And I like discussions. Mostly because I like hearing myself talk, but occasionally I hear something worth listening to. But mostly because I like hearing myself talk.
Anyway, so let's talk about some of our musical interests.
Recently I've been listening to a CD by Lily Allen, and found that of the people I've asked to listen I've gotten a few people shaking their heads in disbelief, and all the girls at my work asking me to give them a copy. I find this amusing. Personally, I like the discordance you get between the generally poppy upbeat tune and music contrasted with the lyrics, which are defitely not.
Also of late I've been hearing some songs suggested by Dark Stryke, that while good, seems a bit too... what's the word I'm looking for... grandiose to listen to constantly.
Anyway, I've talked enough for the moment, so I'll let a few people post before I butt back in and try to brainwash you with my opinions some more. Because they're better then yours.
I get annoyed at people who hate other people for not liking their choice of music. I don't really care if people like Nine Inch Nails (or Trent Reznor) or not.
Now, if you want to insult me for it, well, that's just as shallow.
I'd like to say that I have a wide taste, but really I like rock/indie/industrial/some metal (more popular metal than "real" metal). I range from the Beatles to the Monkees to Nine Inch Nails to Tori Amos to Splashdown (which I do like to tell people to check out, since they actually have free MP3s for download) to Covenant to Metallica to Billy Idol to my first love, Sting.
I generally don't like instrumentals because I enjoy singing and the clever wordplay. Most of my favored artists have an enhanced use of metaphor and wordplay (Sting pretty much built a career on it, though he's gotten sloppy in the last few albums).
While I have an amount of loyalty to artists, I also feel free to call them to task. I didn't like The Fragile by NIN - it felt bloated and overproduced. [With_Teeth], IMO, is their best album to date. The whole album was great. I was disappointed with Year Zero because it was too political.
I like art in general that is more ... universal than "current". Political art is always lacking once the politics have passed. While I like music that has a general purpose, I dislike it if it gets too specific (Example: Fragile vs They Dance Alone, both by Sting, both on ...Nothing Like The Sun).
But lyrics will get me.
And yes, Escher, most of the stuff I listen to could be described as "grandoise", though to be fair I've mostly been suggesting character themes, and I always try to find a song that portrays the character at their most badass.
I browse the library on Rhapsody. A lot. Recently I discovered Within Temptation (Dutch goth/symphonic metal) and downloaded everything from them I could get my hands on. (Yes, I paid. No piracy.)
One song in particular, Hand of Sorrow, got me thinking, "That'd make an interesting character background." After a little more research I discovered the song was based on The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb; it already was somebody's character background!
In the end, I liked the song better than the novel. And my latest character owes a lot to that.
PtM
Some four years ago, I listened to two kinds of music: classical and the Beatles. That was it.
I then went to America, and discovered Nightwish. I got my hands on everything from them, and I loved them. Went on listening to nothing else for half a year. Then, I began to search for similar experiences, which got me into Within Temptation (HoS rocks indeed) and Evanescence at first, and into Epica, After Forever, Xandria, Krypteria and the likes later on - basically, any kind of gothic/symphonic metal.
This sounds pretty random, but getting back to Germany, I began for no good reason to listen to Bullet for my Valentine (no, I'm not emo, I just like their riffing). That sort of got me into heavier stuff, and I began adding power metal to my iTunes repertoire - mainly Manowar and Sabaton.
Then came the time where I once again began heavily playing Vampire: the Masquerade. Looking for music suggestions to accompany it, I got into older gothic rock: Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, The Cure. Later added Poisonblack as a Bullet substitute.
I then had a major academic project going on over almost a year, which kept me from listening to my usual music as it would distract me. So I searched for Ambient music. The band Arcana made me love Darkwave, Dargaard and Mortiis followed soon after. Also liked the industrial version (Ice Ages).
Somewhere along there, I cannot remember how exactly, I got my hands on the first Devil Doll album (The Girl Who Was... Death). Their insane genius and Lovecraftian lyrics made them my favourite band ever. I own all of their albums and am one of the fans still hoping for a new release - the last was ten years ago...
Two other bands worth mentioning include Summoning, a black metal band with mostly Tolkien-inspired lyrics. They made part of the soundtrack for the excellent Damnatus fan movie, and their general epic-ness quite inspired me; and Ataraxia, a recently-discovered medieval/neoclassical band with an ethereal tinge to their music.
