Controversial or unpopular opinions

[foreverblue]

Speaking of Van Halen, my unpopular opinion would be I didn't like A Different Kind of Truth all that much.

A reunion with dave promised so much and ended up delivering so little. It's the first vh album that didn't have me engrossed

 

[Khor1255]

Van Halen ... oh don't get me started.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

Originally Posted by Fever View Post

Disco Strangler is far better than I Can't Tell You Why

I like the Eagles but nothing by Timothy B.Schmit.Randy Meisner was far better.

I Can't Tell You Why is a bit meh (it was though only one of the few songs on the album that came from an idea instead of sheer desperation), but the outro guitar solo is beautiful and probably the second most creative after Hotel California. It was also played by Glenn Frey, as opposed to Joe Walsh or (as he did in concerts) Don Felder.

I prefer Randy Meisner too, I really like all of the Eagles song he wrote or sung (Take It To The Limit is a classic, but Take The Devil, Certain Kind Of Fool, Too Many Hands and Try And Love Again are also great songs IMO). I can't agree with The Disco Strangler being better than I Can't Tell You Why, though - I can take or leave Timothy Schmit's vocals, the keyboard parts are nice but I definitely agree the highlight is that lovely guitar solo.

I find the harmony vocals on The Long Run are not quite as strong without Randy Meisner compared to the first five albums (although there are some songs like Those Shoes where Schmit's vocals are a better fit I think). However, I don't think the Eagles missed Bernie Leadon on Hotel California, either vocally or instrumentally.

I thought of another one. I can't stand Oasis. I heard so much good stuff about them at the time and people told me if I liked the Beatles, I would love Oasis. Not so. I picked up a couple CD's from them (Definitely Maybe and Whats The Story Morning Glory) and hated both of them. I listened to those two CD's at least 20 times a piece and I just could not get into them. I ended up trading them to a friend for a BJ Thomas Greatest Hits CD and I made out for the better.

Have to agree here, Oasis are definitely overrated in the UK - I don't hate them, some of their songs do have a pleasingly epic quality (Don't Look Back In Anger especially, Wonderwall however I think is probably their single most overrated song). I just don't think they deserved all the attention they got. Not so sure if they're overrated across the pond - I don't think they ever quite broke America.

* I think the Beatles were pussified by Martin and McCartney. They had many moments of brilliance, but a lot of childish and middle of the road songs make listening to there albums hard.

I think I'd agree with this, my indifference to The Beatles comes largely from being exposed too much to the 'wrong' songs - most written by McCartney (Ob La Di, Ob La Da for instance).

* dire straits on every street was just mark knopler trying to duplicate brothers in arms

Related to this, I don't think Brothers In Arms is as good as the first four Dire Straits albums, and is a clear step down from the previous two (Making Movies and Love Over Gold). Also, a lot of people consider the first three tracks to be the best on the album, but I prefer the songs on side two which have superior songwriting, while Walk Of Life is one of the least impressive Straits songs for my money.

 

[foreverblue]

I prefer Randy Meisner too, I really like all of the Eagles song he wrote or sung (Take It To The Limit is a classic, but Take The Devil, Certain Kind Of Fool, Too Many Hands and Try And Love Again are also great songs IMO). I can't agree with The Disco Strangler being better than I Can't Tell You Why, though - I can take or leave Timothy Schmit's vocals, the keyboard parts are nice but I definitely agree the highlight is that lovely guitar solo.

I find the harmony vocals on The Long Run are not quite as strong without Randy Meisner compared to the first five albums (although there are some songs like Those Shoes where Schmit's vocals are a better fit I think). However, I don't think the Eagles missed Bernie Leadon on Hotel California, either vocally or instrumentally.



Have to agree here, Oasis are definitely overrated in the UK - I don't hate them, some of their songs do have a pleasingly epic quality (Don't Look Back In Anger especially, Wonderwall however I think is probably their single most overrated song). I just don't think they deserved all the attention they got. Not so sure if they're overrated across the pond - I don't think they ever quite broke America.



