namkcuR said:
Are you kidding me? I think this is the first time I disagree with something you posted. I think Wish You Were Here is Floyd's greatest achievement. Better than Dark Side, better than Wall. WYWH(the song) is gorgeous, and Shine On Your Crazy Diamond, all twenty-whatever minutes of it, is one of the greatest compositions in the history of rock. Welcome To The Machine and Have A Cigar are a little lower on the todem pole but they too are very, very good. Dark Side is good but overrated.
Well, it's a matter of taste. I can't fault Wish You Were Here in terms of technical skill-- it's a very, very well made album. In fact I loved it for the first time I heard it. There's an intangible thing that began to turn me off soon after though, probably the same reason "Paranoid Android" is one of my least favorite Radiohead songs. I like a bit of subtlety. Despite owning several Yes, Genesis and King Crimson albums and being open to anything like that, prog rock of the Shine On style is not really my thing. It feels soulless to me. That's the kind of song I picture when I think of the punk guys with "I hate Pink Floyd" T-shirts and I can't really blame them. The other thing I don't like about the album is how sad it is, and how completely opposite in spirit from Syd Barrett's music. It's supposed to be a tribute to him, so why is it like that? Animals and The Wall pull off the same style of music so much better to me. There's not even any comparison, those are some of my favorite records ever.
And hah, Radiohead "ego centric losers"? You're a fan of Bono and Edge's band, I wouldn't talk about egocentric-- it can be a good or a bad thing. In both Radiohead and old U2's case, I think it inspired creativity-- going out on limbs and not caring what anyone thought. Especially in Radiohead's case, as they never had that same commercial clout behind them.
If Radiohead are "losers" it's only because they write music for outsiders. But who is an outsider, the whole fucking globe these days besides some very rich Americans and Brits and Irishmen. So it stands to reason thoughtful people would write songs about them. Radiohead's music has expanded since the early days. It's no longer just empathizing with the angsty teen in the basement or twentysomething creep who can't get dates-- it's empathizing with the weak and oppressed, everywhere. Maybe their fanbase doesn't always reflect that, but the focus of their music has changed and you haven't noticed. If the fact that they don't go out of their way to appeal to people with ideas they don't particularly like, or go out of their way to schmooze with Bush and Blair, if that bothers you, well fine, but you're probably not a rock n' roll fan at all outside U2, because that's not what rock n' roll bands do, Bono and Chris Martin are the only politicians in the business. To me "losers" are type A step-on-everyone-to-get-ahead wankers, not pathologically shy brilliant musicians with lazy eye. Who haven't killed themselves yet either, though every article talks about how depressed they are, thank you very much.
Very immature attitude.
IQ doesn't even factor into this thread anymore.
Although that's probably an excuse for people to call U2 uncreative, re-using old material, although just about every band on earth does it (see: coldplay)