My library is rounded out by few movie and game soundtracks, such as "Oceania, 'tis for thee" (1984), "I Stand Alone" (Prince of Persia: WW) and "One-Winged Angel" (FFVII).
I tend to like some darker music as well, which is why I listen to Marilyn Manson, Slayer, and other bands along those lines, but I also listen to some more upbeat stuff as well. I like bands that are different, I'm tired of finding Metallica rip-offs. (and I'm a bit tired of Metallica to be honest)
I listen to a little bit of rap, but not much. I just like the songs that make me laugh my ass off, like The Real Slim Shady, or Just Lose It (both by Eminem) I hate songs that just talk about the cars they own, the drugs they're on, the people they've shot up, and the chicks that they did.
One band that I've been listening to a lot lately is Sabaton. It's a power metal band with WW2 inspired lyrics. When I listen to that music, it makes me want to go out and kill Nazis.
And so the Lord sayeth unto Abraham: Go'eth out and kick the Nazis betwix the legs.
One band that I've been listening to a lot lately is Sabaton. It's a power metal band with WW2 inspired lyrics. When I listen to that music, it makes me want to go out and kill Nazis.
Actually, it makes me want to go out and conquer France :D .
@ Cherub: Eh, that really isn't a challenge, France sucks at fighting. I prefer a challenge.
I really like Rage Against The Machine, especially the song Take The Power Back. I like how it makes some political points, and talks about the screwed up school system.
...Arguably you could say I'm not lying.
I've been listening to some of Nightwish's older music (I recently got the Highest Hopes album) and I think I like Tarja Turunen's voice better than the new singer. The new one is still pretty good, just not AS good.
And I listened to Metallica's new album. I must say that I am disappointed with it. I heard that the song All Nightmare Long was supposed to be the best on the album, but I thought it was terrible. And here I was, hoping that Metallica would get good again. Silly me.
I've been listening to some of Nightwish's older music (I recently got the Highest Hopes album) and I think I like Tarja Turunen's voice better than the new singer. The new one is still pretty good, just not AS good.
I couldn't agree more.
I've been listening to some of Nightwish's older music (I recently got the Highest Hopes album) and I think I like Tarja Turunen's voice better than the new singer. The new one is still pretty good, just not AS good.
It's not only that. I also think that musically, the old stuff is much better. I got all excited about Dark Passion Play when it came out. Today, I hardly listen to it anymore, and find most of the songs vaguely annoying. But Angels Fall First, Oceanborn or Century Child? Any day. Not only because of the singer. It's about something different... not sure what though.
à propos France: first, about the music, I think Ghost Division is better than Reign of Evil by several orders of magnitude. But to your point: I actually think that today, invading France would be a lot harder than finding some neo-nazis in Berlin (the old ones are all dead, aren't they?) and kick the ever-living crap out of them. Plus, you can invade France with Panzers. It's even a moral obligation. And it's a big and beautiful country full of delicious wine and cheese and old castles to inhabit. A Hell of a lot more rewarding than killing some racist street punks.
Now, back to the french and Nazis. When I say I want to go kill Nazi scum, I'm talking about them in the height of their power, not the wannabes that you find today. But invading France would be fun as well.
I like some of the new songs, but some of them just aren't very good. I like about 3/4ths of the Dark Passion Play. Why DID they ditch the old singer, anyways?
Now, back to the french and Nazis. When I say I want to go kill Nazi scum, I'm talking about them in the height of their power, not the wannabes that you find today. But invading France would be fun as well.
That I can agree on.
Why they ditched Tarja.
And I like Tarja better, too.
Anyway, I don't have any definite taste for music; I like some songs, mostly of completely different genres, and with no connection whatsoever. Usually I, however, just listen to classical or 'neoclassical' (as in orchestral movie soundtracks and alike) music, with preference to romantic music, ie music from the 19th century.
For some reason, my friends tell me I'm weird when it comes to music.
I really need to be in a certain mood to listen to classical stuff, and most of the rap lyrics I've heard have just been lame - lyrics need to actually say something in order to interest me.
However, I've always been more about individual songs than artists or genres, so I've got everything on my computer from ABBA and Beethoven to Willie Nelson and ZZ Top.
Although I was born in '72, I started out listening to older stuff from the 50's-70's as a kid, mostly because it was what my parents had on the radio. I also got into things like Janis Joplin and the Greatful Dead.
I really dug the 60's-70's stuff because it was an era of real songwriters who had something to say with their music.
