Post a controversial music opinion

Yeah

Troye Sivan is a better guitarist than Jimmy Page.

LOL

there are more chords, key changes, and tempo changes in The Beths' "Future Hates Me" than there are in the Cardiacs' entire discography

king sucks

I don't want to think about this, fortunately I made a bot for it. let's see what it comes up with:

"Is This It is the sonic equivalent of ghosting."

There were, at minimum, a couple dozen albums released in '67 which are better than Sgt. Pepper.

That's not controversial.

R.E.M. is actually really boring

wow, thread finally delivers

I liked R.E.M. a lot in high school and they are all smart, nice guys with good taste but man, I just never want to listen to them anymore. Somewhere around Monster I lost all interest. the limited guitar playing and lack of sonic depth, the boring arrangements, the mewling vocals, the poor production choices and terrible mandolin playing and clunky videos, their catalog feels very inert to me.

like at best I can muster a "yeah that song's okay" for a number of tracks. but a whole album? ew, just never in the mood.

Most bands are boring tbh

all bands are excellent

^^^^

rt

not all bands

bandsplaining

All duos are terrible.

All bands except R.E.M. are excellent

more like blands amirite

Any musician who has not experienced - I do not say understood, but truly experienced - the necessity of dodecaphonic music is USELESS.

I feel like the Eagles worm has been turning for years now, but still no one is ready to say the Eagles are good. Until now folks. The Eagles are Pretty Good

All duos are terrible.

All solo artists are cowards.

lol

All trios are Norwegian.

All ILM posters are liars

I feel like the Eagles worm has been turning for years now, but still no one is ready to say the Eagles are good. Until now folks. The Eagles are Pretty Good

― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, September 7, 2018 1:03 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have a constantly running loop of that lebowski clip in my head, but never more than last night when I was in a duane reade after hell commute that was playing take it easy

jmm otm

I feel like the Eagles worm has been turning for years now, but still no one is ready to say the Eagles are good. Until now folks. The Eagles are Pretty Good

― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, September 7, 2018 10:03 AM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"i can't tell you why" is an amazing song but i can't join you here just yet

the eagles are good

i can't tell you why is really good

other eagles songs i like: hotel california, new kid in town, try and love again, take it easy, peaceful easy feeling, witchy woman

The High Llamas were (are?) a million times better than their 'parents', the Beach Boys.

that's not controversial, it's just wrong

the only good Beach Boy was/is Mike Love.

High Llamas relationship to the Beach Boys was always tangential at best (and related to a very brief period/narrow slice of their catalog) and was way over-emphasized in their press materials.

I would take even the low points of M.I.U. over the High Llamas tbh

No artist at all has a "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline

You could say that about any band that has the opportunity to develop someone else's idea further, if it works for you.

xps

There are a bunch of good Eagles songs. Every one of them was released as a single, so a compilation is all you need. There's not one Eagles album worth listening to all the way through. The Long Run comes closest.

The Beach Boys have, like, two good songs ("Good Vibrations" and "Don't Worry Baby"), and I could happily go the rest of my life without hearing either one of them ever again.

Can't think of any.

Black metal sucks. Even the "good" stuff is bad enough that it's worth handing the whole genre over to the Nazis and walking away. Let 'em have it.

Does it have to be a controversial opinion that we actually hold or are we allowed to just say something we think might wind people up?

Saying a band or genre you don't like sucks isn't controversial or even a wind-up tbh.

that late-90s Brian Wilson worship was so tiresome

Counterpoint: at a Silver Jews show, D. Berman did a sneering routine of saying, "What's the big deal with Brian Wilson? He's so overrated," etc.; which was equally annoying.

It could have been John Prine who wrote "Margaritaville."

Here's an (actually held) controversial opinion: while I've been into the Silver Jews since I first ran across "The Arizona Record" (filed under Pavement on a rack), and I think they have some terrific records, I also think Berman is significantly overvalued as a lyricist by most fans. He has some good one-liners, but his lyrics tend to be strings of "clever" non-sequiturs that only sometimes land. He's seen as some kind of rock poet.

