Metal Reviews

I really do like this album- it has some really fantastic songs, excellent use of psychedelia and well done ideas, the best being Astronomy Domine. But classic Pink Floyd to me is the era between Meddle and the Wall. None of those CDs are perfect, but they're pretty damn close. IMO, I've always found that the albums after Piper and before Meddle have flashes of brilliance but generally don't live up to their potential.

There are some people here, I'm not going to name them, who embrace the "cult is beautiful" religion. They mostly like bands that failed to succeed and dislike those who did (succeed).
So, no, I'm not saying everyone else does. Anus doesn't, neither does Goat or Rio (examples, fyi). But some people do, I know I don't.

Why would anyone other than pre-pubertal 14-yearolds state that they dislike something they actually like? And how the hell do you even know?

I get the feeling that because people, myself included, doesn't like Death Magnetic, you and others get the urge to pull the ""successful-bands-suck"-card. It's bullshit. But what do I know.

I don't think anybody here does that.
Could it be, oh I don't know, that very often a bands new-found success often times coincides with a distinct difference in sound / style? One that appeals more to the mainstream? Now, if a person dislike that band / album / era because of this change in sound and attitude, wouldn't the fact that it is because of the bands success be merely incidental?

Didn't you just kind of contradict yourself by saying Floyd's so-called "pop" music was a disgrace to their name?

Shit, Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall are incredible albums, man, pop or not. I personally don't care what they're labelled or how widely recieved by the masses they were, they are like shots of pure sonic heroin.

What metal_xxx and V said. I am so tired of seeing the "you only don't like them because they're popular!" card played whenever someone here doesn't like a popular band. It's not an argument. It's an obnoxious way of discounting someone's argument by trying to make them look like a snob. These are then usually the same people who, when someone likes a popular band that they don't, will claim that that person only likes their album because they're that band, and would hate it if any other band released it. These lines are pretty much some of the most arrogant shit ever; "FYI I know exactly why some people have different tastes in music than me, and it's because they're petty people."

I agree with you, but allow me to play devil's advocate. Say a band that you love suddenly changes their style up (for the worse) and gets immensely popular. Granted you would resent them for screwing with their sound, but would your resentment be magnified at all simply for the fact that this style change made them a household name? Bear in mind, this is just a question, not accusing anyone of anything.

For me, personally, no way.
The amount of mainstream acceptance has absolutely nothing to do with the value of the music involved.
It just so happens, a lot of the time that mainstream success is the result of a more accessible sound. Not always, but sometimes.

Music is music, regardless of label, following or popularity.
Some good, some bad. Whether or not it is pleasing to the ears or not is the sole criteria for me.

It's like a form of Bizarro, reverse elitism, or something.
People should just listen to what they like and not worry about the distraction of extraneous factors, but there are always going to be people that like to pigeon-hole, classify and divide.
Perhaps it's their way of making sense of things, who knows?

Don't like Pink Floyd much at all tbh. This album is kinda cool but I still never listen to it.

Sigh.

Paramore is awesome.

Sigh.

generic shitty emo/pop band is awesome.

I can't say I've really had a problem with this most of the time, since style shifts and jumps in popularity rarely happen at the exact same time. I mean, most metal bands which have had massive style shifts either became popular before those shifts (say, Metallica with ...And Justice) or released a very good album after shifting their style for a popular album (so, if Megadeth on Countdown to Extinction became more popular in the mainstream by dumbing down the songwriting, Youthanasia was still a kickass album).

If I do get annoyed, it's more at the fans; take In Flames, which has always been popular in the underground scene, but which probably has become more popular since they shifted their style Clayman on. When I went to see them last year, I was pretty disappointed, because they only played three or four songs from before Clayman. But I couldn't really blame them, because very few fans actually cheered when they played songs from The Jester Race and Whoracle; most of them just had this blank look on their face. So I do get frustrated sometimes at fans who don't look into a band's history and don't know their older stuff at all; but I don't resent In Flames for not making music I like anymore. I wish they'd stop sucking, sure, but I can't fault them for getting popular just as they changed their style.

Now, I'm not going to lie; I love smaller bands, just because smaller venues are much more fun for shows- you can hang with the band afterword, there are no huge crowds, it's much more personal. But I don't ever begrudge a band I once liked or still like success.

Hope that answered your question. Probably not, since as usual, I rambled. A lot.

I don't care that much about style shifts because good bands will make good music no matter what genre they're playing.

Judas Priest, "Turbo".

Haven't heard that one yet.

While I don't think people dislike bands specifically because they are popular, I do think that people's perceptions of bands influence their opinions of the band's music. Try listening to some band that you don't like/think is okay and think "what if band x came out with this?". Not to drag this up again, but if you listen to The Crusade and honestly think "what if this record was by Metallica?", you can't say your opinion wouldn't be affected.

This is very true, some people around here just love to say condescending bullshit like this.

Or some people, like me, could give a damn about Trivium altogether. I'm not interested because their music does nothing for me, not because some kids down at the Hot Topic like them. It is possible to just plain not like a popular bands sound, but of course fans of said popular band will dismiss that opinion by saying "you just don't like it because it's popular". It goes both ways.