Does every one here like Wilco and/or Coldplay? [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Mr Peabody
07-30-2009, 05:10 PM
I know this is two of the hottest bands right now but for some reason I cannot get into either. I was just curious if I was the only one. Because I just don't get it. Around here the only radio station that played Coldplay was sort of a Pop/Adult Contemporary station. I don't know if Wilco ever got any air. I really don't know too many of their songs either. That may sound odd but I've never been able to sit through a complete song. Maybe it's a regional thing, but you'd think good music would know no boundary. Oh well, give to me fans.

Luvin Da Blues
07-30-2009, 05:26 PM
I'm dating myself here but there hasn't been very many new acts in the past 10~15 years that's grab any more than a fleeting interest from me. So, I'm in your camp here.

NP: Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs

MindGoneHaywire
07-30-2009, 05:53 PM
It's like asking if every one here likes eggs...and clams. I see more differences than similarities.

I'm not a fan of Coldplay; in fact, I can't stand them. But I'm less a fan of generic gripes about how there's no good music anymore. There's plenty of stuff I don't 'get'...but I'm more interested in the little I do like than the huge volume of product that I don't.

Luvin Da Blues
07-30-2009, 06:08 PM
....But I'm less a fan of generic gripes about how there's no good music anymore.

Read my post more carefully. I didn't say there was no good acts anymore, I said not many held my interest. Good music is a very selective and personal opinion, there's a lots of good music that I'm really not interested in now but maybe in the future. I like to think I have an open mind towards music but if it doesn't get my Mojo working then I loose interest quickly.

Mr Peabody
07-30-2009, 07:34 PM
I like some newer bands but I think I tend to gravitate toward heavier and/or more Progressive. I like that band Atreyu pretty well and I just ordered a CD by a new band called The Dead Weather.

My intent isn't to trash any one, just curious if I was alone and really wanted some fans to say what it was they liked about the bands. Maybe I can zone in on something next time I'm exposed to them.

Sometimes it's just one of those quirky things, I can't stand Abbra Cadabra by Steve Miller yet it was his only #1. I can no longer listen to Don McClain's, Bye Bye Miss American Pie. That could just be it's an average song with a good message and has been WAY over played. Crap, I just hijacked my own thread!

02audionoob
07-30-2009, 09:51 PM
I've tried a little bit to like Wilco but can't muster the interest. I think I'll try again. I've never given Coldplay much of a thought, but they seemed to me like something the missus would like...and she doesn't have any interest.

Slosh
07-31-2009, 02:28 AM
If you have to try to like music you're entirely missing the point. If I don't have an "ah ha" moment with new-to-me music fairly early on it's time I move along.

Mr Peabody
07-31-2009, 04:53 AM
Slosh, good advice. What's interesting there are bands I've done that too only to hear them years later and liked. Then there are bands that I still can't stand, many of the 80's "New Wave" or "synth" bands come to mind.

ForeverAutumn
07-31-2009, 05:01 AM
I'm a fan of eggs...and clams.

I like both bands, a lot.

Wilco took me some time to get into. I bought Summerteeth based on many excellent reviews and recs from the good folks here. And it was 'okay'. But the more I listened, the more it grew on me. After hearing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, they became one of my favourite bands. I can see how they might not turn cranks for a lot of people. I find that each album starts off kind of slow with me, but once its had a chance to grow on me, I really enjoy it. There is something about Tweedy's voice also, that I just love. On initial listen, he doesn't sound like such a great singer, but there's a quality there that I just can't put my finger on.

As for Coldplay. I like 'em. I started with A Rush Of Blood to the Head. Which, despite a lot of radio overplay, I still think is a great album. Very mellow and a nice listen. Its only been recently that I've begun to appreciate X&Y. When it was first released, I did't like it at all. And I really love the new album. They've taken a step up to more upbeat on Viva La Vida, to the point of inserting a dance mix during their concert...but more on that later in another thread. :)

Hyfi
07-31-2009, 05:31 AM
I'm dating myself here but there hasn't been very many new acts in the past 10~15 years that's grab any more than a fleeting interest from me. So, I'm in your camp here.

NP: Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs

I guess I'm right there next to you with this one. When it comes to bands with vocals, I usually can't get past that to even see if I like the music. I can't say I ever heard a whole disk, only that I changed the station when either comes on.

Hasn't been too many albums like Bridge of Sighs in the recent years. Hell, I just got tickets to see the Outlaws. My very fist concert in 1975 was Outlaws, Steve Marriot, and Lynyrd Synyrd at the Spectrum in Philly. 34 years later, only a few bands like Govt Mule can still do it.

