- Listener
UNLABELEDRADICAL
Age: 14
Location: United States
Joined On: Feb 21, 2007
Occupation: School
I love music, but don't we all? Or why else would we be here? I respect that everyone has their own taste in music, even if I hate the music they like. Well, at least I try to respect that. What good music is, is different to everyone, because everyone has their own opinion. The music I like? Rock music, like punk/pop or just punk. I like melodic stuff. I like alternative rock and emo. I don't really like metal, but sometimes I do like some hard rock metal stuff. I like Indie rock and acoustic rock. But I also like folk, world, celtic, bluegrass... all kinds of music! And I LOVE ragtime and old jazz music!! I play fiddle and guitar and I really want to play bass. Besides music I like art and writing and I talk on the phone all the time! I don't like iPods as much as CD's and worry about CD sales declining and the whole music industry changing for worse. Rock on everybody! Sincerely Unlabeled Radical
No, I'm sorry, but a band usually consists of more than one person. Frontman? Blah!
I've been thinking that ever sense the beginning of popular & rock music (and probaly before that and in more genres as well) only certain people get the attention. I'm not talking about whole bands or singers, I'm talking about little known bassists, drummers, guitarests the ocansional singer and countless back-up bands. You know, the guys (and girls) that play and play but no one notices? Yeah they hear their music, but they just don't relize that there is more than one or two people making it.
In the beginning of rock n' roll it was the drummers. Both the Beatles and the Who replaced their origanal drummers without concious. Then it was bassists. People love to ignore bassists. The majority of forgotten band members is probally made of drummers and bassists, but lots of guitarists and maybe even a few singers have been forgotten as well. It's harder to forget a singer, though, because you always hear what they're saying! Now don't forget bassists and drummers can become frontmn or as good as frontmen too and it's impossible to forget the frontman if you remember the band! The only drummer I can think of is Travis Barker. I have a few more bassists: Sting, Paul McCartney, Mark Hoppus, Tyson Ritter and Pete Wentz.
Lets go into more deail with Pete Wentz, shall we? Pete Wentz is the bassist/lyricist/frontman in the Alternative/Pop-Punk/Emo/Rock band, Fall Out Boy. They're a rare case but still a pretty sad one all the same. The band was started in the year 2001 by guitarest Joe Trohman. Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump were origanal members of Fall Ou Boy as well. They later added drummer Andy Hurly after recording Evening Out With You Girlfriend. Don't ask me for their old drummers' name, I don't know. Well there's a little Fall Out Boy history, but that's not what we're here for, are we? Well in Fall Out Boy the frontman is a bass player who writes most of the lyrics, you know Pete Wentz. Girls everwhere become extremly obbessed with him and they that they're the future Mrs. Wentz. Everone says he's hot/sexy/cute etc., but in my opinion all three members in the band are better looking than him. But looks arn't the most important thing anyway and everyone knows that frontman are a usual thing and Pete can reall help the bands image etc. But some people hate him because of how conceeded he is and that he's sometimes just plain weird. I don't mind Pete Went, his lyrics are good he does/says some cool stuff and he's seems like a cool guy. I still sometimes worry and get pretty mad about him eclipsing the rest of the band. Patrick Stump is a outstanding singer and does great rythm guitar that's not just basic 3 power chord rythm and to top it all of he write almost all of the music. People are starting to reconize to reconize him more and him not being the fronman is fine because he's rather shy and didn't want to be. But Pete should not get in the way of his singing. On the Honda Civic tour Patrick was singing "Don't Matter" by Akon (TO BE COUNTINUED)
Living In an iWorld (intro)
iPods are fun and good, but I DON"T think they're better than CDs. If eveyone downloads instead of buying CD's the artists will get less money and the listeners will miss one alot of things. When you buy a CD you get all the songs the artist wanted to here, rather than just a few hits, you get the full story (I don't mean to say all CDs have stories). Even if you can download a whole album alot of people don't. Also when you buy a CD you get the artwork. Artwork is a great thing, sometimes there are pictures of the band/singer/whatever or sometimes just interresting stuff. You also get lyrics (sometimes not always) and thank you's. I AM NOT DONE AND I WILL WRITE MORE LATER. SORRY
Living In a iWorld (part 1)
When I was a little girl my family didnt have that many CDs, but we soon kept getting more and more. I was 5 when I got my first CD. It was a Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer soundtrack. As I got older I got more and more interested in music and got more and more CDs. My whole family had CDs Classical, Celtic, World, Folk and Rock. The first CD non-complication album (Before that I got mostly Disney soundtracks) that I paid for was either The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot or the Chronicles of Life and Death by Good Charlotte. I was 11 (2005) when I discovered downloading and thought it was a good way to discover an artist or get one song by an artist you dont generally like much without spending a lot of money, but I still loved to by CDs. I loved (and love) the artwork, thanks yours and lyrics (if they include them) I loved the pictures and I loved to hear everything the band/ wanted you to hear. I started to notice other people liking music more too, but they all were getting iPod and downloading top40 hits. At first I thought needed an iPod or mp3 player and begged my parents for one, but I still didnt want to stop buying CDs.
