I have a Republican (he says he’s “libertarian”) friend that listens to metal. We argue often. We’re both stubborn. Recently there was a discovery that we both love REM (must have been a sensitive time in his life?). I can’t argue with a man about the album Monster. It’s a great album and defined a portion of my life. Knowing that we have something like this in common has opened up the chance that perhaps, just perhaps, we might have other types of music in common. Or, at the very least, we might be able to introduce music to each other that we were previously unaware of. I’ve never shied away from listening to something new.
The original premise for this came up through him mentioning (or at least how I remember it) the classic Radiohead album, OK Computer. Some would argue that it isn’t the best Radiohead album, but few would argue that isn’t a classic. He’s never listened to it. That’s cool, I didn’t listen to it until well after it had been released. My only regret about it is that I didn’t discover it earlier. He doesn’t seem to think that it’s what everybody cracks it up to be.
The other side of it came last week, he asked me about an album called Destruction of Puppies or Appetite for Puppies or something like that, can’t remember exactly. Nonetheless, in all my 28 years of listening to almost all types of music, it had slipped through. He was noticeably shocked and disturbed by my lack of knowledge of said album.
Over beers we decided that we should duel over discuss these albums publicly on our blogs and continue the discussion to two other albums. We both agreed to give well thought out critiques that are fair to the music and not to look to score cheap hits. I’m not intent on changing his opinion, rather I’m intent seeing him acknowledge the choices I give him as important and/or interesting pieces of music. OK Computer is first. There will other choices afterwards and I’m totally undecided on what direction to take. Think I’ll just wait on it and see where to go.
His side of the discussion is here. Stay tuned, this will be fun.
What? OK Computer is like a grand slam in the first inning. I just turned on OK Computer and went right to my favorite song, Let Down. It’s damn perfect. The syncopation, harmony, build…does this music “kick ass”? No. Maybe that’s where it falls short in this debate. To arm that argument, I think my next album of choice for entry would be Pearl Jam’s Yield.
Okay… I’ve managed to get my hands on OK Computer without any money actually landing in Radiohead’s pockets. This shit is on.
I’ve seen Pearl Jam live… and they do write some good rock music. I’m not familiar with what songs are on Yield however.
@B-rent Yes. I find listening to it when it’s turned to “11″ is a best practice, too.
@Shatner (aka, Lucas) I am also not too familiar with Yield. Maybe I’ll go with the stereotype I’ve been put into in this, pretentious indie rock. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco? Yoshimi or the Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips? Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga?Hip Hop? It takes a nation of Millions to Hold us back? MMJ’s Z? Or stay with Radiohead and you can listen to their other classic, “kid a”. Not sure, yet.
You know… you can call me a conservative or a libertarian… both are fine. But calling me a Republican is just kinda mean. You don’t want to be mean do you?
Visiting from Shat’s blog and Arthur’s Hall,
As someone who was never really a big fan of radiohead, and has bot OK-Computer and Kid-A, I prefer Kid-A. I think Shat would probably like it better then the former as well.’
Also, its “Master of Puppets” lol…. although Destruction of Puppies and Appetite for Puppies are both great metal band names.