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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: ComfortEagle on 03 Jun 2005, 16:40

Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ComfortEagle on 03 Jun 2005, 16:40
Opinons, aaaaaand go.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Johnny C on 03 Jun 2005, 16:41
I hear they're pretty rad.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: KharBevNor on 03 Jun 2005, 16:57
Not too shabby.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: mechorg on 03 Jun 2005, 18:28
Ha... nice topic starter there, ComfortEagle.

Yes, they are very rad.  I've been hearing them for about a year and a half now on a local public radio station that has an amazing DJ on at 2am to 5am (http://swickape.dyndns.org:8888/slugnuts/) (Check out his playlists...).

I saw them a month ago for the first time and they are simply born to perform.  If your only exposure to them is to hear the music, there is a lot you are missing though their music still gets credit due.

At first I felt kinda weird listening to the subject matter and Amanda's calm way of presenting it.  She can pound on the keys far better than a coked up Tori Amos and Brian on the drums with a jazz background is so complex in his rhythms its insane he can play vaudevillian actor at the same time.

The chemistry between the two of them on stage and off is simply flattering and I hope the best for them in the future.  I just can't stand the 14 year old girls I saw at the show dressing like prostitutes and bemoaning their sad and unfortunate lives.  
And Amanda is so extremely hot in a fetish sorta way that I should probably have kept to myself...
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ComfortEagle on 03 Jun 2005, 18:40
Laughs, yeah, i got turned on to them earlier this year and was amazed and finaly found a copy of thier cd at hastings a while back.
And Also yeah, they are Great proformers.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 03 Jun 2005, 19:25
Yeah, they're super.

I love the video for Girl Anachronism.
Some of their songs are sort of boring, but their set up is cool.
And though I don't agree with their lyrics, they're well written.

I also love coin operated boy, and gravity...
they're good songs.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: trill on 03 Jun 2005, 20:28
I love them. My best friend's boyfriend turned me on to them, he had to basicly force the CD on me, but on the first listen I was hooked. I think Good Day favorite song.

Coin Operated Boy is one of those songs that'll get me in trouble for teaching it to little kids, though.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Kai on 03 Jun 2005, 20:30
They're alright. Not my cup o tea, but not bad.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Devastator on 03 Jun 2005, 20:50
I adore the Dresden Dolls, regardless of how bewildered I can be by them.
The lyrics that I hear and just go "...huh..." kind of add to their special sort of style.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: californaya on 03 Jun 2005, 20:56
I've had their album for a couple of years now, and my favorite song on there, by far, is Gravity, with Coin-Operated Boy coming in at a close second.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: KharBevNor on 03 Jun 2005, 21:41
Quote from: boeuf
And though I don't agree with their lyrics, they're well written.


Out of interest, what don't you 'agree' with? I haven't heard that many songs by them, but I thought they were all pretty much personal stuff, rather than politics or philosophy? What's not to agree?
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 04 Jun 2005, 01:32
I don't know, a lot of her lyrics is just about how messed up she is.
Girl Anarchronism is a good example of that, I love the song and all, but the content can bother me sometimes. I know music is there to express yourself, I'm not trying to knock that at all, but it just doesn't rub me the right way is all.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: yipjumpmusic on 04 Jun 2005, 02:03
I likes them lots, especially for the fact they are pretty much a 2 person band.  Saw them too.  The drummer does sort of a pantomime while playing.  Fin.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ASturge on 04 Jun 2005, 02:11
I've got their album and I love it
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ComfortEagle on 04 Jun 2005, 11:12
Quote
I don't know, a lot of her lyrics is just about how messed up she is.
Girl Anarchronism is a good example of that, I love the song and all, but the content can bother me sometimes. I know music is there to express yourself, I'm not trying to knock that at all, but it just doesn't rub me the right way is all.


Well would you rather hear lyrics about how happy she is?
Drama makes good music.[/quote]
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ComfortEagle on 04 Jun 2005, 11:16
Quote
Coin Operated Boy is one of those songs that'll get me in trouble for teaching it to little kids, though.