In the 80's it was stuff like Heart, AC/DC, Van Halen, etc, and then some of the better hair metal bands and G'nR... I never got into heavy metal much, although most of the guys in my neighborhood were into it. Things like the Scorpions and Great White were about as heavy as I got.
I don't remember too many really good bands from the 90's... I never got into grunge or electronic stuff.
The stack of random CD's beside my arm as I type this includes... a learning cd of Irish whistle tunes, Billy Ray Cyrus, The Corrs, Evanescence, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Concrete Blonde, Andrea Bocelli, Guns'N'Roses, Dropkick Murphys, Harry Chapin, Blackmore's Night, Susan McKeown, Siouxie and the Banshees, Billy Joel, Cowboy Junkies, Nightwish, and a 3-cd set of "Celtic Favorites"... If there's a theme in there other than "stuff with good lyrics that sounds nice", I don't see it, lol. :D
I cannot get enough of this music. If you're into ambient, you can hear some of their songs for free at the above link. Let me know what you think.
PtM
(Note: If this constitutes an 'advertisement' under the CoC, I'll remove it.)
MiniRant on Band Names
I hate bands that are guy bands that have good names for girl bands. Queens of the Stone Age, Wolfmother, She Wants Revenge, etc, I could go on. Just a pet peeve that has nothing to do with music (I actually like those bands I listed).
I've been listening to a lot of Static-X lately, and have been debating on whether I want to buy the album 'Cult of Static' or go for Cannibal or Machine before I get that one.
My new favorite band is Rhea's Obsession.
I cannot get enough of this music. If you're into ambient, you can hear some of their songs for free at the above link. Let me know what you think.
PtM
(Note: If this constitutes an 'advertisement' under the CoC, I'll remove it.)
Not bad, not bad at all
!
...(real) metal: Sepultura, Slayer, My Dying Bride, Obituary, Pantera, Type O Negative, Carcass, Fear Factory, etc.
synth indutrial: NIN, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Wumpscut, Zombie Girl, Lords of Acid, Thrill Kill Kult, Velvet Acid Christ
guitar industrial: Ministry, Chemlab, Kidney Thieves, Zeromancer, Pigface, KMFDM, etc.
Indie Rock: Dandy Warhols, Sunny Day Real Estate, GBV, Man...or Astro Man, Archers of Loaf, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, Fugazi, Cibo Matto, etc.
Punk: L7, The Horrors, Dead Kennedys, Lard, Crass, Mindless Self Indulgence
Electronica: Juno Reactor, Chem Bros., Meat Beat Manifesto, Fluke, Prodigy
Trip Hop: Massive Attack, Tricky, Portishead
Turntableism: DJ Shadow, Rob Swift & the X-ecutioners, Spectre, Mr. Dibbs.
Hip Hop: Mos Def, Arrested Developement, Wyclef/Fugees, etc.
Rap: NWA, Gravediggaz, older Ice Cube, MC Chris (kinda' punk too though)
Goth: Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, London After Midnight, Rossetta Stone,
Switchblade Symphony, The Wake, etc.
Folky Country?: Emmy Lou Harris, Chris Issak, Willie Nelson
And a zillion others. Deche Mode, Tori Amos, Poe, Ruby, Cake, Blur'illaz, M.I.A...
'K' Ghosty's Super Sounds of the OTT keeps on...truckin'
The lyrics is very important to me, I hate songs where the lyrics are meaningless and are there to just fill missing parts of the song.
QFT. Please forgive me for mutilating your original post.
Also, you get points for Static X. ;)
I'm a pretentious...human being...haha. Music is a big deal to me, so I'm choosy about what makes my list. "Good" music can come from any artist, band, or composer, and as far as I'm concerned "genre" is irrelevant, except as a tool to help me find more of something I hear and like. I choose based on some combination of the following traits: lyrical complexity and/or quality, instrumentation, composition, quality of vocals, and technical excellence.
Music is subjective; it's possible to analyze it objectively, but only to a limited extent, and only the most technical aspects. What's beautiful or relevant is personal--sometimes deeply so. I am actually loath to tell someone my favorite song, even the "of the moment" one. To me that's even more telling than the way I dress or talk, or the friends I choose.
That isn't to say that I find musical preference a useful tool for judging other people; as far as I can see, all judgment is intrinsically worthless. I just think that musical preference in general, and favorite songs in particular, can indicate personality a little bit.
It's got powerful lyrics, a strong musical back up that really helps it, and overall it's something that I can use as inspiration for characters, not to mention that it's a fun song to sing along with.
