Stuff you hate

[Nicole_Flesher]

I hate when it is morning. When I want it to be night time.

[ZeaLitY]

I hate most modern pop. Honestly, I'm not one to enjoy making sweeping generalizations about things, but after enduring thirty minutes of it at Supercuts, I'm feeling bitter. It perturbs me to know that people digest this crap. And just as Dr. Thorpe proposed on Something Awful, rock needs to be saved by:

1. No more emo or angst
2. A spirit of fun and enjoyment
3. Competent bands without Pro Tools to edit every inch of their music
4. Melody versus stupid licks
5. A handsome, engaging frontman
6. A fun reinvention of rock music

Until then, we're going to have godawful crap like Nickelback - Photograph ruining our radios. Also, hip hop was better when it was political, and don't even get me started on the worthless girl-pop that's flooding everything. The majority of singers do not write their own songs. This post probably makes me out to be a giant square, but so be it. If you agree with me at all, read the column at http://www.somethingawful.com/yourbandsucks/

Speaking of which, here is the dead-on writeup of Photograph.

I can almost give Green Day the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they didn’t know that “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” would become the foremost and paramount graduation/goodbye/I miss high school/series finale track. Perhaps they just sort of stumbled onto it by writing a catchy, semi-morose song about leaving something or someone behind. Boyz II Men probably knew that “It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” had universal appeal, but it was released within the context of an unabashedly commercial record, so it’s no great sin. Plus, it had some kick-ass harmonies, right?

Canadian mega-morons Nickelback do not get the same leniency of judgment from me. “Photograph,” from their new album Who the Fuck Cares What the New Nickelback Album is Called, is a completely transparent rock and roll money-grub from start to finish. It’s a paint-by-numbers going-away song designed to appeal to every high school graduate in America and Canada and wherever else people are stupid enough to buy Nickelback records. As with all Nickelback songs, the track employs The Nickelback Tune®, complete with The Nickelback Harmonies® and The Nickelback Bridge®. Basically, it fits right in with the “write the same song as many times as possible until people stop buying our records” formula. The lyrics are like a horoscope: they’re written by a cynical con-artist to apply to everyone while making all the gullible numbskulls in the audience feel like they’re specific to them.

Here’s a rundown: “I am looking at my old photographs. Boy, my friends and I sure had some good times! I’ll miss this old house! Now it’s time to leave, and I’m sad. It’s hard to say goodbye.” Yeah, no shit, Chad? You’re only 48 fucking years old, or whatever, I’m sure that’s really fresh in your mind.

One could defend Nickelback, I suppose, by saying “who cares what their commercial motivations may be? They’re writing songs of uncomplicated universal appeal that really speak to their broad base of listeners.” No, fuck that. They’re making a mockery of rock and roll, they’re dumbing down the public perception of art, and Chad Kroeger has a really stupid haircut. Not forgiven.

[Romana]

Well, I haven't much to say, but while we're on the subject of music, I really hate the state of music in general today. It's all rave and rap, wherever I go, and those annoying parties with the 'thump-thump' music sure as hell don't help.

I prefer good ol' classical.

Oh, and I hate emos, goths, prejudice people, the government, terrorists, murderers, rapists, drug-dealers, biggots, morons, Dalton, and most of all, religion.

[nightmare975]

Rockstar sounds like it should of been the theme song to Rockstar:Supernova

I kinda enjoy Nickelback, but their new stuff is really stupid.

Classic Rock all the way baby!*

*Minus the butt rock from the 80's, I hate that shit.

EDIT: Before anyone says anything, no, I do not think of Nickelback as a classic rock band.

[Radical_Dreamer]

