10 Bands I Dislike - And the Reasons Why (Part II)

Welcome back ladies and gentleman, to the second half of my rant. Brace yourself; there are some bands on here that are a bit on the controversial side (although it should probably be me bracing myself, come to think of it. So... yeah. Ignore that last comment.) so this should get interesting.

Ghost.

First up in my firing zone is the band Ghost. I saw these guys recently whilst on the 'Defenders of the Faith III' tour. (For those of you that missed it, you really did miss out.) I went into that gig with an open mind, with no knowledge about the band, except that the way they dress looks hilarious, and that they apparently were a Satanic, theatrical band. 

Were. They. Shite.

I was on the front row for that gig, and so could see behind the curtain, to the back stage type bit on the side.So when the operatic music hit, and the room filled with the stench of dry ice, all I could see in the dark was a Pope hat bobbing up and down behind all the amps, a pretty funny sight to behold. What made it even funnier was how fake and tacky the 'Ghoul' costumes were, with little slits for mouths and eyes and the bling necklaces they wore. I know they need to breathe and things, as they obviously weren't real ghouls, (duh), but it still looked incredibly funny.

Now, if a band claims to be atmospheric, Satanic, and theatrical, what type of genre would you assume them to be? Doom? Industrial? Black Metal? Something heavy and foreboding, to be sure. Well you would all be completely wrong. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63K8k-5mV7M

After intro music which is in fact very heavy and atmospheric, you would certainly expect more of the same. But no. The lead singer I think sounds like a weaker version of Matt Bellamy, and the music is just plain bizarre, and incredibly boring, with one dreary sound after another that could lull an insomniac to sleep. Ghost's definition of 'theatre' and 'theatrics' is apparently standing completely still, with some lights flashing here and there. Now that, to most people, isn't even a definition of 'remotely interesting' or 'entertaining'.

Don't get me wrong, there are support bands I've seen which are worse, (but none which have made me laugh so much for all the wrong reasons) and bands out there which are worse musically, to be sure. But they, like Greenday in the previous post, are claiming to be something they're quite clearly not. The music and the image just don't add up, and nor do they compliment one another either.

I wasn't the only one thinking this either, as they didn't exactly go down too well. They were booed the entire way through the set, chants of 'Paedo!' shouted at the singer (if he dresses like the Pope, what did he honestly expect?) and were so uncohesive as a band that when the keyboards stopped working for the final song, it didn't make a blind bit of difference to the sound.

Plus the combination of both incense (a cloying, heady smell which is disgusting in its own terms) and dry-ice is possibly one of THE most vulgar, cough inducing odours I've ever known. And I live in a place which is more often than not on fire.

Opeth.

This is the one which I was nervous about. I should probably guard my front door with my Granda's shotgun right now, or make preparations to get out the country very quickly after saying this. So I'll take a deep breath, and put it out there: I hate Opeth. 

Everyone ok still? No one coming to my door wielding pitchforks, fiery torches and sharp, pointy objects? Good, then I can continue whilst only mildly terrified.

All my friends, everyone I know, adores this band. My boyfriend, my friends, some of my family, they all love Opeth. And I just don't get it. 

When I saw them in November, with my ecstatic boyfriend and friends, they all adored it, and had an amazing time. To give them credit, Opeth are excellent live; they are completely flawless, so I can't criticise them in any way for that either. Mikael Akerfeldt is one of the best frontman for a band I've witnessed to date, and the light show was superb, but even then after all that, for me, there is something lacking.

There is nothing when I sit and listen to them that I enjoy. Musically, I should technically like it. But I don't. Same with the clean vocals. Again, technically, I should like his voice. I just can't though. It's a perplexing one.

Maybe it's something to do with my strange disliking for people introducing me to bands. I like to find bands by myself, so when people show me a band, I won't listen until I want to. Perhaps a bit unusual and selfish, but I've always been the same. And yet... It was through my boyfriend I learnt of Nevermore. I listened when he showed me, and I liked them. 'Born' still has one of my favourite choruses, and 'This Godless Endeavor' is just plain gorgeous. So why isn't it the same story with Opeth?

