Does anyone REALLY like My Bloody Valentine?

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**tunelss**

(I assume you mean tuneless). WTF? It is gloriously tuneful! Try 'Come in Alone' for starters - how can you not hear the tune(s)? Ok, they're presented in an unusual way, but SURELY you can't be serious? TUNELESS? Pah!

Dr. C, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It won't hit everyone, Calum. There have been detractors since the start. Just think of it this way -- I don't 'defend' MBV. I instead refer to the time when I first heard "Soon," my world stopped, I froze with revelation, and how music never quite sounded the same since then.

I presume you've had those moments...and I presume when you're describing them to others, you're not defending but explaining rapture. Just a little something to keep in mind.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Huh, why don't we just call this site 'I Love Loveless' and be done with it? ('I Loveless Music'? Whichever).

Still, it's a great record though, isn't it? Now listening to 'Off Your Face' from the 'Glider' 12". Giddying, effervescent.

'you have to listen to it upside down drinking Tizer while masturbating with the volume turned straight up'

Must try this.

DavidM, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

loveless is pretty: i like it

mark s, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It is unspeakably good, and my favorite album too. But I do sometimes listen to the drums'n'bass and think: If only, if only...

Chewshabadoo, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

'you have to listen to it upside down drinking Tizer while masturbating with the volume turned straight up'

I tried that and it didn't work. Was it 'cuz I replaced the Tizer with malt liquor, or because I was drinking it though a Crazee-Twisty-Straw. Plus is made the blood rush to wrong head.

Lord Custos II, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hoi! Now listen to me fucknuts, I don't own any Kylie CDs
"Siddown, Francis."
Theres nothing to be so touchy about. I was goofing around with Ned Raggett, not mocking *you*. It could've been *anybody* in the other hypothetical cubicle (Yeah, it would've probably been funnier if Tom Ewing was the other one, but I only thought of that in hindsight.)
Nobody cares if you do/don't own any Kylie CDs. Your taste in music is nothing to be ashamed of (unless you are into Michael Bolton, then I'm afraid you must be culled.) and theres no point in wigging out over something like this.
As for the "You're just apologizing for a shitty record"; no, I'm not. I suggested this technique to a nay-sayer and she did say that she found the record much more intriguing. (Side note: I realize -- again in hindsight -- I should've just said "If the Cocteau Twins are the light pop end of Shoegazer, then MBV is the Speed Metal end." and dropped the subject.)

Lord Custos II, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Your taste in music is nothing to be ashamed of (unless you are into Michael Bolton, then I'm afraid you must be culled.)

This is probably the truest thing I've ever read on ILM.

Dan Perry, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Who gives a toss about the bass? Jeez, they ain't Primus for cryin out loud. Turn up the reverb!!

electric sound of jim, Monday, 22 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I'm not especially a beach person, but when I do make it down to the shore, I bring along Loveless and plug it into the Walkman. I'm melting, the music is melting, all is bliss. I like it just fine in other situations too. And what is this all of a sudden, Stereo Review?

Lee G, Tuesday, 23 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two months pass...
Of COURSE I love them. Catchy tunes, difficult-to-penetrate production (makes for more listening without getting bored), loudest show I've ever seen (Someone else here mentioned the SWANS, yup, a close second)(it must be said: not the BEST show I've ever seen, but intense as all get-out). I'm partial to "Isn't Anything" because of the relatively short song lengths and seemingly-misplaced Buzzcock drum work. But it is all very good.

Matt Riedl, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

MBV have made one good song and it is "you made me realise". The rest is pretty shitty.

Marc, Sunday, 23 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

two weeks pass...
as far as having to listen to the album whilst doing this or that i must add that "loveless" is one of my most favorite albums to have sex to (you should try it... probably won't be with me) though i will agree that this album is not for everyone. it seems to me that your hatred of my bloody valentine is similar to my hatred of bands like bad religion. both bands make very intense music only they do it in different ways and the way MBV does it speaks to me in my language, but bad religion just sounds like whiney boring shit to me. well my advice is to try the sex thing anyway... you never know...

abby, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

now this is what i call looking at things from an 'interesting' angle.

Julio Desouza, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

five months pass...
"loudest show I've ever seen"

Me, too. I don't much bother listening to MBV at home, but my most intense gig moment EVER was MBV at the Ritz in Manchester in '92 or '93. The tweeters blew, our ribcages vibrated disturbingly, and a good deal of plaster was shaken from the ceiling. I was utterly transported, better than drugs.

