I Just Don't Get the Hype

[pancakespancakes]

It's all really simple and repetitive to me as well.

You think of "simple and repetitive" negatively, and techincal complexity positively, which is why most people in this thread and on this board will disagree with your taste in music.

[WhyTheLongFace]

For me, the reason that Achtung Baby is so great (and is my favorite U2 record by a mile) is that they took a chance with it.

After the MASSIVE worldwide success of The Joshua Tree, they could have just rested on their laurels and re-written a lot of those tunes from then on and made a career out of it. But they went darker. They went heavier. They even experimented a bit.

And on the verge of almost breaking up, Bono penned a wonderful ballad ("One"), that many argue is their finest song. Achtung just does it all right for me, and doesn't have one ounce of filler.

Of course, they'd later go on to take another bold chance, experimenting with the electronic side of things with Pop (my 2nd fav U2 album), and missing the mark with the majority of their fans. I still applaud them for taking the chance, that album has aged much better than their pre-Joshua Tree material has without a doubt.

Maybe if I listen to it after Joshua Tree it will sound better.

[TallGuyCM]

I read the OP as something less "liking it but not understanding where everybody else is going crazy for it," and more REALLY not enjoying something that gets constant praise

No, I like Pet Sounds a lot. You were right with your first thought.

[zenidogx]

Soft Bulletin is just so amazingly polyphonic and gorgeous and well built.

Not to mention Wayne's voice is so raw and genuine. The lyrics aren't terribly amazing, but when Wayne sings them they bring out the beauty of the compositions.

This video just blows my mind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F8EAv8jSWE
"Race for the Prize" live on Jools Holland around the release of Soft Bulletin.

[JamesMills]

You think of "simple and repetitive" negatively, and techincal complexity positively, which is why most people in this thread and on this board will disagree with your taste in music.

This isn't really true at all, actually. My favorite album of the 90's was In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, yet it is an extremely simple lo-fi album in which each song is confined to one key structure and only a few chords. There's songs like Loser by Beck that are only one chord, yet I still love them because of the emotions and subtextual statements that are behind the musical simplicity. At the same time, there's all types of jazz albums that are musically more complex than any rock album ever released yet I'm not a fan of most of it (even though I played jazz bass throughout high school).

[TomAz]

I meant it never caught on musically, not culturally.

I don't even know what this means.

[TomAz]

I don't know if this counts, because many people I know whose taste I respect share my opinion on what a load of utter and sheer crap this album is. But there is a certain vacuous subculture that seems to think these cheesy hacks are Profound and Important.

Daft Punk are not just overhyped, they are downright bad. They annoy me in the same way that Limp Bizkit used to -- dumb, not fun, not interesting, not particularly creative, and yet popular and admired by a certain type.

[fatbastard]

[luckyface]

Thanks for the reminder, JamesMills...

[bmack86]

I'm fully convinced that, if you'll ever like In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, it'll happen naturally, and one day you'll wonder what song that is in your head and it won't stop playing over and over and you'll realize it's a track from this album.

[thestripe]

Not overrated.

[hendrixfan143]

the last two album posts scare me but I guess everyone gets their own opinion

[TomAz]

If you are scared by dumb people you disagree with, you're going to have an unpleasant lifetime.

[HandBanana]

Thanks for the reminder, JamesMills...

Seriously.
Ive been trying with that one periodically since the year or its release and it just strikes me as bland, boring, and of an overall annoying sound tonally.

I posit that if Mangum had made more records we wouldnt be lionizing that one so much, but as with the similarly (wildly) over-rated Jeff Buckley it is the absence that inflates the assessment.

[FoxeyLady]

I don't get NMH either.

[HandBanana]

I wonder if anyone will defend In the Aeroplane... using Anne Frank as always seems to happen.

[BlackSwan]

Make some room for me on the not-getting-the-hype-for-Neutral Milk Hotel bandwagon.

[miscorrections]

NMH also made On Avery Island, Everything Is (EP), and Jeff did two single albums (one live). It's not like that's the ONLY thing they ever produced. Regardless, it's a stunning album that deserves all the recognition it gets.

[TallGuyCM]

I listened to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for the first time in years a few weeks ago. And I didn't just dislike it, I completely hated it.

[BlackSwan]

Just to be clear, I strongly dislike everything related to NMH.

[miscorrections]

I'm going to put that down to you being broken inside.

[miscorrections]

AND WHO HATES E6? How is that possible?

[stuporfly]

I'll start off:



This album is on every Rolling Stone "Top Albums of All Time" list, but I fail to see why it's put on such a high pedestal.

Obviously I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one.


(I love it so much, I've got the signed vinyl copy framed! I've also got numerous CD editions including the box set and three different books about it.)

Pet Sounds is great because it is simultaneously one of the sunniest and one of the saddest pop albums in existence.

Yes!

I'm gonna start with...



I like it okay, but I was never able to appreciate it half as much as some of my friends.

[HandBanana]

NMH also made On Avery Island, Everything Is (EP), and Jeff did two single albums (one live). It's not like that's the ONLY thing they ever produced. Regardless, it's a stunning album that deserves all the recognition it gets.

To be more specific I meant subsequently.

If there had been more NMH records AFTER Aeroplane, it would have been harder for that one to maintain the kind of distant mystique that allows it the kind of hushed reverence it enjoys.

[miscorrections]

I don't really see Aeroplane with a "hushed reverence" - for me it's all about the raw emotional impact.

[luckyface]

Regardless, it's a stunning album that deserves all the recognition it gets.

Yeah, I am going to have to disagree with you there.

I don't loathe the album, but it bores me quite a bit. Musically, it does absolutely nothing for me. It can even be grating/annoying at times. I have no desire to listen to it after the few tries I gave it, so I don't think it will grow on me the way Brian says it may.

My dislike for the album is exacerbated by the ridiculously stupid band name and the absurd amounts of praise it receives from the indie kids. One would think that the album was more important to music than the Beatles best work from what I read/see. I understand others will disagree as this is a highly respected album, and that is fine. I just won't ever understand the hype.

[bmack86]

I have to say, that album has more of a direct emotional and musical impact on me than the Beatles have. I connected with it over one summer and it was pretty much the only thing I listened to. There is an amazing amount of emotional force behind all the recordings that really gets me.

[miscorrections]

I don't have it here at work but when I get home I am going to listen to it and better try to articulate my position.

[miscorrections]

Agreed with Bryan 100%. It's a heartstrings album.

[thestripe]

I don't really see Aeroplane with a "hushed reverence" - for me it's all about the raw emotional impact.

Exactly. I don't see how follow up material, good or bad could sway the way I feel about the album. The album strikes an emotional chord with me. I literally listened to that album on repeat for more times than I'd like to admit. I'm sure it's not for everyone. But those who know, know.