Whenever I hear them, time just seems to go in ultraslow motion. I recently resat my AS English Language exam. A full 2 hours of picking out declaratives, exclamatives and many other lexical devices ending in -tives and THAT felt like it was going quicker. I respect them, they are an innovative, creative force to be sure, but the fact of the matter is this - I still cannot stand them.

Sorry.

Bring Me The Horizon.

Right, I'm going to say this immediately - I couldn't give less of a shit how this band look. That isn't what I'm going to moan about (much). I don't like how they look, personally, but that doesn't affect their music in any way, and it isn't a reason for my including them in this list, nor is it a reason why I dislike them in the first place.

No, the reason I dislike them is because, frankly, I detest their music. More specifically, I hate Oli Sykes attempts at screaming. They're rubbish on album, and even worse live. I don't know if he just doesn't understand the technique to scream without sounding like a cat yowling at the moon, or how to scream in a way where the lyrics are actually decipherable, but either way, he can't do it. The latter part of that is something many a screamer struggles with, so it seems, and so it isn't just something I loathe in BMTH. In their case it is, however, incredibly noticeable.

Some bands can get away with it due to the clean passages being impressive, or at least monotonous enough to sound like every other post-metalcore band that is popular this week. Oli Sykes isn't one of them. The only conceivable reason I can think of for their success is that they were one of the first to sound like they do.

By that I of course mean sounding like one big breakdown. Which brings me neatly onto my next point: 

WHY DO YOU NEED SO MANY BREAKDOWNS?!! Seriously? Just why?

                                                                                       You can't really tell, but even now they are midway through a breakdown.

It's something which I just cannot comprehend. I don't see the need to fill a song with something so meaningless and dull. A small breakdown section, sure, I can understand. It can be emotive, atmospheric, dynamic. But if there is a higher ratio of breakdown to actual song, it seems stupid to me. Why not use a guitar solo? An opening lick, to entice the listener? A great chugging riff? No?

I understand there is a certain audience demographic with bands like this, and I'm perhaps not part of that demographic. I won't pretend to understand everything (or anything near everything) when it comes to music, but even then, surely they must see that enough is enough?

Will it reach a point where the there isn't anything in a song which isn't a breakdown? If that happens, I don't think I want to live on this planet anymore. 

Guns 'n' Roses.

Guns 'n' Roses are a band which I have always thought to be highly overrated. There are riffs, and a song or two, which I do like, but overall, I wouldn't call myself a fan. The problem isn't the music, by any means, in fact, I really like the music. The problem for me is Axl Rose. I hate his singing. It sounds like a pig being slaughtered slowly whilst being strung up. Harsh (on the pig that is) as it may be, his voice is one which I cannot abide. I will throw my hands up in the air and say that I am very picky about vocalists, and many people don't get how irratic and random I am about which vocalists I do and don't like.

That isn't my main problem with Axl, or GnR though. Lets not forget that GnR are a different band now (or as I call them 'Axl Rose and Pals') and that they still produce music. When he finally regurgitated 'Chinese Democracy' after however many years, even if it had been made of pure gold and embellished with diamonds and unicorns, after so long, there was no way feedback would be positive. It had been too long, and there was too much hype about it for it to even stand a chance.

Even then, I think everyone was expecting a lot more than what we actually got. Riddled with all sorts of shit, 'Chinese Democracy' was possibly better left as a myth until the end all time, the 'What If?' album as it were. The musicians that work with Rose, such as Buckethead, aren't to blame, don't get me wrong. I've nothing against them. No, the blame lands squarely on Axl's shoulders. Maybe his short shorts were too tight (most probably) and somehow stopped oxygen getting to his brain, and so he just wrote whatever he could as fast as he could.

My other main problem with Axl is how he treats his fans these days. A few years ago, with BFMV supporting, Axl and co toured the UK. Being massive GnR fans, my mother, as well as a few other people I am acquaintenced/friends with went to see him. On this particular night, he refused to get off the plane until he got his Sunday dinner, so they didn't start until 10 p.m and even then apparently someone threw a penny at him, and so he stormed off stage mid-song, and refused to come back on again for an encore. They didn't even play 'Paradise City', one of the most well known and loved Roses songs.

