# new Tori Amos album looks to be the most embarrassing release in history of music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551 "2007-04-25T02:48:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/1 "2007-04-25T02:48:53Z")
[“American Doll Posse?!”](http://www.myspace.com/toriamos) I was a big Tori fan in high school and didn’t even realize that she was still doing music. It looks like she’s gone “political” with this one; the leadoff song “Yo, George” is one of the most embarrassingly bad things I’ve ever heard. Give it up, babe! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/2 "2007-04-25T03:47:48Z")
The cover sucks too. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/3 "2007-04-25T03:57:42Z")
I’ve always disliked this “artist”. Why change now? Holy Moley! I’ve got a “private message”! I’m outta here! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/4 "2007-04-25T04:00:36Z")
_Big Wheel_’s kind of catchy and I’d still do her in a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/5 "2007-04-25T04:01:22Z")
This one will rank down there with _Strange Little Girls_. Ack. She got political with _Scarlet’s Walk_ in a non-sucky way. But this MPD-based crap, No Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![berff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@berff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berff)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/6 "2007-04-25T04:55:05Z")
I actually love her new album, but then again I like almost everything she puts out. I don’t really care for the concept on this album, but the songs themselves are amazing. A few of the songs are a little too radio friendly in my opinion, but the only bad song is Big Wheel. It’s no Scarlet’s Walk, but it’s still better than Little Earthquakes. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/7 "2007-04-25T04:57:20Z")
Tori Amos is still on my very short “must buy” list - music I’ll buy sight unseen (sound unheard?) because the artist is one of my very faves, so I’m looking forward to the new album. She’s always been bizarre though, so I’ve come to expect that from at least a few tracks on the album. And I’m curious about your reaction to “Yo George” **VCO3**. Tastes differ of course, but I can’t see how you can call it “one of the most embarrassingly bad things I’ve ever heard.” I don’t think it’s great, or even good, but that bad? I hadn’t heard the song yet when I read your comment and looked it up on her site expecting an absolute abomination. I find the whole “I-I-I am an M I L F don’t you for-get” nonsense in Big Wheel to be far more embarrassing. “Bouncing Off Clouds” sounds great though (all three songs I mentioned can be heard on her [website](http://www.toriamos.com/) or [myspace page](http://www.myspace.com/toriamos)). I can’t wait. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/8 "2007-04-25T08:18:10Z")
Why Kant Tori Die? ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/9 "2007-04-25T09:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=Slacker] I find the whole “I-I-I am an M I L F don’t you for-get” nonsense in Big Wheel to be far more embarrassing. [/QUOTE] I figured this was what the OP came in to talk about. Heard it on both “indie” stations in my area yesterday. I thought they weren’t beholden to the concept of playing a particular track off a new album… I guess I was wrong. I can imagine one DJ deciding this was going to be a hit, but there’s no way that two separate people living near Baltimore like this song enough to play it on the air during drive-time. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/10 "2007-04-25T10:03:32Z")
[QUOTE=Jurph] I figured this was what the OP came in to talk about. Heard it on both “indie” stations in my area yesterday. I thought they weren’t beholden to the concept of playing a particular track off a new album… I guess I was wrong. I can imagine one DJ deciding this was going to be a hit, but there’s no way that two separate people living near Baltimore like this song enough to play it on the air during drive-time. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard this song a few times now on WRNR, which I assume is one of the stations you’re talking about. Can’t say it does much for me. (And since MILF stands for “Mother I’d Like to Fuck” she’s singing that she’d like to fuck herself. Whatever.) No question that WRNR gets a playlist from _somewhere_. Their DJs may have some latitude to mix in some surprises, but they wouldn’t have been incessantly pounding the Raconteurs’ “Steady As She Goes” into our heads for months last year (and gawd, what a mediocre, leaden piece of crap that was) before they played another song off the album, unless they were operating on rules that said, “Here’s what the heavy-rotation songs are.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/11 "2007-04-25T10:10:31Z")
> [@](#): > > The “American Doll Posse” of the title consists of five different female characters that Amos “developed around the album’s 20 tracks”… The characters represent different aspects of Tori’s own personality:… > > On her next tour to promote the album, Tori will open each show dressed as a different character. > **Isabel** > Isabel (His **TORI** cal) is based upon the Greek mythological goddess of the hunt Artemis and is the voice of the tracks “Yo George”, “Mr. Bad Man”, “Devils & Gods”, “Almost Rosey” and “Dark Side Of The Sun”. She is a photographer and is the most outwardly political. > **Clyde** > Clyde (Cli **TORI** des) is based upon the Greek mythological queen of the underworld Persephone and is the voice of the tracks “Bouncing Off Clouds”, “Girl Disappearing”, “Roosterspur Bridge” and “Beauty Of Speed” Clyde “wears her emotional wounds on her sleeve, but remains idealistic. She is looking at the effects of not being a whole person. She is trying to figure out what she believes in and she is dealing with having been disappointed in her life”. > **Pip** > Pip (Expira **TORI** al) is based upon the Greek mythological goddess of war and wisdom Athena and is the voice of the tracks “Teenage Hustling”, “Fat Slut”, “Body & Soul” (with Santa), “Velvet Revolution” and “Smokey Joe”. She is a “warrior woman” and is confrontational. > **Santa** > Santa (Sana **TORI** um) is based upon the Greek mythological goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite and is the voice of the tracks “You Can Bring Your Dog”, “Secret Spell”, “Body & Soul” (with Pip), “Programmable Soda” and “Dragon”. She is sensual and passionate. > **Tori** > Tori (Terra **TORI** es) is based upon the Greek mythological agricultural gods Demeter and Dionysus and is the voice of the tracks “Big Wheel”, “Digital Ghost”, “Father’s Son”, “Code Red” and “Posse Bonus”. She appears to be a caricature of the artist herself, with promotional images released depicting the character holding sage and with a Bible in one hand and the word ‘shame’ scrawled across the other. (from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Doll_Posse) I think my eyes just rolled right out of their sockets. It sounds like purga **TORI** to me… ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/12 "2007-04-25T12:22:38Z")
The beginning of Yo George “I salute to you, Commander, and I sneeze, 'Cause I have now an allergy to your policies…” is painfully bad. But the rest of the song is OK, and I do like the piano. I’ve been a Tori fan for years. I haven’t been offended by her anti-C’tianity so I’m not going to get offended by her anti-G.W.Bushism either. As far as her “posse” of characters, well- Tori is America’s Kate Bush, delightfully balmy, though also much more musically prolific. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/13 "2007-04-25T13:46:20Z")
_Chinese Democracy_; _Transformed Man_; _In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy_. That said: I’ve got all but one of Tori’s albums, and I might have a hard time shelling out for this one because the concept is embarrassingly bad. (I’ll check out the songs first.) The thing is, she’s done concept-type albums before and you would never have a clue what the concept from listening, so it doesn’t have much impact on the songs. Her last album was pretty flat, so mixing it up is probably a good thing. And she’s always dealt with religious and sexual issues, so getting into politics isn’t exactly a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/14 "2007-04-25T16:32:17Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] . . . Tori is America’s Kate Bush . . . [/QUOTE] Oh my god, the horror. Tori is only _Tori’s_ Kate Bush; she is at BEST a poor man’s Kate Bush–a very, very, VERY poor man, a man who died of starvation long ago. Comparing Tori Amos to Kate Bush is like comparing an outhouse to the Taj Mahal because they both have a door. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/15 "2007-04-25T16:38:25Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] (from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Doll_Posse) I think my eyes just rolled right out of their sockets. It sounds like purga **TORI** to me… [/QUOTE] It’s the soundtrack at the vomi **TORI** um. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/16 "2007-04-25T16:40:36Z")
She’ll never be the \*\*HEAD \*\* of a major corporation… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/17 "2007-04-25T16:52:38Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Oh my god, the horror. Tori is only _Tori’s_ Kate Bush; she is at BEST a poor man’s Kate Bush–a very, very, VERY poor man, a man who died of starvation long ago. Comparing Tori Amos to Kate Bush is like comparing an outhouse to the Taj Mahal because they both have a door. [/QUOTE] Piffle. You may not like the comparison, but everyone I’ve introduced Kate Bush to has said, “She sounds like Tori Amos.” I do point out that influence is the other way round, of course. And Kate, despite all her talents, pretty much jumped the shark with _The Sensual World_. Tori appears to have a few good songs left in her still. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/18 "2007-04-25T17:36:21Z")
Sure, if by\* “jumped the shark” \*you mean _“refused to beat the same drum she beat as a very young woman and allowed her music to mature as she matured.”_ Although, it seems to me that the artists who become parodies of their younger selves into their dotage are the real shark jumpers; Kate just moved on, like a real person. And just because Tori “Born in midair over a shark” Amos makes tiny, tinny attempts to place herself in Kate’s shadow doesn’t mean there is any \*valid \*comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/19 "2007-04-25T17:49:23Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Sure, if by\* “jumped the shark” \*you mean _“refused to beat the same drum she beat as a very young woman and allowed her music to mature as she matured.”_ Although, it seems to me that the artists who become parodies of their younger selves into their dotage are the real shark jumpers; Kate just moved on, like a real person. [/quote] If by “mature” you mean “whiny, introspective music which keeps bleeting about how hard it is to be a woman” then you’re right. > [@](#): > > And just because Tori “Born in midair over a shark” Amos makes tiny, tinny attempts to place herself in Kate’s shadow doesn’t mean there is any \*valid \*comparison. Just because _you_ don’t happen to like Tori, doesn’t mean the comparison _isn’t_ valid. Face it, you’re too wrapped up in the matter to be dispassionate about it. Of course, I’d be willing to bet that Verhoven used one of Tori’s songs in one of his movies, you’d change your mind about her toot sweet. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551/20 "2007-04-25T18:18:31Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Face it, you’re too wrapped up in the matter to be dispassionate about it. Of course, I’d be willing to bet that Verhoven used one of Tori’s songs in one of his movies, you’d change your mind about her toot sweet. [/QUOTE] **Tuckerfan** , Cafe Society is meant for discussion about art and artists (among other things); the personality of another poster–or even what you feel is the personality–is irrelevant to the discussion. Please do not do this again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-tori-amos-album-looks-to-be-the-most-embarrassing-release-in-history-of-music/401551.md?page=2)