Best Music to Burst the Bubble of a Radio/MTV addict

Cafe Society
1

Two of my friends, though they are now college age, still refuse to give any music other than what is played on commercial radio and television a chance.

One of them is really into the whole hard rock/nu-metal thing (Disturbed, Perfect Circle, Korn, Nickelback) and the other is into the pseudo-punk stuff (Blink 182, Sum 41, Alien Ant Farm).

Now I KNOW there is much better stuff than all of the above, but I don’t really have good alternatives because 1) I’m really heading a different direction, into the lo-fi, more melodic indie music (Pavement, Modest Mouse, White Stripes, Pixies) and 2) I’m still discovering a lot of the indie world, and am not very exposed to it all.

I want to find stuff that sounds similar to what they know, but better. Obviously, I’ve already tried throwing them gung-ho into what I like, but they insist that it is utterly unlistenable. So, what bands/albums/songs do you guys recommend?

2

Modern: The Coral
70’s The Ramones… nothing pseudo about them… or maybe everything pseudo about them. Top Band Though…
[Aside: ‘Pseudo’ is a word that looks like it’s spelt wrong however you spell it…]
60’s psychedelia… there’s loads of undiscovered gems out there…

But seriously…
Hardhouse. Banging tunes… why use a nutcracker when you’ve got a sledgehammer?

3

I can help you with the first guy.

The obvious ones are Into Eternity’s Dead or Dreaming, In Extremo’s Sunder Ohne Zugel, and Lacuna Coil’s Comalies.

You also might want to have him check out Dream Theater’s Falling Into Infinity and Iced Earth’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (if he likes Metallica).

Cradle of Filth were on Ozzfest this year, and they’ve had a couple of excellent albums (Cruelty and the Beast and Damnation and a Day).

Lastly, there’s the album that every nu-metal band wants to put out, Faith No More’s Angel Dust.

That’s all that comes to mind immediately. I’ll post more when I get home and can look through my collection.

4

Well, firstly (and most importantly), make sure keep in mind that they have as much right to like what they want as you do. If you want to introduce them to new music, do it respectfully.

That said, here’s what I’d suggest as a starting point. Most of what I know is in the punk and indie area, as I don’t care much for metal in general.

For the guy who’s into Blink182 and Sum 41, try Bad Religion, Rancid, NOFX, older Less Than Jake, and Strung Out. None of those bands are low-profile either, but they’re just as melodic as radio pop punk while at covering more subjects than fart jokes and teenage relationships. From there, it’s only a matter of time before bands like The Ramones and The Descendents come into play.

As far as indie goes… well, try handing an album by And You Will Know As By the Trail of Dead (the new one, “Source Codes & Tags,” is excellent) to your nu-metal-loving friend. They’re easily the most frenetic band I’ve heard in the last few years, making your average metal band seem like growling toddlers in comparison.

If they have any interest in female vocalists at all, definitely try out The New Pornographers and Sleater-Kinney.

I can’t really respond to a music recommendation thread without mentioning Radiohead, even if they’re not technically indie, having been on a major label since their debut. Fortunately, that hasn’t stopped them from pushing their boundaries with every album they produce. I’d recommend starting your friends on “The Bends,” as that is (by far) the better of Radiohead’s two “radio-friendly” rock albums, but I would also get copies of “OK Computer” and “Kid A” for yourself, my personal top two albums ever.

Other bands that are worth a look: Wilco, Yo La Tengo, Flaming Lips, Supergrass, Ozma, Shiner, Sigur Ros.

5

Good suggestions, so far

Tarrsk
I agree about letting them like what they will, I’m excessively non-confrontational about it, to the point where when they start discussing music, I just keep my mouth shut completely or manage to change the subject. It just grates on me that they don’t even TRY to expand their horizon, but then again it may just be because they aren’t really insane music fans like me, and just don’t want to spend the time and money to track down every little obscure band that sounds half-decent. I can understand that. That won’t stop me from burning mixes that force them to admit that maybe, just MAYBE I’m on to something with this whole indie/alternative thing.

In other news, some of your suggestions are actually stuff that I am looking into, like Yo La Tengo, New Pornographers, Flaming Lips.

Radiohead, is probably WAY too mellow for them to appreciate, they seem to have some sort of musical ADD, where if it isn’t LOUD and/or FAST, then it can’t be any good.

