Replace top ranked artist with the next one better - Music

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Yann wrote:

RoundTheBend wrote:

Yann wrote:

RoundTheBend wrote:

11 The Smiths (Man... try as I might, the clever lyrics don't save this music from being less than great in my book)
I find this band insufferable. Sorry. I feel like the music and the vocals rarely match - it's like they recorded a vocalist from a different band and then a band not related to the vocalist and then superimposed it/forced it to match half the time. Now for 10% of their work it's freaking awesome and the other 90%. Also keep in mind that the clever lyrics are lost on me as that's the last thing I care about. I just feel like half the stuff he sings about anyway aren't really anything I care about either. So yeah the guitarist is pretty alright and the mix on the Queen is pretty great between the drums and bass. Don't get me wrong it's not all bad either - it's just a drag to listen to for me. And you'll probably even think less of me when I say How Soon is Now? is their best song because you probably think I haven't listened to their entire discography desperately trying to understand why this band is rated so highly when I think so poorly of them. Probably 5-8 songs of theirs I'd choose to listen to (which isn't even a full album) with pleasure. The rest is near pain for me.

That's true. Although I think some songs escape this description. These are songs where the music equally drives the song, such as :
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Barbarism Begins at Home
I Know it's Over
How Soon is Now
Panic
Shoplifters of The world Unite
Stretch Out and Wait
Sweet and Tender Hooligan
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before (my favourite. And fantastic Mark Ronson cover by the way)
Death of a Disco Dancer

Also, you mentioned the mix. That's precisely the issue you're talking about: the vocal is too much ahead in the mix, given the relatively limited range of Morrissey. Except on Strangeways, but the production there is a bit bland, that's the other problem.

What are your '5-8 songs" you mentioned ?

Yeah for sure - I hope everyone realizes when I say these people don't belong in the top 40, I'm talking about THOUSANDS of artists... so no I'm not dogging on these artists like they are garbage, just not GREAT.

Ok so for funsies, here's my list of Smith's songs which I rated on this site of a 85 or higher... which could change over time... probably from 2016 when I needed to lock myself in a cage and hide from humanity and clicking song ratings over and over was a good distraction to reality much like others play video games and watch dumbass movies:

(in no particular order... although I already mentioned How Soon Is Now? is nothing like their other material (imo) and is easily their best song for me):

90+
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
How Soon Is Now?
Bigmouth Strikes Again
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Cemetry Gates
What Difference Does It Make?
Nowhere Fast
Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others

85
The Queen Is Dead (Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty (Medley))
Reel Around The Fountain
Death Of A Disco Dancer
Handsome Devil

As I go through those ratings, I notice that one big reason I can't do The Smiths is for every song I rate a 90+ I have a 60 or 70. GREAT artists have like one 60 or 70 for me and mediocre artists don't have consistent output. This is true for Oasis, too.

So maybe I'm just picky? Maybe the rest of you can look the other way at stuff like "Accept Yourself" and "Vicar In A Tutu" which back in 2016 I thought were kinda next to garbage (not extreme bad but even close to good).

Oh, so you are a Smiths connoisseur after all! From your initial post, I couldn't really tell ("I find this band insufferable") Surprised

Yeah I mean other top 40 artists I could list out 100 songs I find great, so listing out 10 or so is just saying they were pretty good for what they did. Not top 20 (ranked 11?) material at all... for me that's the definition of overrated. BUT - hey man, that's like just my opinion. Laughing

The other side of the coin is they did write some really stellar (although very hit and miss imo) works. I'd just go R.E.M. over them every day with a career of nearly 30 years and VERY hit nearly every time. I feel like they had one album flop (but hey it gave them their only #1 in Japan).

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

RockyRaccoon wrote:

RoundTheBend wrote:

And yeah - John Entwistle is totally one of the greatest bassists of all time. He just plays with kinda boring vocalist (he comes across as a little weak compared to a McCartney or McJagger or Robert Plant of the "same" era)

Now that is quite the hot take. I'd say if you looked up lists of the greatest rock frontmen of all time, Roger Daltry would be on more lists than he isn't, and I think that's warranted. The guy had an incredibly powerful and unique voice (save for maybe Plant, I'm not sure many frontmen of the time could hit that scream towards the end of Won't Get Fooled Again) and massive stage presence.

I wish I could've seen The Who in their prime, because man could they put on a show. Daltry out there whipping around the microphone cord, Keith Moon drumming like a crazy person, Pete Townshend with his big windmill guitar hits, the band smashing things up at the end of the show. It's pure rock and roll, pure energy, and I think Daltry is a huge part of that. He and the rest of the band commanded the stage in a way that I think few rock bands ever have.