Also although it may seem like a song about an uhhh.... "adult toy" Im pretty sure its just a song about being  tired of the flaws in people.
Unless you talking about the version in which " take him in the bath" is Fuck him in the ass"
then yes, that would be naughty to teach to children. :)
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: sp2 on 04 Jun 2005, 13:25
Quote from: boeuf
I don't know, a lot of her lyrics is just about how messed up she is.


I don't think there's much to "agree" or "disagree" with though.  I mean, okay.  She cuts herself.  What's to agree with or disagree with?
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Johnny C on 04 Jun 2005, 13:30
I disagree, she definitely draws the cuts on.


that'll show you guys.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: yipjumpmusic on 04 Jun 2005, 13:46
Quote from: ASturge
I've got their album and I love it


They have 2 CDs actually, one is a live one that has some from their regular one and some not obviously.  It's called A is for Accident.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: KharBevNor on 04 Jun 2005, 13:51
Psssh, what's so bad about the Dresden Dolls? Positively normal and sane people!

I mean, when you consider stuff like this:
http://www.voicesfromthedarkside.de/interviews/profanatica.htm

In a PROFANATICA video clip, your bassist masturbated on a holy bible and then you, Paul, licked it off. Can you enlighten us with an explanation of this?

"(loud laughter)... Well, those guys dared me to. I really just spit on it. It was really no big deal, just another joke. We had brought this video to that trendy Relapse Festival in Rhode Island and showed it to a lot of people, like Jeff from VITAL REMAINS and the INCANTATION guys. I just wanna add here - we're definately not homos! A lot of people think we're gay. We've had more pussy then any other band in the U.S.! And we masturbate on the cross in video and live in front of fans. We do shit on the cross. We stick crosses up our asses and shit them out. We drink cum, urine and blood. We do it for our shows, but we'd do it alone anyway. We believe in perversion and darkness and destroying the deceiver skinny jew bastard fuckin' asshole Christ!!"


Anyway, yeah, Coin Operated Boy is a pretty cool song.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Johnny C on 04 Jun 2005, 13:53
Okay but like that's kind of comparing keying somebody's car to starting a total nuclear war.

And actually, that's not even accurate; for one thing, she hurts herself, and to that end it's more like the difference between swatting a fly, missing & giving yourself a bruise by accident, and using orbital lasers to obliterate the polar ice caps and portions of Australia.

Yeah, that works.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: kilconey on 04 Jun 2005, 13:53
i heard 'coin-operated boy' on the radio last fall, and absolutely hated it.  plinky piano and obnoxious dead pan vocals and about 3 minutes too long for the thrill.  so they're not my favorite.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: KharBevNor on 04 Jun 2005, 13:55
Quote from: Johnny C
Okay but like that's kind of comparing keying somebody's car to starting a total nuclear war.


Well, that was kinda my point in people freaking out about them being screwed up, and whatnot.

Or something...
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Johnny C on 04 Jun 2005, 14:17
I'd freak out if someone keyed my car.



what the hell was I talking about anyway?
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: mechorg on 04 Jun 2005, 14:29
If you guys know anything about their bio, most of the lyrics written are about her past.  The couple is actually very happy together and making the music has a big part in that.

Most of the stuff is an act, and a lot of people don't realize that.  They are a very friendly and photogenic pair that are loving their recent success.

I have also known many girls with similar pasts.  I hate to say it, but its not really that uncommon.  I guess thats where my weakness for them comes from.

Sure, listening to someone sing about being abused on the playground as a kid is kinda unnerving (and I can see why it isn't your 'cup o' tea') but its no differen't than Tori Amos singing about rape.  Issues make excellent material for song lyrics.

Kilconey, maybe you should listen to more than one song before making an opinion like that.  Coin-Operated boy is catchy, but far from my favorite.  It does get stale pretty quick.  Girl Anachronism is pretty much the same story.  Try Good Day, Bad Habit, or Slide because they sound very different from the previous two.

Oh, they did a cover of War Pigs when I saw them.  Can't say I've ever seen Black Sabbath covered by a piano/drum combo.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 04 Jun 2005, 19:10
I say I don't agree with it, simply because I don't promote it.
Not exactly like cutting yourself is a good, healthy thing.