Mr Peabody
07-31-2009, 05:40 AM
I really like the Outlaws. Some of their early more Country tinged stuff was hit & miss but the later more Rockin stuff is pretty amazing, but what can you expect for having 50 lead guitar players :) no not really 50 but a few at once.

Hyfi
07-31-2009, 07:40 AM
I really like the Outlaws. Some of their early more Country tinged stuff was hit & miss but the later more Rockin stuff is pretty amazing, but what can you expect for having 50 lead guitar players :) no not really 50 but a few at once.

They were the first to have 3 lead guitars at same time. All of them were excellent in 75 and at the end of the show, Lynyrd Skynyrd was last up, the 3 guys from the Outlaws came out and pretty much blew LS off the stage.

I will miss Hughie's vocals as he died a few years ago. Interesting enough, they became popular in 75 with the Green Grass album but were in existence in 1967. Also, over the years, there have been no less than 29 different people in the band.

I'm seeing them in an old theater that holds about 640 people so it should be a nice show. Have to wait til November though.

Troy
07-31-2009, 07:54 AM
I like eggs and clams more than Wilco and Coldplay.

There is no 'new' music. Very little current popular music isn't a rehash of the music that came before.

Hyfi
07-31-2009, 08:03 AM
I like eggs and clams more than Wilco and Coldplay.

There is no 'new' music. Very little current popular music isn't a rehash of the music that came before.

At what point / year would you say that started? It does seem like there is nothing anyone can do that we have not already heard. So is music dead unless you want to hear band after band doing pretty much the same thing, as we have now?

3LB
07-31-2009, 09:32 AM
There is no 'new' music. Very little current popular music isn't a rehash of the music that came before.


I agree completely. But it doesn't have to mean that there's nothing to listen to. Some bands are just better at what they do than others. The Rolling Stones weren't terribly original - neither was Led Zepplin, but they were great at what they did and they put enough of a unique spin on it that made it new, in a way.

But I don't know of any band that I'll follow religiously like people once did (and maybe still do). I love Porcupine Tree, but Wilson's begun to repeat himself. Same with Wilco - nothin knew here, but Jeff Tweedy is great at being Jeff Tweedy; you either like Wilco or you don't.

As for music itself, there is greater choices out there than there has ever been. One doesn't have to be a completist. If I like what Spoon has done over the course of a few albums, it doesn't mean I'm obligated to buy everything they release. Same with The Shins.

Same with old Prog acts. Genesis is a good example. The last album Phil Collins recorded with them sounds nothing like they did back in the early '70s. But that's neither here nor there; you either like it or you don't - funny thing is, there's still people who want to nash their teeth over the band's change of direction, either way. If you like it, buy it. I tried old Genesis, found liked some of it, but I like less of Gabriel brand Genesis than I like Collins brand. Just cuz I feel I like Prog, I don't feel I need to get ELP, Gentle Giant, or early King Crimson (I have no use for them). I love Yes, but have no love for albums like Relayer or Tormaturd or half their post '80 output.

As for Coldplay, I liked them live and in person (not terribly impressed with the free live CD)...but it doesn't make me regret I traded away two of their CDs, nor does it make me a fan of their studio albums. I had fun with them for one night, left my money on the nightstand and snuck out.


If you have to try to like music you're entirely missing the point. If I don't have an "ah ha" moment with new-to-me music fairly early on it's time I move along.
Like Slosh said, you ain't havin no fun if yer trying too hard. As much an effort as we make trying to find new music and then finding time to listen, music is best when it just happens. You can overload on music, especially trying to sample different genres at once. If something don't grab ya, put it down for a while, and then some time later, put it on again - if it still don't grab ya, move on. So what are you missing? - nuthin.

Troy
07-31-2009, 09:57 AM
At what point / year would you say that started?

I dunno, 1990-ish? Discounting rap/hip hop 'cuz I just don't give a crap, pretty much everything in the last 20 years of popular music has been a copy of something from the 60s and 70s. Maybe a little denser and heavier, but it's all just a rehash.


It does seem like there is nothing anyone can do that we have not already heard. So is music dead unless you want to hear band after band doing pretty much the same thing, as we have now?

Pop culture and technology combined in the 60s and 70s to create a new form of music never heard before in the history of humanity. We've basically been repeating it ever since.

There's always some new kind of music to discover out there, whether it's traditional Indian Ragas or Gamelan or Peruvian pan flutes or old English sea shantys, or whatever. But in rock music as an avenue for expanding music in general? Yeah, totally dead.

