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Taking Sides: Moby vs. Eminem

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might as well get all of this out of the way at once.

― fritz, Monday, 13 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

neither of them are in the velvet underground so they both suck answers here

― fritz, Monday, 13 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

neither of them are black so they both suck

― Andrew, Monday, 13 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd rather listen to either one of them than lou reed any day. In the end, I go with Eminem, though I think they might as well collaborate.

― Stuart, Monday, 13 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(just so's we don't get sidetracked, the vu comment was meant as a wisecrack about how often that band gets discussed around here, not anything meaningful)

― fritz, Monday, 13 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Moby makes music that is a thousand times more versatile and appealing on a host of different levels suited for countless moods.

Eminem is merely a swift-tongued-albeit-potty-mouthed psychopath.

― Alex in NYC, Monday, 13 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Em is a hell of a lot more clever as a musician than moby will ever be. If Em played a sax in the same way he uses his voice, he would be a shredding jazz musician. Listen to the rhythmic ideas in the new single, it might seem really facile, but if you tried to express them on an instrument it would take a great deal of skill.

Moby on the other hand, he is all major/minor diatonic crap. Safe chord progressions and simple melodies. There is a reason all his stuff is used in commericals, because it sounds great for 30 seconds and is absolutely tiresome beyond that. He can create moods, but they are so obvious and simple. Moby is completely surface, there is nothing underneath. There is no passion, no storm or stress. It is the soundtrack for a pleasant experience at the shopping mall.

Eminem is not a great role model, or even human being, but that is what is so great about him. He is fucking horrible, and absolutely brillant at once. He is truly a complex character making complex music, moby fails because he is not a troubled walking contradiction. There is conflict in Eminem's music, and that is where the drama comes from. That is what makes it real and vital, moby is trying to contrive drama on his records, it is not in him.

― mt, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It is the soundtrack for a pleasant experience at the shopping mall.

Arguably both are. Eminem has his place in a mall as much as, say, Linkin Park might -- I'm not comparing the worth of the bands here so much as noting how what can be seen/believed/marketed as 'edgy' (I'm speaking here in totally generic terms, I grant) can still slot into the marketplace. Moby may make the music soundtracking the mall, Eminem can be carried into it in hearts and minds and Walkmen and through store soundsystems with a vested interest in seeming to be hip somehow.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And while I'm thinking of it:

If Em played a sax in the same way he uses his voice, he would be a shredding jazz musician.

Eminem is as good an MC as Eric Clapton is a guitar player. And you can read into that whatever you'd like.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

now hold on ned i've been picking up some indifference towards eminem from you, could you post about this more maybe?

― ethan, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

so, like, any infinite number of (therefore useless) interpretations?

― jess, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If you like. Actually, I *have* been rather snippy tonight and I apologize for that, got some things on my mind. But I still feel he's astonishingly overrated and then some -- a personal opinion only, of course, one that is not shared by many. I do think "White America" is definitely the best fusion of his specific voice and approach with the music backing him, certainly far more than "Stan" ever was for me, and I'll stick to that statement. But whatever technical skills he may have, he rarely if ever succeeds in moving me to care about his results -- which is the main point of my Clapton comparison.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

you dont even like layla??

― ethan, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The riff is all right, I guess, whee, classic rock. But I prefer the piano part in the second half.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

so you like layla??

― ethan, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the piano part. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ned the second part is the worst passage of music ever

― Josh, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nah, that would be "Tell the Truth," also by Derek and the Dominoes. Lord, it's dull.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I admire Eminem for being an unembarrassed fuckup. I think his intelligence is quite obvious. His songs get kind of boring after awhile, but that's cause they're mostly jokes (the good ones are -- I can't stand his "serious" stuff at all, and his voice is irritating). Moby just seems like a misty, new-age dork. I think the guitar solo in that song with Gwen Stefani may be the worst one ever recorded. I'm assuming he played it himself?

― Kris, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no, that would be "Key to the Highway," and I LIKE Layla.

(btw, Josh, I'm in town now. Wed at 4:30 still on?)

― M Matos, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"I think the guitar solo in that song with Gwen Stefani may be the worst one ever recorded" - you might want to check out a little tune by the name of "25 or 6 to 4".

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, as long as they're equally armed and timed, maybe... just maybe.. they can take each other out once and for all.

If one had to survive, I'd hope it'd be Eminem, actually. Moby's goal is become the center square in Hollywood Squares by 2020 or so. My kids shall not deserve such a world.

― Brian MacDonald, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The solo in 25or6to4 is the only good thing about the song. Terry Kath was a shredder, dude.

― Kris, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What about those harmonies?

― J Blount, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

we are all full of stars

― mark s, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Moby has made some tracks I've really liked, but Eminem is a great and major figure who has made almost entirely dazzlingly brilliant music. No contest.

― Martin Skidmore, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Moby's ok, but he's no Paul Lynde.

― Sean, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

what mt said. but mt, why didn't you answer the todd edwards thread?

― gareth, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hey Matos I said 4 before but 4:30's good too

― Josh, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

oh yeah and EM!N3M r00lz0R |\/|0|3y 5uX()R d00|>

― Josh, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Moby-hate is so '99. (Although, so is Eminem-hate.)

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No, the worst guitar solo is that piece of crap noodle kidoodle besmirching Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle". That high pitched cat killing @ the end of "Layla" wins the Classic Rock Division hands down, tho.

And Moby + guitar = bad BAD news. Please notice the whinging crawling beneath the chorus of "We Are All Made of Stars", for the love of all things holy & righteous & Yngwie (sic). Andy Dick was right - Moby's IS crap.

(And the easy potshots end right here, folks.)

― Daver, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Andy Dick hasn't been right about anything ever.

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Josh--4 it is. and Nate P--feel free to join us. Dunn Brothers, on Snelling off Grand, Wed afternoon, 4pmish. I wear black, oval-framed glasses (of course!) and have copper hair.

― M Matos, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

But, uhh, Gareth, I don't know who Todd Edwards is.

(mt is feeling like he is going to get clobbered for this one...)

― mt, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey, thanks- Sounds like fun.

― Nate Patrin, Tuesday, 14 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I just (mis)read 'Eminem is just a mystical, new age dork' and thought 'wow! how insightful!' Obviously I believe 'controversy = depth.' Well I showed me. PS, for me Eminem good Moby bad.

― charles, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

actually it's Grand off Snelling if that makes a difference to you

I heard the new Em single finally today and instantly thought, "he can do ANYTHING!" I have never thought this about Moby. (Maybe the similar: "can he do ANYTHING (besides this one mediocre thing)?")

― Josh, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Eminem is as good an MC as Eric Clapton is a guitar player. And you can read into that whatever you'd like.
This just in, irate Allmusic employee kicks Guitar God in the 'nads with every ounce of force in his body. On the 11:00 clock news we will show close up photos of testicle shaped exit wounds at the top of Claptons head.

― Lord Custos 2.0 beta, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That's a beautiful image! :-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 15 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)


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