bad bands that made good music, good bands that made bad music

[St. Widge]

Originally Posted by TPS

Also Dead Kennedys. From D.H. Peligro, to Klaus Flouride to East Bay Ray, they weren't very good musicians (so-so, but not great). But they got it done.

TPS

That's basically true with most any good punk/hardcore band. There are exceptions, but most of them are not great musicians. What separates the good ones is that they all have something to say. I suspect most of them play music so that they can say those things rather than the desire to play great music.

[Pasty]

Originally Posted by SpinalTarp

Vai and Satriani are way more "musical" than Malmsteen. Most guitar player will tell you that Passion and Warfare and Surfing With the Alien are classic CDs for any guitarist to own. But yeah, you hit the nail on the head with Malmsteen.

I am a guitarist (of sorts), and I have a guitarist friend (college roommate) who absolutely loves instrumental guitar wizardry of Vai and Satch. As for me, Jello Biafra said it best:"****-rock metal's like a bad laxative--It just don't move me y'know?"

Ain't my bag, is all...

And by the way, SpinalTarp, every time I see your username, I chuckle.

[Pasty]

I just realized that nobody mentioned AC/DC. They did for 3 chords what the Ramones did for two!

[saintned]

Originally Posted by TPS

>>Bad Band, good music? I guess any overachievers like Cowboy Mouth or Zebra would work, but I guess if I like them then I have a hard time thinking of them as a bad band.

Zebra, especially Randy Jackson, is pretty talented. Guy Gelso and Felix Hanneman, while good musicians (drums, bass/keys) aren't at Randy's level.

For my money, good band bad music = Asia. I mean, give me a break. Steve Howe is one of the all time guitar players (Guitar Player Mag Hall of Fame for crying out loud). Carl Palmer is an amazing drummer. Everything else John Wetton did from 72-74 King Crimson, U.K., that one Uriah Heep album he was on (Sweet Freedom?), and the rest was good bass work and excellent vocals. Even Geoff Downs was good with Buggles and that one Yes album he played keyboards on (Drama - 1979?).

For all the hype they had coming into 1981, you would have thought this would be the greatest band in history. I'll never forget when my boy Tommy brought the album over, and the five of us listening to it were dumbfounded at just how bad the music was.

As for the best bad band, good music, I'm going to have to give it to the Residents (the band who was a bunch of artists that always appeared as eyeballs in tophats). Their stuff is ridiculously simple, but it works. Especially the Mole Show. Why? I don't know. But they get a free pass. Also Dead Kennedys. From D.H. Peligro, to Klaus Flouride to East Bay Ray, they weren't very good musicians (so-so, but not great). But they got it done.

TPS

I agree about Asia. It was all about making money off of their good names. The music was horrible.

[saintned]

By good I guess you mean technically proficient I suppose. There's lots of bands in this category. I think you can be musically good without being very technically good. All good bands making good music fit into the second category and some fit into the the first one. You can be very good technically, and suck at music at the same time.

[HouDat]

Hair metal was so maddening. Some of the guitarists were fantastic classically trained players, but they were buried beneath a pile of crap, lipstick and paint.

-Reb Beach (Winger)
-Vivian Campbell (Whitesnake, Def Leppard...though he did play with Dio as well)
-Vito Bratta (White Lion)

etc.

[da nite tripper]

I'm totally impressed that you know the name of the lead guitarists from Winger, Whitesnake and White Lion.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with George Porter, the great bass player from the Meters. We were talking about a mutual friend who had tons of musical training and basically he said what's the point of having all the chops if you don't know how to use them.

CCR was nothing special musically (Fogerty fired 'em for it), but they have a boatload of great songs. The extended jam in Grapevine is one of the most listenable 17 minute jams in r&r.

Phish has some awesome musicianship, but many of their songs are almost comically stupid. The Dead had awesome musicianship and quite a few excellent songs, but their studio recordings by and large were weak. They couldn't reproduce their allsomeness in the studio.

I think the Asia suggestion is really good. And, in general, when you have "supergroups" the result isn't as good collectively as the guys are individually. The Yellowjackets are suppossedly a great jazz/fusion band but their music bores the crap out of me. Not just bores, i think it's terrible.

[Optimusaint]

Originally Posted by da nite tripper

And, in general, when you have "supergroups" the result isn't as good collectively as the guys are individually.

which is my point when people get all up-in-arms about The Mars Volta.

[st. jon's]

bad bands/GREAT music- the white stripes
they are guilty as charged in my eyes and i'm a ginormous fan of jack and meg. i mean it's basically childlike drumming or piano play that lois griffin could teach an animated first grader, but some how the regurgitated "jack white" crunchy guitar riffs mixed with red, white, and black imagery still hook me album after album...

[covingtondog]

Originally Posted by covingtondog

I went to high school with Better that Ezra's lead guitarist. Cool guy, he's still around Mandville as far as I know, but I haven't seen him in years.

Heh, I just remembered that I posted this here and it's completely wrong. Dude was in Ugly Kid Joe, not better than Ezra.

[antipop]

Originally Posted by covingtondog

Heh, I just remembered that I posted this here and it's completely wrong. Dude was in Ugly Kid Joe, not better than Ezra.

either band sucks

[TPS]

>>I'm totally impressed that you know the name of the lead guitarists from Winger, Whitesnake and White Lion.

Ouch.

TPS

[Pasty]

Originally Posted by antipop504

either band sucks

[da nite tripper]

Yo TPS, I was serious. I am totally impressed. But can he name all the band members from Nelson?

FWIW, I'm a pretty good musician and I've written some pretty crappy music.

[da nite tripper]

Originally Posted by covingtondog

Heh, I just remembered that I posted this here and it's completely wrong. Dude was in Ugly Kid Joe, not better than Ezra.

One of my friends used to work in the kitchen at Beau Chene Country Club with that guy (Dave Fortman). He runs a studio in Mandeville and has brought such great bands as 12 Stones to the masses.