What's your favorite band of all time?

[ThetaOrionis01]

Thanks for the stereotype, Peregrine. Sure, of course I only listen to music because of peer pressure and marketing - it's not like I actually enjoy the stuff.... :rolleyes:

 

For someone who claims to be open-minded you're incredibly narrow-minded - what you like must be best, and everything else is crap.

 

Personally, I can't stand Led Zeppelin, post-Barratt Pink Floyd and all those other 70s bands you claim are wonderful - I find their music unbearably pompous and self-indulgent... and their songs far too long and uninvolving. Like I've said before, punk was the best thing to happen to music at the end of 70s, to clear out all the cobwebs - in my opinion.

 

Music is a very personal thing - but you're starting to come across like some religious crusader, trying to convert everyone to the worship of the dinosaur bands... and all those heretics who like other bands will surely burn in hell because they only do so because they are sheep led by the marketing executives.

 

I've liked many bands over the course of the last few decades. Some I still like. Some I don't listen to any more. There are some bands I only like a few songs of. But I haven't listened to a band because of peer pressure since I was about 12.

 

I like music I like because I like it.

 

And Linkin Park aren't that bad.

[draighox]

I think, good music is complex one. Good music is not necessarily the one, most people listen to, on the contrary, in most cases most people don't like good music. People don't like to think, they need simplicity. How do you make a melody that is easy to take to? It needs to be easy to remember, so it has to be as primitive as possible. But there are styles like impressionism, which does not have a melody, and dodecaphony, which has so complex melody, that it's practically impossible to remember it. This music is accepted as good music by professionals.

 

Classic music was good, as it was complex. Then came modernism with impressionism and dodecaphony. This music was good too. But later music began to get more simple. This tendency hasn't stopped. So music of 70s was better than music of 90s, and music of 90s was better than music today. Of course, there were exceptions. Like Slipknot, for instance. Although they can't match classic composers, they make quite complex music, when compared to the rest of today's bands. Slipknot may appear just a wall of noise for some, but the same would be with dodecaphony, if it was played with electric guitars.

[Peregrine]

Yet the solid wall of noise, as you call it, is what's so appealing to many people. It's also the reason why I find tracks like Achilles Last Stand bland, there isn't enough going on. Yes, the tune is more defined since there isn't much going on, but it doesn't necessarily make it more talented in my opinion.

 

I'm not talking about how much is going on. In a lot of modern rock, there's an echo-like effect applied to all the guitar parts. So instead of distinct notes, it all blends together into a single note, the wall of noise effect. Compare that to all pre-electronic-effects music, where you get clear notes.

 

They're compensating volume and an assault of noise for the talent to create music. And it's not helped by the "singers" just screaming everything without concern for notes either.

 

I don't mind a simple song with only a few things going on, but washing out all your notes and screaming all your lyrics so nobody can understand them doesn't make good music.

 

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Thanks for the stereotype, Peregrine. Sure, of course I only listen to music because of peer pressure and marketing - it's not like I actually enjoy the stuff....

 

I'm not saying you listen for that reason, but it's pretty obvious how the music industry works these days. All of the popular modern bands get most of their audience from peer pressure and marketing. Sure, there's a few fans of the music and maybe you're one of them, but they're a minority.

 

For someone who claims to be open-minded you're incredibly narrow-minded - what you like must be best, and everything else is crap.

 

It's not just what I like that's music. There's stuff I don't like, but can appreciate as an example of good musical talent. A lot of classical music, for example, I won't listen to by choice but my comments on modern stuff don't apply at all.

 

And I've given modern music its chance, and 90% of the time I hear a song made after 1980-ish, I get the urge to smash the radio. There's a difference between "open-minded" and "never rejecting anything, no matter how bad".

 

Music is a very personal thing - but you're starting to come across like some religious crusader, trying to convert everyone to the worship of the dinosaur bands... and all those heretics who like other bands will surely burn in hell because they only do so because they are sheep led by the marketing executives.

 

Fine, I concede there's an element of a crusade in there, but it's not just to the bands I favor. I absolutely hate the modern music industry, and what it's done to creativity. And what's saddest is so many of these "fans" of that music are fans only because of the marketing. I can't even count the number of people my age who have said the exact same things I have, that modern popular music is dead. Once they start developing their own tastes, very very few of them ever take a second look at what's popular.

 

Maybe you think it's a good thing, but there's something that needs to be crusaded against when you ask someone why they like their favorite band, and the answer is "she's hot".

 

I've liked many bands over the course of the last few decades. Some I still like. Some I don't listen to any more. There are some bands I only like a few songs of. But I haven't listened to a band because of peer pressure since I was about 12.

 

And guess where a lot of the audience for modern bands is coming from.... yep, the younger people. Take away that 15 year old slave to peer pressure and marketing audience, and you're left with a pretty small group of fans. They're getting popularity far out of proportion with their actual talent.

[ThetaOrionis01]

You are not comparing like with like - you are comparing current day chart hits to music from the 70s which was not as popular at the time.

 

cf http://www.onlineweb.com/theones/1970_1974.htm

and http://www.onlineweb.com/theones/1975_1979.htm

 

If you wanted to make an honest comparison, you'd compare the music of today you condemn so much to Abba and the Bay City Rollers.. which were far more representative of the 70s than the bands you like to glorify.

[Chaosmaker]

I hate oldies music. I find it very annoying. But I really hate scream music. That's annoying. Linkin Park isn't really scream. But when they do it it actually sounds good.

[Dark0ne]

ABBA = Legends

[Morbid_Pathologist]

ehh, whats popular and whats not doesnt concern me, if i were to make you people listen to a song by Circle Of Dead Children (Family Tree To Hang From) most of you would think its complete noise with some weird regurgitating noises, far from it, the guitar work (and the drums) is simply amazing.

 

but thats my opinion, everyone to their own i guess

[Morgoth]

Irrespective of the point that if most people liked that music, you probably wouldn't listen to it because the bands aren't so tr00 kvlt and evil anymore :rolleyes:

 

Aside from that, I can imagine better BM acts than Nokturnal Mortum - I don't know what's so great about their failure in mastering the English language and riding the "Kill the Jews!" NSBM bandwagon, which is for me a reason not to listen to them at all (I usually don't care much about the lyrics of BM bands, but one has to draw a line somewhere).

 

To stop the pointless bashing and at least contribute slightly to the thread: Sticking to the kind of music Morbid_Pathologist has brought up, I'd like to name Grabnebelfürsten and Nocte Obducta as two excellent bands that are daring enough to play a rather experimental and technical form of BM.

[Maquissar]

Trying to find objective reasons why something as subjective as music, or art in general, is better than something else, is pointless. I do partly share Peregrine's opinions - I love the 70s rock, and despise what he calls "the wall of noise"... but I do not think that Led Zeppelin are, as a scientific and proven fact, the best band that has ever existed. Personally, I prefer Queen, but that's not the point. Rock has been regarded as "just noise" when it came out. Even Wagner was, I think, considered "too noisy". And about Mozart, it has been said that yes, he was good, but that he put "too many notes" in his compositions.

 

I don't think there is any rational and scientific way of measuring musical talent. There are some general notions of what a good musical piece might be, yes, but the notions usually change with time.

[CLB1110]

It really is all opinion. For me its hardcore and emo. Goin to a EPH show and headbanging like a maniac, while doin the 2 step in a mosh pit is the best. You cant really get any better than that :D .