Unpopular views about music

[The Cunting Death]

I hate music fans more than I hate genres of music.

 

[Blamo2000]

I enjoy midi/chiptune/synth sounds a lot. I think instead of being poor replications of real instruments they can be considered instruments of their own.

For example FF7 main theme feels different in tone when you have it done with real instruments. The PS1 midi just feels desolate and alien, with brief touches of hope. The remade version is gorgeous, but I don't feel like the whole planet is rotting away from below my feet as I walk around.

Sure, I guess the full orchestral score is closer to the original vision and they only used midi to save disk space, but still, I prefer the shitty ps1 ost over the remade.

 

[The Cunting Death]

I genuinely like to think that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is one of the more overhyped (at worst, overrated) albums that came out in the late 90’s. The fact that it even turned 25 years old this year is mind-blowing to say the least.

If anything, I should probably listen to it again to see if anything changed.

I have to disagree that's one of my favorite albums ever and I don't listen to much pop music.

 

[Tequila Jong]

I have to disagree that's one of my favorite albums ever and I don't listen to much pop music.

I always loved both Fugees albums. A friend and I both discovered The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill together - she thought there was a bit too much rapping and not enough singing, and I thought the opposite. Whatever the case, it's still a favourite of mine too.

 

[FuckMeGentlyWithAChainsaw]

Jim Steinman sounds like Kermit the Frog.

 

[WTBOnlineFather]

I enjoy midi/chiptune/synth sounds a lot. I think instead of being poor replications of real instruments they can be considered instruments of their own.

For example FF7 main theme feels different in tone when you have it done with real instruments. The PS1 midi just feels desolate and alien, with brief touches of hope. The remade version is gorgeous, but I don't feel like the whole planet is rotting away from below my feet as I walk around.

Sure, I guess the full orchestral score is closer to the original vision and they only used midi to save disk space, but still, I prefer the shitty ps1 ost over the remade.

Amiga MODs were the absolute peak of 90s music and nerd art culture imo

 

[Blamo2000]

Amiga MODs were the absolute peak of 90s music and nerd art culture imo

I just have a sweet spot for the computer culture of the era, mostly because I was around-ish as a consumer, but ultimately it just felt like it's own thing. I really admire the spirit of the era. People were messing around, experimenting and pushing the limitation of the hardware and what computers can do in general, for fun.

It's earlier by over a decade, but just look at C64, it didn't even had sprite support properly as far as I know, and the 3 channel audio too was bullied until it felt like 4-5 time to time. Just because teens were sitting at home, had a manual, maybe some usenet access and messed around with the darn thing until it produced things that the manufacturer couldn't imagine. Big respect.

 

[CorporateMemphis]

I hate music fans more than I hate genres of music.

In the old days, nerds who took themselves very seriously would get involved in a music-related subculture and dress the part. Morrissey fans were insufferable. Today we have gender identities, which is much worse.

 

[Real Mayun]

The modern "antiracist" taboo against "cultural appropriation", which can mean anything in music up to and including white people using syncopation or "unresolved dissonance", or any genre not found in Europe prior to 1776, is FUCKING CONSERVATIVE AS FUCKING HELL.

It actually reminds me of the schoolmarmish attitudes older white people had with regards to early rock music, or swing, or later electronic music. The ones that criticized the music for being different, for being "raucous", for using such atrocious turns of phrase as "ain't nothin'" and "jump jivin'", for incorporating African and (to a lesser extent) Latin influences. The ones who viewed the music as trashy and rude when only black people made it, and still viewed it as such when Elvis Presley sanitized it, only to claim their issue was religious, not racial.

I think the modern rock concert tradition does more closely resemble that of drum circles, etc., than the bookish environment of a classical concert, where the emphasis is on "good listening", meaning staying quiet, sitting like a statue, and judging the music as if it could be objectively incorrect if performed in a manner inconsistent with the score. It's one where anti-egotism isn't an issue at all, where tweaking the sound of your instrument isn't viewed as the mark of a cheap instrument, but an opportunity to make some cool noises. One where we all can sing together on the chorus, where the keyboardist outshines all of us "wooing", where you can prevent hearing loss by putting in earplugs while still enjoying the FEELING of the roaring PA system, knowing that the patterns in which the speakers move are all because of the players onstage, whether they're twanging strings, hitting shit with sticks, or manipulating electronics.

Cultural appropriation is sonic freedom. The taboo against it is the opposite.