I wasn't trying to bad mouth them at all, just stating my opinion on the subject. To each their own, all that jazz.

If I had a friend that cut themselves, I would obviously be concerned, so why should I agree with something that for lack of a better word, glorified it.

It's really not something to bicker over.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ComfortEagle on 04 Jun 2005, 21:14
Not Bickering, just making conversation.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: sp2 on 05 Jun 2005, 00:09
Quote from: boeuf
If I had a friend that cut themselves, I would obviously be concerned, so why should I agree with something that for lack of a better word, glorified it.


Two things.

First of all, if you had friends who did drugs, you might be concerned, but you're not obviously uncomfortable about the many many many songs that glorify drug use.  You know, just to point that out.

Secondly, I really honestly doubt the Dresden Dolls really glorify self-mutilation.  If anything, they seem particularly ambiguous about the whole thing, and while Palmer is really frank about the fact that she cuts, I don't think she's claiming that cutting is a "good thing."  Even Bad Habit, which is unambiguously a cutting song, has some doubt about the validity of cutting, EVEN THOUGH she's damned frank about how cutting affects her.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 05 Jun 2005, 01:43
Why would I be concerned about drug use when I, to a lesser extent, do drugs myself?
Not like, crack or anything, but you know what I mean.

And, I said, FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD, glorified.
Meaning I don't exactly think it is "glorified" by definition of the word but..fuck, I don't know how to explain it, it's fucking early.

And, as a point of interest, I don't really think she's just pleaing for attention, because frankly, I don't know her. But most SI'ers, try to hide the fact that they cut themselves. If they actually have true intent of hurting themselves, they don't tell people, and hide the cuts, all that stuff.

Anyways, I don't really think it's making conversation when I felt almost, ganged up on, because I expressed my opinion, which wasn't even my full opinion, just a small piece of it involving the subject,. I'm not pissed or anything, just kind of puts me on the defense is all.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: KharBevNor on 05 Jun 2005, 02:35
^ It depends entirely what reason she's cutting for. Some people do cut for attention. Some people just cut for performance, self destruction as art and all that.

...you really don't have nor have ever had any friends that cut? Wow.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Jude on 05 Jun 2005, 05:15
I like them lots.

Yay for straightforward opinions :)
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 05 Jun 2005, 12:25
There was an incident with one of my friends...
but that was just once.

I know Amanda (thats her name right?) must have had her reasons, but like I said, I don't know her, so there for that is unknown to me. The matter of the fact is that I don't find cutting to be a good thing, so I don't agree with the lyrics.

Period.

It's like my liking a gospel song, even if I'm not religious.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: mechorg on 05 Jun 2005, 21:54
Not to beat a dead horse, but I know where you are coming about her 'glorifying' cutting.

I kinda tried to touch on that my first post in this thread, but I guess it kinda got lost.

Example:
When I saw them in Coachella, there was quite a mix of people at the festival.  You could tell who came to see NIN just how they were dressed as with most other image mongering "individuals".  The Dresden Dolls fans were very easy to pick out, and that was what disturbed me since most of them were teenage girls.
I remember specifically two girls (didn't look old enough to drive) waiting in the food concessions line and being approached by 3 older guys (preppy types) obviously oodling over them because they followed Amanda's fasion trends (except much sluttier).  Sorry, but I just find something wrong with a 15 year old girl walking around in fishnet stockings, garder belt and straps with a teddy and black feather boa...

Whether its intentional or not, I don't like the image the band passes off to its fans (especially if they aren't even old enough to understand the musics content).  My friend told me they could have just as easily dressed like a slutty brittney spears... it just happens they listen to the Dresden Dolls.

For some reason, I doubt these girls know anything about cutting or the emotional pain someone with a depression disorder goes through.  People will take out of music what they want, and frankly I shouldn't have been suprised to see it in person.  My only previous experience with them was just the music, which held a completely different meaning to me (as I, myself, have friends that cut and I've been through the whole experience).

I'm tired, its late, and its hard for me to actually express my thoughts on this... its just something that irks me about them I can't quite place.

