Random Music Thoughts Thread

[Doctor Cringelord]

There’s a lot more to electronic music production than clicking buttons. One essentially must triple as composer, arranger, and performer. Often they also take on a fourth role of mixing/engineering too. Having played in a traditional band and produced my own electronic music, I can personally attest to this. Sure, my music is derivative garbage, but making it wasn’t easy. A guitarist in a band can likely get by never having to learn diddly shit about how to use a studio or mix a song to sound halfway decent in various types of speakers. Yet somehow they will still be regarded as more of a “real” musician. Ya know, synths are fake and don’t count as real instruments, or whatever it is “rock purists” have been claiming since the fucking seventies

On another note, I’ve scrapped all of the music I was making and am instead learning a bunch of covers I would like to debut at an open mic. It’s one thing if people hate songs others wrote, but when they hate or dismiss something you wrote and made personally, that can just be devastating. I don’t think I’ll ever perform any of my own compositions in public. I had an album’s worth of instrumentals ready to drop. No one deserves to hear them

I might adapt some of my electronic music to “live” instruments just to see if they translate well to other styles

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

guitar strings are hell on fingertips when one hasn't played in some time.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Okay, SNL is getting turned off. This isn't music. Justin Bieber can't sing.

What do you think of this chap?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

This song is dope AF.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

The Man Who Sold The World is an overlooked album in Bowie’s catalog. It’s usually underrepresented in most of his compilations. A lot of compilations just skip this album entirely. If they do include something, it’s usually the title song.

It sounds like no other album he did. It’s a lot closer to Cream and Led Zeppelin than it is to Lou Reed and T Rex. Just a strange diversion for him. From what I’ve read, aside from writing the songs, his role was a lot smaller on this album because he was spending time with his new wife. So his guitarist Mick Ronson and the Producer Tony Visconti basically turned it into a tribute to heavy blues rock in Bowie’s absence.

 

[Stigmata]

The Man Who Sold The World is an overlooked album in Bowie’s catalog. It’s usually underrepresented in most of his compilations. A lot of compilations just skip this album entirely. If they do include something, it’s usually the title song.

It sounds like no other album he did. It’s a lot closer to Cream and Led Zeppelin than it is to Lou Reed and T Rex. Just a strange diversion for him. From what I’ve read, aside from writing the songs, his role was a lot smaller on this album because he was spending time with his new wife. So his guitarist Mick Ronson and the Producer Tony Visconti basically turned it into a tribute to heavy blues rock in Bowie’s absence.

I wish I knew more about David Bowie to give input on this. Conversations such as these are definitely what I lack in real life.

 

[Jaguar]

What do you think of this chap?

His guitar skills easily outweigh his vocal ability.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I wish I knew more about David Bowie to give input on this. Conversations such as these are definitely what I lack in real life.

I learned a lot from reading some bios when I was younger and more recently from these sites:

Pushing Ahead of the Dame | David Bowie, song by song

Bowie Golden Years

The second one only covers 1970-1980, but has a very in depth year by year account of his career and activities during that period.

Like, I learned that he was hanging with Lennon AND McCartney once in 1975, and insisted on playing them his new album. Then he played it a second time and started to play it a third time. John got peeved and said “it’s really great but can we hear something else now?” Bowie told his girlfriend to pick another record, then excused himself and marched out of the room. She replied “I think you hurt David’s feelings”

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I recall PJ Harvey expressing a similar sentiment when constantly compared to Chrissie Hynde and other female singers.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

 

[Jaguar]

Adele hosting SNL tonight.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

The rhythm section in the intro and verses reminds me of his soul and funk period. I could imagine this as an outtake from Station to Station

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

This album had really clever lyrics. At surface glance they sound like somewhat generic love song lyrics, and that’s the beauty—you can take them at face value and there’s good songs for the mixtape you’re making for that girl you’re crushing on, but there’s more there if you’re looking for deeper meanings.

Fantastic Planet - YouTube

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Speaking of mix tapes..

You whippersnappers today don’t know what you missed out on. Ever made an actual mix cassette tape? That was a process that took real thought and time. Not like casually tossing together a playlist on phone/computer or burning a CD. You had to sit there and listen to each track as you taped it from CD or another cassette. This had to be done in real time. I had one of those boombox CD players with a double cassette deck. I spent many nights staying up late to make mixtapes for girls.

I dumped a girl over a mixtape. I gave her one and some chocolates for Valentine’s Day one year. Keep in mind I was a poor college student at the time. She made a fuss because I didn’t buy her a status symbol piece of jewelry, and complained that the gift wasn’t thoughtful. I had stayed up all night laboring over that mix, picking songs I thought she’d appreciate. I even made hand drawn cover art. Now what’s more thoughtful, that, or dropping into a jewelry store to charge a piece of metal to a credit card? My gift was unique and had mountains of thought put into it. That reaction hurt my feelings and made me feel like a failure. I dumped her materialistic ass shortly thereafter. Stupid shallow bitch

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I always wondered what tapes Han and Chewie had in the Falcon

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

The original disinterested hipster, sucking on a cig between vocals

This was the infamous song that had lyrics written by a fan. They ran a contest in the late 90s for members of Bowienet, with Bowie personally selecting the winner. What an interesting time. No one quite yet knew how exactly the internet would influence the direction of pop music. Here’s some interesting background on the experiment: What’s Really Happening? | Pushing Ahead of the Dame

While it might have seemed a promising experiment, and maybe it foreshadowed how bands like NIN would later make stems for some songs available to fans to essentially mix their own unique versions and remixes, it is understandable why this type of thing didn’t become more common. Even then, it felt a bit gimmicky

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I think Neil Young is an underrated guitarist. A lot of guitar guys knock him. Granted, he's not the most technically skilled player, but he had a unique and aggressive style I found distinctive. I'm probably biased as I've never been a great guitarist myself (I'm a "strummer") and so I appreciate the players who made up for lack of technical skill with feeling and raw power. Nothing wrong with playing a solo on one string.

 

[Jaguar]

I'm tired of this juvenile cancel culture whereas "fans" bitch about someone singing a duet with another artist if they have a political position that differs from their own tribe. When did this stupid shit hit such a low level?