Let's find an act that everyone on ILM hates.

hang on geir, westlife do harmonies as well. also westlife's singer dude not as nasally horrible as ronan keating, which should maybe count for something.

(boyzone song is "a different beat", btw, and it has HORRIBLE lyrics)

If Knash talk-sang in her own accent she would be worse than Knash.

If Westlife actually talk-sang in their own accents they might be worse than Knash

Soooooooooooo not true

All boyband songs have horrible lyrics by default, but musically, "A Different Beat" isn't too bad. Plus respect to them for writing about something else than boy-meets-girl for once.

Gately's influence.

I've never heard of Josh Groban, so I can't claim to hate him.

What about Manu Chao?

Then I saw a feature where Peter Cushing said their most recent CD (at the time) he liked a lot, and then it hit me. It's music for the old folks. (trying not to sound patro)

I mean, what else is there for them? So basically, any kind of music which isn't meant for me, how can I hate it?

what else is there for them? only about a million things, past and present, equally bad or slightly better (in the latter category would come 'british light music' such as brian kay plays). hate the sin not the sinner, and unbelievably bad music (which westlife do produce) which is inexplicably successful is pretty hateful. it is very patronising tbh.

i mean asking 'what else is there for them?' is just factually wrong as well as unremittingly bleak.

Gately's influence.

"A Different Beat" isn't exactly boy-meets-boy either, but.. :)

not if it isn't a rhetorical question.

Yes, there is lots. But, in the 'current' scheme of things, a lot of stuff is regarded as 'the oldies' i.e. hits of the sixties, or it's niche marketing.

At least WLife are recording 'right now' and so on.

What about Manu Chao?

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/GeirH/my_top_50_albums_of_1998

xpost
westlife are fantastic judged on their own terms; trying to compare them to ---insert critical/ilx fave here--- is like criticising a banana for not being orangey enough.

I can't stand Manu Chao's stupid cap, but that's not quite the same thing. His music's OK or at least the first album was until he made the same album over and over.

Westlife were deliberately engineered by Cowell and Louisa Walsh as successors to Boyzone, to the extent that Keating even managed them in the early days. Nice polite boys who won't answer back, and the subsequent bunco booth trick of trying to convince us that they're as important as the Beatles whereas it was marketing and the cheapening of the charts which allowed them to have 97,422 number one hits.

westlife are fantastic judged on their own terms

w.t.f.

No, they're shit on their own terms

honestly people who think westlife aren't too band - have you heard any boyband music?

too bad

Well, yes all that.

But why are they still here, as opposed to going the way of xeven, etc?

Because they didn't go 'uptempo', and ended up working toward a market that was underdeveloped and unrepresented.

"The one thing worse than being exploited, is not being exploited" (M.Grout, 1982)

i'm sorry, there's just no way you can explain the success of westlife.

Inevitable Godwin's interception - many people thought the Nazis were fantastic on their own terms. How fitting that Westlife should resemble a line of de Valera clones.

should be in the 'mysteries of the unexplained' poll.

(xp to myself)

At least Westlife >>>>> New Kids On The Block.

Don't interpret that as a defence of Westlife though.

boybands should be fun but Westlife never seemed to represent that - even their occasional midtempo hits like 'bop bop baby' were bland as hell.

The success of Westlife is easily explicable.

- Pre-existing demographic: the Boyzone fans who were slowly growing out of Boyzone.
- Sharply focused on identifiable market winner: MoR ballads delivered in a style approachable to both very young and very old fans.
- Astute marketing by Cowell and Walsh: coordination of fanbase and marketing ensure near-automatic number ones as fans all flock to buy their records in the week of release.
- Brand maintenance: because they were MoR to begin with the transition to "adult contemporary" was not an obstacle, whereas Take That had to wait a decade for theirs.

At least Westlife >>>>> New Kids On The Block.

BULL AND BUNK

see that's what i'm saying. NKOTB > x1 million Westlife, and anyone who isn't insane will think so.

they're not oldie music, of course.

Pre-existing demographic: the Boyzone fans who were slowly growing out of Boyzone.
- Sharply focused on identifiable market winner: MoR ballads delivered in a style approachable to both very young and very old fans.
- Astute marketing by Cowell and Walsh: coordination of fanbase and marketing ensure near-automatic number ones as fans all flock to buy their records in the week of release.
- Brand maintenance: because they were MoR to begin with the transition to "adult contemporary" was not an obstacle, whereas Take That had to wait a decade for theirs.

yes all very good, one problem though: THE MUSIC.

ie im playing chess at the end, but you will not get me to say i love big brother.

We're not talking about whether you like them or not. You said that their success was inexplicable. I have given you four clear and cogent reasons why they were successful. What you have to understand is that Westlife don't need "us," whereas, for example, Girls Aloud clearly do.

Or to put it a Riot Grrl way, Westlife are happening without our permission.

If there is hope, lies in the proles!

o fuk

The MOR element is probably a very important reason why Westlife have lasted at the top for so long (after all, 8 years is a long time for a boyband). Today's boy band fans are usually tomorrow's MOR/adult contemporary fans. Westlife's musical style makes the change easier.

Yes. Right, WL done into the ground.

Who else?

Daniel O'Donnel. Have at he!

Holl', watch it son

James Brown is the A.Q. Khan of music Geir dislikes.

Insane Clown Posse?

Rednex

Can't say I hate ICP- their comedy's more than a bit lame, and the music's terrible, but don't care about them enough to hate.

same goes for Rednex and whoever did the Birdy Song any other novelty comedy act

Rednex are total harmless fluff. ICP, on the other hand, are really quite unpleasant.

ICP have made many valid contributions to the world of pro-wrestling, perhaps only third in the world of music to Cyndi Lauper and Billy Corgan.

Widespread Panic

trolls are a part of Norwegian folklore, right? maybe it's just his culture.

-- latebloomer, Thursday, May 3, 2007 3:23 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Link

Citizen Cope?

Michael Bolton.

I don't hate him

Jamie Cullum?

Spin Doctors

Toploader?

i have never heard of this band btw. imagine if their name was pronounced unexpectedly like "Imajinay Draygoans"

― a phenomenological description of The Eagles (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, March 6, 2013 4:44 PM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Lukas Graham or Andy Grammer may qualify

I caught the last two minutes of Eemayjeen Draygoons' set at a festival last year and me and my daughter were surprised how good they sounded

gtfo Judas, maybe they sounded good because they can afford to

I thought I'd found our unicorn and could finally take some happy respite, but I guess not, the wearisome hunt continues

I don't hate them either.

found him

https://s-i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/272604/slide_272604_1939619_free.jpg

hate him but just barely

more apathetic than hateful

I've never knowingly heard anything by him. I'm tempted to try for the sake of this thread.

surely nobody on here likes Macklemore?

Just listened to 'Shape of You'. I like it better than some of the songs that made it to ILM's top 10 last year.

Macklemore is jarringly mediocre.

Quite a few metal people seem to really hate Five Finger Death Punch.

The answer for me would always and forever be Bon Jovi.

I've only heard Sheeran's guest bits on Taylor Swift albums, but I like those!