My view on INXS is that their pre (and post) Kick work is inconsistent in terms of quality. Some great tracks, but a lot of dross. They got it right for the only time on Kick, but if we're gonna rank huge '80s bands I'd rank 'em well below R.E.M., U2 and even Simple Minds.
By the time INXS released Elegantly Wasted, they were a laughing stock pretty much. R.E.M. and U2 were still thriving. Simple Minds at least had a catalogue of stunning early albums that were ripe for rediscovery, yet INXS didn't have that, and nor did they have an album as good as New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 5 January 2019 22:54 (five years ago) link
As an American, the esteem in which fucking Simple Minds, of all bands, are held by you foreigners is fucking baffling.
― grawlix (unperson), Saturday, 5 January 2019 22:58 (five years ago) link
Listen to Reel to Real Cacophony, Empires and Dance or Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call and you'll understand why.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 5 January 2019 23:02 (five years ago) link
In 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 “Need You Tonight” -> “Mediate” was standard radio practice it ruled
― L'assie (Euler), Saturday, 5 January 2019 23:03 (five years ago) link
It was always kind of a letdown when MTV just played “Need...” without segueing into “Mediate.”
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Saturday, 5 January 2019 23:16 (five years ago) link
Your choices of least favourite R.E.M. songs say a lot about you!
it says we stopped paying attention after bill berry left, and rightly so
― mookieproof, Sunday, 6 January 2019 04:59 (five years ago) link
guys don't let this good thread go down the turdy-can
― macropuente (map), Sunday, 6 January 2019 05:10 (five years ago) link
"NTUA" is probably INXS's 20th best song, off maybe their 2nd or 3rd best album! I much, much prefer REM overall, but I voted for "NTUA" as it seemed fairly clear that this poll wasn't about INXS vs REM per se.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 6 January 2019 07:11 (five years ago) link
it's almost like the title of the thread told you what was being specifically compared
― I can't dĂ©rive fifty-feev (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 6 January 2019 10:46 (five years ago) link
Early Simple Minds rules
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 6 January 2019 14:22 (five years ago) link
Also <3 DJP
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 6 January 2019 14:38 (five years ago) link
"Everybody Hurts" is my least favorite song on AFTP. The lyric is underdeveloped.
― timellison, Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:17 (five years ago) link
As opposed to "Me, my thoughts are flowers strewn" etc., which are some of my favorite damn lyrics ever.
― timellison, Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:20 (five years ago) link
The lyric doesn't need to say more than it already does!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:37 (five years ago) link
Yeah, not saying it does, but I think a couple of the lines are throwaways and he could done something better. Specifically talking about "Don't throw your hand" (?) and "Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along."
― timellison, Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:44 (five years ago) link
I agree with that; the lyric walks the line between relatable “directness” and cliché, sometimes falling on the wrong side.
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:52 (five years ago) link
"now it's time to sing along" seems not only delightfully meta bc of the next section of the song but the it's moment the song betrays its awareness of how broad it is
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:53 (five years ago) link
not a great rhyme but it works
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:54 (five years ago) link
I wonder if anyone has actually found the song comforting, in a time of despair. I’m sure some have. But “everybody hurts” and “take comfort in your friends” are somewhat trite offerings of assurance/advice, to a genuinely distressed or depressed person. (Keep in mind, I like the song!)
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:55 (five years ago) link
i hate to keep defending this song lyrically but "take comfort in your friends" may be trite or cliché but that's bc it's a tried and true method of living through depression
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:57 (five years ago) link
i just think there's more going on textually in "everybody hurts" than ppl give it credit for, r.e.m. by the early-'90s being a band that already had a curious and evasive relationship toward sincerity and saying what you mean
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 January 2019 19:59 (five years ago) link
I agree w/that, though I also think ppl had a habit of trying to find “irony” where it may not have necessarily been intended (like with “Happy Shiny People,” which some insisted had to be sarcastic, or something).I also agree about taking comfort in your friends (when they’re available/able to provide comfort!), and maybe it’s a virtue to express that advice so simply & directly in a song that was destined to be a big international hit.
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Sunday, 6 January 2019 20:09 (five years ago) link
(it’s possible the song was titled “Shiny Happy People,” I’m a grandpa all of a sudden, lol)
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Sunday, 6 January 2019 20:10 (five years ago) link
i agree that neither song really hits an ironic register, but they both seem pretty self-aware and are playful with that awareness instead of distancing
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Sunday, 6 January 2019 20:14 (five years ago) link
I had never particularly thought about EH lyrics and yes they are basic but listening to the song with that in mind, I wish I had been able to say such simple words to a dear friend who didn’t hang on, for instance... so maybe they’re not that bad.
― AlXTC from Paris, Sunday, 6 January 2019 20:17 (five years ago) link
xp - yeah, i think i was "turned off" by what I felt was "schmaltzy" - like it was R.E.M. doing "wind beneath my wings" or "bridge over troubled water" after everyone associated "bridge over troubled water" with commercials for casualty insurance or something
― sarahell, Sunday, 6 January 2019 23:04 (five years ago) link
― timellison, Sunday, January 6, 2019 1:44 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards, when you just throw your hand into the middle and quit to cut your loses instead of trying to bluff while holding bad cards by continuing to bet
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 January 2019 12:54 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I think that's the best line in the song.
― Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream (Sund4r), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:36 (five years ago) link
Definitely the best line!
I never considered the folding a hand of cards, I always just took "throw your hand" as some sort of dramatic gesture of despair, like maybe punching a hole in the wall, or shaking one's fist at God. What makes it so great is its unexpectedness and obtuseness, something you almost never find in the top 40.
― rip van wanko, Monday, 7 January 2019 13:48 (five years ago) link
I mean they were Southern boys I'm p sure it's cards
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 January 2019 13:53 (five years ago) link
that basic guitar arpeggio on everybody hurts just bores me, it doesn't do the lyric any favours
― ufo, Monday, 7 January 2019 14:04 (five years ago) link
"don't throw your hand" is actually pretty specific suicide reference, it's a reference to playing cards, I mean, I thought this was obvious(!); and it’s why I was agreeing w/Tim about that line. “Don’t commit suicide” seems like somewhat... clumsy advice to a severely depressed person. But if it helped some people to hear it in this song, ok!(Incidentally, I recall some mishearing this line as an even more specific suicide reference: “Don’t blow your head off”!)
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Monday, 7 January 2019 14:25 (five years ago) link
there might be a UK/US divide wrt to poker?
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 7 January 2019 15:12 (five years ago) link
FWIW, I actually like “Sometimes everything is wrong/Now it's time to sing along” — it feels like a glimmer of the “self-aware inspirational song” thing
― i stan corrected (morrisp), Monday, 7 January 2019 15:19 (five years ago) link
this is an interesting genre, the explicitly palliative/consoling song
― rip van wanko, Monday, 7 January 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link