Controversial music opinions

[aurora]

Sonic Youth is a starter band, but I'll probably always like them, at least a little. They soundtracked my adolescence.

Their lyrics are usually painfully corny.

I'd highlight their 1982 debut as being one of their most tasteful moments.

[GD]

Where is this evidence you speak of ? 

Sonic Youth in general was just unappealing distorted noise for me. I even bought one of their albums. They're another one of those 90's indi darlings who were fawned over by the local indi radio station and a certain friend of a friend I sometimes saw at gigs. I never got into them and I never will.

Well, it's mostly about how the phrasing "x band is terrible" implies that their "terrible"-ness is born out of a lack of talent or mastery of their craft, whereas in the case of SY they weren't going for a "trained" performance or a clean and polished sound to their records in the first place, though at their best (like on Sister, Daydream Nation and Goo) I think they found a good balance between accessibility and the more chaotic punk/noise rock energy.
It reminded of the argument people make when they say Picasso painted "like that" because he didn't know how to do realism, ignoring the fact he painted stuff like this in his adolescence:

Spoiler

[close]

Now, by way of analogy, am I saying that SY could have recorded for instance super-glossy, hooky hair metal records if they had so desired? I don't know the answer to that but Tl;dr – the things you dislike about them are a feature of their aesthetic, not a bug

Again, just going by the general playtime they received on the local alternative radio station and the opinions of people I personally knew and those who I met at gigs. A lot of my friends actually liked completely different music to me quite often so I was often exposed to tastes I didn't share. 

I bought the Doolittle CD on recommendation from a friend who really liked the Pixies. The singing was not something I enjoyed as it had a rather clipped style to it and the music seemed a bit patchwork. I never played it much. I liked Monkey Goes to Heaven a bit but thats about it. "Hey" turning up on "Fight Club" is a testament to their early 90's fandom in my opinion. They are definitely overrated.

And saying that one particular band is overrated does not neccesitate the need to claim others werent. But if I had to pick other groups from that era whose output I enjoyed Id start with stuff like REM, Pantera, Metallica, Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Brains etc. Even Def Leppard and Depeche Mode is considerably more enjoyable to me than the Pixies. And out of those mentioned I think Suicidal and Bad Brains are underrated.

Cool. You're right those could arguably qualify as underrated, though of course they also have highly acclaimed releases under their belt, just in different niches. I'm still leaning more towards Pixies being more or less correctly rated, with the exception of a certain contingent of fanboy(/girl) obsessives who overstate their importance and influence just a tad much. Even if an album like Doolittle isn't your bag, I'd recommend checking out Bossanova at some point. It's still recognizably them but with a different vibe to their earlier albums, including beautiful cuts like this one:

I even see some people say it's their best album, I'm not all the way there myself, but it definitely has some of their best songs imo

I like sonic youth but I do think they're a bit overrated and the vocals (and lyrics) are absolute dogshit

Ah, there you go, I'm not a lyrics-oriented kinda person though. I can listen to an entire album and probably tune out the lyrics entirely unless there is something particularly noteworthy about them that leads me to pay closer attention. Even from some of my favorite albums I can hardly recite a single line from any song because it just isn't where my focus is when listening. Although even with SY I would say they have some songs with genuinely good lyrics (e.g. "Tunic"), but it's a style of lyricism that might not appeal to everyone I guess.

[grindy]

I dislike Sonic Youth because they're too alternative rock-y for me. I love the guitars and noises and shit, I just don't want them utilized for overall mediocre teenage rock songs.

[grindy]

Agreed.

Completely agree. It definitely feels dated.

Tool are much better than Dream Theatre (who I mentioned previously), but they kind of all fall under the same umbrella. This also relates to stuff like Mogwai. A lot of their songs are padded out way too much in regards to the complexity of where the typical tune traverses. I dont mind a good 10-20 minute song but there has to a suitable level of complexity to interest me as its a fair investment in my time. And most of these bands shouldn't be putting out music any longer than 5 minutes.

Hell to the yeah. Indi music is often the WORST music out there since there seems to be this idea that not being signed to a major label offers scope to be unorthodox about your approach without necessarily having the requisite ability to sing properly and play your instruments to a competent level.

Easily the worst band I've ever seen was a local 4 piece indi outfit with a female singer who literally shreaks virtually unintelligible nonsense throughout the set over the most mundane of bog standard indi noodling. Maybe it was just too deep for me, but maybe it was just a steaming pile of bovine excrement. 

My friend spent the whole time nursing his beer trying not to laugh hoping the next band was less insane/obnoxious. I spent most of my time nursing a beer trying not to laugh at my friend trying not to laugh at the band. 

I dont get the Tupac love either. I'd rather listen to Nas. I'd also rather listen to Ice Ice Baby.

If we're talking 80's hip hop then I mostly agree. If we're talking 90's then Im having a bit more trouble with that.

They've definitely put some bad stuff out including St Anger where Lars seemed to think that substituting a snare drum with a beer keg was a good idea and that pretentious garbage they did with Lou Reed (Lulu) but overall I can't say they suck completely. Definitely periods of pretentious suckage. Even some of their tangents from their core sound aren't bad. I still like "No Leaf Clover" from the S@M album.

