DescentBB

Sarge wrote:Another underrated drummer is Richard Starkey III... yes, Ringo. While he wasn't 'flashy', he was another drummer you could set your watch by.

heh.
ringo does kickass.
but he wasn't involved in the "it's halloween 364 days a year" trend some of these young bats feed off of.

my wife

I'd have to say that in my opinion there is no music being produced right now that even compares to what Led Zeppelin, Floyd, the Beatles, Cream, or Hendrix ever created. Modern punk rock is soul less, mindless, talentless...thrashing the same three power chords with an arpeggio for a solo and a screaming white kid/rapper talking about how much he hates the government. Metal (death metal, black metal, speed metal, all the so-called sub-genres of metal, which are all the same damn thing) is just as bad as punk in my opinion. These artists are so caught up with fitting in with the "goth" subcultural that they forget about the music. The result is just a speed rush of solos, mixed with growling, usually talking about the injustices of the United States and war. That's not necessarily bad, except its all re-hashed and based on misguided angst. Plus you can't even understand what the hell they're saying because they're f-ing growling. And the whole goth thing needs to die...they're not advocates of Satan, they're not making a statement or proving how "hardcore" they are by looking like jackasses...they're just proving that they're self-centered attention whores that use their counter-culture "taboo" looks and style to cover up the fact that they have no goddamn feeling in their music.

I can count how many bands or musicians in the last ten years that I like on one hand, maybe two. I can't list how many bands I've heard in that timespan that are absolute garbage.

TheCops wrote:hehe.
that isn't blasphemy... that's opinion.
i just find the music of "now" lacks songwriting skillz. but that could be my age... or maybe i'm right.

Just because it makes sense to you while you're drunk or stoned does not make it good songwriting Half the time it's unintentional stuff that you've convinced yourself of anyways.

As far as what I listen for in music it really comes down to what moves me. When you say Songwriting, do you mean the whole thing or just the lyrics? The reason I ask is because for me the lyrics are least of what makes a song good. Music has to make me feel something. Good music will do that regardless of what the singer is singing about. Good lyrics just makes the whole thing better. It's just superficial icing on the cake IMO. The music itself is what is important. How it sounds, flows, and most importantly feels.

I'm not saying that lyrics aren't important though. They can move you just as easily as the rest of the song. It all comes down to the individual's personal tastes though.

Beowulf wrote:I can count how many bands or musicians in the last ten years that I like on one hand, maybe two. I can't list how many bands I've heard in that timespan that are absolute garbage.

You apparently don't like those styles of metal and therefor really don't have an educated opinion on it (Illustrated by your metal genre explanation). I tend to agree with you, slightly, but only whereas punk rock music is concerned and some, not all, but some US metal bands. If you listen to enough metal you start running into bands that exist outside the industry. They're not part of the commercial machine, in which case they don't produce the same recycled garbage.

Case in point, most underground metal from places like Sweden, Finland, Norway, England are very different. Even the ones here in the states are faster, more elaborate, more in tune with melody and composition. Sure, in some you still get dry vocals, but like I mentioned in my post above, lyrics aren't as important as the whole song itself. Sometimes I phase the vocals out completely because the songs kick so much ass.

Bands like Iced Earth, In Flames, Symphony X, Dream Theater, Nightwish, Therion, Arch Enemy, Cradle of Filth, Lacuna Coil, Dimmu Borgir, Children of Bodom...I could go on, there are too many to mention. Yeah, some have dry vocals, but others don't. You find what you like and most of the bands develop so great that the compositions just blow you away.

Then you get more of the mainstream here in the states. Some of it is good, most of it isn't IMO. I've kinda found my niche in bands that are out of the reach of mainstream record labels for now. They seem to make better music. To say it is all trash and all the same isn't true at all.

That would be like me saying that all rock music from the 60s and 70s were the same even though I know they most certainly weren't regardless of if I liked it or not. Rap & country on the other hand....thats all the same trash teehee

You want five Zeppelin songs to hear some good drumming?

How about:

Achilles Last Stand
Four Sticks
Sick Again
Song Remains the Same
Either Moby Dick or Bonzo's Montreux

Sounds like he's hitting the drums with tree trunks for sticks.

Ok, I will agree that Dimmu Borgir, Dream Theater, In Flames and Lacuna Coil are actually pretty good. I have Dimmu's Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropic album and its not bad at all. Another "metal" band I like is Opeth because all of their songs are different from the next and they can play a variety of styles.

doh...Opeth. Like I said, can't mention them all

Neal Peart! Amazing stuff.

Peart is crazy good, but dont forget about Terry Bozio and Shiela E. Both incredible.

Sorry Beo, but when you say

all the so-called sub-genres of metal, which are all the same damn thing

I get the impression that you don't listen to much and/or know relatively little about them. The genres are not at all the same. I agree with Tyranny. There are tons of great metal bands today, you just have to know where to look.

Terry Bozio did a clinic at the Drum Center here recently (I woulda gone but fricken school got in the way). I went in to pick up a pedal the next week and the guy at the counter showed me pics of Bozio's kit. Oh my God. According to the salesman, it took him 3 hours to set it up (and he sets up all his equipment by himself).

heh, it's interesting to hear that he sets it up himself. Mike Portnoy says the only reason he has a set as large as it is is because a: he doesn't pay for any of it, and b: he doesn't have to set it up. He says that otherwise he'd have a Ringo set

Supposedly Portnoy's tech can set up his kit in 45 minutes. Talk about speed. I wish I was endorsed by Tama and Sabian, considering that's what I use anyway...

He did use a Ringo set for the Beatles tribute. He also used a Vistalite kit for the Hammer of the Gods tour, which I also missed. BB King's is 18+ only.

Terry Bozzio's drums (actually I think this page may be a couple years out of date)

I only have two of his albums (Polytown and Nine Short Films (plus a couple of Zappa CDs that he's on, but not the ones that feature him prominently)) but I'm starting to think Bozzio may have the best combination of chops and style in the world. I need that new CD he made with Pat Mastelotto (the current King Crimson drummer).

On the subject of John Bonham: comparing Bonham to any other great drummer is pointless. You might as well compare him with Yo-Yo Ma.

On the subject of Animal: EAT DRUMS! EAT DRUMS!

Mike Portnoy's Siamese Monster

Mike Portnoy's Purple Monster

Fantastic shot of the Siamese Monster

can someone post a link to this guy's music? i already had an old classmate that had 85 billion drums... and couldn't play the song to save his life.

Cops, you've never heard any Dream Theater songs?

Just pick up another of their albums, or DL any random few tracks and then post what you heard, it's hard to go wrong with their stuff.

If you can find it... :]

Clayman wrote:Sorry Beo, but when you say

all the so-called sub-genres of metal, which are all the same damn thing

I get the impression that you don't listen to much and/or know relatively little about them. The genres are not at all the same. I agree with Tyranny. There are tons of great metal bands today, you just have to know where to look.

Concur. Prayer by Disturbed is clearly not sharing a genre with Beyond the Realms of Death by Judas Priest. Before you jump on me for the "gothy" song title, I suggest you scan the lyrics which are about *life*.

http://www.dreamtheater.net
http://www.mikeportnoy.com

Dream Theater is popular enough that you will usually find Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory in stock at your local Sam Goody.

In fact, almost any decent-sized music store will carry at least a few of their albums.