Musical Integrity

[jump]

Well Ive seen a few bands that I thought were loud, Prodigy, Rage, The Who, Sepultura, Metallica, Amon Amarth, Marilyn Manson and so on. Motorhead had my teeth rattling, both of my ears were itchy for the whole gig and by the end I felt my face was melted and all I could hear was Lemmys bass beating on my chest, a constant ringing in my ears and the occasional vocal grunt from him.

This was the gig, doesnt come over as loud obviously, kind of scared of the performance to be honest. Motorhead kicked the shit out of me!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjhxYBIu-Es

I saw Metallica the next night at the same festival, they weren't anywhere close to as loud as Motorhead, which is probably a good thing.

[The Nal]

I've seen all of them apart from Amon Amarth who I've never herd of and completely agree Motorhead are definitely louder. Didn't have the ringing in the ears expereince though, think I was too drunk to notice the last few times I've seen them.

Edited November 8, 2010 by The Nal

[sifi]

Pantera made my ear drums bleed when I saw them supporting Megadeth in 1992.

[worm]

Don't they hold the record for loudest live band in the world? Did a google search and all I find is loudest for albums.

[The Nal]

Pantera made my ear drums bleed when I saw them supporting Megadeth in 1992.

Edited November 8, 2010 by The Nal

[sifi]

Was that on the Cowboys from Hell tour? They were shit hot back then.

[The Nal]

I never really got the fascination with volume.. it's like fast cars, it just costs more.

There's loud, and then there's loud. A great quality pa system that's loud, is much more bearable than a cheap tinny system that will make your ears rattle. I saw Jeff Beck quite a few years ago at the Hammersmith Odeon, and the pa went from the floor to the ceiling... it was enormous. When he came on, I remember the first few notes and I looked at my brother, and he was looking at me.. we couldn't speak, the force of it (in our chests!) was as strong as I've almost ever heard. But it was crystal clear, and there was no strain on our ears. Another one was MC Hammer (free tickets, and our daughter wanted to go! ), where the sub-bass was literally shaking the Wembley Arena.

but in the end, so what? Some sense of dynamics is much more 'interesting'. If a band is loud and just stays loud, it just becomes normal.

[The Nal]

I always preferred his alter ego, WC Hammer...

... "can't flush this"

[metallimuse]

I don't see Metallica as having sold out.They've always said they do what they want to do and if people don't like it then they don't give a shit.I think they do things on their terms aswell such as the Rock Star game or whatever it was.They were closely involved with it and it wasn't just a cash cow.

Sure some things have changed over the years but who can say they are the same person they were 20 years ago?

I still think they have integrity.

[sifi]

MC Hammer played Wembley Arena? Wow.

[OneLittleFish]

I always think of Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Fall as being the prime examples of the importance of musical integrity. Always been able to experiment with their sound, but they're bands who you know aren't going to do something to try and get it onto Radio 1, and that's priceless. You could spend years tracking down every rarity and bootleg and it'd be totally worth it.

As an early fan of Kings of Leon from Youth & Young Manhood up to around the time of the third album, they're a band who come to mind as well - as soon as a band think it's a good idea to shoot for the stadiums when it's not fitting with their back catalogue, it's painful. I just know if I went to see them at Murrayfield most of the crowd would have no clue about Molly's Chambers, California Waiting yet would still go mental to Sex On Fire or Radioactive. If they were to play some of my favourite KOL songs (e.g. Day Old Blues) too many arseholes would talk right through it and ruin it.

Edited November 9, 2010 by OneLittleFish

[llcoolphil]

Musical integrity my arse. It's music. Why does it matter if I know what motivates an artist to do what they do - and why does it matter what his motivation is? If I like what they're doing, I don't need to know why they're doing it. And, as in OLF's example of The Fall above, if I dont like what they're doing, knowing how honest and explorative they're being isn't going to make me like them anymore - a gazillion albums and you couldn't make a single volume greatest hits collection out the lot.

[OneLittleFish]

Musical integrity my arse. It's music. Why does it matter if I know what motivates an artist to do what they do - and why does it matter what his motivation is? If I like what they're doing, I don't need to know why they're doing it. And, as in OLF's example of The Fall above, if I dont like what they're doing, knowing how honest and explorative they're being isn't going to make me like them anymore - a gazillion albums and you couldn't make a single volume greatest hits collection out the lot.

[ampersand]

Musical integrity my arse. It's music. Why does it matter if I know what motivates an artist to do what they do - and why does it matter what his motivation is? If I like what they're doing, I don't need to know why they're doing it. And, as in OLF's example of The Fall above, if I dont like what they're doing, knowing how honest and explorative they're being isn't going to make me like them anymore - a gazillion albums and you couldn't make a single volume greatest hits collection out the lot.

[The Nal]

Musical integrity my arse. It's music. Why does it matter if I know what motivates an artist to do what they do - and why does it matter what his motivation is? If I like what they're doing, I don't need to know why they're doing it. And, as in OLF's example of The Fall above, if I dont like what they're doing, knowing how honest and explorative they're being isn't going to make me like them anymore - a gazillion albums and you couldn't make a single volume greatest hits collection out the lot.

[ampersand]

song meanings and 'musical integrity' are surely too completely different things though aren't they?

on the topic of song meanings, i found that i enjoyed rammsteins song about fritzl a little bit more when i looked at the translation.

and i only learned about a fortnight ago that blink 182's i miss you was about burtons christmas film.

[The Nal]

song meanings and 'musical integrity' are surely too completely different things though aren't they?

[ampersand]

They are yeah, but Phil was saying that he doesn't need to know the motivation behind the song. I do, as the good stuff usually has a good story behind it.

[The Nal]

i took that as he didn't care if it was to make money or for a genuine love or whatever. after all, he loves pet shop boys!

[jump]

I'd guess that most punters would agree with that.

However it's a long way from why I listen to music. It matters completely. Why would you listen to someone singing about something they've either never experienced or couldn't care less about. What's the point in listening to a song if it doesn't mean anything? (to the artist)

[ampersand]

Because you want to get your groove on?

[Steve P]

Matters to some but not to others. Personally most of the albums I truely love were recorded by bands that had gone onto the studio because they had some ideas that they wanted to work on (see Elbow's seldom seen kid) rather than because the record label were demanding it (see Kings of Leons last 2 albums).

[ampersand]

which would be nothing to do with the song?

[ampersand]

guess i'm different then. is black dog a song that means a lot to jimmy page? or was it just a cool riff that he came up with one day? whatever the answer, i don't care. it's a brilliant song!

[The Nal]

guess i'm different then. is black dog a song that means a lot to jimmy page? or was it just a cool riff that he came up with one day? whatever the answer, i don't care. it's a brilliant song!