Nah gonna have to completely disagree with that. Dubstep is the aural equivalent of trying to do advanced calculus after a week long bender on meth. Sure its kinda fun, but those high pitch sound bites they utilise make me feel like my brain has been harpooned and slowly dragged over barbed wire. 

Moderately agree. He did have a great voice but it kind of makes sense if the music doesn't overshadow such unique vocals so there is that. The music on Grace was OK.

"Sketches for my sweetheart the drunk" was mostly a bunch of random nonsense that shouldn't have been released and the music was overwhelmingly poor and was a waste of a purchase for me. It was lucky to have a couple of OK songs on it and barely that.

I much prefer Corpus Christi Carol off of Grace. In regards to the original Hallelujah, Leonard Cohens voice is not appealing to me so I'd instantly rule that version out but Buckleys version is nice. I dont have a strong negative opinion on the song but the line "And I remember when I moved in you" kind of feels a bit tacky depending on which interpretation you make of it.

Wouldn't say they're completely worthless but another really really overrated band. Can at least respect the fact that Keith Richards is still alive. Cant say I ever got into either or them and I was exposed to plenty of the Beatles as a kid.

No hate from me this end of the interwebs. Keep up the good work. 

Also: You make "Dubstep is the aural equivalent of trying to do advanced calculus after a week long bender on meth" sound like a bad things. It's the reason I like it.

[Lexi Darling]

That's so real, speaking as someone who was in college and doing an assload of amphetamines during the peak dubstep era. 

[SGR]

When it comes to DJs, James Hype is overrated. I can't stand the 'James Hype bitch!' tag he constantly loops in his sets, and while he's technically a very capable DJ and mixer, his sets often focus on showmanship to the detriment of the feeling and getting lost in the grooves.

[aurora]

CDs are cool

[SGR]

CDs are cool

If CDs experience the kind of resurgence/resurgence that LPs have, I'll eat my socks.

[aurora]

If CDs experience the kind of resurgence/resurgence that LPs have, I'll eat my socks.

Hope you're hungry.

[Lexi Darling]

I don't like CDs or vinyl. Or cassettes, or 8-tracks or wax cylinders or any of that. CDs are the best because you can rip them in good quality easily and then have easily accessible files right on your hard drive. But digital music wins over all of them for me.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love retro stuff. And I understand and respect people who enjoy living with more analog technology or place very high value onto the specific idiosyncrasies of their chosen formats. But I just prefer practicality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness for stuff I'm going to be doing in my day-to-day.

[aurora]

I don't like CDs or vinyl. Or cassettes, or 8-tracks or wax cylinders or any of that. CDs are the best because you can rip them in good quality easily and then have easily accessible files right on your hard drive. But digital music wins over all of them for me.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love retro stuff. And I understand and respect people who enjoy living with more analog technology or place very high value onto the specific idiosyncrasies of their chosen formats. But I just prefer practicality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness for stuff I'm going to be doing in my day-to-day.

I like used CDs, used cassettes, and sometimes used vinyl. It's nice to buy original pressings and cassettes because they are rare and fun to find, and you also get to think about the hands that it's been in before you. I don't ever buy brand new physical media or reissues.

Vinyl is usually too expensive and it's also just too bulky for me. Digital media has been my go to for most of my life until I started working at a record store. I do think physical media is just fun and cute to collect like trinkets or novelties of my personality, but I'm not one of those cats with a collection worth thousands of dollars (maybe in 50 years).

Vinyl snobs hate me for that take but I don't really care. Get over it. Music is music, and it's pretty awesome that it's super accessible now because of the internet.

[Marie Monday]

Sonic Youth are wonderful as people.  I even got my best musical compliment ever from Lee Ranaldo:  "Wow, you can improvise songs." 

Listening to them I'll go for Goodbye 20th Century before anything else. 

huh, Thurston Moore always gives off absolute cunt vibes imo

I dislike Sonic Youth because they're too alternative rock-y for me. I love the guitars and noises and shit, I just don't want them utilized for overall mediocre teenage rock songs.

yeah SY is mostly Glenn Branca + stupid bullshit

[Lisnaholic]

I don't like Sonic Youth enough to listen to a complete album, start to finish, but they have some great songs, imo. My favourites are the long rambling ones like Hits of Sunshine and Diamond Sea, where time kind of stretches out and you're not sure when the song will stop.

I'm not so keen on the shorter, louder stuff on Daydream Nation: that album is def overrated imo. As for Thurston Moore, I try to ignore his vocals as much as I can, and focus on the good stuff - presumable what grindy calls "the guitars and noises and shit".

From Burning Spear to Theme d'Alice, they also get points for their willingness to experiment and explore, although perhaps that's a negative too; for most of those SYR albums, my reaction has usually been, "OK, could you explore a little less please?"

[larsvsnapster]

Every time any one mentions Thurston Moore, I think "hey man, where's the stage?" especially all the times he asked me that and we were standing in front of it. 

[Lisnaholic]

^ Disorientation like that sounds quite endearing ! Did TM treat you well, LvsN ?