O'course, it sounds to me like she probably had something specific in mind, but I'm not sure what the intended message was... it could just be a generic 'look at the crapsack world we're finding ourselves in', but it sounds (sometimes) like there could be more.
/shrug
That isn't to say that I find musical preference a useful tool for judging other people; as far as I can see, all judgment is intrinsically worthless. I just think that musical preference in general, and favorite songs in particular, can indicate personality a little bit.
So does that mean that I'm an evil, rebellious, angsty Satan worshipper because I listen to these bands?
My music
Metallica
Slayer
Marilyn Manson
Slipknot
Linkin Park
Pantera
Story of The Year
Nightwish
Amon Amarth
Static-X
Papa Roach
Children of Bodom
In Flames
System of A Down
Eminem
Mudvayne
White Zombie
Megadeth
Drowning Pool
Sabaton
Disturbed
Kamelot
Rhapsody of Fire
Iced Earth
Grave Digger
Korn
Hammerfall
Evanescence
The Offspring
Iron Maiden
SOiL
Stratovarious
Within Temptation
Breaking Benjamin
Metallica
Slayer
Marilyn Manson
Slipknot
Linkin Park
Pantera
Story of The Year
Nightwish
Amon Amarth
Static-X
Papa Roach
Children of Bodom
In Flames
System of A Down
Eminem
Mudvayne
White Zombie
Megadeth
Drowning Pool
Sabaton
Disturbed
Kamelot
Rhapsody of Fire
Iced Earth
Grave Digger
Korn
Hammerfall
Evanescence
The Offspring
Iron Maiden
SOiL
Stratovarious
Within Temptation
Breaking Benjamin
Nah, I think it just means you're a case study in 'Anger Management Red Flags'.
What a discovery
.OH! Just remembered some more.
Rage Against The Machine
Rammstein
D12
Devil May Cry soundtracks
The Monkeys
Oh, and since this is the Music Discussion Thread: you seem to like gothic/symphonic metal and this is one of my favourite genres; some recommendations:
Evanescence (Duh)
After Forever
Xandria
Aesma Daeva
Krypteria
Lacuna Coil
Blackmore's Night
Epica
Just my two cents should you care.
/shameless plug for some friends
LISTEN TO A BAND OF ORCS! They are freaking awesome.
I wish I could plug for some friends as well, but the future of their band is... uncertain. Plus, indie would sort of interrupt the flow of the current discussion...
Wow, like we all didn't know that already, EE. (BUt seriously, have you listened to Slayer's lyrics? That band just screams devil-worship, really)
Hey, that's what your choice in music says to me. The fact that it's affirmed by the other things we know is just convenient.
As for the devil worship... eh. Very few people believe themselves truely evil, and as such actual devil worship (that is, worship of the Satan character from Christian mythology) is pretty damn rare. More often people will label something they disapprove of as 'devil worship', when in fact it's something else entirely.
... But then, you probably weren't looking for a lecture, were you?
OK, the all-caps text made that hard to understand. Is their name "Band of Orcs" or "Listen to a band of Orcs!". Or are they a band of orcs?
I wish I could plug for some friends as well, but the future of their band is... uncertain. Plus, indie would sort of interrupt the flow of the current discussion...
hehehe, it's A Band of Orcs. They're what you get when you mix death metal and orcs.
hehehe, it's A Band of Orcs. They're what you get when you mix death metal and orcs.
*sound of door silently closing*
CRAAACK!!!
Got a 1 on my Move Silently check. What the Hell.
RUN!!!
Well...
... I don't like Death Metal...
... I don't like orcs...
... so the combination scares the crap out of me...
... didn't mean to sadden you, though
.Also, I don't know what genre it would be, but I like just about anything by Midnight Syndicate.
*Here are some of the metal bands that I love:
Amon Amarth
Black Label Society
In Flames
Cradle of Filth
Dimmu Borgir
Behemoth
you get the picture lol.
In terms of genre alone, I enjoy metal, be it speed metal in the vein of Dragonforce, symphonic power metal à la Nightwish, or what have you.
*Anything Nobuo Uematsu touches turns to gold. I can only theorize about what happens when one combines Joss Whedon and Nobuo Uematsu. Certainly, it'd be like the sheer awesome created by an awesome-star reaching critical mass, then collapsing into an awesome-hole, so dense a concentration of awesome that even light is sucked in, to protect our mortal eyes from the pure and holy radiance. ;) Not really a fanboy, although they do do good work.
