TS: Primal Scream vs Radiohead

I have most of PS's albums and all of R'head's and live they've both great and etc. Dave Q's review of them both is the best thing I've read about either!

As per 'taking sides', this's an ambiguent case for me. Never been much of a fan of either. Certainly not of Primal Scream's after Screamadelica - found Xtmntr, or wotevah the fk t'was called - miserably dull; after hearing a single or two, didn't take any interest in the next alb-bum (wotevvah that was called).

Towards R'head I became more benevolent only circa Amnesiac (Hail To The Thief sounds agreeable-to-great, depending on specific tracks; OK Computer -- a slightly-better(?)-than-average U2 album, bah -- still remains one of pop-life's minor mysteries, one that's still to reveal any true treasures to my pair of ears.
So I really don't care about being on either side. No preferences whatsoever.

Radiohead edge it by dint of more great moments, lose it when I remember how fucking insufferable Thom Yorke's wannabe-intellectual pseud stance is, and regain it because I've just remembered how gorgeous Lucky is.

Primal Scream are still where they are today thanks to Screamadelica, which is a bit odd, because the follow up record was a joke. Whatever you think of Screamadelica it was one hugely influential record which clicked with a lot of people.
Vanishing Point has got some good singles on it, but most of their recent material comes across as being overly agressive and in places non-sensical. It's like Bobby and Co. are clutching ever so desperately to the last threads of rock-stardom before being forced in to dad-rockdom. Bomb the Pentagon? Kill All Hippies? Yawn. There just speaking to be heard, and their music is fast becoming repetetive and dull.

Radiohead then on the other hand. Like pretty much eveyone else on the planet I think OK Computer is a great record but it's also been the band's downfall in places because the ciritcal mass success of the record turned Radiohead in to superstars, which is clearly not something which they can cope with all that well. Rock and roll excess is one of Thom York's selling points! It was also obviously a tough record to follow. And whilst Kid A has got some good moments I think that both it and Amnesiac are in the main ropey. Looks like they saved themselves with Hail To The Thief then which for me is pushing all the right buttons.

Er, yeah... Radiohead VS Primal Scream? For me it's gotta be Radiohead. Glastonbury this year summed it all up for me. Awesome!

you know, i listened to OK Computer for the first time in a while today, and it still sounds great. the bass-line on airbag is my favourite - i could listen to that track over and over all day. kid a and amnesiac are great, too - i like the coldness of them. hail to the thief, i'm less keen on. lots of tuneless experimental rock - whither the lovely soft textures? the bends is decent - about four boring songs, but lots of graceful, passionate rock. the first one is dog-food.

radiohead win, by some distance...

Screamadelica is the only record that could make me dance on a podium.

Oh, who should I choose?

please.

Pearl Jam
Led Zeppelin
Bruce Cockburn
Patti Smith
Bruce Springsteen
Oasis
Smashing Pumpkins
Liz Phair
The Moody Blues
Sonic Youth
Joy Division
Rush
Yes
Nirvana
Metallica
Madonna
REM
Trent Reznor
Roger Waters
Rage Against etc.
Lydia Lunch
Henry Rollins
Jello Biafra
Elton John
Lou Reed
Phil Spector
Steve Albini

... shall I continue?

Sure they might hate the press, but *everytime* I've seen them live, Thom's been in a great mood, cracking jokes n everything.

Moreover, people seem to want to deliberately overlook the humour in their songs.

Fr'instance: "I'll be waiting with a gun and a packet of sandwiches" - Talk Show Host. This makes me laugh.

Primal Scream never ever do. (But "Higher Than The Sun", "Vanishing Point", and the MBV Arkestra remix are moments of shining genius.

I'm feeling the underdog right about now. The logical winner I think would be RH, but I'm not feeling Hail... and they wankaz. PS wins. (Even if in my world, Screamadelica would be the only thing going for them, but WHAT A THANG *makes starry eyes*

Primal Scream = utterly brilliant. Each album stands on its own, with a new, refreshing sound. This makes them always exciting.

So the question comes down to a choice between 'boring' and 'exciting'... hmmmm...

Radiohead's history is that of a band mostly reacting against its own worst instincts - post-rock (considered as being A GOOD THING) was a logical extension of straightedge, ie. a reaction against identifiably rhetorical (and therefore, according to this way of thinking, corrupt & guilty) musical codes & tropes with (arguably A BAD THING) a consequent thinning-out of the potential for fun.

From OK Computer on, Radiohead post-rockistly try (but mostly, and in a fun way, fail) to abjure the Pixies/Nirvana/Boston manoeuvres which makes The Bends a corrupt & guilty-ish pleasure.

Ie. you can hear that they know that they should know better than to indulge their tendencies towards posture and shtick, but the temptation's too strong. Their mighty and often unsuccessful struggle with said posture and shtick is itself exciting and interesting. Fun reasserts itself both by omission and comission. Excepting the sermonising.

Whereas Primal Scream are ALL sermon, rhetoric, conviction aesthetics; fun (when it's permitted) being relegated to the status of a footnote which refers you elsewhere. They're an "on-the-bus" kind of band who take their season ticket, and their righteous right to that season ticket, for granted. They are also under the impression that they are "down" with the bus driver but in fact (er I'll stop now).

Needless to say, I prefer Primal Scream by a hundred miles, despite agreeing with almost everything the haters above have said about them.