Barking Spiders

I need to know. All explanations gratefully received.  So, more examples please of lyrics that are utter nonsensical ballcocks and what your own interpretations are. I'll start with the entire lyric of Jean Genie. The song is almost as old as I am and to this day I've haven't a firkin clue what it's about except Bowie must've been out of his tree on 'ludes, mescalin, Charlie or whatever his poison of choice was.

Just wondering about big mistakes bands, individuals and companies have made especially when turning something down thinking it wasn't going to do much biz. The bloke who turned down The Beatles is probably the most obvious one. I just tuned into Planet Rock briefly and heard how Herbie Flowers was paid just £17 as a flat payment  for laying down the bassline to Walk on The Wild Side while Lou Reed must have been raking it in due to its often being sampled especially on Can You Kick It by a Tribe Called Quest, which is one of the best known and most played tracks in hip hop.

1 hour ago, meterman said:

 

I flipping love sober coloured gear!

 

Honestly though, the likes of Muse and Rush leave me stone cold, but  music with a bit of space, like dub reggae, or bands that leave a lot of room in their music (like Khruangbin) do it for me all day long. Their drummer is one of my favourites too.

 

Depending on your taste / outlook / medication (delete as applicable) I get how they could be either hypnotic or boring live. Their new album with Vieux Farka Toure is beautiful, I reckon.

I do like Kruangbin and Mark Speer has fast become one of my fave electric guitar players. He carries each tune all the way through unlike most rock and metal players that mostly play power chords and then throw in a widdly solo for 10-20 secs. Laura is very easy on the eye which also helps and I've no shame in also admiring female musicians appearance as much as their playing. LL wears some great outfits and frequently looks stunning.

Here's Sara Lee with a monster sound playing on Damaged Goods by Go4. The recording quality is a bit Shiite but the tone cuts right through

1 hour ago, meterman said:

Would agree with everyone on your list and add:

 

Gina Birch (The Raincoats)

Clare Kenny (Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Sinéad O’Connor, Brian Eno etc)

Rose Simpson (Incredible String Band)

Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500)

Britta Phillips (Luna, Ben Lee)

 

I’m not really fussed who plays in what band or on what record or tour or online video. But if I like them and they make me want them pick up my bass then I’m a fan. 
 

Laura Lee from Khruangbin particularly inspires me at the moment. Don’t give a toss about the nylon wigs or the onstage costume changes but her basslines totally do it for me 👍

 I give a huge toss about her costumes......kinda.  I'm not being facetious but with them being a 3-piece instrumental band where the drummist has a stripped down kit (unlike many 3-pieces e.g. Rush, Police) and there's no fancy stage show like other 3-pieces (e.g. Muse) her outfits are an essential part of the act IMO. If she wore sober coloured gear they actually could be quite dull live.

3 hours ago, TheRev said:

I think there's plenty of female bassists out there, but maybe they're just not interested in online discussion forums? 

mebbe because they're less geeky/nerdy than male bass players?😉

23 minutes ago, Bassmidget209 said:

I remember reading an article a while back about this. It would appear that many of my generation look upon numeral with a degree of disdain but for the kids that were younger this was their first taste of rock and it heavily influenced their tastes. There's a growing group of bands and artists who are heavily influenced by the genre and are basically recreating it (please don't ask me to name them as I can't remember. They may very well be nobodies or I may very well be getting older and forgetting stuff). 

For reference I got into rock etc approximately 6ish months before numetal really exploded (my reference point being limp bizkit going number one). At first I too got sucked up into it, It was loud bright and new, along with everything else. I was discovering this alongside punk, ska, actual metal and rock in general so it was a really exciting time in my life. I do look back fondly on some tracks of that time but I did quickly move away from numetal for many of the reasons stated above, but largely a lot of the other bands didn't feel genuine.....and rubbish, they were largely rubbish (staind anyone?). 

It's a shame that this era was probably the last great (size not quality) era of rock. There seems to be a resurgence of guitar based music again soon hoping we can see some new perspective but I'm skeptical 🧐.

