Train: C or D?

The GGD have an amazing string of great radio songs, while Train have the awful "Meet Virginia" and a Black Crowes cover, er, *homage*, shall we say...

The Goo Goo Dolls are better without question.

Train, on the other hand, are pleasantly, grotesquely over the top with their yuppie anthems. "Drops of Jupiter"!

Personally I prefer the term 'improvements'...

Tom Erlewine gave the last Train thingamabob a glowing review on AMG. (I think it was him.) What the hell was he thinking?! :D

Goddamn the Puerto Rican rough boys are after my ass! I'll never be able to visit San Juan now and talk about T. Rex. ;-)

Wow. That's, uh... quite a review. (By Thom Jurek, actually.)

Let it be known, I don't like 'em THAT much!

"My Private Nation is not an album about angst, but about transcending it and the paralyzing cynicism that goes with it. The question is, when was the last time listeners got a rock & roll album that could do that without cowering in fear of having its optimism shattered? Not in a long time. But that's because My Private Nation isn't about optimism; it's about the flickering glimmer in the darkness, in the heart, in the culture, in the world, and how it should — and can — be seized, right now."

Haha! Very nahz...;D

DUD

"My heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest"

Wha???

gross

the new single is one of the worst things i've ever heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8U1cX75vUc

what

"Hey Soul Sister" is the worst single of the decade.

otm

i always knew ilx was a bit out of touch but after that "i gotta feelin" thread and now this. you guys gotta carve out fifteen minutes of assigned forkcast listening turn on radio or something because this song has been inescapable for months

or maybe i'm the only one here who hears 8 hours of the local soft-rock radio station at work like every day of my life

this is my ~6 month old baby cousin's favourite song, she sways & claps every time it comes on in the car. it's super adorable obv and is kind of an otm metaphor for the song's appeal

the thread was revived by "markers," who is the same person as "ksh," who posted about disliking the song in March. i don't know why he revived the thread with that particular vid of the song, but i'm just saying.

ah

i always knew ilx was a bit out of touch but after that "i gotta feelin" thread and now this. you guys gotta carve out fifteen minutes of assigned forkcast listening turn on radio or something because this song has been inescapable for months

You're not going to find many people on ILM who listen to the radio as much as the people who've posted since the thread revival.

Also...

igi, i was being a crank. i usually don't like it when people yack about who lives under a rock, just kind of funny that two enormous ubiquitous singles got revives/threads in the past day

The Train formula:
1. Put all your effort (ie: not much) into one blandy-sounding unmemorable Counting Crows rip.
2. Put no effort into the rest of your songs, for they do not matter.
3. Release record, have one big hit, sustain career for another couple years.

this is still true after all these years.

god his voice is so fucking bad in that video, i am shocked.

(secretly though i will kind of rep for "drops of jupiter" because i love the corny use of strings.)

i always knew ilx was a bit out of touch but after that "i gotta feelin" thread and now this. you guys gotta carve out fifteen minutes of assigned forkcast listening turn on radio or something because this song has been inescapable for months

I listen to the radio almost every day, so yeah, I've heard this song a million times. I don't even hate this song. I just revived this thread because that video is a fuckin egregious performance

some dude's Jukebox review is OTM, btw

guess you missed them on America's Got Talent last week...it was a 'baldie & soul-patch' doppelganger showdown between ukelele-dude and Howie Mandel

Wait- which one's "some dude" (x-post)?

sh1pley

pssh "hey soul sister" is a dope song, ship's otm about how it's embarassing to like them but they have classic singles, fuiud

ive never attempted to listen to an album of theirs. i assume i'd hate it and like to assume they save all their best songs for singles, where they dilute their embarassing bro-rock/AC shit with huge hooks and fun-ness

i mean watching this youtube now - part of me wants to strangle this singer with his mic cord but he's just so harmless and goofy in an earnest way that i find it hard to hate him

my friends and i were talking about train in the car earlier today, weirdly

thought you guys should know about this
http://www.9news.com/rss/article/204476/151/Id-drink-to-that-Music-group-Train-launches-wine-line

The Grammy-winning group Train has been making waves with its wine club, and now, the trio is taking the next step with its own wine.