Zora (Zora), Monday, 9 December 2002 22:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'd probably give it a 7 out of 10, though like Def Leppard's Pyromania, the cultural effect it had makes me want to give it an 8. Like Pyromania, you could shrink it to an EP and not miss a note. Unlike Pyromania, MBV backloaded their album. I usually don't start "Loveless" before "When You Sleep," (earlier tracks are far too tuneless) and I usually stop Pyromania after "Rock Of Ages." "Loveless" does have the intriguing serene-yet-corrosive quality, but I'm surprised no one calls the sameyness of it. Beautiful if yer in the mood, only-so-much-noise if yer not. Only album I know of that you can vacuum to though.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 9 December 2002 23:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

Who the hell listens to Def Leppard much less compares it to MBV?!?!?

mal2478, Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yo. Love 'em both! This is why Anthony is a hero. :-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

it's a shame MBV never released their Hysteria (read: their true classic).

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Who gives a toss about the bass? Jeez, they ain't Primus for cryin out loud. Turn up the reverb!!

*I* give a toss about the bass. Drums'n'bass are the most important parts of modern music IMHO, and they are the weekest bits BY FAR of this record, which makes it odd that Loveless is my favorite album. Plodding, static drums and dull bass playing sit lamely next to the fantastic melodies, harmonies and textures. A bit of funk to reinforce the wash would be bliss.

I was musing the other day that I love the album so much because my mind is filling in what the rhythm section (well, actually Kevin Shields - I believe he programmed the drums and played the bass) should have done . Isn't Anything is so much more fascinating from a rhythmic perspective, and You Made Me Realise is a step above even that - (ROCKIST ALERT) maybe it's because they recorded as an actual band for these records.

Primus suxxors BTW.

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Can someone please be my proof reader please?

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

I wondered when someone was going to notice that post... (which I don't entirely agree with, Deb Googe Should Be Heard.

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

And that's partly my point, according to interviews she didn't even play on Loveless. This is one of the reasons the live version sound much more vicious.

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 00:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

Aaargh *versions*

Could we please have an edit text function for all us pedants?.

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 01:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

two months pass...
i didn't like the movie very much at all, though it did scare my sister, but my memory is unclear about back then. the band is sort of like that.

Bosse-De-Nage (Bosse-De-Nage), Saturday, 8 March 2003 08:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

I wasn't around for this thread the first time round. It seems like a practical joke to me - the phrasing of that opening post, so volatile, so...baiting. He can't be serious.

roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 8 March 2003 09:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Does anyone *really* love Toploader?

kate (suzy), Saturday, 8 March 2003 09:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

ha ha ha! Does anyone *really* love Kajagoogoo?

roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 8 March 2003 09:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

Just my two cents:

Loveless is hands-down one of the best records I have ever heard in my whole sad life. I don't mind your not liking it, Robert, but I must admit that it wounds me in some deep and irrational way when you call it "bollocks" and "shite" (not least of all because such slang is irritating to my American ears).

And besides, since you hate this record and I love it so very much, I wonder about perhaps a fundamental difference in the way we hear music. You know the old saw about "does everyone see the color orange the same way?" Based on this evidence, I would have to say no.

Unless of course your copy of the album was a misprint, and you ended up with The Future Sound of London's The Isness by mistake. In that case, I completely agree with you.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 8 March 2003 09:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

i'm down w/ the mbv
always rattled me in a good way
and it's one of the few albums i go back to
all regular like
it joins mezzanine and s&e and london calling and five or six others in my personal list
which also includes doolittle and low-end theory
i don't know why i keep doing that

Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Saturday, 8 March 2003 09:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's an ok album, but I always figured hardcore fans, if they can't see well, shouldn't wear glasses so that the whole WORLD will look like a My Bloody Valentine song.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 8 March 2003 17:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

If the original question-asker is still around, and wondering - I think the key to getting the album is to look for the melodies first. They're in the voices and the bass. But the voices are probably the easiest to find. Pretend you're listening to the Cranberries/Sundays/Sixpence None the RIcher (gawd), except with a really noisy/fuzzy[/droney?] backing band (Ned's Atomic Dustbin? ha!). The melodies are there. I don't think every tune on there is special, but some *are* gorgeous, and I don't think any are really bad.

I say all this as someone who isn't a huge fan or anything and I don't listen to the album much. While it isn't necessarily native territory for me, I don't find it difficult in the way I find, say, Sonic Youth (who are native territory, sort of) difficult.

Or am I being reductive and missing something?

gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 8 March 2003 18:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

oh, and of course there are people who don't like MBV. I would bet that many of them don't get it. But I think it would be quite understandable for someone to get it and still dislike them. But I'd work on getting it first, if it's important to you.

gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 8 March 2003 18:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Record's like a fucking mile wide, how could you not like it?

Cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 8 March 2003 18:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Loveless" and the "You Made Me Realise" ep R both brilliant! don't forget "Thorn".

rex jr., Saturday, 8 March 2003 18:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

I was very surprised that I didn't like Loveless that much, especially since I heard "Only Shallow" and "Soon" before buying it and I love those two tracks. Nothing else is as catchy as "Only Shallow" and nothing else is as hypnotic as "Soon". It's not bad, but the letdown from the hype makes it feel worse.