 Staind were/are bluddy woeful. They're one of those I originally alluded to that infested MTV playlists back in the 90s. I don't differentiate between post-grunge and nu-metal other than some 'nu-metal' bands incorporated rap into their sound. When I recall the likes of Breaking Benjamin, Puddle of Mud, 3 Doors Down, Shinedown, Godsmack, Theory of a Deadman, Papa Roach, Coal Chamber, Crazy Town etc blah I rate LB even higher for their first 2 albums and the best tracks off Choc.

On 10/10/2022 at 15:21, Barking Spiders said:

Snap. I am too am mostly on a funk/soul trip at the mo. I do like a bit of the brothers, partly because Louis is my fave player.  As I work I've been flipping between the Pasadenas first album and Hearsay by Alexander O'Neal, so here's a bit of both.. BTW why The Pasadenas never gained the popularity of Take That, Boyzone etc boggles my mind. They had better vocals and sharper moves.

 

 

Incidentally, check out the great bassline on Something Else, the last track on the debut album, with Julian Crampton totally slaying it! 

There are actually hundreds of lady bass players in well known bands or known in their own right. Not many among classic rock or funk bands I see but loads in alt-rock or indie-bands, not just in all-female groups but also in mostly-men bands. My own faves are Tina Weymouth, Kim Deal, Sean Yseult (White Zombie) and Sara Lee (Gang of Four). I appreciate the skills of Tal Wilkenfield, Esperanza Spalding, Mohina Day etc but I just don't care for the genres they work in.

7 hours ago, Buckminster Emptier said:

The reason Limp Biscuit sucks is because the guy is a terrible rapper and his voice is all wheezy or like squeaky. I don't know exactly what youre talking about, I don't  doubt it, but I hated that band the first day I heard them and still do.  In fact they are the reason Nu Metal sucks, singlehandedly. Even Korn had one good album, but Limp Biscuit is terrible. And the icing on the cake is if you know what the name means, it's flipping disgusting. 

 

Mastodon = not Nu Metal, that's just metal

Def tones = maybe someone could say they influenced Nu Metal but they were out years before there was any talk of Nu Metal. 

 

I saw Mastodon  open for Clutch in a venue with maybe 500 capacity max. I had no idea who they were, this was like late 90s. It was a great show. 
 

I never said Mastodon were Nu-metal. I said I saw them at the same festival and while LB put on a good show, Mastodon were as boring as f***. They just stood there, no audience rapport, nada. Dunno why they get all this kudos. Very dull. If LB sucks then Korn, Linkin Park, Mudvayne, Deftones and the rest of the nu-metal crowd suck at least equally. I agree the album name Choc Starfish.... is risibly puerile and that the next albums are all pretty poor but I still stand by the first two which means they at least had two good albums which is two more than every other nu-metal and post-grunge band.

I'm not sure which country originated the worst new genres that went mainstream in the 90s, the USA or UK. The US produced trash like pop-punk/skate punk, nu-metal and post-grunge while in the UK we had to endure the dreck that was Britpop, Spice Girls etc, 'Madchester' and shoegaze. Let's not get started on the noughties which is also a low point.

17 hours ago, TheLowDown said:

Brothers Johnson - Stomp. 

 I found myself listening to mostly RnB and soul at the moment, which I think has most of my favourite basslines and the easiest to hear and transcribe.

 

Snap. I am too am mostly on a funk/soul trip at the mo. I do like a bit of the brothers, partly because Louis is my fave player.  As I work I've been flipping between the Pasadenas first album and Hearsay by Alexander O'Neal, so here's a bit of both.. BTW why The Pasadenas never gained the popularity of Take That, Boyzone etc boggles my mind. They had better vocals and sharper moves.