I feel like the Eagles worm has been turning for years now, but still no one is ready to say the Eagles are good. Until now folks. The Eagles are Pretty Good

― strong deutan (rip van wanko), Friday, September 7, 2018 10:03 AM

We have a daily listening thread that'll prove you wrong.

you could make a dud list for most anybody

Music is not sounds, it is actually a combination of smells and flavours.

in all seriousness Daniel, you should probably speak to a physician about that asap

Or at least, in his case, try to sniff or taste one

do you really really really really wanna taste it?

actually before you call the doctor, could you listen to "Wood" and report back?

https://i.discogs.com/GNyVv8FBaAPSONzLjIf7FXx8GW0zEjL-E0dZWjRi45U/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:592/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTgzNTky/NzAtMTUyMjI2Mjc4/Mi04MDcxLmpwZWc.jpeg

David Byrne sucks.

Talking Heads were great for a few albums. As a band they were good, and they were especially good when they had Brian Eno and Bernie Worrell helping them. The most famous/celebrated TH songs are popular cause of hooks done by the other members, like Psycho Killer (bass line by Tina) and This Must Be the Place (keyboard line by Jerry). Somewhere in the middle of Speaking in Tongues they officially became a bad band, one that Byrne disbanded when a record executive told him he couldn't have the band AND a solo career.

Unfortunately, we now live in a world that keeps telling David how amazing he is, and you can listen to his newest album for where that has led us.

I love talking heads but I think I agree with that take?

I think Byrne is similar to Roger Waters in which they were the less talented musicians in the band and their role as composers is overrated and they are not as charismatic or genius as they think they are, but they acted as curators/dictators and guided a vision and that’s where their actual talent is. They’re terrible bossy leaders and eventually when everyone else is tired of their authoritarian posture they part ways but they are really good at organizing people to execute a plan.

I enjoy listening to Sam Fender more than I enjoy listening to Bruce Springsteen.
There, I’ve said it.

I don't think it's possible for a band to make several great albums while having a frontman and principal songwriter who "sucks"

except U2

I have never heard any solo David Byrne, so I don't know whether I agree or not. (I have no interest in hearing any solo David Byrne.)

U2 made a great album? Was it released?

I think both TH and U2 are classic cases of "band is somehow greater than the sum of its parts"

It's part of Talking Heads magic is that DB is a kinda-bad songwriter and a kinda-bad singer. I can't imagine the band with a smooth-voiced poet at the helm, it wouldn't work.

Solo DB has its high points for sure. I personally favour certain albums (the DB/Eno collab) over other albums (the DB/St. Vincent collab) but there is something nourishing about the way DB makes music that appeals to me

I don't play apples and oranges with Sam Fender, I just really like that guy's records, me

I’m happy Byrne is doing his thing even if I have no interest in it. It’s comforting knowing he’s out there still trying to make sense of things.

My estimation of DB went up when his cycle-across-America blog about 15-20 years ago named a favorite hole in the wall barbecue place in Charlottesville that not even many locals knew about.

ooh which one?! (I grew up there)

my fave is the one in Nelson County on 151 going south

I can't listen to Talking Heads really. Their music makes me anxious.

ooh which one?! (I grew up there)

Jinx’s on East Market Street

dang, after my time and now closed

the finest talking heads album is true stories

nope; naked.

(song titles also begat the better band)

The most famous/celebrated TH songs are popular cause of hooks done by the other members, like Psycho Killer (bass line by Tina)

ok but who came up with the fafafafafafafafafafa?

My estimation of DB went up when his cycle-across-America blog about 15-20 years ago named a favorite hole in the wall barbecue place in Charlottesville that not even many locals knew about.

his love of cycling and half-decent reissue label are good. I mean he's not a total monster, he just blows.

I personally favour certain albums (the DB/Eno collab)

the one in the 80s with a bunch of samples and Fripp and Bill Laswell is great. the one that sounds like music Sims would make fucking sucks

I don't think it's possible for a band to make several great albums while having a frontman and principal songwriter who "sucks"

well, the Doors. But I explained why, it's because the other people. The idea that Byrne was a "principal songwriter" is David's opinion, but don't take my word for it, read Chris' book.

