Looking up some of the songs I don't recognize, I'm amazed at how many of them are completely lacking a melodic hook (Dramarama, Social Distortion) or even a chorus ("Brain Stew"). I guess they resonated with people solely on the basis of production & lyrical 'attitude'? (Cf. that recent paper on timbre as distinguishing mark for indie/alternative music)
― bernard snowy, Thursday, 10 July 2014 22:38 (ten years ago) link
the fuck is this geir shit
― da croupier, Thursday, 10 July 2014 22:45 (ten years ago) link
do you know what a melodic hook is? Regardless of how you feel about the songs, both "Anything, Anything" and "Ball and Chain" have clear melodic hooks
― sarahell, Thursday, 10 July 2014 23:25 (ten years ago) link
No you're right, I was being overly harsh. What I meant is that the hooks are boring as shit & the dudes can't sing :)
― bernard snowy, Thursday, 10 July 2014 23:46 (ten years ago) link
"I'll give you anything, ANYTHING" [plays four-chord progression for three minutes without variation]
― bernard snowy, Thursday, 10 July 2014 23:49 (ten years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link
lol dude you'll have that hook in your head literally for the rest of your life, maybe reserve comment on a song's hooks until a little longer than "I just heard this song just now"
― Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 11 July 2014 00:09 (ten years ago) link
even as a self-loathing former rhcp fan i don't really get the under the bridge hate.
― Merdeyeux, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:13 (ten years ago) link
Justice served in this poll, that song is anti-rape on paper, but actually treats date rape as a sleazy and "hilarious" joke.
― intheblanks, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:18 (ten years ago) link
too close.
― EZ Snappin, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:31 (ten years ago) link
I admire the Nirvana voter, whoever you be
― i'm elf-ein lusophonic (imago), Friday, 11 July 2014 00:37 (ten years ago) link
15. Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized 0
^^good job ILM
― sinister porpoise (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 11 July 2014 00:40 (ten years ago) link
they knew what they consequences would be
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:40 (ten years ago) link
also wtf at the comments on Ball and Chain upthread, that song is immortal
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:41 (ten years ago) link
what the hell, under the bridge is like the 2nd best song on here.
― brimstead, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:42 (ten years ago) link
Maybe it's a west coast thing
― brimstead, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:43 (ten years ago) link
I get "Under the Bridge" fatigue but when that shit was fresh it was welcome as hell
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:43 (ten years ago) link
Such nice hendrixy guitar. The lyrics are pretty lousy apart from the first verse.
― brimstead, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:49 (ten years ago) link
that ride-out riff from Frusciante is all-time
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:51 (ten years ago) link
kiedis's wretched singing throughout, how can anyone bear it, I ask you.
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Friday, 11 July 2014 00:52 (ten years ago) link
normally I hate the sound of Kiedis' throaty singing voice and prefer when he does more of his funk staccato or doesn't draw attention to it, but he's very listenable on this track IMO.
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:53 (ten years ago) link
RHCP instrumentals would probably be half-decent to good tbh but that man is possibly my least favourite vocalist ever & I'm not sure why
― i'm elf-ein lusophonic (imago), Friday, 11 July 2014 00:54 (ten years ago) link
he has a grating voice and he's terrible live for starters
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 00:59 (ten years ago) link
there was an mp3 of RHCP covering the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" live and I don't want to say Kiedis' dreadful vocals contributed to MJ's early demise but I'm going to say it anyway
― Neanderthal, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:00 (ten years ago) link
I'm gonna stop arguing after this cuz I guess I have a weird conception of a "hook"; but to me, it's something that stands out from its surrounding musical setting--a melodic line, a vocal refrain, a dynamic swell, an unexpected & satisfying chord change, the entrance of new instruments or voices... the Dramarama song might qualify for the last of these, that trebley guitar that enters for a few bars at a time, except the guitar is playing the most boring imaginable straight-time up-and-down bullshit. I've already forgotten everything about the song except that it feels "tense" & I hate it
― bernard snowy, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:43 (ten years ago) link
yeah the Dramarama song is total dogshit, easily the worst song from the '80s in the alt rock radio canon
― some dude, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:46 (ten years ago) link
but i too have been badgered by aero for daring to suggest that an enduringly popular song has a lousy hook so you have my sympathy
― some dude, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:47 (ten years ago) link
... okay I just listened again to refresh memory (sorry i'm also a little drunk) & I wouldn't have been nearly as harsh on the song if it didn't feel like one long verse spent waiting for a chorus that never arrives. So really my reaction is less "I hate it!" and more "... is that all there is?"