46 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

I used to hate nu metal when it was at its height in the late 90s, early 00s. Especially if it had rap vocals - and in particular if they came out of Fred Durst's mouth. I liked symphonic, gothic and progressive metal at that time, and some black and death. Nowadays I do appreciate some of the bands of that time. I've come to love Linkin Park, Drowning Pool, and I'll occasionally put on Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water and Significant Other. It's probably a sentimental, throwback kind of thing in the same way that I can listen to 90s pop and Eurodance (which I also used to HATE with a passion) and reminisce about my younger days 

 I'm a big fan of 80s-90s hip hop and, while never a fan of any other metal band, actually thought the two styles went well together e.g. as on RATMs first album and LB's Significant Other. Chocolate Starfish was more hit and miss but I still enjoy Rollin', My Generation, My Way and Take A Look Around. The following albums  are admittedly utter gash.

17 hours ago, Buckminster Emptier said:

If you are lumping together SOAD with Creed you really shouldn't be authorized to discuss this subject. You're basically lumping together any rock band to come out in the 90s. Actually on second thought, if you take SOAD out and maybe Audioslave we could let the rest slide.

15 hours ago, Buckminster Emptier said:

How can you talk stinky poo about the scene but say you have a soft spot for Limp Biscuit, thats like the epitome of the genre and the very worst of it all. That's hilarious, that's like saying you don't mind taking heroin once in a while but you can't stand people who  take drugs. Haha.. I'm not trying to be a Richard but come on ; let's have at least a little self awareness when we are criticizing.

I've read all this 'Limp Bizkit' suck stuff which seemed to happen after the Chocolate Starfish album came out, and only then did they become rock's fave whipping boys along with Nickelback. Seems to me all this hate for these bands along with Coldplay and a few others is just bandwagon jumping without any substance. Any criticism you can level against LB and Nickelback can easily be said of '000s more. I used to see loads of 90s metal/hard rock bands on MTV or heard the kids or mrs playing them so I do know what I'm talking about.  BTW for my wife's sake I took to her Sonisphere 2014 (mainly for her to see Metallica) and Download (as SOAD is a fave band of hers also). I saw LB at Sonisphere and they were by far the best act of the festival. Great crowd report and they got everyone moving. The likes of Deftones, Mastodon and other 'respected' bands were as dull as f***.

On 07/10/2022 at 20:36, bassbiscuits said:

Van Halen’s take on Dancing In The Street is codswallop. 

 Yep, that truly is atrocious but the remarkable thing is they managed to record three utterly c@ck covers on one album, the other two disasters being  Pretty Woman and Where Have All The Good Times Gone?

8 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I'm a big metal fan, I love just about anything heavy but I keep reading thar nu metal is coming back and that to me was a low point in metal. I have never heard anyone say they miss Limp Bizkit or Crazy Town or Papa Roach. The few good bands to come out of the genre have moved on to something completely different now.

There must have been some good stuff so where's the good bands I must have missed? Is anyone still playing old Korn or Limp Bizkit covers?

 

Never mind just being a low point in metal, it's one of the lowest points in music ever. I still have a soft spot for the occasional Limp Bizkit track but the rest of the scene was utter pants and in the UK we never exposed to the worst of it on national radio.  Unfortunately, MTV gave way too much broadcast time to some truly terrible bands. I'm not a metal  / hard rock fan and not being too hung up on sub-sub genres I lump together the likes of Korn, Creed, Staind, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, Evanscence, Godsmack, Shinedown, Nickelback, Three Days Grace, Taking Back Sunday, Daughtry and Audioslave and SOAD.  I'm only able able to name these as my mrs and her offspring all like this kinda thing.  I even had to see some of these at Download, which was a very tough day for me. God forbid we ever see a resurgence of this stuff.

 I particularly loathe these two acclaimed covers of two fave TFF songs of mine

2 hours ago, davepb24 said:

A mate keeps going on about how great Behemoth's cover of the Cure's "A Forest" is ... up there with the worst I've come across I'm afraid

 It is utter trash for sure. I'm a massive fan of 80s post-punk and A Forest is one of the top 5 tunes from the era. Also Sound of Silence is my fave S & G tune and the Disturbed cover is a total travesty

5 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Someone suggested this as the worst ever cover in one of my FB feeds... what do you nominate as the worst cover?