I've felt this way about it for many years now and I'm fine with it. I still enjoy listening to all kinds of rock music, every single day of my life, but any sort of expectation that some new band is going to scratch that itch for invention that got scratched during the golden age of rock? Ain't gonna happen.

Last time I saw Umphrey's McGee live, the audience was 95% in their 20s and acted like the band had invented their form of semi-improvisational progrock. They were so reverential for the band, so "OMG OMG, they are so brilliant and groundbreaking!!" UM is a blast to see live and they are extremely talented writers and musicians who work together as an ensemble as good as any band I've ever seen in the 30 years I've been seeing rock shows, but don't act like they somehow have moved rock music to some new plateau.

I don't begrudge anyone liking Wilco and Coldplay. Or the White Stripes or Green Day or any of the other hugely popular rock acts today. Enjoy yourself, but yeah, it's all been done before.

ForeverAutumn
07-31-2009, 11:01 AM
Last time I saw Umphrey's McGee live, the audience was 95% in their 20s and acted like the band had invented their form of semi-improvisational progrock. They were so reverential for the band, so "OMG OMG, they are so brilliant and groundbreaking!!" UM is a blast to see live and they are extremely talented writers and musicians who work together as an ensemble as good as any band I've ever seen in the 30 years I've been seeing rock shows, but don't act like they somehow have moved rock music to some new plateau.

I think this becomes a generational issue. I'm not disagreeing with what you are saying but for those 20-yr-olds, that music IS groundbreaking. They haven't heard the bands that influenced Umphrey's McGee, or Coldplay or Linkin Park or any of today's popular or fringe bands for that matter. How many kids think the Warren Zevon music that Kid Rock recorded his recent hit to (I don't know the name of the song) is original? Most of 'em is my guess.

I was watching a local morning show last week where the cast is made up mostly of 20 somethings. They were doing a quiz show where all the answers had 'Rat' in them. None of them could name The Boomtown Rats as the artists who sang I Don't Like Mondays.

The music culture that we grew up with is now history. And the 20-somethings of today don't know a damn thing about it unless they are listening to their parents music or care enough about music to learn about it themselves.

Hyfi
07-31-2009, 11:08 AM
The music culture that we grew up with is now history. And the 20-somethings of today don't know a damn thing about it unless they are listening to their parents music or care enough about music to learn about it themselves.

Many of the teens that are children of my friends are listening to Zep and Floyd

Mr MidFi
07-31-2009, 11:52 AM
Many of the teens that are children of my friends are listening to Zep and Floyd

I have a teenage daughter. Her favorite band right now is the New Pornographers. Sometimes I envy her youthful enthusiasm. She's not new to music, but she is still new to really loving music.

Me...I can still get the chills listening to something really good. But it will never seem that magical, that transformational, that important to me ever again. Cuz, like you, I've been doing this for a while now.

As for the original question... yes, I love one of them, and I'm pretty 'meh' on the other. And my wife, she's vice versa. Can you guess which one I just bought tickets for? (Oct. 19 at the UIC Pavillion, in case anyone's planning to be in the area.)

Mr Peabody
07-31-2009, 09:01 PM
So many good points I can't address them all, love the way the thread is going.

3LB, we do have some similar tastes, especially your comments on the Prog.

I understand what is being said about the lack of originality but there's occasionally somenew twists. When i discovered the Netherlands Metal bands like Nightwish and Tristania it gave me a renewed interest in Metal. Oddly enough after buying and listening to a lot of that stuff for a couple years I find out that a band called Therion was the pioneer and albums date back to the 90's so I get what FA was saying about some bands seeming new if you have never heard the originator. But I did about die when I heard a DJ talking about how "fresh" the White Stripes sound was. This guy must have been living under a rock and just stepped out to pick up that job. :) New Wave blew up in the 80's with MTV but bands like the B52's were doing it back in the 70's. I think some of the lack of originality does have current generations looking back. I've seen stories on kids that are digging the Classic Rock. In fact, after Incubus's encore the crowd was still sort of carrying on but today when the show is over it's over, no more playing until every one drops like the Allman Bros., any way Incubus left the stage and the venue blasted through the PA system a Journey song and I was amazed that the crowd started singing along with it.

And it's true just because it's original doesn't mean it's the best, look what Elvis did for Carl Perkins songs and Claptin did to JJ Cale or many other Blues artists.

I guess the bottom line seems to be if you dig it fine and if you don't pass it on by.

