Time to start a thread.

One of my all-time favourite bands, not so much any more to be fair but up till "Dirty" (1992) they were (and for me still are) one of the all-time greatest guitar bands ever. Groundbreaking and seminal experimentation and still hugely influential on bands of all kinds. I wonder what the denizens of Metal Storm think of them.

Personally, my favourite album of theirs is "Sister" (1987) .. they managed an almost perfect combination of melody and dissonance, every song is catchy and riff-driven but not repetitive, and they do the noise / texture thing as well as almost anyone has ever done it. Male / Female singers also help create different atmospheres on almost every song, and their drummer is stunningly inventive. And all with next to no effects (a bit of distortion, wah and reverb is about all there is)

They've been called "Art-Rock" a lot, but I'd tend to call them avant-garde mainly because of the massive influence they've had and continue to have on bands from all kinds of genres. Kim Gordon (bass / vocals) once described their music as "Tonal Clusters". I loved this expression, and I still think it's a great way to describe their genre-defying music. Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore's twin guitar work is completely off-the-wall and permanently changed the way I approach playing the guitar (I know I'm not alone there either) and I'd thoroughly recommend any guitar player listening to them, especially the older stuff.

Anyway, enough of me. Thanks for indulging my unmetal rambling.

I should probably listen to them more. I know them of course, I'm sure everybody does, but I wouldn't recognize more than three songs or so off Daydream Nation. They never really hit me like My Bloody Valentine, Slint, Cocteau Twins, the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees or someone like that did. Same deal with Pixies: very influential cult classic, but I haven't bothered to get to know them intimately.

Anything I should check out other than Daydream Nation? Something particularly experimental and hazy?

Apart from 'Sister', my personal favourites are 'Goo' (1990) because it's the most layered and textured production (plus 'Kool Thing' has one of the best rock riffs ever written), and 'Bad Moon Rising' (1985) because it's the most out-there experimental of the lot, whole songs made of feedback, odd tunings and guitar styles (more than usual, I mean) , heavy heavy dissonance and that sort of thing. If you like a challenge, check it out. First time I heard it I had to listen to it in 3 parts because I just didn't get it - I was about 14 and into some fairly heavy weird music, but 'Bad Moon Rising' was something else...

At the other end of the scale is 'Dirty' - it's the most accessible (and eclectic) of all their albums, really varied and interesting and a couple of my favourite songs ('Shoot' and 'Youth Against Fascism' are standout tracks for me) but very easy to digest. It was meant to be their 'Commercial' album (first thing they released after Nirvana became The Biggest Band In The World, and Sonic Youth were being talked about by Kurt Cobain as a major influence) but nothing much happened. It is a good album too, I just prefer their more difficult stuff.

On another note, I loved My Bloody Valentine. Noise / Drone of the finest calibre and never really named in that genre, I guess from the perception they were just another 'indie' band, which they really weren't. They used to finish their shows with like twenty minutes of feedback - I heard in an interview that they were just trying to empty the room, but I don't think they ever actually managed it...

One of my top 10 bands of all time! Anyone that is willing to experiment that much with noise and music is high on my personal fave lists.

My particular favorite albums are "Confusion is Sex," "Sister," and "Dirty."

When I was just starting out on the guitar, I would spend sooooo many hours just listening to Thurston Moore's whacked out guitar sounds and trying to recreate them anyway that I could! His phrasing is just nuts and their progressions as a bad are just legendary. I always described them as "The Talking Heads" little brothers, because of how they took what the Heads were doing, upped it by about 100 notches, and then continued on.

Ah yes ... "Confusion is Sex" is great. I always forget that one and when I read your mention I put it on. It's patchy the bits that are good are really good - plus that cover of "I Wanna be your Dog" is one of my favourite cover versions of anything by anyone. Especially with Kim Gordon singing it, hehe.

I saw them live in the Maquinaria Festival last year, they were by far the best I saw there. The way Gordon punished his guitar through the stage, Kim's voice, the cloud of dust the crowd did. Excellent band, though I don't know much about their records, I do have Dirty somewhere on my folders and once in a while I listen to it...but still, I need to get into them

Written by Kanto on 05.04.2012 at 02:15
I do have Dirty somewhere on my folders

So you have it already? Why did I buy another copy for you then?

Written by X-Ray Rod on 14.07.2012 at 21:16

Written by Kanto on 05.04.2012 at 02:15
I do have Dirty somewhere on my folders

So you have it already? Why did I buy another copy for you then?

Lol! When I said "folders" I meant My Documents, mp3 files an original cd is always better