Post a controversial music opinion

Whitechocolatespaceegg >> Exile in Guyville

Oh, I totally agree with that

and I love EIG.

That is correct

no way in hell

Because everything is being reassessed lately, especially with nostalgia goggles...

"If You Could Only See" by Tonic has really pretty lead guitar in the chorus, and there is also this cool Swervedriver-esque guitar part that shows up a few times during a bridge.

Is this song well liked or hated? I really have no idea.

In general when it comes to radio-rock music composition, that bittersweet yearning 90s alt rock style is still more appealing to me than the "whoa-oh" car commercial style of the 00s, despite nostalgic bias.

no I’m with you, that is a great chorus

Tour De France Etapes > Autobahn

I hated the single before that one ("OPen Up Your Eyes"), so I was pleasantly surprised when "If You Could Only See" came out after it.

it screams 1997. nice little 70s pop/rock hook

Desire is a preferable album to Blood on the Tracks. The cover looks better, The rougher production sounds better, violin vs. harmonica is really no contest, and I love Emmylou's voice always everywhere. Blood has some stone cold classics on it for sure, but as a full album, Desire is a much better listening experience.

Agree re Desire, and re Kraftwerk, as an album Tour De France > Autobahn - it's actually my favourite Kraftwerk album.

Radio-Activity > Trans-Europe Express (mostly for "The Hall of Mirrors," which is an incredibly fucked up and depressing song) > Techno Pop > Autobahn > The Man-Machine > Computer World > Tour de France Soundtracks

I've never heard the first three albums and I don't care. And the first thing I heard was The Mix, and I still love it.

Every couple of years, Blondie comes up for re-consideration, and this week they're getting the deluxe box set treatment. Each time, I make a dutiful attempt, and one or two singles aside, I just...don't hear it. They might be the most musically minor canonized band I can think of.

My older brother brought Radio-Activity and The Man-Machine home after his high school art teacher used to play them in drawing class. They're certainly my favourite Kraftwerk albums, as a kid I thought it was only natural that you would start a record with two minutes of (synthesized) Geiger counter.

anyone who puts computer world second to last is a musical idiot imo

Blondie is one of the few bands I would spring for a deluxe box set of at this point in my life. My love for that band goes beyond reason. Of course, it has a lot to do with the time of my life I discovered them. I still remember, at 13 in 1978, dropping the needle on Parallel Lines and hearing Debbie launch into "Hanging on the Telephone." At that point in my life, I'd heard the Runaways, but I really didn't know women could make the kind of music Debbie was making. And I'll freely admit I was crushing on her hard--still am, truth be told.

I've had a couple posters on my Facebook wall bitch about that box set. Whatever.

Complaining about its existence? I think it’s cool if box sets are still happening for anyone! (but I also thought they were more of a holiday season thing)

This one has been a long time coming.

No -- complaining about Blondie (which I understand but don't share).

I’m not a big Blondie fan, but I didn’t realize they were considered to be bad & hated (by folks in general).

they’re good. they have at least three amazing records

there was a kind of avant disco blankness about them at the time that seemed very much like the future, I think that is a lot of the appeal

not really a fan but “rapture” is amazing

I've never heard the first three albums and I don't care.

Ralf und Florian is essential, it's one of my favorite Kraftwerk albums.

Then again my other favorite Kraftwerk albums are The Man Machine and Computer World, probably

I also love Ralf und Florian

Yeah my eternal top 3 are Computer World, Radioactivity, and Ralf un Florian. Side 2 of Ralf und Florian is one of the most blissed-out sides of vinyl in existence

My potentially controversial Blondie opinion is that the first album may be more entertaining than Parallel Lines. My controversial Kraftwerk opinion is that side 2 of Trans-Europe Express gets pretty dull after a few minutes.

and your controversial Tonic opinion?

My controversial opinion is that it is not possible to have a controversial ranking of Kraftwerk albums.

The first five Blondie albums are like ranking your children. You love them all individually and as a family. Maybe you have a favourite but that changes, and the eldest and the youngest have their issues.

and your controversial Tonic opinion?

OK, since you asked...