Starting next week, fans will be able to buy Drops of Jupiter Petite Sirah wine from Train's online wine club and other outlets. The name is a nod to one of Train's earlier hits, and is produced by the group's wine company, Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co., which takes its title from a Train album.

But Train guitarist Jimmy Stafford said the wine venture isn't an attempt to make a profit on the Train name - it's more about creating something special for fans.

"We're not really trying to get into the wine business or anything. It's really kind of helping to spread the name out there, and something for our fans," he said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Train, which won a Grammy Award this year for "Hey, Soul Sister," has had an online wine club for a while. The group promotes a wine of the month, has a blog and even an app.
Stafford said creating a wine was the next logical step.

"Really, it goes in hand with our wine club, and I guess what we set out to do was kind of like Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy Buffet got known for margaritas because of a song he wrote. ... It almost created this community vibe," he said. "We're trying to create just this little vibe, where people come to our shows, bring a picnic basket and bottle of wine."

Stafford said a third of the profits will go to the charity Family House in San Francisco, which provides temporary housing to the families of sick children.

D

lol

kinda like these guys, though. like if you met their bassist at a bar or something, he'd be super friendly and ask you if you wanted to share a $350 bottle of cabernet sauvignon with him.

The duddest of the duds! They've already shit on one of my two great loves with their music, and now they have to do it to wine as well?!

I guess what we set out to do was kind of like Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy Buffet got known for margaritas because of a song he wrote

I keep forgetting that there are people who think like this without irony.

I'm afraid of Americans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VoFbH8jTzE&feature=related

This is a thread for remixes of Train's 2010 hit single "Hey, Soul Sister"

not sure who is trolling who in this interview
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/trains-pat-monahan-talks-new-album-acting-gigs-20111117

it's been a while so i'll just reiterate that train's last few singles have been dope

i will ride for "hey sould sister" and "save me san francisco" but "marry me" was bad and "if it's love" was as awful as most people think every train song is

Monahan chats about the new Train disc and reveals his ambition to write, direct and star in his own movie, as well as his band's hope to bring San Francisco culture on the road with them by offering "the best burrito you've ever had" at their gigs the best soy latte you've ever had...and me"

The rat bastards are back!

http://www.nme.com/news/train/63148

According to Steven Thomas Erlewine:

""What The World's Been Waiting For: Train has written a "We Didn't Start the Fire" for the new millennium..."Facebook joins the internet/Oldsmobile joined the cassette" rivals "JFK blown away/What else do I have to say"...Footnote: pretty sure this a concept album."

Song in question is "This'll Be My Year"

Further shit samples!

"Because i'll be hanging out with you/not Jimi Hendrix, Jesus or the dude/who played the sheriff in Blazing Saddles/You, not Chris Farley, Mr. Rogers"

"Life is good but love is better/Even Bieber ain't forever"

That "Because" lyric being from "You Can Finally Meet My Mom"

Steven adding this:

I do believe is about his GF finally meeting his mom in heaven and choosing to hang with his mother instead of Gilda Radner, Buddha, or the "dude who had pop rocks and soda at the same time"

I don't know if I would rather this be true or a joke. Can't believe anyone knows who the fuck these guys are.

While we're at it:

http://analyzingthebesttrainlyrics.blogspot.com/

Back to this new travesty:

"Can't swim so I took a boat/To an island so remote/That only Johnny Depp has ever been to it before"

this song is SO AMAZING

the new album is called US Magazine isn't it.