Now Im 13 (2007) and Im shocked to see CD sales declining.
What is "Good Music"?
What is Good Music?
In all genres of music complexity and technicality are praised and simplicity is just mediocre. At least thats what the critics say.
I think its what sounds good that really matters, whether simple or fancy. Sure I enjoy a good almost impossible guitar solo now and again and I like fancy singing and lyrics. But sometimes I need that simplicity, that sing-along type of music that is still good music, in any genre. As long as its put together well, its great.
Lets say youre a guitarist and you play mostly power chords and come up with catchy little guitar riffs; does that make you a bad guitarist? Or if youre a fiddler, not a violinist and you play that good old, simple old-time music, does that make you a bad musician? If you think so then I seriously beg to differ.
Lets take The Beatles they had catchy and simple songs, but there were obviously genius musicians, even though they did play more difficult stuff as they got older. So why are bands like Green Day booed for not being overly fancy, mostly sticking with power and barre chords, and not playing a lot of really complicated stuff with any of the instruments? They still come up with new things, try out different genres and sounds and then add a few guitar and bass solos.
Classical music is always adored for technical stuff thats really hard. So I give the musicians credit, but sometimes its so focused on little hard and fancy stuff, that it goes nowhere and does nothing for me except makes me turn it off.
Composers, who people practically worship, such as Mozart, are not the best as for listening. When I listen to Mozart I feel like Im floating above a happy path to nowhere and occasionally it will rain. Im still not saying he was a bad good composer. He wasnt.
The main part of this problem of good and evil is that people dont know the difference between a bad musician of and a good musician. Being a good musician is making your instrument sound awesome and sometimes doing really hard stuff and not always being confined to easy pieces, but being a musician myself I know that its about playing what you want and having fun. Dont bother yourself with worrying about what to play and how hard it is, just play! A bad musician would be someone who has no patience for their instrument and makes distasteful sounds.
Its what sounds good that matters, in any genre. So when someone doesnt like a particular music group and say its bad because theres no trills or solos, they probably just dont like the group because they like complicated sounds. Music should be equal to all different kinds of musicians whether they play complicated classic rock or simple/loud punk, new bluegrass or old-time. Just because you dont like something, doesnt make it bad music. Someone else probably loves it. So no one has the right to insult people who play music they love and love to play it. Even if they make horrible sounds they could be learning or those horrible sounds might sound not so horrible to someone else. As always, its all about opinion.
Infinity On High: A Review on Fall Out Boy's Third (4th) Album
Infinity on High: A Review on Fall Out Boys Third (4th) Album
Fall Out Boy - an Emo/Punk-Pop/Pop-Rock or some kind of alternative band from Chicago finally got big in 2004-2005 off their second album ( third if you count the pre-Andy Hurley record, Evening Out With Your Girlfriend) From Under The Cork Tree.
Now, in February 2007, the much anticipated album, Infinity On High is out.
Being a Fall Out Boy fan myself, I bought Infinity On High soon after its release. Then, after listening to it, I thought a review on it would be a perfect article for my newsletter, so here it is.
First, an introduction to the band:
Andy Hurley, drums ; Patrick Stump, lead vocals and rhythm guitar; Joe Trohman, lead guitar and Pete Wentz, bass and back-up vocals. All lyrics have been written by Pete Wentz except for one song, Honorable Mention off Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, written by Patrick Stump. How the songs are written is very interesting. Pete has a journal that he writes all his clever thoughts in and then he gives it to Patrick who pieces the songs together and sets them to music. Patrick has an amazing voice that can do numerous styles of singing. It just seems to get better in every album! On Infinity On High, Patrick sings with more of a jazz style to more professional than back to rock with added things that can resemble anything from doo-wop to hip-hop Joe Trohman plays challenging lead guitar that can be very fancy and fast. His lead guitar makes a great team with Patricks rhythm guitar. Its a wonder he can play so well as he runs, jumps and does back flips (he probably stops playing for them)! Andy plays good solid drums that hold all the music together. And has a lot of fun doing it. Pete is a good basic bassist and his back up vocals fit well with Patricks lead vocals. Pete is the one who gets all the fans and attention and hes also the marketing wiz along with being overly creative and imaginative, but without the other three the band would cease to be. Patricks too shy to be frontman, but is a big part of the band. Andy and Joe are also big parts of the band and deserve much more attention than they get.
