|
After I read the review, the first thing I did was check out Lotus Flower on YouTube. I didn't like it, but the point is the review inspired me to at least give it a go.
I was curious by the huge number of Forum replies the review received; hence subsequent reading through to this point and inspiration to post for the first time in 18 months or so!
Here comes the obvious statement: Radiohead are not Metal, but why should that detract it from being here? It is progressive alt rock and Radiohead are exemplary as a band in control of its own artistic value, a lesson to be learnt by many Metal bands who churn out the same sort of regurgitated experience in their own genre, time and time again.
Now, I'm not a Radiohead fan but I appreciate their niche in the music kaleidoscope due their striving for uniqueness. I've listened to Metal for nigh on 25 years, and I've personally become disillusioned with modern Metal as a whole, despite the odd gem which sometimes appears. Nowadays I'll listen to all sorts of music (pop and techno aside - I simply don't like the stuff). What I'm saying is, I've purposely broadened my musical taste to:
a) expand my knowledge of music as a whole
b) appreciate the Metal I love more in comparison
c) discover something which will recapture the excitement I felt when I listened to albums such as Reign in Blood/Number of the Beast/My Hearse, Your Arms/City/Ænima/etc/etc/etc for the first time.
What I'm saying is by limiting myself to Metal for many years, I've discovered that I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, preferring to stick to classic albums in my collection rather than seek out new stuff. Ultimately, I think MR are right to review 'Non-Metal', because the likes of Radiohead are bands who are at one end of the prog-rock spectrum; therefore not too far removed from the likes of, say, Opeth at the other end of the scale. The idea to push their art to something fresh and progressive would be applauded if it was Devin Townsend doing it. Who knows, Radiohead may want to do a thrash album one day as their music range is that diverse!!
Now, I love my Metal, I honestly do, but for those of us who sometimes find the scene a bit over-diluted with bands who are 'a new wave of this' or 'a new wave of that'; then I think MR are giving us alternatives so we can regain our passion for the music at our hearts. To suggest Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber as something to be reviewed here is obviously ridiculous (and most likely tongue in cheek), but Radiohead, despite plenty of commercial success in the 90s, aren't exactly earning continuous airplay rotation with any of the major radio/TV stations - they're an example of a band sticking to their art regardless of what they are/were in the mass consumption of music.
Isn't that a reason why we love Metal? Listening to bands who stick to their own brand of music without trying to get popular airplay? When Metal has bothered the mainstream charts, wasn't it marketed in a manner that flooded it with bandwagon acts, like what happened in the grunge craze or the Nu-metal phase? Didn't that just about piss everyone of us off? That's why we have pop, and that's why we have acts who are the antithesis of pop, like Radiohead and the vast majority of Metal.
You may not like Radiohead; like me, but I sure as hell respect them and the people who want to listen to them. To disregard them or flame their fans is just petty in a one dimensional way that mirrors what Metalheads have had to put up with by popular culture followers over God knows how many years. I'd rather appreciate all kinds of music and state 'I just don't like it' than saying it shouldn't be here. By rising above and giving a diverse range of music a go, at least, suggests that we know what we're talking about, appreciating the music of others and giving our own informed opinion that it's not for us. Saying that, with the examples I've given, I still believe this review should be here as it's not pop - it's a diverse musical sound without categorization.
*phew* No wonder I don't post to Forums that often!
_________________
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Eliot
"I got shit on my ass" Rick Sanchez
Last edited by mentalmark on Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:47 pm, edited 5 times in total.
|