California 37 -- a perfect example of making no goddamn sense at all.

it's a tribute to samantha 7

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61U-NaU2LML._SL500_AA300_.jpg

lol i own the Samantha 7 album

"Microsoft buys into Mac/My dad has a second heart attack".

i had a near-miss of almost interviewing Train a couple years back, was actually kind of disappointed that i didn't get to talk to this guy about his lyrics

i saw a thing on vh1 once about "drops of jupiter" where he declared with some pride that the label wanted him to take all the goofy shit about tai bo and soy lattes out of the lyrics but he stood his ground

you go, girl

he should go out with madonna, she likes soy lattes with double shottays

How do I shottay latte

I recently discovered one of their albums has a cover of Sugar's "If I Can't Change Your Mind"

i refuse to mock a band for using too many concrete details, though. we've got too many erring in the other direction.

otm

"Life is good but love is better/Even Bieber ain't forever"

I'd love this in a John Prine song

TRAIN sounds like the name of some shitty upper crust gym for the yuppified hipster set

I am dying over these lyrics.

And yet, in their litany of historic events and achievements, the dude lists his OWN BAND.

http://popdust.com/2012/04/10/train-thisll-be-my-year-fact-checking/

Even just looking at those assholes:

http://cdn.popdust.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/train-new-song.jpg

They look like dads who would get into fights at little league games.

Oddly, Train came up in conversation a few days ago when someone asked me what the worst show out of hundreds and I've ever seen was. They were honestly the first thing that came to mind.

Like, they weren't the most horrible band ever. They just were. Like, they existed. They were there. And they did not sweat a drop.

i saw them as an opening act once in the 90s and they played "Ramble On" like they'd been a pro cover band for decades. i refuse to believe that craggy-faced Pat Monahan was under 30 at the time, as his official age contends.

That photo suggests an alternate version of Office Space where the three guys get "rock star" makeovers and start a band.

what the fucking fuck re: this terribad song

"Drive By" was already doing tons to make me ever regret not declaring these dudes the worst band in the world but this "This Could Be My Year" horseshit merits death

hahaha omg this song.

i feel sort of warmly toward this band now; i blame some dude.

boris yeltsin chills

http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/inthemix/borisyeltsin.jpg

How apt:

https://twitter.com/shittrainsings

"Life is good but love is better/Even Bieber ain't forever"

sung to the tune of "Sometimes a Fantasy"

Listening to the track - went to check if either the SR-71 guy or the Bowling For Soup guy had a hand in this. Looks like the blame can be shared by producer Butch Walker and a team known as S*A*M* and Sluggo who cut their team on the Gym Class Heroes and other Modern Rock radio faves like the All Time Low.

I hate the chorus a LOT more than the verses

i was just getting over the two-ply lyric in "drive by"

i was thinking the chorus sounded like third wave emo

thank you for decoding that

"Drive-By" and most of the album is apparently courtesy of a Norwegian duo named "Espionage" who also hooked them up with "Hey Soul Sister"

wth i have been transported to the alternate universe where Train exists and is a thing

Hey, YOU live in the Bay Area, therefore I blame you for not seeing to their demise.

i feel sort of warmly toward this band now; i blame some dude.

― horseshoe, Tuesday, April 10, 2012 4:57 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

Listening to the track - went to check if either the SR-71 guy or the Bowling For Soup guy had a hand in this. Looks like the blame can be shared by producer Butch Walker and a team known as S*A*M* and Sluggo who cut their team on the Gym Class Heroes and other Modern Rock radio faves like the All Time Low.

― da croupier, Tuesday, April 10, 2012 7:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i haven't heard the Train song yet but i stan for Butch Walker so it's a shame he's involved in something that's apparently this bad. All Time Low have never really gotten any rock radio play, though, they're a haircut emo band (from the Baltimore suburb i lived in in college!) that would've been on TRL if TRL still existed by the time they got semi-big.

haven't heard this new song yet but i have a message 4 the train haters

....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`·¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.·´
............\..............(
..............\.............\...

hey soul brother

Hey, YOU live in the Bay Area, therefore I blame you for not seeing to their demise.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, April 10, 2012

in the world i come from they mostly play, like, Macy's openings so this is all very new and confusing

I can't wait to find out that the lead singer has knocked up Stevie Nicks and forced her to have an abortion.

i like the part in the song where they leave san fran in a thousand dollar van. to go where? LA? seems kinda expensive, actually.

