That's how I'm approaching this.
― how's life, Friday, 6 February 2015 17:48 (nine years ago) link
The way I approached this: I listen to Rush a bunch, Sonic Youth on rare occasion, SP not since "Gish" and Boston never on purpose. Mind, I like the idea of Boston, and appreciate the band's wall of AOR guitar influence, but damned if I ever so much as taped a song off the radio when I was 8.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 February 2015 18:46 (nine years ago) link
The way I approached this: Billy wrote 'Cherub Rock'. You, me, and these other bands did not.
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 6 February 2015 18:48 (nine years ago) link
So you're saying: one great song > one great album > one great stretch > one great career.
I will say, as people I'd hang with, the dudes in Rush seem pretty awesome, but the other acts are in a three way tie for last. You've got art-snobs, insecure jerks and the sheer weirdness of Brad Delp's final days.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 February 2015 18:50 (nine years ago) link
Rush are probably the best human beings out of this lot, I'll agree with you there.
― how's life, Friday, 6 February 2015 18:52 (nine years ago) link
for the following kinda reductive reasons these bands are all good (or great in SY's case) for different reasons. boston released the best one-hit wonder classic '70s rock radio album of all time. rush is the best proggy ridiculous north american band of all time. smashing pumpkins have at least three really good albums and the best alt-rock supervillain of all time. SY were the best NYC alt band of all time and had great tunes and could stretch out in ways that weren't boring or tedious.
voted SY. brad delp was the best person out of anyone in any of these bands though.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Friday, 6 February 2015 18:55 (nine years ago) link
Sonic Youth don't deserve to be ranked above Rush, whether you like Rush or not. I sympathize with BC, suddenly. Being "too cool" is a huge turn-off. That said, Boston's music was engineered for stadiums - alienated kids' bedrooms were not the intended fora for those records. Feel that making records that are not truly for the home is evil.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Friday, 6 February 2015 18:56 (nine years ago) link
brad delp was the best person out of anyone in any of these bands though.
!!!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 February 2015 18:57 (nine years ago) link
boston's music was engineered for car rides imo
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Friday, 6 February 2015 18:58 (nine years ago) link
best PERFORMER i should have said
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2012/05/27/boston_singer_brad_delps_final_days_marked_by_crisis_over_hidden_camera/
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 6 February 2015 18:58 (nine years ago) link
that is so much worse than your reasons for labeling Billy an asshole.
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 6 February 2015 19:01 (nine years ago) link
Billy is at least a blanched asshole in the light of these findings
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 6 February 2015 19:02 (nine years ago) link
dig the Boston songs I know from the radio except for "Amanda," feel like Tom Scholz is probably a genius on the level of Brian Wilson, whose music I also don't listen to. Rush.
― The Complainte of Ray Tabano, Saturday, 7 February 2015 13:09 (nine years ago) link
Sonic Youth and Rush don't suckPumpkins, I don't give a fuckAMANDA
― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, 7 February 2015 13:17 (nine years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockman_(amplifier)
― example (crüt), Saturday, 7 February 2015 13:30 (nine years ago) link
The thing about Boston is...how can people escape them - even now! I don't understand how people can listen to them repeatedly, they're so smooshy sounding.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Saturday, 7 February 2015 14:17 (nine years ago) link
I don't understand how people can listen to them repeatedly
My understanding is that they keep on tokin'.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GzMx9CnhVk
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, 7 February 2015 14:19 (nine years ago) link
say what you will about Boston though, Delp was an incredible vocalist (RIP)
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 7 February 2015 15:25 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it is interesting that of the four bands in the poll, Boston is the only one with a traditional good singer.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 7 February 2015 16:27 (nine years ago) link
That is sadly true, however IMO not even Celine Dion could bail them from their sludgy smudgy poo.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Saturday, 7 February 2015 18:56 (nine years ago) link
worst graphic novel ever
― example (crüt), Saturday, 7 February 2015 18:57 (nine years ago) link
More than a poostain
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 7 February 2015 18:58 (nine years ago) link
though I'm gonna have to disagree with youtheir music's not sludgy poo
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 7 February 2015 18:59 (nine years ago) link
...AMANDA
I will stan for Boston! Brad Delp has golden pipes! It is gorgeously crafted pop smothered in classic rock and that first album is all killer no filler.