Hyfi it's impossible to say when copying or borrowing or building on ideas really began. I mean roots of R&R go deep and there may not even be any original ideas. I tend to not agree with that because certain artists came up with the blend of things to create their own sound from the first that mixed Rock & Country to those who began mixing Rock with Rap. It's interesting how that Rock/Rap thing was toyed with in the 80's but blew up in the 90's. Bands like Anthrax, even Sir Mix-A-Lot to Run DMC with Aerosmith, then it seems to fade until bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park broke it big again, and for heaven sakes let's not forget The Beastie Boys who was in the beginning and kept it going until it's hay day. Some day something new might break. Look at how Dave Mustaine spawn Thrash.

Mr MidFi
08-03-2009, 07:37 AM
Hyfi it's impossible to say when copying or borrowing or building on ideas really began.

Best guess: about 40,000 B.C.

Seriously.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8117915.stm

3LB
08-03-2009, 08:30 AM
I think it all comes down to who is good at it (music), who's better, and who sucks at it. Unfortunately, sucking at it or being mediocre doesn't preclude anyone from getting a contract and being an icon, and being great doesn't guarantee success or even being heard for that matter. Our society's cult of celebrity dictates an act be compelling outside of their chosen art, in some way or another, rather than excelling at what they do...just like Branford Marsallis said of his students (and today's youth), "We live in a society where the idea of what you are is more important than you actually being that."

Swish
08-03-2009, 10:08 AM
He writes great songs with quality lyrics, and the tunes are anything but formulaic. Wilco may be my favorite band of the last 10 or so years. I own all their music and have seen them twice, and I wouldn't hesitate to see them again. While some like their earlier lineup and music more (J for one), I like pretty much all of it. Being There has some great stuff, with a real lack of 'production', so it had a nice raw feel to it, while most of the latter music is a bit more polished.

Coldplay? No thanks.

Swish

dean_martin
08-03-2009, 01:14 PM
not sure I'd recognize Coldplay if I heard them.

I like Wilco, but there's a certain style or sound I look for from them (I know it when I hear it) and that may come from only one or two tracks on an album or it could be the majority of the album. Hadn't listened to them much lately (in no hurry to get the new one) until catching Ashes of American Flags on Sundance or some such channel last week. Now I want to mine my albums for some of the tunes they did live in Ashes and pick up a couple I'm missing. Every song featured on Ashes is the sound or style I look for from them. Check out the dvd.

Slosh
08-03-2009, 01:27 PM
Ashes of American Flags is an awesome DVD. Too bad it didn't get a DTS track (or at least a good stereo PCM track).

bobsticks
08-03-2009, 03:49 PM
I like Wilco quite a lot...Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 3:00am and teh live stuff they did with Billy Bragg all get regular plays around here...


I like eggs and clams more than Wilco and Coldplay.

There is no 'new' music. Very little current popular music isn't a rehash of the music that came before.

I too have an affinity for both eggs and clams, but that's not fair. Coldplay is one of the best U2 cover bands out there.

Swish
08-03-2009, 04:13 PM
I like Wilco quite a lot...Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 3:00am and teh live stuff they did with Billy Bragg all get regular plays around here...



I too have an affinity for both eggs and clams, but that's not fair. Coldplay is one of the best U2 cover bands out there.

U2 cover band? Hmmm. I was thinking Radiohead Lite, as most label them.

Chi town awaits.

ForeverAutumn
08-03-2009, 08:23 PM
I've heard the U2 comment before. I don't get it. I like Coldplay, but I've never been a U2 fan. I don't see the connection.

3LB
08-04-2009, 06:46 AM
I've heard the U2 comment before. I don't get it. I like Coldplay, but I've never been a U2 fan. I don't see the connection.

Maybe not as much on past albums, but this last one especially, and I think its rather calculating. Brian Eno produced this album, Viva La Vida, and he also produced U2's The Joshua Tree. Eno obviously had the band pick up the pace, and nearly every song has an anthemic feel to it. The guitars, especially on VLV, are high pitched and shimmering ala The Edge, the bass lines play out like a marching rythm...Hell, one could say U2 has taken a page outta Coldplay's book on their last couple of albums.

ForeverAutumn
08-04-2009, 07:18 AM
Yeah well, just so long as Chris Martin doesn't start spewing the political bull**** that Bono is apt to do.

frahengeo
08-04-2009, 12:55 PM
I don't get the U2, Radiohead, and Coldplay comparison either. However, I like all three. Don't know much about Wilco. I guess there is only so much you can do with an ensemble that consists of a guitarist, bass gutarist, percussionist, vocalist, and possibly a keyboardist before it all sounds the same. I must admit that the British sure know how to write rock/pop music.