they had their first radio hits and started touring nationally around that time

Come now, Rogermexico, he's an artist whose heart lies in Cafe du Nord, not the Shoreline. He has TEH PASSION.

i've managed to avoid this band pretty good i think.

xpost "I'm just that guy. I'll always be that guy."

admire the candor tbh

they really do look like every rock club/bar owner ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-7XPCNrD5Y

drops of jupiter i don't mind! i always forget who does these kinda interchangeable songs i hear on the radio. i like that one better than any black crowes song i've ever heard. and i've heard at least 3 black crowes songs.

c'mn, the Black Crowes shit from high above onto Train, as do the Spin Doctors.

well i definitely like at least 2 spin doctors songs more than the train song or any black crowes song.

what kind of terrible concert festival does that happen at? (xpost)

"Hard to Handle" > Spin Doctors >>>>>>> "Drops of Jupiter"

i just think the drops of jupiter vocals always reminded me of black crowes dude. but i actually do like the train song more than any black crowes song that i've heard. i also like georgia satellites keep your hands to yourself more than the two spin doctors songs i like and the train song and any black crowes song. but that's neither here nor there.

hard to handle is a good song but it was better before the crowes got their crowe feet on it!

forget otis even. patti makes crowemeat pie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alRotSYnbXY

never needed "hard to handle" but that leaves at least 4-5 Crowes tracks that are legit grebt if u dig Sticky Fingers

yeah i just never listened to the crowes much. this is cool too by the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWtMVDyPR2I

All Time Low have never really gotten any rock radio play, though

really? woulda sworn this is one of those bands i see on the Modern Rock Top 20 chart that I've never actually heard. Maybe I've just seen them on the albums chart enough to assume.

Butch Walker put his fingerprints on some decent stuff about a decade ago, but I've never understood his esteem with other ex-idolator folk.

ok listening to this song...it's pretty bad, but not any worse than "If It's Love" tbh

Butch Walker's last couple solo albums are great and he was all over the last Fall Out Boy and Pink albums i loved, did prob the best later Weezer single, etc. so that stuff outshines whatever crap he's been involved with.

i liked "if it's love" too \o/

the whole wordy staccato verses/big melodic chorus thing is really grating to me as a pop/rock formula

oh my god i just looked up Train on Spotify and the deluxe edition of their last album has a cover of "Umbrella"

nb: also love third eye blind

threeeb is better than train, though, obv

yeah agreed - i was just saying why the whole wordy staccato verses/big melodic chorus thing might not bother me

yeah i guess that's where you were coming from with that -- "semi charmed life" still has fairly melodic verses, though -- "if it's love" is like a bad standup act where the closest thing to a punchine is "remember winger?"

Now that this song is here, I know exactly when to set the time machine for so that I can get to their van before they do, slash the tires, and keep them from reaching their major label showcase and getting signed to Aware records or whatever.

oh my god i just looked up Train on Spotify and the deluxe edition of their last album has a cover of "Umbrella"

how can a band so terrible be simultaneously so entertaining

happens all the time, doesn't it?

I don't know about "all the time"; for me anyway, terrible bands/artists rarely give me any enjoyment (although when they do, it's a fuckton of enjoyment; see: ICP, Spice Girls).

http://open.spotify.com/track/5GCgC77m6EaAqu7ZlukMu2

okay everyone has to listen this now btw

I REFUSE

6 people like this. Be the first of your friends.

this band has two songs in the UK top 40!! wth

They know talent when they hear it over there.

Train Won't Play At Boy Scouts Jamboree Unless BSA Lifts Ban On Gay Scouts, Band Says

Train has taken a very public stand against the Boy Scouts of America's longstanding ban on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community by boycotting an upcoming performance.

In November, Scouting Magazine announced that the Grammy-winning band would be headlining the closing stadium show at the 2013 National Scout Jamboree in July along with "Call Me Maybe" sensation Carly Rae Jepsen.

But a campaign to get both performers to denounce the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policies picked up steam on March 1, when GLAAD announced it had signed on to support gay Eagle Scout Derek Nance's Change.org petition.