My culture historically treated noisemaking as serious business. Honestly fuck that. No wonder so many people think they're just inherently unmusical when they judge themselves in comparison to a tradition that values meekness. EDM production is more fun when you can use clave rhythms.

 

[RealMuthaForYa]

Today we have gender identities, which is much worse.

What “non binaries” don’t realise is their “identity” is just flamboyant dressing and bad lipstick.
Don’t get me wrong, they were responsible for some of the best 70s music: Bolan, Bowie.

Mind you Bowie was overrated and shite. Even he recognised that. He stated once he’d made 4 classic albums, the rest were average at best, and at his worst he plumbed the depths of cak music.

 

[Saddam Hussain Obama]

The modern "antiracist" taboo against "cultural appropriation", which can mean anything in music up to and including white people using syncopation or "unresolved dissonance", or any genre not found in Europe prior to 1776, is FUCKING CONSERVATIVE AS FUCKING HELL.

It actually reminds me of the schoolmarmish attitudes older white people had with regards to early rock music, or swing, or later electronic music. The ones that criticized the music for being different, for being "raucous", for using such atrocious turns of phrase as "ain't nothin'" and "jump jivin'", for incorporating African and (to a lesser extent) Latin influences. The ones who viewed the music as trashy and rude when only black people made it, and still viewed it as such when Elvis Presley sanitized it, only to claim their issue was religious, not racial.

I think the modern rock concert tradition does more closely resemble that of drum circles, etc., than the bookish environment of a classical concert, where the emphasis is on "good listening", meaning staying quiet, sitting like a statue, and judging the music as if it could be objectively incorrect if performed in a manner inconsistent with the score. It's one where anti-egotism isn't an issue at all, where tweaking the sound of your instrument isn't viewed as the mark of a cheap instrument, but an opportunity to make some cool noises. One where we all can sing together on the chorus, where the keyboardist outshines all of us "wooing", where you can prevent hearing loss by putting in earplugs while still enjoying the FEELING of the roaring PA system, knowing that the patterns in which the speakers move are all because of the players onstage, whether they're twanging strings, hitting shit with sticks, or manipulating electronics.

Cultural appropriation is sonic freedom. The taboo against it is the opposite.

My culture historically treated noisemaking as serious business. Honestly fuck that. No wonder so many people think they're just inherently unmusical when they judge themselves in comparison to a tradition that values meekness. EDM production is more fun when you can use clave rhythms.

wtf was this retarded rant

 

[AnOminous]

Mind you Bowie was overrated and shite. Even he recognised that. He stated once he’d made 4 classic albums, the rest were average at best, and at his worst he plumbed the depths of cak music.

The vast majority of people don't even make one classic album, much less four, much less last for decades in a bloodthirsty business.

Also though, Annie Lennox.

 

[Real Mayun]

I enjoy midi/chiptune/synth sounds a lot. I think instead of being poor replications of real instruments they can be considered instruments of their own.

For example FF7 main theme feels different in tone when you have it done with real instruments. The PS1 midi just feels desolate and alien, with brief touches of hope. The remade version is gorgeous, but I don't feel like the whole planet is rotting away from below my feet as I walk around.

Sure, I guess the full orchestral score is closer to the original vision and they only used midi to save disk space, but still, I prefer the shitty ps1 ost over the remade.

I agree. I think the 1990s "ROMpler" sound as it is called, consisting of less-realistic orchestral/piano/band sounds plus less-thick late 80s synth sounds, is very beautiful in its own right. It's neither as varied in expression as an acoustic instrument nor as variable in overall tonality as more CPU-demanding synth software (like Serum), nor as consistent as the simpler, unfiltered "8-bit" sounds made from basic waves only – but it definitely still has it's cult following.

People once thought that the first "digital pianos" would usher in a time when no one would willingly make their synths or DAWs sound like a synth – just as people thought that no one would willingly introduce distortion to their music after audio electronics engineers worked day-in and day-out to eliminate static, hum, fuzz, and distortion. When you have generations of amateur and professional musicians growing up with video games, there will be musicians influenced by them, who will go out of their way to make their Macintosh sound like a Game Boy Color, but also like a C64, N64, GBA, and pre-sound-card Windows PC – and their own idea of what a modern programmable softsynth should sound like – and a violin – and "that" sound used in everything from Tears for Fears songs to Kirby Games.

People have already broken pretty much every social taboo – and many of those people get internet points and interesting reactions from other people's neurons.

We reached the limit of distortion and the loudness war with 1-bit.

We reached the limit of formlessness with ambient.

We've had Kate Bush sample her gas and disguise it as synth sounds in the 1980s.

