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Radiohead
Andrew Fleming:
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 29 Sep 2008, 16:45 ---
--- Quote from: Andrew Fleming ---they're actually frustratingly unwilling to experiment
--- End quote ---
At the very height of their popularity they released two albums which were only occasionally reminiscent of their earlier music and which could only vaguely be considered to be of the same genre as previous efforts.
I can handle someone calling Radiohead shit because I'm not the biggest fan of their music but frankly, your argument is not very compelling.
--- End quote ---
I suppose you're talking about Kid A and Amnesiac?
OK Computer is a fairly straightforward album, and as Dynamite pointed out, the chord progressions (which yeah, I was wrong about, after I listened to it I realized there was more going on than I heard) are not exactly simple, but the songs themselves are generally not too experimental in regards to alternative rock at the time. Kid A was, yes, a really interesting album. But even so, most of the songs got held back by the pop-song structure that got forced on them. My favorite Radiohead song is "Everything in Its Right Place," because I think that song suits Yorke's songwriting style much better than the more structured songs (ie most of them) that they've done - it takes his aesthetic and uses it to create something more ambient and organic. Kid A is another of my favorites, because it's basically an IDM song - the vocals are so simple and so distorted that they act more as an instrument than anything. Most of the other songs, though, are still strictly pop structured. How to Disappear Completely is such an irritating song I can barely stand it - slow, very little dynamic, plodding vocals, an attempt at emotion but no real catharsis or discovery or any of that - and I find that from there on out, the record generally stays that way - potentially interesting music covered up with Yorke's boring melodies, which do nothing but make the songs appear much blander than they really are.
So I shouldn't have said that they're unwilling to experiment. That's obviously not true. It's more that they're not willing to give into their experimentation to the point where it becomes really substantial, and realyl changes the aesthetic of their music, which is generally governed and ultimatley buried by the vocals. And that's why I don't like Radiohead - they're too reliant on Yorke's less-than-spectacular vocals.
Oh, I haven't heard Amnesiac by the way, so I can't really comment on that.
But I've already conceded that I won't convert anyone either.
Hat:
--- Quote from: Andrew Fleming on 29 Sep 2008, 16:28 ---Radiohead are just like that, I guess. Their fans love them.
--- End quote ---
How dare their fans love the band. How decadent.
theoryC:
--- Quote from: Andrew Fleming ---Kid A was, yes, a really interesting album. But even so, most of the songs got held back by the pop-song structure that got forced on them. My favorite Radiohead song is "Everything in Its Right Place," because I think that song suits Yorke's songwriting style much better than the more structured songs (ie most of them) that they've done - it takes his aesthetic and uses it to create something more ambient and organic.
--- End quote ---
EIIRP is one of the most "structured" songs on the disc. But in any case, I don't know why you're criticizing this aspect of the band. I'll agree that a lot of their songs follow a fairly normal pop/rock song structure (with plenty of exceptions), but nearly every rock band alive does that. There are lots of other ways to be experimental besides using weird song structures.
As for Yorke's vocals being "less-than-spectacular," are you saying that from a talent perspective or a fitting with the music perspective? I can see the former, but I think his voice goes with the music very well. He's a bit angsty, but never obnoxiously so (post-Bends, that is), and I'd say he does a good job of getting emotions across to the listeners without being over the top.
--- Quote from: Hat on 29 Sep 2008, 17:38 ---
--- Quote from: Andrew Fleming on 29 Sep 2008, 16:28 ---Radiohead are just like that, I guess. Their fans love them.
--- End quote ---
How dare their fans love the band. How decadent.
--- End quote ---
I think he was saying that Radiohead fans love the band to the point of blinding themselves to the music's faults, which is very true.
Scarychips:
Actually, I think the last part was sarcastic.
But, hey, what do I know.
theoryC:
I'm aware of that, but the sarcasm doesn't make sense.
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