A few hours after GLAAD signed the petition, Train posted a statement on their website saying the band will not perform at the Jamboree if the Boy Scouts do not change its policies before the summer.

When we booked this show for the Boy Scouts of America we were not aware of any policy barring openly gay people from participation within the organization. Train strongly opposes any kind of policy that questions the equality of any American citizen. We have always seen the BSA as a great and noble organization. We look forward to participating in the Jamboree this summer, as long as they make the right decision before then.

Huffington Post

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2014/04/train_priced_out_of_san_franci.php

Exciting news for us Oaklanders!

every once in a blue moon, I remember the existence of their minor radio hit "Meet Virginia", featuring the imperishable quatrain Well she wants to live her life / And she thinks about her life / Pulls her hair back as she screams: / "I don't really wanna live this life"

I'll be an old, old man before I can forgive that one

said song also features an egregious & unnecessary rhyme of 'president' with 'president', which is enough to make their more recent clunkers like 'tenderloin'/'tender coin' seem positively Keatsian

My sister and brother-in-law think Train are great. I am not convinced

lol i like "Meet Virginia"

Train encompass a genre I like to call "Piano Bar rock"

http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/post/133929057114/dear-students-from-the-collected-works-of-making

Just heard what I assume is their new single (the one that bites "Heart and Soul" or something). Satan's taking too long to collect on the "Hey Soul Sister" comeback.

...I missed mentioning, I heard it TWICE in two different businesses in the space of 30 minutes.

its like why saddam and not pat monahan?

Watching you’s the only drug I need. :-)

Worst ever.

I was in a car listening to the radio last night and had the misfortune of hearing Train's 'Play that song'. Never has a song made me want to claw may ears of more. It reminded me of that 30 Rock doing 'America's Kids Got Singing' but it wasn't a joke. How the hell do they have 11 Albums, or a career for that matter.

Partway through Alfred's piece, realised I hadn't heard Meet Virginia before. It's clearly awful and sounds to me an older cousin of One Direction's equally dreadful "what makes you beautiful". However not all is lost as I misheard one of the lines as "we sit at home and live on President" - we have no money for real food or heating but we do have some Brie and a blanket. perfect and sadly relatable romantic image.

Their new single is called "Mai Tais".

I believe that is Tagalog for "My Humps."

kill this band

Just heard what I assume is their new single (the one that bites "Heart and Soul" or something). Satan's taking too long to collect on the "Hey Soul Sister" comeback.

― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, May 27, 2017 8:59 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

...I missed mentioning, I heard it TWICE in two different businesses in the space of 30 minutes.

― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, May 27, 2017 9:05 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also missed that the song had already been out for awhile--it underperformed upon initial release, and then was re-serviced to radio & muzak in hopes becoming a Summer Hit tying into their tour.

Drummer Drew Shoals left the band in January 2019 to return to practicing law

"drops of jupiter" is a classic! haven't heard any other good songs by them tho and some are truly heinous

^ note my enjoyment of "jupiter" probably depended in part on the fact that i was unable to understand some of its worst lyrics (soy latte etc)

She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo
Reminds me that there's room to grow

makes you think

Gawd i can't stand them. About five awful songs that are on the radio all the time i'd find out, one every few years or so, are by this band

These guys are the only thing that makes me second guess if Led Zeppelin was good.

She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo

lmao i've definitely looked up the lyrics to this song before but i didn't realize this was the lyric. yikes!

D

"Hey Soul Sister" is the worst single of the decade.

― balls and adieu (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 July 2010 12:34 (eleven years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JeAfVoA_iE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi67yCACrmI

The way you move ain't fair you know

"meet virginia" is maybe the worst song i've ever heard, really makes me doubt the whole idea of people singing words.

She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo

lmao i've definitely looked up the lyrics to this song before but i didn't realize this was the lyric. yikes!

How could anyone not parse the greatest lyric of the 21st century(?)

brimstead otm

In that very funny Pat Finnerty video I love how he says he made a bracket for worst song and they all somehow won.