Topic: Rock Music Discussion

@jump The Lost Prophets frontman story is one of those cases that really proves that reality can be worse than fiction. First time I saw someone posting about it I thought it was some kind of lame attempt of trolling or something.

@roy130390 I'm proud to say I never liked them before it was cool to hate them! I feel bad for the rest of the band though as they apparently didn't know other than he was "a bit weird" so it's messed up their careers as their new band they started afterwards never really took off.

Speaking of post-break up careers...I saw Jamie Lenman the other day who use to be the frontman of Reuben who now works part time as a solo artist and as an illustrator. I love how bonkers his range is where it jumps from death jazz to folk music. Plus he's a striking looking fella!

I've only skimmed through this thread, just looking to see if 'my band' got any mention at all. But no, none.

Approx 100 million units sold, once touted as the biggest band in the world, and no-one seems to like them enough to mention them in these sorts of conversations.

I appreciate they've not been active for 30 years, and seem to be a bit of a generational thing, 'Dad music' perhaps, with a bit of a naff image (with a few truly astoundingly naff music videos to part-justify that image), but I grew up on their music, and 30 years later it's still the music I listen to the most and enjoy the most.

@gcunit I feel like this is a game since you didn't mention the band.

So 30+ years old, 100m sales, Dad rock. My first guess would be Queen but I feel like the naff video isn't fair to them as they were clever for the time with music videos. So someone more cheese hmm...Genesis?

@jump I did purposefully leave it open for guesses to see what people came up with 🤭

While there's a few tracks from the bands you've guessed that I'll listen to, I wouldn't call myself a fan of either of them. Not that I've ever gone particularly deep into their catalogues. I do like Radio Gaga though.

MODEL DD5 by Mutsuhiko Izumi

FIRE by Mutsuhiko Izumi Live performance

@gcunit Dire Straits!

@gcunit So different direction of music and re-reading what you wrote I missed the biggest band in the world comment.

Metal/alt rock has been covered enough in here so I can rule out stuff like Guns n Roses, Black Sabbath, Green Day etc. Coldplay, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin don't fit the time frame assuming they kept making music whilst you listened to them. Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones are possible but don't fit the naff Dad rock vibe as they are more iconic. Santana, Bon Jovi and Chicago have a certain naff vibe but I don't think they have ever had a biggest band in the world phase.

After all that I've got two guesses of either The Doors and U2 which fit the description but I'm gonna say U2.

@jump Love your well-thought-out answer dude... but the points go to @Rambler on this occasion.

While there are many tracks I love, and many versions of those various tracks, here's an easy one to draw upon to show how good they were. This video has 194 million views. There are a few other revered live versions of this song in particular that came later, with some saxophone added, which are great, but I prefer the overall performance and the pureness of the guitar sound when the crescendo hits of this version. Get it on a CD/lossless format and turn your stereo as high as it can go once you approach the 7 minute mark, then wait for 3 minutes of aural ecstasy. Sonic heaven.

@gcunit I would have never gotten that. Most of the old music I listen to is either from old timer bands still playing festivals like Toots and the Maytals, Patti Smith, Joan Jett etc or when a band says they were hugely influenced by another band but I don't think I've ever seen a band I like mention Dire Straights as an influence.

In any case congrats @Rambler

@jump @roy130390 that lost prophets guy is messed up. I've known about it for some time, but it never gets any easier to hear about. I remember thinking it couldnt have been real just because of how insane it was. Never liked em, but for those that did it must have been disappointing.

As for Jimmy...i dunno. My best friend in high school was dating this dude in his early twenties for a few years. Her parents were aware and consented, nobody had a problem with it. I'm not sure at what point it's no longer statutory (if thats ever the case), but regardless they had a normal relationship for a few years then broke up. I think this kinda thing happens more often than people care to admit. On the other hand Jimmy could be Gary Glitter 2.0. To add to your list - I've read some accusations about David Bowie. It's strange how some musicians are impervious to this kind of controversy.

Rockstars (performers in general. I've heard some messed up stories about pro wrestlers too ) have a lifestyle that waits for them. Sex, drugs, etc.. there's like a lawlessness to it. But it'll probably be much less so going forward. Which is better for everybody.

Thanks for the ministry 🎸 i didn't know Uncle Al was still working!

I have a secret love of Dire Straits. They were probably the first band I really liked. On Every Street is bit patchy, but Love Over Gold, Making Movies, etc are great records.

And thank you, @jump

Revisited the first three Wire albums recently after a long, long while (Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154).
All still incredible.
Probably the only band to influence Blur and Minor Threat

@Losermagnet Yeah the lifestyle isn't great. I listened to a podcast with the frontman of Monster Magnet (who are lyrically one of my favourite bands) and he talked about the lifestyle of touring basically being it's Saturday night every night of drinking and partying for months and sometimes when you're staring at hotel rooms every day the so the sane thing to do is to smash it up One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest style. There's also an element of being expected to be a rockstar too, he talked about how a girl jumped on stage to perform oral on him and he had to let her otherwise he'd be the wimpy rockstar.

He also told a story about how the tour bus would really impress people more so than being in a band and once he was in some kind of bible state in American and told people he was part of a Christian puppet troop and they still acted like groupies towards him.

@Rambler No need for it to be secret. To me, there's music; and there's Dire Straits (and some of Mark Knopfler's solo stuff). I listen to a range of music from time to time; but I could listen to Dire Straits anytime, anywhere, and have been for the last 30+ years.

I got to see them on the On Every Street tour in 92, but it was my first live experience and I was only 11, so it was a bit overwhelming, and I wasn't that into the On Every Street album (love the titular song, and a few others are good, but MK had gone a bit too americana by that point), but I've still got my ticket and the t-shirt.

@jump and in that scenario he's the one being assualted (technically speaking). Stuff is weird. Controversial opinion perhaps - but i do feel like the "wild west" days of music are gone and I'm kinda sad about that. I dont want anybody to be assualted or become dependant on substances, but I think there are many examples of how that chaos fosters creativity. Syd Barret LSD-ing himself into pudding made Pink Floyd what they were in the 70s just for one example.

@Losermagnet yeah he definitely was.

I agree things should be abit more rock and roll, it's getting to the point where I'm hearing too many songs about waiting around in airports now as musicians are spending too much time not doing things like before. It's becoming the norm for bands to struggle after the 3rd album as they run out of life experiences to write about, I've already started seeing it happen with both Frank Carter and IDLES who are proably the two of the most intresting UK acts from the last 5 years with poor 3rd albums and I'm not gonna start listening to sodding George Ezra!

@gcunit
I used to have a concert from that tour on tape. The version of Private Investigations was immense.
That is so awesome about still having the ticket and t-shirt
And yeah, my wording was a bit off - one should never be embarrassed or secretive about the music one loves, it makes the world a better place
It was thinking about how I haven't listened to DS for many for a long time, so should remedy that tomorrow. But considering the types of music that I listen to mostly, Dire Straits are definitely an anomaly.

@jump yeah you can almost tell when a band loses its inspiration and drive. Like they don't really want to make another album, but they gotta eat (or they're contractually obligated).

I assumed that's natural for many bands/artists to exhaust their ideas within an album or two, because back in the day, music/record companies used to offer more resources & writers to help bands to keep producing more albums beyond a couple albums. And now, that the record/music industry has shrunk since digital music disruption, it's less common to invest in bands/artists.

edit: I think artists that can keep making good albums are rare geniuses. That's been my thinking, anyway. I don't know if it's true.