After MCIS, the band's sound changed significantly... it turned a lot of younger listeners off, which also happened to be a huge chunk of their fanbase most likely. Older listeners or those that have a better appreciation and understanding of different music (like me) didn't mind the transition (I think Adore is one of their finest moments). But a lot of people my age just didn't understand the direction they were heading in and would've rather listened to less talented, but still loud and angsty bands like KoRn and Limp Bisquick. Their loss. The band's art direction (in terms of how they LOOKED) also changed, which is always unfavorable to a mainstream audience.
SP is still a very popular Internet band -- their bootlegs are all over the place, along with Pearl Jam and Radiohead... and a lot of younger kids seem to be getting into them, which I think is great.
As for Zwan? Man, what a trainwreck. And its a shame. A lot of their live shows were amazing; the studio album didn't even come close to what the band demonstrated at live shows that were bootlegged and encouraged to be put onto the internet by the band. A lot of it has to do with the fact that Matt Sweeney and David Pajo (the indie guys) started to isolate themselves from the band as soon as they realized they were going to record an album to be put on a mainstream label. That left Corgan and Chamberlin to do all the work, with Paz basically along for the ride. Basically, half the band didn't want to have anything to do with the album. Which explains why it lacks what I hear in all of my Zwan bootlegs. The fact that Corgan is a studio junkie and wants to do most of the work with his producers doesn't help the situation much, either. If they all came together and produced it like an indie band would, I think their album would've been outstanding. The cool thing is that even though the studio album wasn't too great, a lot of their bootlegs were, and they are all free.
Well, it definitely sounds good, but I have no idea what she's saying. French is a beautiful language, though.
I don't know why politics had to be brought into this thread, but since it has been... it's really sad when every single time someone talks about the French, someone else has to bring out the Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter within them and make stupid comments. The far left of this country is no different than your typical French person when it comes to politics, so if you hate the French so much, then you clearly have lots of your fellow Americans to hate, too.
And it's really uneducated to generalize all French people as one. People from France in Europe compared to French Canadians in Quebec are different. In fact, anyone from Quebec would tell you that they don't get along very well with people from France and vice-versa.
And really, I never quite understood all of the hate against the French compared to any other European (or Canadian depending on who you're talking about). If it's because they supplied Iraq with mobile weapons facilities, you can stop getting upset about that because that's actually not true, the French never had anything to do with it; they don't exist.
Anyway, it's not like the French are a bunch of terrorists; you can get mad at France for having laid back immigration laws perhaps, but that's basically everywhere in Europe - it's dumb to focus all your negative energy on only one part. It's not like true French Europeans or French Canadians are individuals that pose some kind of threat towards the US. They don't.
It's so funny how the Pumpkins are such a love/hate band. People new to their material either like the song, or don't. People that have known about them for years either love the band, or hate them. Rarely will I see an "eh, they were ok" kind of comment. By the way, The song James wrote for Pisces was "Blew Away." Blue is a b-side from Gish and one of my favorite SP songs. Obscured is an outstanding acoustic rock song.
Semi-useless fact about Kate Bush: I'm fairly certain that the initial engineering behind what would later become MP3 audio compression was tested by listening to samples of Kate Bush's voice. Apparently her voice has such a distinct quality to it that they found it extremely useful in fine-tuning the encoding to make it sound as faithful to the original as possible. Trying to find the source, but regardless, I remember reading this somewhere.
I loved Coldplay's first album. Their second is acceptable. Their live show is pretty good, as I went to go see them back in 2003.
Everything seems to be going downhill now, and it's starting with this album. Boo.
I am loving this song's production. Feels like the effect of psychedelic rock but replaced with a really geary, tight beat. I'll have to check this band out, thanks Bill!
Very cool. Reminds me a bit of My Bloody Valentine with a a little more atmostphere.
We think alike. More melody where there was noise with My Bloody Valentine, but the production is similar. I can't understand why a band like this hasn't become popular yet.
I really liked this one, Bill. Please play it more often!
We go from The Smiths, Smashing Pumpkins and Death Cab for Cutie to this. You gotta love Radio Paradise. When they say eclectic, they certainly mean it... :) This song is kind of "eh" to me, but to each his own. Not really my style of music to begin with.
SP is still a very popular Internet band -- their bootlegs are all over the place, along with Pearl Jam and Radiohead... and a lot of younger kids seem to be getting into them, which I think is great.
As for Zwan? Man, what a trainwreck. And its a shame. A lot of their live shows were amazing; the studio album didn't even come close to what the band demonstrated at live shows that were bootlegged and encouraged to be put onto the internet by the band. A lot of it has to do with the fact that Matt Sweeney and David Pajo (the indie guys) started to isolate themselves from the band as soon as they realized they were going to record an album to be put on a mainstream label. That left Corgan and Chamberlin to do all the work, with Paz basically along for the ride. Basically, half the band didn't want to have anything to do with the album. Which explains why it lacks what I hear in all of my Zwan bootlegs. The fact that Corgan is a studio junkie and wants to do most of the work with his producers doesn't help the situation much, either. If they all came together and produced it like an indie band would, I think their album would've been outstanding. The cool thing is that even though the studio album wasn't too great, a lot of their bootlegs were, and they are all free.