Maybe, maybe not. Avril Lavigne, however, is not quite 18 yet.
I don’t like Carlton much. She’s way less talented (and way less cute) than Branch (and I have proof).
My main complaint about Avril is that her eyeteeth are gigantic. Next time you happen to catch the Complicated video, check it out. She looks like a vampire.
I’ve also always been puzzled about the guys she plays with. They’re obviously a band, and they figure prominently in the Complicated video (I haven’t seen Sk8er Boi yet), but I’ve yet to see even a mention of them in any press on her. My totally uninformed hunch is that they started out as a girl-fronted kiddie punk band and got repackaged by Arista. That or the ‘band’ got put together to play behind her and they didn’t figure anyone would care enough about them to give them names.
No Doubt’s Don’t Speak video just flashed in my head. The one where the band is on some kind of photo shoot and the photo director type guy crops the picture of the band to just Gwen looking sexily into the camera. I always wondered whose concept that video was.
Dread Pirate Jimbo and I call all the bunch of them “drones”; they are a bunch of look-alikes and sound alikes, and the music they make just drooooooones (AKA “Chicks With Guitars”). You can add Sarah Harmer, Jewel, and Lisa Loeb to this category as well. There was an ep of “The Chris Isaak Show” that dealt with these types of “singers”, calling them “whiny and self-indulgent”. I just about laughed myself silly.
I think Avril’s great. I LOVED “Complicated” the first time I heard it (even though the radio stations over hear have flogged it to death). Apparently she does write her own material, and she is only 17 (or whatever) so I think we shouldn’t be too hard on her. “Sk8er Boi” is kinda funky & catchy and both these songs have a mini-message so, “chill out” and give her a go! She’s a cute, kohl-rimmed Canadian chick giving it her best shot. Instead of categorising her & putting her in a box, just let her music “be”. I think “Comp” & “Boi” are almost from different genre’s. Who knows what’s next from Ms Lavigne? A nice slow, sad ballad would be good.
Avril is so lame and cute. Her punk posing just makes her cuter. I sure don’t like her music, but she’s funny as hell as a concept, and I can’t get enough.
Especially the film clip. She staged a trashing of a mall! How punk!
That’s generally the formula. Catchiest song first, upbeat song second, then the weepy ballad as the third single. Nearly every pop group follows this pattern.
I don’t dislike because she plays dumbed-down slick pop, it is because she keeps pretending that she’s more “for real” than all other manufactured pop stars. “Hey, I took two-three weeks out of my busy life to learn how to play simple power chords on a guitar! This means that I’m an independent grrrrl and that I’m WAY above Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears!”
Shit, just read the tripe collected in her official bio.
It was a reenactment of just about all of No Doubt’s photo shoots at the time. The photographers would ignore the boys and focus on Gwen. Or so the story goes…
Her band is more than likely just as calculated as she is.
I’m a pretty long term member on the Foo Fighters postboard.
Say what you like about Dave Grohl - but he’s the real deal. A real talent on both the drums, guitar, and as a songwriter and live entertainer. And he has a band which have rightly earnt a reputation as “the new Police”. Being the former drummer for Nirvana only helps seal the deal really.
Anyways, Avril Lavigne came up for discussion there recently. The bloody thread went for 7 pages. People discussed how good looking she is, how fake and contrived she is - how her video has a band which, by all rights, should have her sounding like ACDC etc etc.
The final consensus? At least on a postboard where the fans tend to pride themselves of being fans of a band who can really play? She’s definitely one of the more successful marketing campaigns we’ve had in a while - doubtless.
Well, I know if I was a 17 year old girl from Canada, my first words to the world wouldn’t be “uh-huh, uh-huh, cause life’s like this. yea, that’s the way it is.” I mean seriously, give me a freakin’ break lady. Life’s like homework and boys?
Actually, No Doubt’s members have been playing together since high school, save their drummer. I think their drummer came on board not long after high school, however.
Someone more knowledgeable about No Doubt can perhaps offer more accurate insight, but my understanding is that’s Gwen’s presence in the band is somewhat circumstantial, as her brother was an important cog of the band before she ever performed. Also, No Doubt originally had a different lead singer, who committed suicide (?) at age 18.
Anyway, the current No Doubt lineup had been together living out of a van and playing dives long before “Tragic Kingdom” hit it big. The band’s origins are about as legit as you’ll find in today’s pop music scene.
To the best of my knowledge, everything bordelond said about No Doubt is true. Gwen really was an incidental member. Also, No Doubt did two albums before Tragic Kingdom. I’ve heard their eponymous release, and IMHO, it’s better than anything they’ve done since.
To the best of my knowledge, everything bordelond said about No Doubt is true. Gwen really was an incidental member. Also, No Doubt did two albums before Tragic Kingdom. I’ve heard their eponymous release, and IMHO, it’s better than anything they’ve done since.
I should make clear that Gwen was in the band from the start – but IIRC, she would not have joined the band had her brother Eric not been a member. Also, at the time, she was not the lead singer – the late John Spence held that position.
Also, technically, bassist Tony Kanal was not with the band from the get-go – he joined up shortly after No Doubt’s formation, however.
Avril’s pretty good… “Complicated” is a decent song but overplayed, “Sk8er Boi” is a crappy song and WAY overplayed, but I actually like some of her non-single tracks. My favorite song of hers is probably one that’ll never be a single, “Losing Grip.”
I won’t say that she’s the next Tori Amos (she isn’t) or Lori Carson (not even close), but I like listening to her music while I work… shrug Guess I’m not snobby enough for some here. Not that I mind.