As for my straightforward opinion (thanks Jude :) )
"I like them lots."

Why does all music have to have an image attached to it?...
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: KharBevNor on 05 Jun 2005, 22:07
Well, the Dresden Dolls have to have an image attached to them because they're so theatrical. What is it they call themselves? Brechtian Post-punk Cabaret or something? Whatever, it has Brechtian in it, and that ain't a musical genre.

Like it or not, image is, in one way or another, a part of all music, be it a lesser or greater part. Some bands, like TDD, incorporate music and image equally to create a theatrical experience, some try and use image to compensate for sub-par or average music (rarely with any great success), some prefer to let their music do the talking: but even then they will have an image, even if it is just that projected by their album art. Hell, even the lack of an image is an image.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: trill on 05 Jun 2005, 22:44
Music has an image, I think, because it's really fun to play dressup, and it's completely authorized when you're a musician.

Maybe the girls were just dressed up because they were going to see them. Maybe they were older than they looked, maybe they completely understand everything in the songs, becuase they've been through it or one of their friends has. Hell, maybe they can't even make out the vocals and they're just listening to them because it's cool.

And yeah, maybe Bad Habit is not the best song for a kid to be listening to. Maybe some of them will cut because of it. But I've got to say, as far as the cutters I know, it wasn't 'hey, I saw this in a movie and thought it would be cool, lalalalala.' They all had some seriously fucked up shit in their lives, and they would have (and did) find releases other than the cutting, like drinking and drugs, which are so much easier to get into.

Their music is not going to be anyone's first exposure to cutting. The idea was already planted long before they stumbled upon this band.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: sp2 on 05 Jun 2005, 23:35
Quote from: mechorg
For some reason, I doubt these girls know anything about cutting or the emotional pain someone with a depression disorder goes through.


Borderline Personality Disorder (which is what I'm pretty sure Palmer has...definitely not depression) and self-mutilation all pretty much start showing up around the age of 12 (although borderline can't be diagnosed until 18, but that's technicalities).  Most of the people I know who've struggled with cutting started around the age of 12.

It is not unthinkable that a 15 year old girl would understand what Palmer is talking about.

As for Dresden Dolls songs convincing kids to try cutting, please.  Why not Pixies songs or NIN songs or Garbage songs or whatever?  If anything, having access to songs about something you're struggling personally with, alone, unable to share with even your closest friends or family, may actually help you to open up and talk about your problems.  It also means that people in general have had more exposure to your problems and are less likely to think you're some sort of sick freak who is completely abherrant and beyond help.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: sp2 on 05 Jun 2005, 23:43
Quote from: boeuf
Why would I be concerned about drug use when I, to a lesser extent, do drugs myself?


Cutting is, for the most part, just as safe as smoking pot or dropping acid.  It's considered unhealthy because it means an individual is experiencing severe emotional distress, potentially experiencing dissociative symptoms, and lacks various coping skills.

I know people who have been extremely fucked up smoking pot because someone laced their weed with PCP.  I know people who have cut deep enough that they have needed stitches.  I also know many people who have smoked a hell of a lot of pot and have had no major health problems as a result.  Similarly, I know individuals who have cut for upwards of ten years and have never caused more than cosmetic damage.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: est on 06 Jun 2005, 00:05
i don't know anything about cutting, but i realise now that i have actually heard a Dresden Dolls song.  i really liked the one that i did hear (coin-operated boy) so maybe i will have a look around for more of their stuff.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: Coonstar on 06 Jun 2005, 00:59
Quote from: trill
Music has an image, I think, because it's really fun to play dressup, and it's completely authorized when you're a musician.

Maybe the girls were just dressed up because they were going to see them. Maybe they were older than they looked, maybe they completely understand everything in the songs, becuase they've been through it or one of their friends has. Hell, maybe they can't even make out the vocals and they're just listening to them because it's cool.

And yeah, maybe Bad Habit is not the best song for a kid to be listening to. Maybe some of them will cut because of it. But I've got to say, as far as the cutters I know, it wasn't 'hey, I saw this in a movie and thought it would be cool, lalalalala.' They all had some seriously fucked up shit in their lives, and they would have (and did) find releases other than the cutting, like drinking and drugs, which are so much easier to get into.