I've never heard this song, it's unremarkable. I agree with you that the lead guitars are the most interesting part, there's some nice slide and they use subtle reverb and delay at various points. It's not making me miss the 90s as much as the poor YouTube commentators.

Yeah, I couldn’t have told you the band name or title of that song (though I do remember it)… I revisited it / listened closely after the above post, and it def. didn’t have any zing for me.

Perhaps I should check out their most recent single – 2021’s "If You Could Only See (25th Anniversary)”

it's been lowered 4 full steps and is sung like Tom Waits

My controversial VH1-scum opinion is that the first Matchbox 20 album is fairly kickass, and is also one of the best-sounding albums I’ve ever heard… it’s like the pinnacle of modern record production.

the first time I heard "Long Day" I said 'oh, I get this band, the singer pronounces words funny'

Ha, well thanks for the thoughtful takes. Yeah I remembered it as a radio rock hit but when I heard it again recently I was struck by how much nicer that lead guitar was than it could have been. Overall the song had more texture than I would have guessed prior to the revisit.

xpost the only show I ever played in a band, also on the bill was one of the ex-member's of Tabitha's Secret, who was now in a jazz combo and playing jazz for the 8 people in the audience.

I've had a couple posters on my Facebook wall bitch about that box set. Whatever.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, August 26, 2022 6:27 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Why are people bitching about the Blondie box set? I got the 4-disc bonus material-only version and enjoyed it a lot.

First three tracks on Tonic's Lemon Parade are actually pretty good... spotty album after that. By sheer coincidence, I listened to their third album for the first time just this week out of curiosity (their highest rated on rym) and it's aggressively bland

To me the apotheosis of Blondie as a top-tier critically acclaimed band after being relegated to the 2nd tier for many years feels of a piece with the similar rise of Fleetwood Mac. Both are fronted by women, perhaps more known as singles bands by most people, and somewhat disco-friendly — qualities that might have worked against them in the old rock-crit establishment.

My musical controp is that neither band has ever been relegated to the second tier by the old rock-crit establishment (Rumours #4 P&J, Parallel Lines #25, Eat to the Beat #17) and it would be far more of an anti-establishment critical reversal to say that AC/DC and Black Sabbath are better rock bands than Blondie and Fleetwood Mac.

yeah maybe my idea of things is distorted by having read the lester bangs blondie book but they have always come off to me as critically beloved

I don't think that's distorted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Lines#Critical_reception

Maybe it's selection bias in terms of what critics I read (or paid attention to) and who the bands that I liked cited as influences, but I always felt, in terms of that era, there was a pretty clear top tier of bands like the Ramones, Patti Smith, the Clash, Wire, X, Talking Heads, Television, etc., and that Blondie was not quite at that level, although still beloved by many. However, my perception may have been colored by the fact that Blondie seemed to lack a certain edginess or aggression in their sound that connoted importance to me in those days. My knowledge of rock criticism was also fairly limited. Probably the ur-text for me was the 1995 SPIN list of best 100 alternative albums. That list has Ramones at #1, Patti Smith at #6, X at #10, Wire at #12, Buzzcocks at #17, and Blondie at #20, which is higher than I remembered it being. So again some bias on my part is probably involved.

Please Kill Me came out in 1996 and upended all of that, bc Patti Smith came out of it looking kind of sketchy if not fraudulent and Blondie came out looking great.

The Beths are totally overhyped and overrated. I'm a Kiwi and I'm sorry, it's so disheartening to see their competent but ultimately bland power pop attract so much acclaim, when there's so much more interesting music happening here. It's getting really infuriating that everyone thinks of NZ as the home of Aldous Harding (yawn), The Beths (double yawn) and Lorde (diminishing returns), or some island of nostalgic indie halcyon days that peaked with Flying Nun.

Where's the love for Church and AP, or Wax Chattels, or Fazerdaze, or Tami Neilson, to give just a handful of examples off the top of my head?!

No idea what you're talking about. New Zealand is where Beastwars and Ulcerate and Organectomy and Rendered Helpless come from.

I've never know a moment when Parallel Lines wasn't revered as much as Horses, Marquee Moon, etc.