"classical" cliches in pop/rock music

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ts: pop artists and rock bands who hire ginormous symphony orchestras "for credibility" vs. indie/alt-country fuxors who hire humble string quartets "for credibility"

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

What's an example of the first one? I don't get the "credibility" bit.

― jazz odysseus, Friday, 9 April 2004 19:10 (twenty-two years ago)

whither Lambchop?

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Like one of those "symphonic Metallica" deals.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

or Procol Harum Live In Concert With the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra & the Da Camera Singers.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought this would be about all those songs with the same chords as pachebel's canon in D.

― mason butler, Friday, 9 April 2004 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"thoughts of emerlist davjack"

― duke nice, Friday, 9 April 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

anyone wanna take a stab at the opening TS?

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish more indie artists would either drop the conservative, "minimal" NPR shit entirely or let themselves be ostentatious and gaudy. Obv cost is an issue but you don't HAVE to hire an orchestra to get an implied orchestra sound -- most of the really big-budget artists use synth strings anyway unless they're playing live and they want visuals.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know what to make of it (I haven't heard the Metallica one) - there's the old Deep Purple "Concerto", which seemed more like an experiment, several Italian things like by New Trolls, RDM and Paese di Balocchi which seem similar in intention if better thought out, etc. Then there's those weird David Palmer or Jaz Coleman albums where it's like symphonic versions of pop / rock band music by people who were involved with pop / rock bands - I have trouble imagining where credibility could fit there, and it's not really the bands hiring the orchestras, either. How big are the string sections a band like Rhapsody use? Is that for credibility or just "big"ness? Maybe I'm thinking of lots of "classical" / pop-rock combinations but just don't know enough that fit the scenario you're describing very well. In theory, I'm going to side with the alt-country band with string quartet, on account of less bombast, though the music could easily be unbearable.

xpost - the "Canon in D" songs comment hits a nerve. Eesh.

― jazz odysseus, Friday, 9 April 2004 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm never going to form a commercially successful hard rock band with left-field tendencies simply because if anyone ever makes a string tribute to my band I will have to kill myself. Jane's Addiction, Radiohead, Tool... they ALL sound crap.

― Stupid (Stupid), Friday, 9 April 2004 19:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I think there are few things more awkward-sounding than an an orchestra playing rock riffs, or translating a bent note into two distinct notes.

― jazz odysseus, Friday, 9 April 2004 19:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I remember Smashing Pumpkins doing this on an MTV awards show for "Tonight, Tonight", but it worked pretty well with that song.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 9 April 2004 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the obligatory strings may be the one reason above all others why Britpop is still a swearword.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 9 April 2004 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Ocean Rain-era Bunnymen's usage of strings = classic
"November Rain"-era G'n'R usage of strings = pompous, needless and utterly overblown.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 9 April 2004 21:16 (twenty-two years ago)

what makes ocean rain's orchestration preferable?

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 April 2004 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

The Bunnymen's music as a whole was less caught up in the trappings of orthodox rock'n'roll ala G'n'R. Strings suited the Bunnymen's broader vista, whereas strings on a Guns'n'Roses (who supposedly embodied the best bits of Metal and Punk Rock, or so some would have you believe) just seemed wildly inappropriate.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 9 April 2004 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't find string arrangements in pop music unusual at all. It's harder for me to think of people that didn't work with string arrangements a lot of the time, until you get maybe to the late 70's or so. It's different for rock, though, and there I guess they are a bit unusual. Maybe that's what Alex in NYC is responding to?

― jazz odysseus, Friday, 9 April 2004 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

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