I think both TH and U2 are classic cases of "band is somehow greater than the sum of its parts"

I agree in case of TH, I mean that's my whole premise: TH were great because of everyone involved. I would go as far as saying I think Eno was more responsible for Remain in Light being good than Byrne was. U2, maybe. But U2 is a frontman and a stunt guitarist the other two guys are pretty forgettable and could be just about anyone and it would still sound like U2. Talking Heads I would actually put in that Beatles / Led Zep category where everyone brought something to the table, the parted-out later projects never ever captured the same magic. I don't think David Byrne is a worthless piece of shitty trash, but he gets ALL the credit for Talking Heads which is false, and his whole career now is this unearned positivity victory lap and that makes me totally ralph

i'd probably take byrne's the catherine wheel (which is his one truly essential solo album) over more songs about buildings and food and certainly over those last three talking heads albums

Not a controversial take.

This Must Be the Place (keyboard line by Jerry).

mmm this is complicated. Byrne played one of those synths.

I don't think David Byrne is a worthless piece of shitty trash

I want to screen print this on a T-shirt and send it to Tina

My controversial take re TH is that I love Tina’s bass lines and I love her flannel forearm-warmers but I have inferred that she is a bad person and I would avoid her if I ever encountered her

I think I love her flannel forearm-warmers better than her bass playing! (Which is fine, and per the thread, perfect for Talking Heads, which in that context makes it more than fine. I mean, related, I don't rate the Edge as a guitar player, but I wouldn't pick anyone else if I was forming a U2 tribute band.)

Is this a controversial take? I prefer the Black Crowes version of "Hard to Handle" over the Otis version.

I think U2 were a good band from 1980 to 2002 or so.

My sincerely held opinion - which I thought I'd already expressed on this thread but it must have been elsewhere - is that the only worthwhile song Art Garfunkel ever sang on is "Bright Eyes".

Sad to think of all those other bass players, somehow making do with chilly forearms

(xpost) As a S&G lover, that is definitely controversial.

Byrne is similar to Roger Waters in which they were the less talented musicians in the band

Yeah, I agree with that; Live in Rome in particular is an incredible performance from everyone, but Byrne's guitar work is a crucial element. That 1980 lineup reminds me of Miles Davis's 1975 band in terms of what I guess I'd call virtuosic aggression. The second disc of the expanded reissue of The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads has some absolute wall-of-fire performances, too.

so back where i'm from, there's a very outspoken subgenre of smiths fans who will argue that the band is clearly brilliant (because of marr's playing+arranging), despite its obvious flaws (morrissey).

as soon as i became familiar with that dynamic, it immediately hit me: hey david byrne is that, all-in-one, for talking heads! i've always thought his guitaring was pretty substantial, mainly for that super compressed jangle on the first few albums. that's a sound whose side i'm on, regardless of who's playing it. definitely prefer vampy heads, and extended jams.

all that being said, and this being the thread that it is, man f'kn talking heads are one of the most overrated bands of alltime. they don't suck, but they never made a front-to-back classic album. some classic singles for sure, but inconsistent as hell.

Both Tina and Chris are lovely people. My fave TH is that “Live In Rome” performance and I listen to “The Catherine Wheel” more than any of their band or other solo records.

nope; naked.

(song titles also begat the better band)

― austinato (Austin), Sunday, October 19, 2025 4:37 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

ok, i give up trying to figure out what band named themselves after one of the tracks on Naked?

The classic family quartet Mommy Daddy You and I.

Let's not forget Big Daddy (Kane).

xxp I'm guessing that's a reference to Radiohead rather than a derivative of Naked titles

https://www.discogs.com/artist/256669-Blind-Mr-Jones

early material produced by neil from slowdive. dreampop flute ― recommended!

i'm mistaken! i guess slowdive was just a loose affiliation, no formal connection. band is still good.

i love music.