i hate this band. or i want to hate them. i dont know. I've downloaded a few tracks and they are such great pop tunes, but i just cant help but hating them. It seems like this band thinks they are so much better and cooler than everyone else...and the songs were good, but do they deserve all this hype? another reason i want to hate them. the HYPE. what do you think about them?
quote:Originally posted by robot: i hate this band. or i want to hate them. i dont know. I've downloaded a few tracks and they are such great pop tunes, but i just cant help but hating them. It seems like this band thinks they are so much better and cooler than everyone else...and the songs were good, but do they deserve all this hype? another reason i want to hate them. the HYPE. what do you think about them?
I think that they are awesome. I am anxious to hear their next album. You may hate them for their hype, but, by God, You Forgot it In People is impossible to hate. I love it.
I think that they are awesome. I am anxious to hear their next album. You may hate them for their hype, but, by _God_, _You Forgot it In People_ is impossible to hate. I love it.
I certainly didn't hate it. I actually enjoyed most of it, but based on Metacritic's own scores, it seemed overrated. I believe, that based on m/c's scores, it's better than every Radiohead and Wilco album, except for YHF. You don't think that might bother somebody?
"Naked Woman, Naked Man Where did you get that nice sun tan?"
Posts: 12874 | Location: Behind the Orange Curtain | Registered: 14 May 2004
If I was to rate them on a Pitchfork scale, which I think would be appropriate given that they became famous through Ryan's review, I would give them a 6.5. You are right that the hype is what makes people not like them. If they hadn't gotten so much attention, I wouldn't have ever said a bad word about them. In fact, I wouldn't have ever said anything about them.
Posts: 571 | Location: Detroit (suburbs) | Registered: 18 May 2004
quote:Originally posted by mark f: I certainly didn't hate it. I actually enjoyed most of it, but based on Metacritic's own scores, it seemed overrated. I believe, that based on m/c's scores, it's better than every Radiohead and Wilco album, except for YHF. You don't think that might bother somebody?
Well, if you're referring to the fact that it was a critical smash, that's just critics doing their job. Allow me to try my hardest to make my point in the dorkiest fashion/
Kid A is one of my favorite albums ever. My second, to be specific, just behind Daydream Nation. However, Kid A didn't meet as warm a response to critics in 2000 as it did meet me last year, as many critics, understandably, wrote about how it seems like they didn't write fully fleshed out songs. Kid A seems more like an experience than just your regular run of songs with hummable hooks. Some critics tried to explain it as an experience, whereas others panned it.
You Forgot It In People is luxuriously and intricately designed. Each song is greatly detailed, and it's an easy-to-love album: everyone can find something to love on it. Therefore, in terms of musical criticism, it's better than Kid A. As a music-listener, you can talk about how Kid A is better because it's an experience. I can write a bunch of weird crap for my friends on how its emotionally moving, intelligent, and so on. If I did it as a critic, it would be pretentious and probably stupid. (It doesn't stop me, but I'm just saying.) I don't think anyone would take a music publication seriously if they wrote about Kid A in such a manner. (And if you don't believe me, you can check the old Pitchfork topic in the Music Critics area of this forum. If my memory serves me right [I hope it does], everyone mentioned that Brent DiCrescenzo's review of Kid A was a joke.)
So, in that respect, You Forgot It In People won't hit as hard with people as it will with critics, much like the film Lost In Translation (which, coincidently, I love; perhaps I'm a critical whore). However, there is a noticable gap between listening to music as a listener and as a critic: if a band like, say, Rush continues to release the same ol' same ol', year after year, there's a chance that Rush fans and listeners will enjoy it but critics will treat it with lukewarm reactions. (Unless the listener will hate Rush, in which case my theory still applies because then the listener will rip it apart.)
In terms of actual music criticism, it doesn't surprise me that You Forgot It In People gets a higher score than Kid A. (Nor does it surprise me that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot actually beats out You Forgot It In People.) I don't think it's overrated; I think it's about how music criticism "works" in comparison to music listening. Or I might be wrong. I love You Forgot It In People regardless.
quote:Originally posted by robot: i hate this band. or i want to hate them. i dont know. I've downloaded a few tracks and they are such great pop tunes, but i just cant help but hating them.
Does you're music taste depend on the views of others? C'mon, if you like it you like it if you don't you don't...who cares what other people think.
Posts: 24 | Location: Birmingham, England | Registered: 19 May 2004
quote:Originally posted by robot: i hate this band. or i want to hate them. i dont know. I've downloaded a few tracks and they are such great pop tunes, but i just cant help but hating them.
Does you're music taste depend on the views of others? C'mon, if you like it you like it if you don't you don't...who cares what other people think.
well i hate them because everyone else likes them and thinks they are groundbreaking. i dont hate their music: they make good tunes with nice production, but groundbreaking? not really.
i can't see hating them, but don't expect the most amazing music you've ever heard or anything. "you forgot..." is a own-worthy album for sure, though. they're also pretty damn great live...
Posts: 64 | Location: sf, ca | Registered: 16 August 2004
YFIIP is sublime...I think songwise AND in the way it works as an album, it wipes the floor with Kid A, although they can't really be compared...
and it is pretty groundbreaking, in their approach to pop music. Their recent s/t isn't quite as good, but it's still utterly fantastic. Even the production.
Posts: 126 | Location: Manchester, England | Registered: 21 March 2005
Originally posted by robot: well i hate them because everyone else likes them and thinks they are groundbreaking. i dont hate their music: they make good tunes with nice production, but groundbreaking? not really.
i definetely agree....i havent heard YFIIP as a whole yet, but i bought feel good lost (their first album) out of curiosity, and it was bland and terrible.
Broken Social Scene are a great musical collective with ears for melody, texture, and inventiveness. They are indie rock with brains, they are doing a lot of things other bands don't have the guts or the talent to do, and in my opinion they have succeeded. I liked YFIIP immensely, and somehow the self-titled album followed that album perfectly. In addition, they have some of the best production I've heard in an independent group. The drum mixing on songs like "Stars and Sons" or even the underrated "Shampoo Suicide" is fantastic. As for their s/t, I thought it captures a brilliantly chaotic aesthetic while still being melodic and accessible. I read interviews with the group where they said they consciously decided to submerge the melodies in songs like "Superconnected" under a barrage of noise. While some people may see that as a pretentious desire to be "artistic" I see it as daring and compelling. Everyone makes their own choice about bands, so you can hate them all you want. The fact that they received a lot of critical success is enough to warrant some backlash, but I don't mind, and I doubt they care either.
You Forgot It In People may be the best album of this decade so far. The self-titled album was quite a treat as well, though some of those songs benefit a lot from seeing live performances.
------ There's a golden age comin' round, comin' round, comin' round
Posts: 2242 | Location: ATL-abouts. | Registered: 24 October 2006
Feist is! I would definitely give her some smooches.
There are other girls in the band, too, of varying skill and cuteness. Amy Millan, who's in Stars, and Emily Haines, who's in Metric, have both done work with the band.
------ There's a golden age comin' round, comin' round, comin' round
Posts: 2242 | Location: ATL-abouts. | Registered: 24 October 2006
And on topic, I think that hating a band because many people like them without regard for the music itself, is bullshit. And why is another topic being started about BSS?! I mean I don't think anyone would claim that they're groundbreaking, but I do think that through them and their collective of groups many more people have become initiated with independent groups. And besides that YFIIP and the self-titled are pretty kicking albums in my opinion. And if you don't think so, hey that's your right, but why hate them?
