There will always be bands that folks decide are uncool simply because they are popular. Whatever. People worry about Green Day not being “real” punk and think they are uncool because of that. I don’t get that - the songs either rock or they don’t and, in Green Day’s case, IMHO - enough totally rock to win me over. (fwiw, however, their new single, Know Your Enemy, is tiringly redundant - not nearly as instantly-addictive as the song American Idiot).
So, on that basis - well, DMB doesn’t rock. Pure and simple. To me, rock needs some sort of…danger. Some boundary needs to be pushed - musically/sonically, lyrically, or even just by style. Alice Cooper was dangerous on all three, whereas Bowie wrote some songs that were straight up pop songs but his image was so dangerous in its way that it gave them an edge…and yeah, Bowie wrote dangerous songs and lyrics, too. Even U2 has a bit of danger - whether it is Edge’s guitar work or even their ability to present uplift and hope in a challenging sort of way…
DMB is the antithesis of danger. That is why they have never been cool IMHO - so to me it was never ?“when did they become uncool” - it was, “why are these guys categorized as Rock?”
Not everything DMB has done is awful. The first few songs were fun, Don’t Drink the Water sounded cool to me. I heard Matthews do a solo set at Farm Aid a few years ago and some of it was good. But the stuff wrapped up with it - real stuff and also just stereotypes - sucks on a grand scale.
Ah, okay. I graduated high school in 2003, so I guess I got into them when they were on their way out and wasn’t oversaturated. I’m no longer a huge fan, though I still love them, but I get why people wouldn’t.
Eh, I wouldn’t worry about it. Considering that a lot of people around here have serious geektastical loves that I would consider uncool, it’s only fair they have their uncool opinions.
I like DMB in a general way, but I’m not a diehard fan. I have varied tastes in music that range from outright pop to hardcore punk to old school country and everywhere in between. What anyone considers uncool is nothing I worry about.
DMB fan here. I’m a 34 year old Canadian male. 3 biggest things I hate about Canada: Nickelback, Celen Dion and Corner Gas.
I really enjoy DMB, their studio albums are pretty good. But where they really shine is their live performances.
I’ve seen them in concert twice and was blown away by the talent on stage. I have 4 versions of “Jimmy Thing” and although they are similar they are each unique in some way.
I actually just heard DMB do a live version of Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel) on Sirius the other day and I thought it was great.
And the acoustic stuff that Dave Matthews does with Tim Reynolds is pretty damn good as well.
This was all of high school for me. There was actually an “advice for freshman” column in one of the issues of the school newspaper, and it included something along the lines of “Ahh…Dave Matthews Band. You can never have too much Dave.” I mean, how is that even a piece of advice? People just couldn’t shut up about him. That along with the 3-day DMB camp out at the Gorge every year permanently turned me off to being associated with those freaks, and relegated DMB to “one track on a mix CD” status in my music library.
I can’t really think of any other band that inspired such cult-like behavior in my time.
What’s with all the consensus that Coldplay suck? There two first albums are among the most top few most critically acclaimed albums in their respective years. DMB is not anywhere near that acclaimed, and critics dislike Nickelback.
Coldplay are soft and don’t rock, but they make good music in their genre.
I don’t exactly hate them but like that one song by Live where the placenta falls to the floor, they drag me straight back to high school in 1995, in all of its Lex LaX, Co-Ed Naked and White Hats vs. Manic Panic, WFNX, Dollar a Pound in Kendall Square glory. I was into excessive quantities of eyeliner, experimenting with eurotrashy clothes and Depeche Mode (aka “pussy” goth) so I never really got into them all that much. Crash is the song I remember the most because I think everyone in a certain age range has made out to it (my fashion goth self included) and I still do like it.
I even remember the first time I heard DMB. It was the summer of 95 when I was at UMichigan for debate summer camp (I know!) and my group leader, a fratboy, insisted on making us listen to them while we cut cards (I was cross-ex).
Fry: So I really am important? How I feel when I’m drunk is correct?
Niblonian: Yes - except the Dave Matthews Band doesn’t rock.
Edit: I actually like a few DMB singles from the first half of the 90’s. I hate Nickelback. Clocks is the only thing I’ve heard from Coldplay and I don’t even remember how it sounds.
I really don’t know Nickelback well enough to comment, but I’ll agree that DMB and Coldplay aren’t bad, but they’re not rock and they’re way overexposed. I do listen to them, but in a general way; I won’t seek them out.
Another band that recently underwent an “overexposed” backlash is Death Cab For Cutie. They’re not bad, but their later albums didn’t live up to their overplayed first albums.
Nickelback’s first CD was pretty good. They thought so too, and remade it with slightly different lyrics several more times. I’m just surprised that I never hear a “new” song set to the music of my favorite song of theirs, “Leader of Men.”