Hey, I’m doing my part! Anything for a good cause!
Hell is Other People.
Name one tune from the bands I mentioned…
I had every Queen album on vinyl, up through Jazz. Starting with “A Night at the Opera,” I bought them as they came out, so you wouldn’t be that old, sonny: I’m only 36.
Aside from what you’ve written above, I have no idea what your tastes are. But based on the fact that you liked Queen and Jethro Tull, two of my all-time favorites, I’ll make this suggestion: look into a cappella music, which is what I’m listening to now. The first three group names that come to mind for someone unhappy with current music are “m-pact!”, “Rockapella”, and “The Blenders.” “The Bobs” are also good, but they’re quirky, and shoot more for comedy. The Edlos are also great, but their live shows are far better then their studio work. They’re known as “the bad boys of a cappella,” and the first time I saw them they did an a cappella arrangement of “Aqualung.” It was amazing. (Speaking of LSD, they also did an a cappella version of “Herdy-Gerdy,” or however you spell it, by Donovan.)
If you’re interested, you can find stuff by all of these groups at www.singers.com.
Rich
Rockapella?!? Oh, God help us all!
Hell is Other People.
Peter North- If you were offended by that, I’m sorry that you get insulted at the slightest little thing. Let me guess- you have never been an outcast, right?
Anyway…
The quote you used works against you , as well.
‘Personally’ indicates that I, by myself, believe that. It is an opinion, and an opinion cannot be wrong.
Also, ‘most’ indicates that I dont believe ALL above mentioned bands were mockeries- I cannot say that, as I have not heard them all. It isn’t possible to hear EVERY band… have you ever heard mine?
./^_/^\
< o | o >
.<_ | _>
…\U/
Hey, Puffington, you’re a neohippie.
Seriously though, I think there’s a lot of happy music out there. I don’t listen to it much, since it rarely features graphic descriptions of VX gas attacks (“VX Gas Attack”, Skinny Puppy), lab-created bacterial pandemics (“Dead Embryonic Cells”, Sepultura), injuries involving agricultural equipment (“My Severed Head”, Alice Donut), or much else I crave in my music. I saw a little clip of Shania Twain in concert, and though I can’t pronounce her name, she seemed pretty cheerful. In fact, a lot of the women in modern music seem happy about something or other. I mean, Jewel seems pretty happy, despite her inability to afford any opaque clothing; Meredith Brooks seems extremely pleased with her personality flaws; Sarah McLaughlin always has that sultry smile.
There have to be some happy guys in modern music, perhaps even modern rock, but I can’t think of who they are.
I don’t want to make people think like me, I want them to think like me of their own free will.
Maybe in person, or in interviews, but I think the point is to find a musician who infuses their music with happiness. I bought Jewel’s first CD because I liked her voice, but after listening to it I was about ready to break out the razor blades.
What, you don’t like the name? Their music? What? If it’s their music you don’t like, have you heard anything other than the Folger’s commercials?
Rich
Don’t bother Rich. Sake’s trying to cultivate a bad boy image. He has to ridicule “happy” music in order to keep up his self-styled misanthropy.
Beethoven sure was angry. I remember that fourth movement of the 9th Symphony, the “Ode to Anger.”
Sheesh.
-andros-
::flicking cigarette at andros:: Hey, punk! Both Schiller and Beethoven were on the darker side of things. Ludwig van’s physical performance and composition was very dramatic and emotional: some would say it was the heavy metal of his day. Schiller was primarily a writer of tragedies, the Ode to Joy and William Tell being exceptions.
It is only through intense suffering that one can experience intense joy. If you hear no violence, anger or passion in the ninth you are more deaf than Ludwig van.
Oh, and leave the freudian pop-psychology to those who can stay on topic. . .bitch.
Hell is Other People.
Rich: My exasperation was due entirely to the name of the group “Rockapella”: it’s just not right!
Hell is Other People.
Just a side note: Rockapella used to sing on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Question authority–just not mine.
Ludwig Van?
Show some respect, you droog wannabe! Just because the great one was the favorite of a 20th century movie anti-hero doesn’t make Beethoven the poster child for every goth-pseudo-intellectual-faux-anarchist!
Don’t pretend you know anything about LvB. Your shallowness is only too apparent.
Take your “darker side of things” and shove it up your ass; meanwhile, I’ll be listening to Beethoven’s 6th Symphony and be reminded of just how beautiful the world really is.
Elmer: Looks like I struck a nerve, eh?
You’ve got a little problem here: You tell ME to show respect and then you call the Master LvB? Then you proceed to tell me to shove something “up my ass” and in the same breath tell me you’re going to reflect upon “just how beautiful the world really is”. Bi-polar maniac!
Hell is Other People.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys.
And I didn’t mean to say that the ONLY music I like is happy music. The best music is infused with REAL emotion. Most of the artists popping up today are transparently fake. They’re in it for the money and that’s it. (the worst case is many rappers who openly admit that they really don’t care about the music and are “all about the Benjamins”)
In fact, my favorite artist is Tori Amos, whose music is not happy by a long shot. But it’s so fucking real I can TASTE it, and that’s what I love.
Peter, I can honestly say I’ve never heard of a single band on your list…and that’s a good thing! I’ll have to check them out.
Another great band I didn’t mention is Rush. Granted, Geddy Lee sings like a cat with its balls in a vice, but if you can look past that and listen to the words, they’re like no other band I’ve ever heard. The sheer variety of subject matter in their songs is astounding. Also, I appreciate the liberal sprinkling of big words throughout their songs. Props (shudder, sorry I couldn’t think of a better word) to Coldfire for naming himself after one of their better songs.
Other favorites include old Springsteen, They Might Be Giants (the ONLY band I liked in 6th grade and still like today), Pink Floyd, the Police (but Sting solo is putrid), old REM, and Bone Thugz 'n Harmony (betcha didn’t see THAT one coming!).
To borrow a phrase, Saki: Leave the pop-psychology to those who can stay on topic. . .bitch.
Oops! My sincerest apologies to H.H. Munro for that typo!
Thanks, Puff !!
O wait a minute… this is the PIT !
Get stuffed, puff 
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
KMFDM is okay, I guess…but I’d never buy an album by them. As for Rammstein and Metallica, ummm yeah. There are hundreds of bands that play with more emotion than these two “bands”. Puff mentioned Tori Amos, and wow, if you’ve ever seen her live, she plays with real emotion.
Bands like Opeth, Cynic, and Death make Newsted, Ulrich, and Hammett look like the 3 Stooges. Maybe try listening to some bands that can actually play their instruments.
Whar about Celine Dion?
When is somebody gonna tell the bitch to SHUT THE FUCK UP?!
Please continue with your discussion.
I’m done.
Where’s the love, people?
And I tend to agree with the earlier post that said there’s lots of happy music, but none of it rings true. Angry music can always strike a chord, but society’s cynical enough anymore that happy music is viewed like children’s television or something.
A great example of a ‘band’ that shows form over any sort of function or message would be any ‘boy band’, like N’Sync, etc. These groups weren’t designed to send any sort of message or invoke any sort of mood They were designed to make 13 year old girls happy. They’re a pre-fab demographic pleaser, end of story.
I guess if one tries to make ‘happy’ music anymore, one gets grouped in with spiritless, soulless husks of bands like the ones above.
feh, all i know is Rockapella REALLY sucks.
hehe…
Skywise