Studio vs. Live

One thing that I was thinking about today was difference between creating a great sounding song in a studio and being able to perform it live really well. Literally anyone can enjoy a good song produced in a studio. You can spend days perfecting small details until it's exactly what you want. In a live show, the band only has one shot to play it the best they can. They don't get to go back and fix anything. I started really considering this after I played drums at a gig-like thing with my guitar lesson teacher. I think that musicians generally can appreciate a quality live performance by any band. I have a lot of respect for a band that can put on a great live show. It shows that they actually know their music and actually work to be good. I think that this relates to modern music and older rock. I feel that it wasn't until 20 or 30 years ago that bands really focused on small details and sounds in their music. Since then, the studio work has been heavy and songs are often altered a lot. Before then, bands played more live shows and had to put on good ones. To me, songs seemed more simple. You had a guitar, bass, drums and vocals. You didn't have hundreds of little computer generated sounds playing in the background or serious alterations of the singer's voice. The bands had to be really talented. I don't think it takes quite as much talent to be successful today honestly. You can rely on the computers to do a lot of the work. That's why I really love seeing a great sounding live performance.

GNR

I like Guns N' Roses. I've liked them for many years actually. I really started to get interested in them when I learned Sweet Child o' Mine on guitar. After that, I learned more about them and got interested in more of their songs. I hate the personality of Axl Rose, however. He is a jerk and basically ruined the band with his attitude. My favorite member is definitely Slash. He was my first favorite guitar player and I still see him as a very skilled player. When I listen to GNR, I enjoy it fully but I know that it's not the case for many other people. I am able to overlook Axl's horrible attitude for the sake of the fun and energetic music. I can fully respect and appreciate why Mr. A would dislike the band, but my opinion differs slightly. I will say that my respect for the band dropped significantly after discovering how hostile Axl acts. At this point in the band's career, I think they should just stop playing because Axl sounds terrible now and the band will never ever be the same. GNR was really the first band I got into that wasn't modern. Because of that, I will always be able to enjoy their music.

All The Time

With the release of a new Strokes album expected next week, the band released one song from the album. That song is called All The Time. I only got around to listening to it this morning. My initial thought was that it's definitely good. I don't want to criticize it too much because I do really think it is good. But to me, it's just like every other Strokes song. It sounds like the rest of them and you can't understand anything that Julian Casablancas says like most of them. I was a little disappointed by the end of the song because my opinion had gone from it being good to me hoping that the rest of the album would be different. When I listen to a new album, I want to hear a difference in the style from the last album. Maybe the difference is very slight, but I just want to hear a change. I don't want the exact same sounding songs that the band has released forever because that bores me and steers me away from the band. I feel like The Strokes have many good songs. They also have many mediocre songs. I would probably place this one in the middle but closer to mediocre. I really am glad to hear that the band is back but my expectations were not met with this one song. I definitely may need to lower them at this point but I'm hoping to enjoy a few songs on the album a lot. Here is the link for the song. Listen to it and judge it for yourself:

 

Hair Metal

To me, hair metal is a genre that is fun to listen to for a while. That while could be a few songs or a couple of hours, depending on how good the metal is. I like a good amount of the metal we listened to in class. I think that the wave of hair metal was really just wave of music that is primarily supposed to be fun and exciting to listen to. Like punk, music was used to escape from the stresses and pressures that everyday life creates. With more stress, the demand for a temporary escape grew and this could have led to this uprising. It also could have just come from an interest in the genre. One of the major stylistic techniques used in hair metal is tapping on the guitar that is used during solos or any other time really. I think that Van Halen used it very early on in the genre's first wave. Listen to the beginning of this:

It is when he uses his right hand on the neck of the guitar. I was interested when I heard that Van Halen popularized this around the same time as hair metal.

Cliffs of Dover

Cliffs of Dover is a song by Eric Johnson released around 1990. Eric Johnson is an amazing musician from Austin, Texas who has played with many bands. I heard the song Cliffs of Dover many years ago after someone showed it to me. I had only been playing guitar for a couple of years and I was amazed. Even today, I have given up on trying to learn it on guitar. It is really difficult and it shows off Johnson's talent. Many instrumental tracks bore me often but this one is very entertaining. Even those who don't appreciate the difficulty of it can enjoy the tune of it. It is easily recognizable. Johnson has said that he can hardly take credit for writing the song, as he literally wrote it in five minutes when it came to him. I think that clearly lays out how talented he really is. I have a lot of respect for talented guitar players and musicians in general. Eric Johnson is well respected and one of my favorite guitar players by far. He is, arguably, one of the best guitar players ever.

The Sugarhill Gang

The Sugarhill Gang is an old school hip hop group that is great in my opinion. I like them much more than modern hip hop groups and rappers. Their music is still listened to widely today. I usually don't like hip hop that much at all. I just tolerate it, as it is so popular today. I am actually able to listen to Sugarhill Gang and enjoy it. I feel that it is quality music. Today's hip hop and rap becomes stale within a year or so and is no longer listened to hardly at all. Some of the classic hip hop is still listened to today, such as Sugarhill Gang. I also enjoy the fact that actual instruments are used. To me, this adds to the quality of each song. I don't think that I need to post videos of their music because we've all heard Apache and Rapper's Delight a million times. It may get a little bit old when you've heard it a couple times in one week, but personally, I have no problem with listening to it again as opposed to worn out modern rap songs. Old school rap and hip hop are, by far, my favorites in the genre of hip hop.

We Will Become Silhouettes

We Will Become Silhouettes is a song by The Postal Service, a band that I don't care for much. Here is the original version:

I that Ben Gibbard's voice is one of the few good things about this song. It definitely isn't my style. I can see why a lot of people might like this song, but I'm not among those people. A band that I enjoy much more than the Postal Service covered this song. They took it and completely changed the style. They basically made it into a 12 bar blues styled song that isn't swung. It's straight eighth notes instead of swung eighth notes. I would guess that many more people will like this, but I'm not sure. I think it's an example of then a cover is better than the original. Here it is:

Talking Heads

Before we listened to the Talking Heads in class this week, I had only heard one song. I didn't really think I liked them at first, but after listening a little more, they grew on me. When we actually did listen to them in class, I heard different songs of theirs for the first time. I know that they're weird and different, but I don't mind that. I think that they were very talented as a punk band. I think that the fact that they are strange makes them somewhat of a punk band, or helps at least. To me, punk is more of the intention of music. Even though many of the Ramones songs have similar lyrics to what a rock and roll song could have, I think that just the nature of their playing makes them punk. Not just the sound, but the fact that they play loud and intend to be crazy sounding. But one thing I've thought about is: if the intention of music makes it punk, would rap be punk? Many rap songs are critical of others and try to be very dangerous sounding. Is that enough to make them punk?