― bernard snowy, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:48 (ten years ago) link
It reminds me of some Afghan Whigs song that I actually dig, is about the best thing I can say for it
― bernard snowy, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:49 (ten years ago) link
No afghan whigs song is that catchy
― Οὖτις, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:51 (ten years ago) link
yeah always found it more tiresome than hateable and have always taken KROQ's decades-long refusal to retire it from playlists as an endearing local quirk.
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 11 July 2014 01:53 (ten years ago) link
"ball and chain" is a total singalong song, very catchy if nothing else
― sinister porpoise (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 11 July 2014 01:56 (ten years ago) link
the whole self-titled Social D album is an awesome hit parade
― some dude, Friday, 11 July 2014 01:58 (ten years ago) link
OTM
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Friday, 11 July 2014 02:56 (ten years ago) link
can only assume that 40 ILXors have not heard "date rape" by sublime
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Friday, 11 July 2014 03:11 (ten years ago) link
The Dramarama song (which I love) goes with Sex Dwarf and the Oingo Boingo tunes as KROQ staples that were played literally almost every single day on Richard Blade's Flashback Lunch for (at least?) all of the '90s - as well as things like "88 Lines About 44 Women" and "Nobody Walks in L.A."
― Walter Galt, Friday, 11 July 2014 09:41 (ten years ago) link
37 ilxors do not know how to skank and or pick it up.
― how's life, Friday, 11 July 2014 09:49 (ten years ago) link
This is pretty surprising:
23. Blink-182 - Dammit 0
― skip, Friday, 11 July 2014 14:12 (ten years ago) link
― some dude, Thursday, July 10, 2014 6:58 PM (Yesterday)
It really is!
― sarahell, Friday, 11 July 2014 18:10 (ten years ago) link
That's another SoCal thing, right?
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 11 July 2014 18:43 (ten years ago) link
Social D was pretty big in the Twin Cities too IIRC
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Friday, 11 July 2014 18:44 (ten years ago) link
yeah that social D album is pretty damn good, 'ball and chain' is just a really great tune imo.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Friday, 11 July 2014 18:47 (ten years ago) link
also 'under the bridge' isn't that bad i guess, kiedis as usual is the worst thing about the band though (excepting that brief period w/navarro)
Yeah, they got tons of airplay in Baltimore. Huge influence on 90's punk and rockabilly. Don't really like them these days but I listened to them a ton when I was a kid.
― how's life, Friday, 11 July 2014 18:48 (ten years ago) link
i voted for 'girls' because i figured it needed a hate vote, i knew 'date rape' was gonna take the poll.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Friday, 11 July 2014 18:48 (ten years ago) link
Huh, apparently Social Distortion was bigger than I realized.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 11 July 2014 18:49 (ten years ago) link
What was the song that the kid in Veronica Mars plagiarized for his poetry assignment?
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Friday, 11 July 2014 18:51 (ten years ago) link
hazard a guess that social d is equally norcal as socal xp
― mattresslessness, Friday, 11 July 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
Social D is an abomination wtf at the defenders in this thread
― Οὖτις, Friday, 11 July 2014 18:54 (ten years ago) link
just the worst of cliched greaser punk schticks some kind of ur-text for that scene
― Οὖτις, Friday, 11 July 2014 18:55 (ten years ago) link