That which I can reach but cannot grasp.

~~~

At least metal these days is good. I'm catching Dragonforce next month, and hopefully Blind Guardian a couple months after that.

[Burning Zeppelin]

Panic! at the Disco
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
Rating: 1.5

Ten years ago, who would've guessed that emo would usurp punk as the genre du jour for angst-ridden teens. By the late 1990s, most fans of the genre's second wave were abandoning it. Many of the best bands had split up, while the handful that were left were moving toward a more straightforward pop rock sound. But just as it appeared over, the scene suddenly exploded, giving birth to an entire new generation of slick, generic, mall-store neo-emo. It's like the bartender yelled last call, the house lights came on, and then at the last minute, he decided to keep the club open all night serving Cokes. So now, 20 years after Rites of Spring's only full-length album was released, we've arrived at Panic! at the Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.

Where does one begin to describe this steaming pile of garbage? You've already seen the ridiculous name, so let's try a few of song titles on for size. Track two is called "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage", and it's followed by "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines". If those don't quite do it for you, check out "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", or my personal favorite, "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off".

But of course, the asinine song titles and the moronic band name have nothing on the actual songs. The usual guitar, bass, and drums are augmented by drum machine beats and synths that would be more at home blaring over the P.A. at your local gym than in anything one might consider enjoyable music. The production, handled by Matt Squire, a guy who is certainly no stranger to radio-friendly emo, is slick and polished. Vocalist Brendon Urie's impassioned, warbling vocals are so strained it's as if he might just burst into tears at any moment. This poor guy's heart must get broken on a daily basis or something. And if it wasn't bad enough, someone convinced him to add some fancy effects on a track or two that make it sound like someone is lightly karate chopping him across the throat while he sings.

The lyrics are just the sort of vague teen heartache you'd expect. In "Camisado", Urie croons, "You're a regular decorated emergency/ The bruises and contusions will remind you what you did when you wake," sliding up to a falsetto while keyboards shimmer behind him. In "Time to Dance", which utilizes some sort of poorly realized gun-as-a-camera metaphor, he belts out, "When I say shotgun, you say wedding/ Shotgun/ Wedding", and "Give me envy/ Give me malice/ Give me attention/ Give me a break." Yeah, you and me both, kid.

It's sad that this is what emo has become. The genre's always had some irritating characteristics, but this newest batch of heartbroken heartthrobs has managed to build their careers solely out of those characteristics. The whining, the emotionally exposed lyrics, and the passionate choruses are there, but there's no sincerity, creativity, or originality.

[Lord J Esq]

I hate when I get a really good dose of inspiration, but then, either by sloth or circumstance, do not act upon it with a creative work.

To a much less passionate degree, but still with sincerity, I hate that nobody has proposed a "things you love" topic, and that such a topic would be unlikely to do better than this one.

[ZeaLitY]

I've been exploring the motivational power of anger. Rather than sink into depressing feelings when something horrible comes to mind, I become slightly angry at it. This goes towards finding a way to remedy the situation rather than wasting away while musing and dwelling on it.

[Magus068]

I hate Elitist scums that lived in my neighborhood.  They think that they're better than anyone else!

[ZeaLitY]

The time value of money. Like profiting from it. Hate computing it ad infinitum. I hate it.

[Lena Andreia]

 I hate the fact that no company will hire me simply because I don't have a degree, regardless of my skill level. Having to pay 30,000 dollars for school, just so I can have a future... I hate it.

 And I hate that because I'm a girl, people think that there's no way I can make it as a video game designer. Ohhh, I hate it.

[ZeaLitY]

I hate the fact that no company will hire me simply because I don't have a degree, regardless of my skill level. Having to pay 30,000 dollars for school, just so I can have a future... I hate it.

 And I hate that because I'm a girl, people think that there's no way I can make it as a video game designer. Ohhh, I hate it.

Sounds like it's time to affirm your ability through raw determination and passion. They're going to pay for it. But a degree is somewhat important. The problem is not being able to define the scope of your education and having to take certain unsavory classes.

[Lena Andreia]

Sounds like it's time to affirm your ability through raw determination and passion. They're going to pay for it.

Hee, thanks. I'm taking up 3D studio max so that maybe I can become some sort of 3D modeling demi-god, so I can get a job that doesn't make me insane (like my current one).

But a degree is somewhat important. The problem is not being able to define the scope of your education and having to take certain unsavory classes.

And there inlies the problem. I tried to do the university thing, and it just didn't work for me. The whole... "School" thing has never really worked for me. I learn a lot better on my own, secluded away from the world.

>__> Plus when I was at college, whenever I would tell a professor that I "wanted to make video games" for a living, they'd laugh at me and "reassure" me that I'd grow out of it.  But yeah, I know it's important... As soon as I pay my car off I'm going to try the whole art school approach. Maybe if I can do that, I can get a degree and get into the industry. I still hate it though.

Wish I was 16 again. XD Everything was so simple then.

[Radical_Dreamer]

I hate the fact that no company will hire me simply because I don't have a degree, regardless of my skill level. Having to pay 30,000 dollars for school, just so I can have a future... I hate it.

 And I hate that because I'm a girl, people think that there's no way I can make it as a video game designer. Ohhh, I hate it.

Chin up, Lena. I'm a level designer without a degree. Furthermore, I strongly advocate your plan of learning 3D modeling.

[grey_the_angel]

I hate the fact that no company will hire me simply because I don't have a degree, regardless of my skill level. Having to pay 30,000 dollars for school, just so I can have a future... I hate it.

 And I hate that because I'm a girl, people think that there's no way I can make it as a video game designer. Ohhh, I hate it.

Sounds like it's time to affirm your ability through raw determination and passion. They're going to pay for it. But a degree is somewhat important. The problem is not being able to define the scope of your education and having to take certain unsavory classes.

... you really like to model yourself around rock lee, don't ya?