(Sorry if it's been done before)

I'm really thinking of ones that deliberately sound the way they do.... not ones done by people who can't play/sing.

 

Going Underground (The Jam) covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

 

 

Can't stand The Jam nor any of Weller's other incarnations so for me this is a marked improvement 👍👍.

Got to agree with all the other noms apart from Bill Shatner's Rocket Man and Len Nimoy's I Walk The Line. That's entertainment, mr Weller 😁

I'm having a bet with myself if any of the BC massive have ever heard of Blue States? They're usually lumped in with the trip hop / downtempo crowd but actually it's more John Barry, Ennio Morricone and 60s spy film themes meet hip hop beats. Check it out 👇

It is odd when people say being a musician etc isn't a proper job. Following whatever reasoning they're using do we assume Beethoven, Bach, Mozart etc were misguided and basically wasted their time and lives when they could've been doing something more 'useful' and productive like being an accounts clerk? 

20 hours ago, ARGH said:

Ok. Just been informed that being a full time musician isn’t a real job. Along with other selected classics over the years

“Covers/functions gigs are not real gigs”

”Doing that means you have no integrity..”

”You must be dead inside to play that stuff”

”It’s easy…”

”But you play… (insert genre, add the disgust)”

 

add yours at leisure…

 

The £300+ I just chucked in my account a few hours back was not ‘REALLY earned’ 🤣🤣

They mean you should be doing a proper job like writing opinion pieces in The Spectator, being a ..

a hedge fund manager, PR consultant, pet pyschologist, f/t equality-diversity-inclusion officer, corporate lawyer, being a middle manager in the company I work for..(btw I'm not one of them)

1 hour ago, pst62 said:

I was lucky enough them twice.  Newcastle 1978 and Reading festival 1983. Reading was a let down tbh, JJ's tone was gone, and they had a horn section parping away which ruined Down in the Sewer for me.....Anyway

 

A horn section?!!! WTF . I'm imagining it and it seems bluddy terrible, just doesn't fit in at all

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

I feel exactly the same way. What I try to do is listen to the new version as if it'a a different band, and very often, hey presto, the similarities leap out from the music (not always I should add). Little Feat without Lowell George is a good example, thought he was irreplaceable. But there'a a limit, so many bands loose a key player and to my mind become more like a tribute act of the band they used to be, Queen with Adam Lambert spring to mind, no absence of talent, but.....

 

In the case of The Stranglers, I'm going to listen to the album @Lozz196suggested, and try to be impartial in putting them in either the Little Feat or Queen camp 👍

I liken it with going back to cities, towns, places where you've holidayed etc  with which you associate some very fond memories. Fr'instance I've not been back to Liverpool since I left in the late 80s.  From what I've learnt from chats with people I know who do still go there, a lot of my fave haunts have since gone. I don't want to tarnish the memories of very happy times by going back there and seeing how much it's changed.

12 hours ago, merello said:

Yup. Love the old stuff. Thought The Raven and Black n White had great stuff too. I think in those days most albums had a good A side and dodgier B side. Not really listened to new stuff save the Stuart Pearce effort which was good. I never get the “hate” for new band members, would folks prefer they disbanded?

I've never bothered listening to them post Hugh C. I don't 'hate' the new band members but for me the original line-up was too seminal and distinctive esp HC with his sardonic vocal style. Now with Dave G gone IMO it's a case of 'what's the point?'  I feel the same with many other bands where the 'classic' line-ups made the best of the albums. Dr Feelgood are one such. I like both the Wilko and Gypie Mayo eras but without Lee Brilleaux i think they should've called it a day.

Picked up the Back Room by Editors in a charidee shop today. I originally avoided them thinking they wore their Chameleons and Echo ATB influences on both sleeves. They do but actually are none the worse for that.