I just did. (have both on my iPod). shrug?
Play "This Is Pop." Play "Till The Morning Comes." Play "Life Begins At The Hop." Tell me what's so goddamn different. And don't throw irrelevant terms like "orginality" in there. I'm talking about what you hear.
You're original claim: Smashmouth are the OC XTC.
Tell me how relevant "OC" is as an adjective, and I'll gladly claim "originality" is irrelevant in this discussion.
That said, it's a bit disingenuous to compare two bands just because certain songs from the newer band are familiar to a small fraction of the older band's oevre. Many many Lenny Kravitz songs sound like the Beatles, but with modern production and all that hoo-ha. Does that make Lenny Kravitz the "NYC Beatles"?
Also, XTC has had several more albums and several more phases than Smashmouth have had albums, period. This is not discounting Smashmouth by any means. I just think the comparison point is just really odd. Again, I think there was more similarity between Sublime and XTC circa English Settlement than any of the above, and that's saying something.
It's perfectly OK to say that Smashmouth has a lot of songs that ape XTC, but when you claim that "Smashmouth are the OC XTC", that's a re far more bold statement, and you'd better know damn well enough about both bands if you're going to validly support that claim.
― OAH SEA BICH, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― OAH SEA BICH, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:46 (nineteen years ago) link
How is my alleigance to Killing Joke any different from your constatn, foundation-free defense of Limp Bizkit, Good Charlotte and Warrant. If I'm a cartoon character, you're no different.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:47 (nineteen years ago) link
I know lots about XTC, Oah Sea. I've owned and heard plenty of albums throughout their career. There's reason I quickly amended my statement to reaffirm I'm discussing the early period of XTC (which, if I included English Settlement, would take up HALF of their Fossil Fuel comp), but the later years of XTC aren't very OC, so I'm tempted to say that part of Smashmouth being the OC XTC is that they turned into movie plug-in Burger King endorsers rather than boring reclusive puds (though Wasp Star was refreshing).
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:47 (nineteen years ago) link
Qualify that. I'm only vitriolic at the claim that they are in some way equivalent to XTC. Smashmouth are otherwise fine little insects, but nothing more.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:48 (nineteen years ago) link
While I'd argue I've laid down plenty of foundation in the threads where these artists were discussed, if you read my post I was saying I found it odd you would use the same unwarranted techniques that are used upon you.
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:53 (nineteen years ago) link
You're being presumptious, as always. You have no idea how/why I appreciate the bands I like. But speak ill of them or make ludicrous claims about them and you're likely to get me firing back.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:57 (nineteen years ago) link
That's a very strange distinction to draw.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 17:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link
That I'd be curious to hear.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:04 (nineteen years ago) link
Smashmouth's lyrical oeuvre does NOT stand up to XTC by a fuckin' country mile.
Smashmouth's bass player couldn't keep up with Colin Moulding's bass playing if his very life depended on it.
Smashmouth are all tiki drinks with paper umbrellas and hawaiian shirts and Vans. Nothing more.
And YES, I'm referring to the first few albums, Anthony, not Skylarking or even Black Sea. I take it you mean White Music through Drums & Wires.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:05 (nineteen years ago) link
x-post
― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:07 (nineteen years ago) link
Andy Partidge == Robert Smith without the weepy gothishnessSmash Mouth Guy == Frank Black with a tan and a tequila
(I tried to build some kind of comparison between Smash Mouth Guy and Andrew Elridge, but I fear that if I had succeeded in crafting a comparison that worked, the entire universe would collapse in on itself and we'd all be killed.)
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:13 (nineteen years ago) link
and i have no doubt that smashmouth would've loved to have written any of 100 or so xtc songs.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:13 (nineteen years ago) link
this is the one point I'd seriously debate (I'll concede that XTC were perhaps flashier musicians, but it's a compliment to XTC that I'd never think to laud them for Rush-like qualities) and I brought up the vocal difference before anyone else.
I think Andy Partridge would look at the lyrical puns and subject shifts within tracks like "All Star" and "Walking On The Sun" and be very impressed. The second verse of "All Star" is a hysterical example of intentional self-contradiction:
It's a cool place, and they say it gets colder You're bundled up now, wait till you get older But the media men beg to differ Judging by the hole in the satellite picture The ice we skate is gettin pretty thin The water's gettin warm so you might as well swim My world's on fire, how about yours? Cuz that's the way i like it and i never get bored
A lot of Smashmouth's tracks are cynical in the same manner as XTC, ESPECIALLY "Walking On The Sun," which I consider their most XTC like track. I doubt any of you have actually paid attention to the lyrics of a Smashmouth song, so I don't know why you're claiming to know if they have any value.
Dominique, there's LOTS of secret intelligence bubbling forth underneath Smashmouth's Shrek-sellage. The lyrics of "Walking On The Sun" (which I didn't even notice back when the video was all over) are railings demanding responsibility and a lack of political apathy. Andy P would SO approve.
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:21 (nineteen years ago) link
Style does not always equate with technical chops. Being a great musician, I think, doesn't necessarily mean you are the most technically versed player.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:23 (nineteen years ago) link
― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― OAH SEA BICH, Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:29 (nineteen years ago) link
― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 18:33 (nineteen years ago) link