My musical dilemma

ew why 311

Actually, why any of those bands specifically? I kind of get Foo Fighters, but 311 and Spin Doctors aren't even that well known.

Spin Doctors do have a pretty good reputation and have some wide-reaching influence. And they are reasonably well-known. EDIT: wait, nevermind, I was thinking of the Spinners.

edited 29th Sep '16 12:39:33 AM by Odd1

Because they were ones my friend liked. Not that I blindly trust his judgment, but I found them reasonably pleasant. I listened to the entire Pocket Full of Kryptonite album and enjoyed most of the songs because I liked the quirky lyrics, the punchy rhythms, and so forth.

311 was a random choice since I liked "Amber" in particular, and the contrast between their reggae stuff and their harder stuff.

Also, both have given me stuff I already know I kinda like, such as Barenaked Ladies.

edited 29th Sep '16 11:19:50 PM by Twentington

I like "Amber" and "Come Original" but my favorite of theirs by far is "All Mixed Up."

Well hey, you know what, glad you have stuff you can get into there. Apologies for my ribbing.

If you like the Barenaked Ladies, you might like They Might Be Giants. They're also known for their quirky lyrics and have some pretty good rhythms and melodies, though I'll admit some of their stuff you might find a bit too weird. It's a cliche starting point for them, but I recommend listening to their album Flood (their most popular album and the starting point for many fans of theirs) and seeing what you think of them.

Their debut is also a good introduction. That's how I got into them.

The thing is, I still keep getting hung up on lyrics even slightly outside my comfort zone. And I think it just keeps holding me back when trying to find new stuff that I like. For instance, I'm 90% sure that I really like "Everlong", but even after looking it up, I have no idea what any of it means.

A friend suggested not focusing too much on the lyrics until I get more comfortable on what styles I like.

Bump to answer my last question

If anyone hasn't answered, either they don't believe it requires an answer or there wasn't even a question anyway. Both of which apply here.

oh it didn't seem like a question to me, just a comment, and I figured you were gonna take your friend's suggestion (which is also a suggestion many people all over the forum have given you) and try it out and report back.

The latest song that was given to me blindly was "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. I haven't tried to get hung up on the lyrics, and focus more on how it sounds.

Nothing jumped out to me musically as a turnoff. I remembered the song nearly two days after only hearing it once, so it can't be mediocre to me. Other than that, I have no idea.

Good song, one of the better power ballads you'll find.

I mean, why do you need more than that to know?

Because I'm still not 100% sure that I like it. Obviously, with "Dislike" and "indifferent" out the window, that's the only thing left, but it still feels like something's missing that's making me go "this is without question a good song".

I mean, you could just be of the opinion of "I don't dislike it." It's not really a binary (trinary?) thing here where it has to be like, dislike, or indifferent. Your opinion sounds like it can be phrased thusly: "I prefer it to other songs I've heard and I wouldn't actively avoid it and certainly don't dislike it, but it doesn't really do much for me beyond holding my attention and being somewhat memorable."

The thing is, I think it is doing something for me, I just don't know what.

I think the problem is that I'm so used to getting my musical feels from straightforward lyrics that speak to me. Getting feels from songs with vaguer/less singleminded lyrics, or getting feels from the SOUND instead, is just so new to me that I don't know how to react. It's like, lots of songs are landing, but hell if I know why.

Cross posting from the "Odd confessions" thread to avoid threadjack:

I do, but since the lyrics are THERE, I keep snagging on them.

Yes, and it still makes me divide by zero because there's even less to think about.

I do, and my reaction is always the same: "how do you get THAT meaning from THIS word salad?!?"

That's how I always do it, as a whole, and it still ends up being word salad at the best.

====

To give an example of my "how are you getting that out of these words?" problem:

The beginning hints at stifling religious forces and youthful abandon: Where the hell is religion in there?

there’s a plea to strive for substance: Again, where?

an oblique reference to romantic solidarity: The hell is "romantic solidarity"?!

And what does all that Courtney Love stuff at the end have to do with the rest of the song? That article explains what it means, sort of, but I still don't see how it ties into the rest of the song at all.

So yeah... I've had that song (you Get What You Give by New Radicals) explained to me and now I understand even less.

I've never quite critically analyzed that song, but I can tell you that that last part of the song was literally just put in there to troll people. Like, it didn't fit with the rest of the song, and that's only because it was thrown in as a joke at the expense of the tabloids who they knew would run with it and the people mentioned in the verse.

Why did they put it in there, you might ask? Same reason John Lennon wrote "Glass Onion", there wasn't really a necessary reason for it, they just did it.

edited 26th Oct '16 1:11:06 AM by Odd1

Then what about the rest of the song?

I have listened to Bon Iver's latest singles and, yes, the lyrics still left me confused. I decided, "Fuck it, if i couldn't understand the lyrics during my first listen, then I'd just ignore the lyrics."

THEN WHY BOTHER PUTTING THEM IN THE SONG?!?!?!?

what is your opinion on this