Their music is not going to be anyone's first exposure to cutting. The idea was already planted long before they stumbled upon this band.


I agree with this, I don't think that one should pass judgments quickly just because of appearances alone. The first band I ever liked was Garbage (I got into them when I was 9 years old), and I knew that most of their songs were about sex and lust or how unsatisfying sex and lust was. Doesn't mean I became supremely angsty or keen on experimenting with sex- it just means that I enjoy their music and find the content interesting. I think that people should give kids more credit, because not all kids or teeny boppers are tools to be manipulated by the media. Obviously there ARE posers but not EVERYONE that is young is a poser.

Well, back to the Dresden Dolls. I have to say, their album isn't the best but I think that they're going somewhere. And honestly, I believe that I probably like them as much as I do now only because of how down-to-earth, honest, and great the people are in the band. They're likeable, and they don't fake the angst and try hard to incorporate it into their image. Like what was stated before, most of the dramatic angst and such are just simply restricted to the music and in the shows, and don't greatly affect the band member's lives. Heck they earn money from it, what's so bad about that?
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: ElRodente on 06 Jun 2005, 04:31
Quote from: boeuf
I don't know, a lot of her lyrics is just about how messed up she is.
Girl Anarchronism is a good example of that, I love the song and all, but the content can bother me sometimes. I know music is there to express yourself, I'm not trying to knock that at all, but it just doesn't rub me the right way is all.



kinda like me and alkaline trio
great punk or whatever, but lyrics are a bit odd, so it's kinda annoying when you get one stuck in your head and all you can remember is "step one: slit my throat, step 2: bathe in my blood"
and none of the music... ¬_¬
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 06 Jun 2005, 07:07
Quote from: sp2

Cutting is, for the most part, just as safe as smoking pot or dropping acid.  It's considered unhealthy because it means an individual is experiencing severe emotional distress, potentially experiencing dissociative symptoms, and lacks various coping skills.

I know people who have been extremely fucked up smoking pot because someone laced their weed with PCP.  I know people who have cut deep enough that they have needed stitches.  I also know many people who have smoked a hell of a lot of pot and have had no major health problems as a result.  Similarly, I know individuals who have cut for upwards of ten years and have never caused more than cosmetic damage.


I wasn't talking about the health risk of pot smoking at ALL, if you looked at why I said that, it was because someone said something about being bothered by music that glorifies drug use. It'd just be hypocritical of me to diss music that does that when I smoke pot myself.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: mechorg on 06 Jun 2005, 17:01
Quote from: boeuf
I say I don't agree with it, simply because I don't promote it.
Not exactly like cutting yourself is a good, healthy thing.

I wasn't trying to bad mouth them at all, just stating my opinion on the subject. To each their own, all that jazz.

If I had a friend that cut themselves, I would obviously be concerned, so why should I agree with something that for lack of a better word, glorified it.

It's really not something to bicker over.


<devil's advocate>
Its not exactly like doing drugs is a good, healthy thing.
If I had a friend that did drugs, I would obviously be concerned, so why should I agree with something that for lack of a better word, glorified it.
</devil's advocate>

I think this is the point sp2 was trying to make.  Not as any kind of hit against you or anything.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: boeuf on 06 Jun 2005, 21:04
Yes, I'm aware, but that really doesn't apply to me.

Yet, my opinion does, so I am here explaining just that, my opinion.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: LightThievesAll on 06 Jun 2005, 23:16
World Inferno Friendship Society > Dresden Dolls

However, the Dresden Dolls are still pretty cool.
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: dveteran on 07 Jun 2005, 00:00
I don't like them, especially coin-operated boy. Gaaah they don't really even sing for that song, but each to their own.

Though my opinion is really only on the 3 songs I have heard
Title: dresden Dolls
Post by: jeney on 07 Jun 2005, 00:30
I have only heard "coin-operated boy" and i thought it was awful. That's basically why i didn't listen to anymore.