Bands that are better 'in theory' than in reality

really excellent idea for a sound, but a lot of the songs start off sounding great and then don't really go anywhere. They'd be great if they messed around with song structure and different noises more, had other people sing, or at least if Ade Blackburn didn't sing in the same style all the time.

Nu jazz

And any band of mine would of course be brilliant in theory, but...um...oh well

-- Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (doctorduc...), April 22nd, 2005.

escape from noise is pretty listenable...

For the most part Cheap Trick. Although they have some really great moments that would make a very good 60 minute compilation, even their best albums are littered with filler and mediocrity. Yet, I am compelled to think of them as being better than they usually deliver, because of their sense of melody, aesthetics, and esp. their sense of humor.

animal collective.

The Wilburys. I mean, they were great. But not as great as one might expect from such a league of stars.

marissa marchant

Experimental Audio Research; never actually liked any of their music at all.

Animal Collective
Bowie
Deerhoof

I have an amazingly high number of listens recorded on my last.fm for these groups/artists. I'm drawn to their music, yet don't actually enjoy listening to it.

I'll bet there're a hundred more..

The guys that said GWAR a couple years ago were totally on.

And Manowar is the inverse, they are better in reality than they are in theory. They come across as ridiculous, but their stuff's pretty good.

lightning bolt

-- 6335, Thursday, 24 June 2004 04:50 (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

I came here to post just this. Also, Comets On Fire.

DJ Spooky thirded. Also Third Eye Foundation.

every band ever

Bloc Party

Animal Collective would be great if their records weren't hideously produced.

Naked City. On paper they were going to become one of my teenage self's favourite bands but they're only half great, most of their covers are terrible, they're too slick and you can tell they're reading the sheet music esp. on the slower tracks. Needed more drama, more Spillane style atmosphere and some Mike Patton crooning.

Television. Great sound of guitar and voice but especially the album "Marquee Moon" somehow seems dull to me. Too repetitive, not enough variation, too long.

Yea I think that album is very stale, very boring. But I read about them and they sound great in print.

i burned out on marquee moon a few years back but listening to those eno demos and especially the live stuff kinda revived it for me. also, people pay too much attention to the guitars and not enough to the bass/drums - that's one killer rhythm section!

I was wrong about most of the ones I listed except Zappa. Although I'm not sure the theory's so great there.

Naked City OTM. Teenage me really tried with them too. "Too slick" sums it up, pretty much.

Funkadelic... sometimes.

It's funny how many of the groups listed here are this way for me, and how hard it is to admit. Yes, Naked City is definitely one of them. Fuck it - Lightning Bolt, too!

The entire genre of ambient drum'n'bass. How come nobody got this right?

OTM.

A few others: Jeru the Damaja, Suicidal Tendencies, Queen, Bob Dylan (not trolling, not saying he isn't good, just never been able to get into him at all), Red Hot Chili Peppers - wait scratch that I don't like them in theory either.

A few groups getting a lot of hype here recently that I really want to like more than I do: Watain, Deathspell Omega, Jesu, and Battles.

TV On the Radio (I still think they might live up to that theory, though...they're getting closer)

this thread is another great read.

i live in Los Angeles and three bands that are worshiped here but don't like are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, No Doubt and fucking Sublime.

don't even like those bands in theory so back to the ilm universe, will have to go with Animal Collective. i have tried and tried and tried, i just don't get it.

What do you dislike about AC? Is it the melodies or the way they present those melodies?

Negativland OTM x 1000