Chances are that he dropped the penny himself, but that is against the point. The point is that those people had paid a lot of money to go to see this little temper tantrum. What's more, a lot of people are still going to Roses gigs, and it has become a common occurance, often with gigs not starting until about midnight. How can he think that behaving like that is acceptable? I know 2 year olds that have grasped the concept of manners and social decorum better than Mr. Rose. Being an A list rock star doesn't entitle you to slaughter your legacy every night, butcher your own songs brutally with every note you miss (which is all of them) and treat your fans, the people that have stood by you all this time, and have waited for you whilst you threw a hissy fit, and then treat them worse than the ground you walk on. Nothing entitles anyone to do that. Ever.

Do you know who I feel worst for though? The rest of the band who put up with this behaviour. The manager, the road crew, the people that have to work with him on a day to day basis. They might get paid a lot to put up with this shit, but imagine how humiliating it must still be. Night in, night out, gig after gig having the same embarressing outcome. I know I couldn't be that patient, and I don't understand how they can be. They must have the patience of a saint and the most powerful stomachs known to man, considering how, even now, Axl won't drop the short shorts.

                                                                                                          Imagine working with this, everyday.

I feel bad for those that still pay to see this circus, this relic of a band which were once so great. It's such a shame.

Black Veil Brides.  

Anyone who knows me at all will have known this was coming. There is nothing about this band that I like. Not their looks, not their music, not their attitude. What I especially hate is their blatant attempt to be Motley Crue. From quoting them and claiming it to be something they've said themselves ('Just because we wear makeup, doesn't mean we can't still kick your ass'), to copying their fucking t-shirt designs, they've imitated it all.

 

                                                                                                  Motley Crue t-shirt of the Crue during the 'Shout At the Devil' era.

                                                                              Black Veil Brides. Look familiar? If this is a coincidence, my name is Nikki Sixx.

It pisses me off that some band think they can copy from one of the best bands there have ever been, and then pretend like it's their own idea. Ok, the makeup hasn't been stolen from the Crue, that's been stolen from KISS instead, but the surname originally used by lead singer Andy Biersack, originally Andy Sixx, is as obvious as you can get without shouting the words 'I wanna be like Nikki Sixx!' (That priviledge instead goes to Zakk Sandler, of Black Tide). It's like they don't even care that they are trampling all over two of the biggest and best bands there are.

I listened to the entire album diplomatically when I went to review it, ignoring all preconceptions I had of the band, their image and their ridiculous music video for Fallen Angels, and even then I couldn't find a single thing I liked. One song was a watered down, bad imitation of Avenged Sevenfold. They're like one of those gimmick bands for Sex Pistols or Iron Maiden. Except they're far more musically challenged and less creative.

A lot of their material fades into nothingness, behind all the imagery and makeup, there is just nothing there. They're like a porcelain vase; attractive to some, repulsive to others, and beyond that just completely empty. They lack musicianship, skill and the general traits that make a band actually good. There is a difference between success and popularity. A band like Muse (even if I'm not a fan) are successful, and so can sell out stadiums anywhere they like. Bands like BVB and Asking Alexandria, BMTH and Of Mice and Men are popular. That is to say, they're here today, and gone tomorrow. They're just another musical fad, lacking the substance and strength to keep going, even when that style isn't popular.

The singers can't sing, screamers lack the ability to scream properly, and there is breakdown after breakdown after breakdown. Followed swiftly by another breakdown. It's just... tiring.

After all that though, I feel like I should say that I don't think that all modern bands are like that. I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the not too distant future. I talk of bands such as Rise to Remain, whom do use breakdowns, but not to the same extent. They also understand musicianship, are exhilirating to watch live, and their material is catchy, good to sing along to and there are some tremendous guitar solos in there. Yes, I said solos. Not just breakdowns. 

                                          A band that care about more than just 15 minutes of fame. And can actually play their instruments.

It gives me hope that there are still bands out there like this. Yes they can relate to the same audience demographic, but they also have the ability to pull away from post-hardcore, and don't sound like the same old shit as everything else out there at the moment.

There are bands like Savage Messiah too, revitilising and revising the old thrash era, much like Evile are becoming known for doing. 