We've had pretty much every linguistic taboo broken in the 1990s, even within radio-adjacent genres.

We've violated the idea that sound recordings must be socially accepted by most with ASMR.

We've gone into compositional relativism, a willing disregard for realism, and DUI-level criminal copyright territory with Vaporwave.

We've gone into the recontextualization of 1980s music as tame classic pop with synthwave.

We've created the sonic equivalent of photography with lowercase.

US Dubstep was the early metal of the 2000s, and Dubstep-influenced pop the hair metal.

We've just straight up taken Windows programs and used Audacity's "Raw Data" feature to read them as if they were wave files, to get fascinating results.

Police has exposed people to IMMEDIATELY DEAFENING levels of sound with LRADs (which are much, much louder than fire alarms, let alone firearms).

Even people critical of cultural appropriation will listen to white artists guilty of stricter definitions of it.

You can say "ass," "crap," and "damn" on FM radio.

You can say a lot more on YouTube.

And much more on KiwiFarms

Classical pieces have electric organs.

Country songs praise gay people.

Metal often has synths.

It's not unheard of for an American kid to be into foreign pop.

Most people who attend Quiet Riot concerts are well-adjusted adults.

You can wear headphones to not disturb others.

Others wearing headphones won't disturb you.

If something hurts your ears, just turn it down.

And if it hurts your head, find something you enjoy.

You can have a favorite recording of Beethoven's Fifth and disagree which one sounds best.

And Merzbow is indistinguishable from FM radio static to those more familiar with the former.


What's the most subversive form of music? Is low-quality music really low-quality when people will spend dozens on plugins that sound JUST like the old consoles' built-in synths, or download SF2s of classic 90s samples? What does 2020s music sound like? Who knows. Let's just shut up and enjoy what we enjoy.

 

[Nuclear Poisoning]

Mind you Bowie was overrated and shite. Even he recognised that. He stated once he’d made 4 classic albums,

Which ones are they?

 

[RealMuthaForYa]

Which ones are they?

I’d say:
Classics:
1 The Man Who Sold The World
2 Diamond Dogs
3 Aladdin Sane
4 erm struggling - Hunky Dory? Probably.

Overrated:
Low - side one is Ok
Heroes - ditto but side 2 slightly better
TRAFOZSATSFM - some classic songs but a lot of dross.

OK:
Scary Monsters
I’m a big fan of Pin Ups
Some bits of Lodger
Blackstar


The rest - ranges from Meh - Station To Station to drivel basically anything from 1982 onwards

 

[Kulee Baba]

I’d say:
Classics:
1 The Man Who Sold The World
2 Diamond Dogs
3 Aladdin Sane
4 erm struggling - Hunky Dory? Probably.

Overrated:
Low - side one is Ok
Heroes - ditto but side 2 slightly better
TRAFOZSATSFM - some classic songs but a lot of dross.

OK:
Scary Monsters
I’m a big fan of Pin Ups
Some bits of Lodger
Blackstar


The rest - ranges from Meh - Station To Station to drivel basically anything from 1982 onwards

I agree with you on Low & Heroes. Low starts off great and then side two just feels like outtakes. Still I love Ziggy Stardust and "Stay" is one of my favorite Bowie tracks. Since we're talking about Bowie his interview with Dick Cavett is really fun. Bowie is clearly coked out of his mind but he clearly shows how intelligent he was.

 

[Asian tech support]

Ghost is pretty ok. They've got a few bangers (and a lot of stinkers). For years I was told they were a meme act and their music was bad. Sure, they're not metal and they are a meme act, but at least they have some good music unlike meme act Alestorm which is 100% dreck.
I like this song:

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” was a perfect example of the music video being better than the actual song. The song itself wasn’t bad by any means, but without the music video, I keep thinking that only listening to it was just missing something.

 

[AnOminous]

I agree with you on Low & Heroes. Low starts off great and then side two just feels like outtakes. Still I love Ziggy Stardust and "Stay" is one of my favorite Bowie tracks. Since we're talking about Bowie his interview with Dick Cavett is really fun. Bowie is clearly coked out of his mind but he clearly shows how intelligent he was.

I think the (first) Tin Machine album is underrated too. Not his best but it had a couple bangers like this.

I will never talk shit about Bowie.

 

[RealMuthaForYa]

I will never talk shit about Bowie.

Why not? Bowie did :-)

I think the (first) Tin Machine album is underrated too.

The only side project I think worthy of note is Grinderman. Both albums were superb and much better thank anything Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have done since Dig, Lazarus, Dig.