Now this I can appreciate - they did have GREAT showmanship. What was that with the drums catching fire on a mishap? But I guess you could say KISS had great showmanship or Korn, but I don't consider them GREAT artists. Pretty good for sure, don't get me wrong. Idk - Tommy just seems like the worst concept album ever written... ok sorry, I should shut up... I'm losing friends every day. Shocked

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

StefanR10 wrote:

The best stage entertainer is for me Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant. David Bowie comes behind than Jimi Hendrix and then Pete Townsend with Roger Daltrey. Jimi Hendrix is the best guitarist of all time. And the best bass player for me is Jaco Pastorius.

I'm noticing Pete and Roger aren't at the top of the list... Shame on you

just kidding.

benfitzuk

baystateoftheart wrote:

benfitzuk wrote:

28. Neutral Milk Hotel (ITAOTS is possibly my favourite all time albums, so they would rank high on a personal list of mine, but on an objective list surely not, on Avery island is bad)

No such thing as an objective list. Any list you make is your personal list, no matter how much you say otherwise. What don't you like about On Avery Island?

Of course you can make an objective list, a combination of popularity and influence. As much as I don't like a band like The Who or Oasis, the cultural impact and the popularity amongst various communities they have makes them an objectively high ranking artist.

I think On Avery Island is a lot more dull and in comparison to ITAOTS it just feels completely empty to me, deffo not my cup of tea I reckon.

Rhyner
soft silly music is meaningful magical

Gender: Male
Age: 36
Location: Utah

RoundTheBend wrote:

Tommy just seems like the worst concept album ever written... ok sorry, I should shut up... I'm losing friends every day. Shocked

Hey, I'm with you 100%. Tommy sucks. Quadrophenia sucks even harder. The Who are extremely overrated.

You still have at least one friend.

In an attempt not to be entirely negative, I feel compelled to say that I do like some of their music, though. The aforementioned My Generation is good, about half of Who's Next is very much worthwhile, and...I feel like there might be another few songs in their discography that I kinda like...

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

benfitzuk wrote:

baystateoftheart wrote:

benfitzuk wrote:

28. Neutral Milk Hotel (ITAOTS is possibly my favourite all time albums, so they would rank high on a personal list of mine, but on an objective list surely not, on Avery island is bad)

No such thing as an objective list. Any list you make is your personal list, no matter how much you say otherwise. What don't you like about On Avery Island?

Of course you can make an objective list, a combination of popularity and influence. As much as I don't like a band like The Who or Oasis, the cultural impact and the popularity amongst various communities they have makes them an objectively high ranking artist.

I think On Avery Island is a lot more dull and in comparison to ITAOTS it just feels completely empty to me, deffo not my cup of tea I reckon.

Sales figures over time, radio play over time, ticket sales over time, number of song covers over time, and number of shoutouts in artist interviews over time are all objective metrics. But otherwise popularity and influence are very subjective and many people evaluate them differently.

Drake has passed The Beatles for #1 in certified units. And he's highly influential. Do you consider him to be objectively among the greatest artists of all time?
_________________
Add me on RYM

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Rhyner wrote:

Hey, I'm with you 100%. Tommy sucks. Quadrophenia sucks even harder. The Who are extremely overrated.

You still have at least one friend.

In an attempt not to be entirely negative, I feel compelled to say that I do like some of their music, though. The aforementioned My Generation is good, about half of Who's Next is very much worthwhile, and...I feel like there might be another few songs in their discography that I kinda like...

I agree that both those albums are bad. My Generation is good, but I find there's no reason to listen to it instead of their definitive 60s* release (unless you have something against comps):

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy by The Who

*1971, but almost all the music is 60s
_________________
Add me on RYM

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Well thanks.

I was equally frustrated when I found out Quadrophenia wasn't even properly quadraphonic. In their defense it was kinda a new concept, but the album mostly failed to produce anything truly quadraphonic. I mean that's besides the point that the music was boring. Was just hoping that could've been something to be a cool fact for the band to make them more influential, etc. - or whatever.

Also perhaps I should listen to that comp - there are artists who I respect at a comp only level - meaning I really respect them as artists, but they made crap albums or few holistically good albums. Being an album snob to qualify a good artist I suppose is limiting/unfair, even if I use that metric often to decipher the difference between "GREAT" artists and "good" artists.

Also holy shit in Utah today. Even little ol' Ovorp had center street blocked off at police hq. I wish law makers would do something - that's (unfortunately?) where real change will occur since "they" fund the police. Protests help of course, I'm not saying don't protest, just saying those in power make the real changes (and hopefully are listening to their constituents right now countrywide). Hoping for someone with a spine to make meaningful change to the law/training - whatever it will take to help this stop. I remember reading in City Weekly a story about a man who got out of jail a little early and the police officer who arrested him, hunted him down and charged at him with his car, dash cam catching him do it, and then shot a man who was hanging upside down in his car with a broken back (leg?). Police officer claimed dude charged at him and that's why he shot him. Salt Lake City police department totally covered it up and then became this big scandal when the family asked for the tapes like 2 years later. Cop on the recording says "I'm going to kill you!" and then did... and SLC police department covered it up... Sick twisted power hungry (racist) cops need to be rooted out of the system fast to stop all this insanity.