I've seen all three of these bands in action, and it was a breath of fresh air. Bands that are in it for the longitudinal success, not the instant popularity. Bands who are in it for the music, the fans, the freedom, not just instant fame and fortune. Bands that aren't afraid to be just a little bit different to everyone else, to break the mould just that little bit.

So it's nice to know that, even with all these bands I dislike, there are plenty of bands out there, new and old, that I love, and that there are many more exciting young bands that I have yet to discover.

10 Bands I Dislike - And the Reasons Why (Part I).

For my first, non-introductory post, I was going to release some of my album reviews. I then, however realised that as my college work hasn't been marked, and so I might get done for plagiarism. Against myself.                                                      
-insert facepalm here- 
To avoid such a stupid and humiliating situation, I've decided to write about some of the bands I really despise, and exactly why they get under my skin.

I'm going to say this now though - everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I band I might hate, for whatever reason, you may love. And hey, I'm ok with that. If you're one of the few who actually like or hate a specific band for reasons other than it being 'cool' or being a 'non-conformist', then kudos to you. So if what I say ruffles your feathers, just take one of the following steps:

1. Stop reading the article, and look at something else online, and get on with your life. It's not hard, as much as some of the trolls out there seem to believe it is.

2. Just skip that particular band. You don't have to read everything, just skip the bit that bothers you, like a normal human being.

3. Read it, accept the differing opinions and move on. Everyone is different, like I said before, so no need to make a big deal out of it.

4. Be a complete troll and pitiful keyboard warrior, and express your rage through a series of non-verbal gutteral utterances which hold no sematic value whatsoever, whilst everyone else just sits and laughs.

Now we've got that out the way, we can get on to the main topic at hand. The fact of the matter is, I love a lot of bands. I own well over 200 albums, and find new songs and bands I like the sounds of regularly. There are, however, a few bands out there which I cannot abide. The reasons for this can be as simple as the fact I think they're a complete pile of shit, or they can be something wildly different. 

Aerosmith.

This might take a few people out there by surprise, considering I love a lot of 80s rock, but I loathe Aerosmith with a passion. 'Why?' I hear you cry, or at least non-chalantly wonder. Well, there are many reasons. First off, like Green Day (who will be making an appearance later in this post, just to warn you now) I associate them with a bad time in my life, and to people whom I never want to see again. That might sound silly to some, but I know I'm not the only one that does this.

Music is an important, intrigated part of my life, and so certain parts of my life, and certain people in my life, get associated with specific bands. Once something becomes tainted like that, I tend to avoid it like the plague. It isn't the only reason I don't like them, mind you. The other reason is a bit more logical: I just don't like them. The songs don't draw me in on a personal level, and Steven Tyler's singing just doesn't interest me.'Love in an Elevator' and 'Crazy' feel like they drag on for an age whenever I hear them.

'Dude Looks Like a Lady' has a nice chorus, and I don't mind 'Walk this Way' (so long as it's the version featuring Run DMC, not the original, which I personally find a bit bland and listless). Bar these two songs though, I'm really not a fan. Out of all the 70s and 80s bands there are out there, Aerosmith are probably my least favourite of them all.

I do, however, respect these guys (ignoring the whole being a judge on American Idol thing). If it weren't for them, there might not be a Motley Crue, for a start. Due to their crass Nazi jokes at his interview, Michael Schenker decided against joining them and instead formed MSG, one of the bands I do really like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX0h6nQKgb4

So yeah, Nazi jokes can somehow, sometimes, have a good outcome. Who'd have thought it?

Green Day.

I said they would be in the post, so I thought I should mention them early on. Green Day are one of those bands which I have never 'got'. The thing which mainly annoys me though, is the fact they are classed as punk. Now, as far as I'm concerned, Sex Pistols were punk. The Clash were punk. Even Gallows (yet another band to grace this list) are arguably new age punk.

Punk music was a form of anarchism, a rebellion against the government at the time, where lots of angry kids stood together and shouted 'Fuck you!' to anyone who happened to get in their way. The government, their parents, the neighbour's dog, whatever was there, they rebelled against it. They might not have been able to even play their instruments (Sid Vicious being well known for not even being able to play bass when he joined Sex Pistols, but was initiated into the band because of how he looked), but the music reflected the world, especially the UK, at the time. I doubt it would've had the same hard-hitting effect with overproduced, non-offensive songs like 'American Idiot' , 'Holiday' and the irritatingly repetitive 'Do You Know the Enemy?' After hearing that song even once over, I concluded that Billie Joe Armstrong got stuck like an old vinyl LP, but they decided to just run with it because, hey, they were out of ideas, and those darned kids will listen to anything these days.