Vinnie (vprabhu), Sunday, 9 March 2003 02:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

So, yes, in the end, Calum, it looks like you're just about the only one.

matt riedl (veal), Sunday, 9 March 2003 16:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

three years pass...
You know what's probably the best song OF ALL TIME, yet never gets much of a mention, even among MBV fans?

"What you want".

Also, Soon is nice and everything, but it's bugging me how it (and "Only Shallow", I suppose) has become the default MBV song recommendation. It's one of my least favorites on Loveless.

Z S, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:30 (seventeen years ago) link

For me loving "Soon" is incredibly personal; my essay in Marooned will talk about it in more detail, though I've mentioned it briefly on other MBV threads. In essence hearing it for the first time is the biggest before/after dividing point in my life.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:34 (seventeen years ago) link

You know what's probably the best song OF ALL TIME, yet never gets much of a mention, even among MBV fans?

"What you want".

Also, Soon is nice and everything, but it's bugging me how it (and "Only Shallow", I suppose) has become the default MBV song recommendation. It's one of my least favorites on Loveless.


I don't know about best song of all time, but it's definitely my favorite on the album. The way it turns into Terry Riley's time'-lag accumulator is pretty close to sublime. What makes it even more brilliant is that you get the impression from interviews (I'm thinking of that Invisible Jukebox interview in the Wire a few years back) that Kevin Shields has probably never even listened to that stuff.

William Selman, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it's interesting that Nick S likes the album so much (assuming he still does; in 2002, I probably would have ranked it amongst the greatest albums ever too.) I find it very overcompressed, which is amongst my problems with it.

This blows my mind completely:

And "Only Shallow" has like the most massive hook ever. It's Sabbath through a mile-thick layer of warm marshmallow fuzz.


The Cranberries or Garbage through marshmallow fuzz, maybe that I could see.

Sundar, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, I was exaggerating on the best song of all time thing, slightly. It does rank among my favorites.

Loveless is often cited as being the death-knell of the shoegaze genre, due to its insurmountable greatness. That's up for debate, of course. But is there any other album that is similarly regarded as a genre destroyer?

Z S, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Loomer
To Here Knows When
When You Sleep
Only Shallow
Soon
Come In Alone
I Only Said
Blown A Wish
Sometimes
What You Want
Touched

sorry, What You Want fans. It's GREAT, but it's not quite as great as the rest.

Sundar, I saw a CD by one 'L. Subramanian' in Fopp the other day. Is that you?

unfished business, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:55 (seventeen years ago) link

I never cared for Loveless all that much.

Mr. Snrub, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Loveless, far from ENDING the shoegaze genre, kinda STARTED most of it! You can fairly say that by the time 'Only Shallow' had finished they had WON shoegaze, but that's a different issue! :-D

unfished business, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:57 (seventeen years ago) link

nu-gaze btw has been won by air formation's 'the dark has fallen', everyone who likes MBV but wants to hear a sorta updated version owes it to themselves to buy the new AF record.

unfished business, Monday, 26 February 2007 02:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Sundar, I saw a CD by one 'L. Subramanian' in Fopp the other day. Is that you?

haha I wish. If the CD is the 1987 En Concert, you should rush to pick it up though. (Lots of others are good too.)

Sundar, Monday, 26 February 2007 03:02 (seventeen years ago) link

it must be really irritating, sharing your surname with a famous musician!

unfished business, Monday, 26 February 2007 03:06 (seventeen years ago) link

"Subramanian/Subramaniam/Subramanyam/Subrah.../" is extremely common in the south of India, actually. There were two others just in my residence complex (in Buffalo NY) last year. The question does come up often enough though.

("You Made Me Realise" is a pretty good tune FWIW.)

Sundar, Monday, 26 February 2007 03:22 (seventeen years ago) link

i like air formation ok but i don't really consider them one of the leading lights of newer shoegaze. much the same could be said for the greater proportion of good but unsatisfying stuff that club ac30 releases.

electricsound, Monday, 26 February 2007 03:26 (seventeen years ago) link

*intrigued*

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 28 November 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link

feed me with your kiss VS when you wake you're still in a dream

and also are there songs that are better played at earsplitting volume? if there are just point me that way

Karl Malone, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 01:33 (eight years ago) link

Imma go to this, I might sneak my recorder

MaresNest, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 10:10 (eight years ago) link

Sometimes is their indiest number - proper mumblecore - but good way to get some punters in.

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 10:27 (eight years ago) link

Not that I'm going as I think this is MORALLY wrong

xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 10:29 (eight years ago) link

"Imma go to this, I might sneak my recorder"

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-SNHbzSvL._SX522_.jpg

You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Tuesday, 1 December 2015 13:28 (eight years ago) link

That's exactly what I thought... maybe correctly?

Otago Imago (Tom D.), Tuesday, 1 December 2015 13:30 (eight years ago) link

I had a feeling that might happen

MaresNest, Tuesday, 1 December 2015 16:56 (eight years ago) link


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