I think I'd agree with this, my indifference to The Beatles comes largely from being exposed too much to the 'wrong' songs - most written by McCartney (Ob La Di, Ob La Da for instance).



Related to this, I don't think Brothers In Arms is as good as the first four Dire Straits albums, and is a clear step down from the previous two (Making Movies and Love Over Gold). Also, a lot of people consider the first three tracks to be the best on the album, but I prefer the songs on side two which have superior songwriting, while Walk Of Life is one of the least impressive Straits songs for my money.

I agree totally the first 4 albums are classics. Wasn't knopler wearing the headbands in 91 too.

 

[AboutAGirl]

I think Tom Petty's 90s period is his all-time best work, from about 89 to 99. With Full Moon Fever in '89 he hit the peak of his pop-songwriting prowess (as it's his biggest commercial album). And then in the 90s with the alt-explosion Tom took those skills and applied them to folkier, earthier, more organic music unlike the synthier stuff he had been doing in the 80s. It was a perfect storm, his pop chops were still at their peak but he was writing the most introspective, deepest material yet.

Don't get me wrong, I love every single Petty album. Even the worst ones have a few absolutely amazing songs on them. And the s/t debut may be Petty's best album ever, it's definitely around there. But if we're talking song for song, I like his folkier material the most. And Damn the Torpedoes just isn't as good to me as most people have it.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

I agree totally the first 4 albums are classics. Wasn't knopler wearing the headbands in 91 too.

Don't know about the headband, I couldn't really care less - he manages to play this (fantastic performance by the way) just fine while wearing a headband...



I think part of what made the early Dire Straits material great was that their blues-influenced music was out of fashion when they came along - the easy route would have been for them to imitate the punks, but Knopfler wasn't afraid to go against the grain with material that played to the strengths of the band rather than attempting to keep up with what was going on around them. By the time Brothers In Arms came around they fitted in more with what other artists were doing at the time.

 

[Starchild]

Rush is the most polarizing band of all. People either love them or hate them. I think it mostly has to do with Geddy Lee's voice. Their song lyrics and subject matter don't appeal to most women. Their audience is something like 95% male. They're not known for love songs. Wikipedia lumps them into a geek rock category along with Weezer and the Barenaked Ladies. CNN once wrote an article that it's not cool to like Rush. Rolling Stone wrote something about Rush being Geek Gods when the band was on the cover of that magazine. They're a niche band with a cult following.

 

[SanguineRemedy]

Oh, here we go...

Guns n' Roses, Bon Jovi, Journey, and Styx (when Styx became more mainstream) are all hot garbage.

 

[Romulus]

Oasis admittedly had one or two good songs. But to look at live is depressing, looked like some yobbos wearing anoraks, and I could not fathom why this anorak man was so aggressive to every one.? Its all so wet.

 

[Romulus]

Don't know about the headband, I couldn't really care less - he manages to play this (fantastic performance by the way) just fine while wearing a headband...



I think part of what made the early Dire Straits material great was that their blues-influenced music was out of fashion when they came along - the easy route would have been for them to imitate the punks, but Knopfler wasn't afraid to go against the grain with material that played to the strengths of the band rather than attempting to keep up with what was going on around them. By the time Brothers In Arms came around they fitted in more with what other artists were doing at the time.

I think Knopfler knew the more winning formula of melody in rock/blues which he was very good at founded on very attractive individual guitar style. I can't imagine Knopfler imitating punk. Additionally for me all his albums Studio or live were exquisitely produced or recorded, no matter how bad the HiFi was in sound quality, his albums sounded sublime (good choice of music to sell HiFi gear to customers!).

The young man on the video next to Knopfler I recognise from the days he use to play for Slack Alice. His move from Slack Alice to Dire Straits must of been quite a rise in his musical rock career..!