into the Madonna "look how young & cool I still am" territory. She annoys the hell out of me.

[cpcathy]

On 3/9/2021 at 4:15 PM, GaT said:

I think Gwen Stefani has moved into the Madonna "look how young & cool I still am" territory. She annoys the hell out of me.

I concur. I am the same age as Gwen, I remember her early No Doubt days, she was so cute and unique, now she’s all Botoxed and injected. I’m sure if she had done nothing to her face, she would still be lovely.

[Jaded]

On 3/9/2021 at 6:15 PM, GaT said:

I think Gwen Stefani has moved into the Madonna "look how young & cool I still am" territory. She annoys the hell out of me.

She started to annoy the hell out of me when she started that crap with the Harajuku Girls. It was bizarre then and looks even worse now looking back on it all. I had liked her and No Doubt before that.

[Enigma X]

I am all for artistic expression, and after I say this I may hate that I am mentioning it, but, for some reason that I cannot pinpoint (and will be far different from those who agree with the sentiment) I got annoyed with Gwen when I saw that she was bleaching her kids hair at a very young age.

I realize this is none of my business and I have bleached my own hair blonde, colored it blue, purple, red, etc. But something about bleaching toddlers' hair made me go hmmm.

Edited March 11, 2021 by Enigma X