3LB
08-04-2009, 01:48 PM
I don't get the U2, Radiohead, and Coldplay comparison either. However, I like all three. Don't know much about Wilco. I guess there is only so much you can do with an ensemble that consists of a guitarist, bass gutarist, percussionist, vocalist, and possibly a keyboardist before it all sounds the same. I must admit that the British sure know how to write rock/pop music.


Don't be confused - Wilco is nothing like the bands mentioned in this thread. Wilco is decidedly American. Their leader, Jeff Tweedy, was formerly in Uncle Tupelo, a band that thrust alternative country out of the shadows back in the '90s.

frahengeo
08-04-2009, 06:37 PM
Don't be confused - Wilco is nothing like the bands mentioned in this thread. Wilco is decidedly American. Their leader, Jeff Tweedy, was formerly in Uncle Tupelo, a band that thrust alternative country out of the shadows back in the '90s.

No confusion here. Like I said, I don't know Wilco's music therefore don't know where they are from. Uncle Tupelo? Sounds familiar. For some reason, the bands Cracker and the Melvins comes to mind. They were fairly popular here in the Boston area.

Hyfi
08-05-2009, 08:55 AM
U2 cover band?


Wow, for me the only thing worse than U2 would be a U2 cover band.

3LB
08-05-2009, 11:16 AM
Yeah well, just so long as Chris Martin doesn't start spewing the political bull**** that Bono is apt to do.
You know, that really tears it for me too, that Bono is such a pompous ass. Makes it hard for me to get into them - that, and the hyperbole that they received in the '80s.

A friend of mine saw them back in the '90s when Bono was in full preacher mode; he felt ripped off cuz he said Bono had something to say about everything. I couldn't imagine plopping down the bucks they want for concerts these days and hearing some millionaire rockstar lecturing me.

bobsticks
08-05-2009, 04:29 PM
U2 cover band? Hmmm. I was thinking Radiohead Lite, as most label them.

Chi town awaits.

Barely alive and barely kickin' though I know you're not the one I wanna sprechen to bout PItA situations right now....

...and, indeed it does...

Luvin Da Blues
08-05-2009, 04:58 PM
Yeah well, just so long as Chris Martin doesn't start spewing the political bull**** that Bono is apt to do.

Bruce Cockburn is just as bad 'cept he puts out decent music with top shelf SQ and production. That in itself makes listening to him worthwhile, not so much for Bono & da boys.

bobsticks
08-05-2009, 05:31 PM
Bruce Cockburn is just as bad 'cept he puts out decent music with top shelf SQ and production. That in itself makes listening to him worthwhile, not so much for Bono & da boys.

Lol, you think he's political?

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02audionoob
08-05-2009, 05:41 PM
Wow, for me the only thing worse than U2 would be a U2 cover band.

How about an REM cover band?

Luvin Da Blues
08-05-2009, 05:48 PM
Lol, you think he's political?

You gotta wonder what these guys would be writing if there was no strife in this world.

What the hell am I thinkin', no strife in this world? BWAHAHA!!!!!!

ForeverAutumn
08-05-2009, 06:05 PM
Bruce Cockburn is just as bad 'cept he puts out decent music with top shelf SQ and production. That in itself makes listening to him worthwhile, not so much for Bono & da boys.

Bono came to Canada and met with our Prime Minister a few years ago and tried to put pressure on him to up the foriegn aid that we provide. I resented him coming here and trying to guilt our Prime Minister into spending my tax dollars for his agenda. To the best of my knowledge, Cockburn's never done that and he's Canadian!

Luvin Da Blues
08-05-2009, 06:13 PM
Bono came to Canada and met with our Prime Minister a few years ago and tried to put pressure on him to up the foriegn aid that we provide. I resented him coming here and trying to guilt our Prime Minister into spending my tax dollars for his agenda. To the best of my knowledge, Cockburn's never done that and he's Canadian!

LOL, I remember that now that you brought it up. BC was quite active for African causes during the late 80's early 90's if I recall right (same sh!t, different pile), just didn't make the news over here to much.

Get your speakers yet?

ForeverAutumn
08-05-2009, 06:36 PM
Get your speakers yet?

Nope. I don't expect them until the third week of August. :nonod:

3LB
08-06-2009, 07:11 AM
Lol, you think he's political?

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That was hard to look at...

I'm referring to the parts with Cockburn in 'em...I haven't that that level of aversion to the camera since Andy Partridge's pasty appearence in Dear God.