[atsonicpark]

Note the part of my post saying I wasn't directing that statement at anyone in this thread, in particular. My statement probably deserved its own thread -- I just don't understand this pitchfork reviews-based-on-how-much-ad-was-bought culture, and I wonder why so many people have the exact same tastes -- it's because their opinions are formed for them.

As for Limp Bizkit, I can appreciate all sides of music, from the most mainstream shit ever, to the most "Avant garde"; I just like sound. I don't care who likes Beck or Malkmus, I just personally think their best days are behind them.

As for me (?I guess me?) trying to be holier than thou... well, I'm quite knowledgable on most facets of music, but I certainly don't think my opinion matters more, or that I'm better than anyone else here. I mean, I've pretty much given up listening to most music -- since it doesn't excite me much anymore -- and pretty much only listen to electronic music. So, if I come off as a bit jaded, perhaps that's why... I can't help it that I feel like almost every sound I hear is unexciting, and a version of a tribute of an homage to something White Noise did on A Electrical Storm; or Captain Beefheart did; or Zappa did; or something. Music, movies, art, CULTURE simply used to be a lot more exciting than it is now.

But we live in an age where there's this immediacy, this urgency, this simplified formula, meant to get in and get out... the only thing that sells is what's simple, what appeals to the lowest common denominator. I remember when The White Stripes came out and I said, "No way will this band be popular." Well, I was wrong. But why are they popular? They're boring, WAY too simple; shitty riffs, shitty melodies, shitty beats, shitty structures. But it gets in, does its thing, then gets out. And that's most of the music that's popular. Because everything, especially advertising, and payola, costs SO much money now. They have to rely on proven formulas.

There's just TOO MUCH INFORMATION now. Too much to take in. Not only do we have all the present, we have all the past. So, hey, what do they do to give us the best of the past and present? REMAKE THE PAST FOR THE PRESENT!

Seriously, compare songs from the 60's/70's -- mainstream "Hits" -- to songs of today. Worlds of complexities, melodically and in the arrangements, you just don't hear that today. And even these "indie" bands have learned from their mainstream peers, knowing that they can just play simple shit riffs with simple shit melodies and get popular.

Look at a song from the 80's..I'LL STOP THE WORLD AND MELT WITH YOU. Awesome keyboard lines, tons of neat little structural asides and fills, that accapella part, that weird dark "the future's open wide" or whatever the fuck the line is part. Jesus! That songs sounds like the most insane shit ever, from another fucking planet, compared to whatever the fuck is popular nowadays.

Obviously, I like big dumb rock, like Bizkit and KoRn, but that shit at least has some interesting creative guitar playing, or something.. SOMETHING to cling my ears onto.

I dunno. I'm just ranting. I just wish everyone I met didn't have the same exact tastes. But you know, it's odd... cuz I have a lot of DUH HAH FACEBOOK friends, right? And I noticed something odd. If I go to facebook profiles of people in America, their tastes in music are pretty much exactly the same -- every one of them. For people in the UK, the tastes are quite diverse, far-ranging, and sometimes bizarre. Why is that? I've never lived in the UK so I wouldn't know. But that's interesting.

So yeah. American INDIE INTERNET CULTURE is so safe and boring.