Unfortunately, in that last respect, they appear to be dangerously close to the mark.

Coupled with the main reason for my disliking of Aerosmith, Green Day just aren't for me. They're a band who are claiming to be part of a genre for the downtrodden, angry youths of the world, but in a reality are a mainstream (a word I don't use lightly), sellout pop-rock band with their heads in the clouds and a physical inability to cohesively string together more than 3 chords per song.

Gallows.

You may have already have guessed that I'm not a fan of punk music, or those that claim to be punk. You'd be right - while I have respect and understanding for the movement, I'm not a fan of the music. However, that isn't why I hold a grudge against the notoriously aggravating Gallows. No, the reason I hate these so much is far more simple than that: Frank Carter is a dick.

                                                                       A face sculpted by 3 year olds, using dog turds and a shovel.

I've witnessed Gallows twice, whilst they supported bands I actually had an interest in seeing. The first time, I can't really complain. It was before anyone really knew of them, and they just got on with it. They weren't my cup of tea, but they didn't really do a bad job. The second time I saw them, however, things had changed. 

Frank's ego had swollen to many times the size of the venue, and even though they were the second lowest band on the bill out of five bands, he seemed to think everyone was there for them. One girl near the front, who was there for one of the main bands, expressed her disgust in him spitting on her face, a pretty standard reaction for people to have to such repugnant behaviour. Frank, however, took this as a personal insult, and for the remainder of the set made it his personal mission in life to publicly humiliate and destroy this girl. (Such as screaming a her 'You're so fucking ugly you should wear a paper bag over your face for the rest of your life. You're so fucking hideous I can't stand the sight of you!' As far as I'm concerned, this is surely a prime example of the pot calling the kettle black.)

It got so bad that their own fans turned against him. One tank of an ex-fan next to me, with muscles the size of small mountains and the face of someone who thinks dying is for the weak snarled 'I'm going to wait for him round the back and smash his fucking ginger face in'. He had the look of a man who could beat up titans for fun if he so wished, and if Death ever dared come for him, he would just spit in his face and make Death his little bitch, so, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have put it past him.

How Frank escaped this gig unscathed still eludes me, but what I do know is that this wasn't a one off occurrence. At other gigs on that tour, he was often heard to make snide remarks at anyone who wasn't there to see him, followed by fleeing like an antelope from a pride of ravenous lions. Personally, I think such behaviour is repulsive. I know that Frank isn't with Gallows anymore, but it's still put me off them, completely. What right does he think he has to act like that towards people who have paid to go see bands, other than him?

It's infuriating, but either way, at least the rest of us don't have to go through the rest of our lives covered in some really shitty tattoos that look like they were made with by a young child with an etch-a-sketch and with really shaky hands, or the memory that somewhere in the UK there is an bald, angry Geordie Terminator waiting to beat the living daylights out of us.

Brokencyde/Design the Skyline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViSZI6UJEUQ

I try to keep fairly open minded about different genres of rock and metal, but these two bands, as well as the entire screamo-crunk movement, are a step too far into the ridiculous. If you haven't heard them, I dare you to click on the link above.

If you got all the way through that, I salute you. I can't get my head around this whole 'br00tal' thing to save my life. Just... why? Some of this doesn't even fit together, a lot of it isn't anything other than noise, and some of it is post-metalcore (sort of). The 'vocals' for these 'songs' (both of those which I use in the loosest possible terms) are dire squawking noises that you expect a parrot being strangled to maybe make. Nails on a blackboard don't give justice to how terrible the 'vocals' are. In years to come, is that what we want people to remember us for? Really?

Words escape me when I attempt to describe this. How has this even come into fruition? Did they kidnap the head of some record company, and hold them to ransom, in order to gain a record deal and a music video? Did they do unspeakable things for the record company to gain a deal, or have some relative at the company? Was it a sick joke like a 'Find the worst band you can' day at work that has spiralled out of control?

