I mean people generally think that Varg Vikernes made good music, right
The appeal is similar: Bizarre vocals, grim aesthetics, no-fi not-even-production, and so forth.
But you are right in that Varg Vikernes was a pretty solid instrumentalist and highly innovative in his genre. Maybe Absurd is a better comparison, as their work certainly has its admirers but it's way sloppier and more infused with the fucked-up-ness of its creators.
ocasionally while leafing through youtube I find something truly delightfully weird.
That happened today, where, as I often do, I was putting in random combinations of words in the hopes of locating obscure songs.
Something or another turned up this, "Reggae Shop" by a very obscure Belgian band from Brugge called either Second Life or The Jersey Gang depending on which of two Youtube commenters you believe.
tbh I think Nickelback is just the logical extreme of the things I don't like about grunge. Even Nirvana - THE grunge band, no questions - kinda bores me with most of its stuff.
Vitalogy and Yield are fine albums, and I think it's rather unfortunate how Eddie Vedder ended up in the middle of a sociopolitical situation that he was simply not equipped to handle, much like how Macklemore, another Seattelite, did 20 years later.
You guys should really give TheAge of Plastic a listen. Known for being the home album of Video Killed The Radio Star, the aforementioned song is probably the most upbeat, least cynical track on the album. And that's saying something. With songs about war (Clean Clean), industrial exploitation (Kid Dynamo), sexual objectification (I Love You Miss Robot) and nihilistic angst/the meaningless materialism of the 80s (The Plastic Age), this album is delightfully cynical in the best way.
There's a late Yes album that's made up of repurposed music Horn and Downes wrote a while back that's surprisingly good for being a Yes album from 2011 called Fly From Here.
I listen to it every time I have a flight, and it never fails to make the process more tolerable.
I think this is the essence of what I think cyberpunk should be. It should raise questions about who we are, how we treat others and how that reflects on how we value humanity as a concept.
Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and James McAlister wrote a song cycle about the solar system a few years ago. They're finally releasing it this June.
For better or for worse, I think the Buggles would've found more success with somber songs like I Love You (Miss Robot) and Astroboy (And the Proles on Parade). I mean, their energetic and snidely cynical songs like Clean Clean and The Plastic Age are insanely good (and IMO better than VKTRS), it's just that Video Killed the Radio Star was a special kind of powerful, and capitalizing on the sentiment would've found them much more success.
I mean, they tried it with Elstree, but that was honestly a much weaker track than any of the ones I mentioned before. Which, considering the same can be said of Video Killed the Radio Star, isn't exactly meant as an insult.
Comments
But you are right in that Varg Vikernes was a pretty solid instrumentalist and highly innovative in his genre. Maybe Absurd is a better comparison, as their work certainly has its admirers but it's way sloppier and more infused with the fucked-up-ness of its creators.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
That's all I really care to know about them.
On the other hand, apparently Mike Will Made It was heavily involved in this, and I think he's fairly underrated, so fingers crossed.
Cuba Gooding Sr. has passed away.
I listen to it every time I have a flight, and it never fails to make the process more tolerable.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Wow.
Does this person have a band?