So does that mean that I'm an evil, rebellious, angsty Satan worshipper because I listen to these bands?My music
Metallica
Slayer
Marilyn Manson
Slipknot
Linkin Park
Pantera
Story of The Year
Nightwish
Amon Amarth
Static-X
Papa Roach
Children of Bodom
In Flames
System of A Down
Eminem
Mudvayne
White Zombie
Megadeth
Drowning Pool
Sabaton
Disturbed
Kamelot
Rhapsody of Fire
Iced Earth
Grave Digger
Korn
Hammerfall
Evanescence
The Offspring
Iron Maiden
SOiL
Stratovarious
Within Temptation
Breaking Benjamin
Nope. It just means that something in this music appeals to your soul. I have Marilyn Manson on my mp3 player, as well...butting right up against songs by They Might Be Giants. Make of that what you will. ;)
Hmm. I think that the dark lyrics and rebellious attitude appeals to me.
Hmm. I think that the dark lyrics and rebellious attitude appeals to me.
As you like it.
I doubt like hell you need my endorsement. *lol*Frankly, at the risk of repeating myself, I think that to actually make a judgment of someone based on the music they like would be useless. I'll elaborate on what I first said, so as to make absolutely sure I've not offended.
The fact that you like "dark" music means nothing; I can connote nothing from it, much less actually form a judgment of you based solely on it. All it tells me is that something about the music--the lyrics, the melody and/or harmony, the instrumentation, the emotional resonance, whatever--is relevant to you. It also tells me that you might like Hector Berlioz.
As you like it.
Frankly, at the risk of repeating myself, I think that to actually make a judgment of someone based on the music they like would be useless. I'll elaborate on what I first said, so as to make absolutely sure I've not offended.
The fact that you like "dark" music means nothing; I can connote nothing from it, much less actually form a judgment of you based solely on it. All it tells me is that something about the music--the lyrics, the melody and/or harmony, the instrumentation, the emotional resonance, whatever--is relevant to you. It also tells me that you might like Hector Berlioz.
Who?
I like good music. I of course define "good music" as being music I like. Everything else is not good music. :P
I for the most part like the music part of music. The part with the instruments and all that. I feel that a lot of bands have bad sounding music and just can't play worth a darn so they just try to cover up their lack of talent with a bunch of singing. Some bands can pull this off but in my opinion many can't. With that being said I'd have to say that my top few favorite songs have no words in them. The ones just below them only have a few words. To me few words plus instrumentals with great beats and melodies makes for musical gold.
Who?
Just a joke. He was a Romantic-era composer from France. His most famous work is Symphonie Fantastique, which is basically a symphony telling an elaborate story based on Berlioz's own opium dreams. It's kind of lurid and weird if performed properly; there's a section where the protagonist is beheaded, f'rinstance.
I used to like Dragonforce, but the lyrics seem a bit re-hashed to me and they just focus on playing fast, so I've kind of moved on to other bands.
Yeah, same here. I never thought they were great, but when I first heard them, I thought it was pretty good. But they got real old, real fast.
Listening to Led Zeppelin right now per request of my daughter (she's two and a half). She also loves all my indie rock bands like The Go! Team and Magnetic Fields... and some stuff by Blondie and some Icelandic singer/songwriter (Anna Ternheim). She asks for this stuff by name.
I also aspire to write music for movie soundtracks one day, so have been listening to a lot of that kind of thing. I need to acquire stuff by Jocelyn Pook, because what I've heard of hers so far is amazing.
Oh, Yeah. Sleater-Kinney is my daughter's (and my) favourite punk band. Amazing stuff, that's inspired me to start learning drums so I can form a punk band. I have the membership decided (all have agreed), but the trick is I'm leaving the country soon... so it will have to be whomever is still in town when I get back. We have the best name picked out, which I can't announce here for the obvious reasons. I'm the only guy, and our schtick will be using medieval and renaissance composition techniques within punk and pop styles.
EDIT:
Curses. Forgot to mention Tom Waits. The man can write.
Has anyone mentioned Medieval Baebes? I've heard some of their stuff and it is awesome.
Oh, yeah, got turned onto them back in college when Solva Nos came out. Think it was a side project of Miranda Sex Garden. Fits well w/ Dead Can Dance, Trial of the Bow, stuff like that. Not bad.
EDIT:
Curses. Forgot to mention Tom Waits. The man can write.
I could run campaigns based off of "Singapore".
I could run campaigns based off of "Singapore".
Not "Underground?"