I don't think we'll ever find out the answer to that question, but to the people in on the joke - thanks. Thanks a whole fucking lot.

Deftones.

Deftones are a band that I really, well and truly loathe. I cannot understand how a band has got big whilst being a conglomerate vacuum for sucking so much joy out of the world. The song 'Minerva' is my least favourite song, ever. I've set it as a challenge to friends to try and listen to it the entire way through, and so far none of them have managed it. And considering there are bands like Brokencyde and Design the Skyline out there, that really does say a lot. At least not a lot of people know those two bands. No, this band are considered quite big. Somehow.

The vocals for this band are beyond a joke. They consist of whining slurred utterances that cannot seriously be taken as words. Wayne Rooney understands and can formulate words better (all 6 of the ones that he knows). I do not understand the fascination with them, or how they continue to sell albums in such vast quantities. It hasn't been an overnight success either - this has been something they've managed to get from many years of being a vacuum for joy. If you gave a young child this album for a present, they would start crying and ask what they've done to you to make you hate them so much.

It's not like I've only heard the one song either. I've heard a few, and none of them get much better. They are monotonous, dull, and unexhilirating. There is nothing about them that doesn't annoy me, musically. To accompany the slur of -cough- 'vocals' that go with this band, the band seem to be having a competition amongst themselves to see which of them can play their instruments in the most unimaginative and boring way, whilst simulataneously trying to play their instruments the worst they can. My 10 year old brother can compose more cohesive and structured songs than Deftones can, and I can guarantee they'll be better to boot.

I would never wish death on someone; that would just be wrong. But I do wish that someone would sever the vocal cords, and hands, of every member of Deftones, so no one has to suffer listening to them ever again.

Well, that's the first half of my ramblings over and done with. I'll probably write Part II tomorrow, so, if you're still interested, then tune in.

And so it begins...

Here we go. I've finally decided to do it: I've created a blog. Why you may ask? (Or I'm talking to myself, more than likely). Well, it's like this - I feel a sudden urge for the faceless public of the Internet to hear my ramblings.

One day, I hope to be a music journalist. To be able to sway people in their decision to listen to a certain album, to introduce people to new awesome bands, and maybe help them enter the public's conscious, or to generally rain on someone's parade as I explain to them exactly why Brokencyde and Design the Skyline suck, and always will suck. Via a blog, such as this, or in a music magazine. Either way, it's my primary goal in life. So I thought to myself, why not have a go at blogging now to, y'know, get the ball rolling? I'll learn to deal with nonsensical trolling, to attempt to entertain the masses (with 'attempt' of course being the operative word in that sentence), and to perhaps delve into the darkest recesses of my mind and work out why I hate Black Veil Brides so goddamn much.

For my media coursework this year, I made my own metal mag, and although it was incredibly fun, I realised that it was also incredibly tricky. Especially if there isn't much space in a column for me to express how I feel towards a certain album. With this Blogger page, that isn't the case. I can rant and rave until the cows come home, and still have plenty of space to continue if I so wish. People might not be entertained by that but hey, it'll probably help me find the exact expression to sum up why 'Minerva' by Deftones makes me want to destroy everyone and everything in my path (and also my ears).

I won't exclusively be doing album reviews though, oh no. This blog will also be home to gig reviews (if I can get to any this year, of course) and to some of my general rants and ramblings about music today and the music industry. And if I get the chance, it may also home some interviews with musicians, etc. I manged to interview Evile whilst making the aforementioned mag, and although one of THE most nerveracking experiences of my life, it was also one of the most fantastic.

If I can persuade just one person out there to give the awesome-ness (I made up a new word - deal with it)that is Taking Dawn a listen, or Savage Messiah, or one of the lesser known, but equally epic, bands out there, I'll be happy. There is a lot of unexposed musical talent out there, just begging for people to pay attention to, rather than whatever post metalcore band is popular at the moment.

Overall then, I'm just another bored teenager looking for a way to dwindle away the hours, rather than doing my exam revision, or going back to my crippling addiction to Skyrim. Hopefully along the way I'll entertain a few of you too.

You never know.