Fall Out Boy are mainly classified as a Emo band. They have defined Emo and made it much more popular then ever before. Emo came from punk the definition is: Emotional punk. Emos have been hated by the punks for years, but punk music has inspired the Emos. The members in Fall Out Boy were all in harder rock band but then decided to have a more punk-pop band like Green Day. They got to a lighter sound, but are 2,000 light years away from the Green Day sound. They made their own sound.
The first single, This Aint a Scene, Its an Arms Race was released in the late fall of 2006. Arms Race features a catchy guitar riff, a shouting chorus, interesting lyrics and more. While, Arms Race, isnt my favorite song on IOH its great hit material + still different at the same time= a great song.
My favorite song on Infinity on High is Youre Crashing, But Youre No Wave an Interesting song with slowish minor key verses that take you to a court room and a frantic pre-chorus. Youre Crashing has a choir and a piano as well. The songs about if you have lots of money and know what to say youre almost sure to make it and if you dont you probably wont make it. Its showing this in a court room setting and either singer or writer (which ever you can imagine better) is the one with a lot of money and talking experience (maybe a lawyer). It proves its point with lyrics like Best pressed suit and tie can talk my way out of anything. Case open, case shut but you could pay to close it like a casket.
Another one of my favorites is Hum Hallelujah. A catchy, up-beat song thats fun to sing with some fun lyrics like youre someone who knew someone who knew someone I once knew. and some clever like The road outside my house, is paved with good intentions, Hired a construction crew, cause its hell on the engine.(Try and figure that out. Dont worry its possible.) Hum Hallelujah has a choir in one part of the song singing Hallelujah. The song seems as if its celebrating with its happy, energetic tune and joyous word, but the lyrics prove otherwise. The chorus goes like, So hum Hallelujah, just off the key of reason; I thought I loved you, but it was just how you looked in the light; A teenage vow in a parking lot; till tonight do us part; I sing the blues and swallow them too.. This seems to be another one of the many songs about the same unhealthy and unstable relationship.
My third favorite thnks fr th mmrs (Thanks For the Memories) is also the second single, with its hilarious video featuring Chimpanzees and Orangutans! The beginning of the song has a creepy air to it and reminds me of some vague musical. Its still, I think, about the same subject that a lot of FOBs songs seem to be about, but the lyrics remain to be clever. This song includes everything from a brass orchestra to a mandolin, but is not so over orchestrated that you dont recognize FOBs music. Its still the same Fall Out Boy.
Song by song ratings:
Thriller: 5/5 Thriller has a talking intro by Jay-Z and beautiful lyrics about their fans and them becoming famous. The musics also good and an average Fall Out Boy song. Thriller is a great starter for Infinity on High and not a cover of Michel Jacksons song with the same title.
The Takes Over, the Breaks Over: 5/5
This Aint a Scene its an Arms Race: 5/5
Im Like a Lawyer In the Way Im Always Trying to Get You Off ( Me and You): 3/5
Hum Hallelujah: 5/5
Golden: 3/5
Thnks Fr th Mmrs: 5/5
Dont You Know Who I Think I Am: 4/5
The (After) Life of the Party: 2/4
The Carpel Tunnel of Love: 5/5
Bang the Doldrums5/5
Fame vs. Infamy: 3/5
Youre crashing but youre No Wave: 5/5
Ive got This Ringing in My Ears but None on My Fingers: 5/5 A fantastic ending song. Ive Got This Ringingmay seem a little strange with its theme song like instrumental beginning, but you just have to get into the mood. It has great little singing tricks and an exceptional guitar riff that the singing matches in one part of the song with, da da s.
Infinity on High is over all a very good record. It has a musical feel to it, in my opinion, but not in the way of a story, just the music. Patricks voice is amazing, the lyrics are clever and the instruments are outstanding! Ive averaged out my ratings and got 4/5 stars. If youre a Fall Out Boy fan youll probably like Infinity On High, its a little more mature and creepy sounding, but still Fall Out Boy. If youre not familiar with Fall Out Boy, check out this CD and some of their older stuff too (Take This To Your Grave is amazing.) I may be wrong, but many people will love this album.