However my vote goes to Rush because they are Rush and therefore unfuckwithable
Sonic Youth is cool and great but they dont occupy those great heights for me. Smashing Pumkins r ok but yeah no
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 7 February 2015 23:09 (nine years ago) link
I realized only a few years ago that I'd heard Boston's hits about a billion times, but had never actually owned the albums in any format. I wondered if they'd sound dramatically better on CD than on radio. They don't. More than anything I've heard this side of Christopher Cross, that band was made to played on the radio. Not true for Sonic Youth and Rush. Don't know about the other group.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 8 February 2015 05:16 (nine years ago) link
Rush music was made for alienated teenagers' bedrooms. Which is totally classic.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Sunday, 8 February 2015 15:15 (nine years ago) link
"don't look back"is better than "cherub rock"
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 8 February 2015 15:23 (nine years ago) link
AMANDA
the funny thing about Third Stage is that while it rocks considerably less than the two albums before it, at times sometimes I prefer it as it seems like it has more of a individual personality than the prior two albums, even if some of the songs are admittedly bland.
"We're Ready" is fucking sweet and I wish they did more songs like it. "To Be a Man" and "My Destination", though, god are those bleh.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 8 February 2015 15:44 (nine years ago) link
lol that Boston had an album called Corporate America
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 8 February 2015 15:46 (nine years ago) link
Boston may be the only band of the four with songs that can justifiably be described as outright bleh.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 February 2015 15:51 (nine years ago) link
Like, I don't like much Pumpkins, or listen to much later SY, but neither congress close to bleh IMO. I think Rush is pretty much bleh free.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 February 2015 15:52 (nine years ago) link
I second that bleh-notion
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 8 February 2015 16:41 (nine years ago) link
Lol writing on phone waiting to get on cruise where I can already tell there are more rush and Boston fans than sp or sy, or have even heard of sy.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 February 2015 16:43 (nine years ago) link
Boston's ballads were the worst thing about them. They pretty much avoided them on the s/t but then shit on later albums like "A Man I'll Never Be" and lord was that nauseating(though I like "Amanda").
though the s/t has dreck on it too. "Hitch a Ride" is such middling boredom, "Let Me Take You Home Tonight" had an annoying chorus...
I guess when it boils down to it the reason I still like the album is "More Than a Feeling" (tho I could die happy not hearing it again), "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", and "Smoking".
"Rock and Roll Band" is lame because they wrote it as this cutesy meta tail of their gritty rise to stardom but actually they got their first recording contract before playing a live gig. Yeah, granted *we* in the authorial sense isn't always literal but it was clear in the lyrics of the song that they were trying to paint themselves as some band that came up through the bar scene when they weren't.
Oh, and the chorus sucks.
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 8 February 2015 16:49 (nine years ago) link
your cruise mission: convert them.
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 8 February 2015 16:49 (nine years ago) link
"what if I told you....."
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 8 February 2015 16:52 (nine years ago) link
Have you heard the Good News (about Billy's 4 star album)?
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 8 February 2015 17:16 (nine years ago) link
"let me leave some materials with you...this is Daydream Nation. It might mean nothing to you, but once upon a time, it changed my life. Oh, you can go ahead and keep it, I have it on vinyl anyway."
― Hammer Smashed Bagels, Sunday, 8 February 2015 17:20 (nine years ago) link
Just played arcade fire over the pa.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 February 2015 20:52 (nine years ago) link
only one of these bands has been on incessant earworm repeat for the last three days
― Brad C., Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:01 (nine years ago) link
With that "Corporate America" thing, I remember reading the articles. Wasn't that Boston getting all left-wing and anti-globalist? I remember that because their music seems so un-hippy and unnatural.
Believe it or not, I read a lot of articles on Boston at one time - because the guy was an engineer and I grew up with an engineer in my house - my dad. So I wanted to learn how an engineer thinks about music. Conceptually, it's interesting but it doesn't move me.
― SCOTTISH PEOPLE ONLY (I M Losted), Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:01 (nine years ago) link
It's like Tom went to MIT to learn how to engineer the best corporate rock band.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:06 (nine years ago) link
it was clear in the lyrics of the song that they were trying to paint themselves as some band that came up through the bar scene when they weren't.
I know what you mean: even though Lynyrd Skynyrd is from Florida, they did "Sweet Home Alabama." They're dead to me now.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:24 (nine years ago) link
Wasn't the first Boston album recorded largely in his basement?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:38 (nine years ago) link
All but one song and the vocals, yep. The one song not recorded in his basement was done in an LA studio as a decoy for the label people who didn't want him recording in his basement.
Also, haha:
While Boylan arranged for Delp to have a custom-made Taylor acoustic guitar for thousands of dollars on the album budget, Scholz recorded such tracks as "More Than a Feeling" in his basement with a $100 Yamaha acoustic guitar.[2][3][7]
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:45 (nine years ago) link
"check out these UFOs! I bet this band sounds like they're from outer space!"
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:53 (nine years ago) link
^ preceded one of the biggest disappointments of my older siblings' CDs scavenging
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 8 February 2015 21:55 (nine years ago) link