6

I’d recommend two of my favorite albumns of all time.

For the first friend (Disturbed, Korn)…Blood Brothers. Their latest album, Burn, Piano Island, Burn will tear your head off. Not for the faint of heart, and they’re all barely drinking age. Think Dillinger Escape Plan in a blender (and if your musical-ADD friends don’t have DEP, there’s something wrong. Calculating Infinity was MADE for them) . Link

For the second friend into psuedo-punk…Refused, and their masterpiece, The Shape of Punk to Come, arguably one of the greatest records of the ninties. You have to have some plums to name your album after Ornette Coleman’s masterpiece, but they slapped the crap out of punk five years ago and no one’s caught up since. Link

7

Skip Rancid, NOFX and those other boring bands and go straight for The Ramones and The Descendents. Why introduce somebody to bands they will (if everything goes by the plan) eventually be ashamed of? Don’t cuddle him. Throw in some old Misfits as well, and you’re set.

Excellent choice. This album is one of the greatest door openers into indie rock ever made, heavily inspired by Sonic Youth and Fugazi, but much, much more accessible. ‘Relationship Of Command’ by At The Drive-In is another great and in many ways similar album, perfect for converting unsuspecting friends. I gave a friend of mine this album last fall, and now he’s listening to everything from Pavement to Joy Division to Brian Eno. Before that he was into to Pennywise and Korn.

Oh, and you really can’t go wrong with classics like ‘Doolittle’ or ‘Repeater.’

8

I don’t really have any band recommendations but I do think that if you want to expand your friends’ musical tastes, you have to be very careful. Aggressively pushing your music on them won’t work. From the way you’ve described it, your friends seem satisfied with the audio pap that’s provided to them by MTV and Clear Channel and would likely resent a “your-mainstream-music-is-crap-listen-to-this-indie-stuff-instead” attitude. I would advise using the passive soft sell. Play the music that you like and think your friends would like in the background while they’re visiting. That way you can expose them to better stuff without hitting them over the head with it. Also, don’t announce to them that we’re hearing “____” unless they ask who it is. That way you’ll know they’re truly interested in the band–unless, of course, they reply, “Turn that shit off!” in which case you’ll know for sure that they aren’t.

9

So what is intrinsically better about one band playing power chords than another? Just buy them a Punk-o-rama or Warped Tour collection (both under $10), and let them figure out what they like themselves. Then if they still choose what’s played on the radio, that’s up to them, right? And because they did make a choice, you can’t insult their musical tastes anymore.

De gustibus non disputandum.

10

I can help with the second guy. I was and still am a Blink 182 fan - I’ll be buying their new album when it comes out next week. But since I first got into Dammit, my musical tastes have evolved, and I’m into a lot more stuff.

Some people may disagree with this, but I think your best bet is emo. Any Blink 182 fan should appreciate Jimmy Eat World (and probably already does considering the popularity of their most recent album). After JEW (played at the wedding of Tom DeLonge - I think, it might have been Mark Hoppus), introduce the Get Up Kids (Blink are big fans), and all of a sudden you’ve got a huge scene of beneath the mainstream artists to interest him in (though, I do concede many may consider emo just as bad as pop punk :))

So now he’s listening to Saves The Day and Thursday and Taking Back Sunday, and worships at the Vagrant altar. Now you start skewing things a bit. The Appleseed Cast take emo in different directions. Death Cab For Cutie and Cursive have definite emo sensibilities but are doing things very differently to those usually associated with the scene.

You’ve done the hard work, the rest of his musical expansion should take care of itself. From DCFC opens up the whole northwest - Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Sleater Kinney, and of course breaks down the electronic music door, via Ben Gibbard’s convinient daliance with Dntel, The Postal Service. Cursive makes him a fan of the whole Saddle Creek label, and now that he’s listening to Bright Eyes, nearly anything will interest him.

Fugazi and Minor Threat can be introduced as the roots of emo. If you haven’t already played him some Sunny Day Real Estate, do it now. And once he’s into Fugazi, you’ve opened up all the great indie bands from the eighties - The Pixies (although they can be introduced earlier as Kurt Cobain influencers), The Replacements, Sonic Youth.

This is how you do it. Ease him in gently. Don’t mock his tastes, just find things to complement them. Good luck.