Reach Down, Hand In Your Pocket / POLL Out Some Hope For Me: Matchbox Twenty & Rob Thomas Singles

feels kind of unfair voting for smooth so i'll go with bent

Probably my least favorite voice in the universe

I hate every one of these songs.

"bent" had always felt really weirdly constructed to me, which is why I've always liked it

i also think "how far we come" is a total jam and really stood out at the time given how terrible most of the solo rob singles are

I like the building momentum in the prechorus, and the different lyrics it gets each time. The real hook, for me.

(re: Bent)

"bent" had always felt really weirdly constructed to me, which is why I've always liked it

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson),

Agreed, but the problem with "Bent" is Rob Thomas singing it

Out of curiosity, who might we put forward as a better singer for this band and their songs? Like, did they need a warmer, earthier, less clammy and creepy kind of frontman (like, well, Hootie) or would that have taken away something specific about their appeal in their moment? There were bands kinda occupying that space in the late 90s - Fastball, say, or, uh... Everything - but they never got nearly as big.

A little more applied grit and you basically arrive at Nickelback (who pretty much replaced and surpassed them, success-wise), which I can't see as any kind of improvement. Or would they have done better with someone wry, detached, and less tuneful?

i loathe "lonely no more" but that's bc at the time i worked in a carvel that would just play the adult alternative station during my 8 hour shift, i'd hear that song once every 45 minutes

i also hate "bright lights" bc it's a fake counting crows song that is inordinately shittier than the worst counting crows song

Surprised to see so much 'Smooth' championing. That Santana album is fucking odious (aside from the Michelle Branch single, which I like quite a bit).

the michelle branch single was from a different odious santana album

Agreed, but the problem with "Bent" is Rob Thomas singing it

i was going to disagree bc i really like the way he sings the verse but wow his singing on the bridge is prob some of the worst recorded noise ever

i was watching the "how far we've come" video and youtube's next suggestion was "mr. brightside," so i guess that's why i like it

i also really like "mad season" ok i'm done

the michelle branch single was from a different odious santana album

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, June 15, 2016 1:53 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ahhhhhh, okay. So Supernatural is just straight garbage, then.

i used to think "slide" by goo goo dolls was matchbox 20.

smooth is for real heads only

i also think "how far we come" is a total jam and really stood out at the time given how terrible most of the solo rob singles are

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Wednesday, June 15, 2016 2:07 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah that song was awesome, and North was a really strong album, i feel like they kind of belatedly became a good band after people stopped paying attention

I think we're scraping the bottom of the barrel with these polls.

Hey Snrub, what did you hope to learn about here?

this is cracking me up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMccrqb8HB0

Re: having a different singer, my wife likes MB20 because of Thomas' excitement when he's performing. Personally I only like the first album, Mad Season I got for $2 and couldn't find anything on it worth saving.

And the songs I really like on Yourself or Someone Like You aren't singles ("Kody," "Busted").

lonely no more is killer it just came up on random tbh

outof 2000 songs

I really can't seem to escape "Long Day" being stuck in my head! In particular the way he sings this very distinctive jumble of a lyric:

Well I'm surprised that you'd believe
In anything that comes from me
I didn't hear from you or from someone else
- and you're so
Set in life, man, a pisser-they're-waiting-too-damn-bad
You get so far so fast, so what, soooo long

Great song IMO. It got a lot of retroactive airplay after 3 a.m. and Push broke them, but if it'd actually been released and marketed after those songs I think it could have been a really huge hit. Not sure, but I suspect it may have also fallen victim to that Billboard "can't chart if a physical single isn't currently in print" deal. As it is it kind of got lost a bit and as I've said on other threads, when alt-rock radio went nu-metal and pop radio kind of shed rock songs, this and the other YOSLY songs more or less disappeared from rotation. It certainly deserved a better fate that, say, "Back 2 Good," which really did feel like "okay, we've squeezed one too many singles out of this pedestrian pop-rock record."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Time falls away, in these small hours.

lol I included "Lonely No More" in my best of the year retrospective.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nice. The only really surprising thing to me is that someone would vote for "Back 2 Good" which never clicked with me whatsoever, but hey. Thanks for voting, y'all!

guess I failed to vote for bent

Can't you help him? He's bent!.