Artists That 'Overdo It'
 

Does anyone think that sometimes an artist really goes too far with their music? I mean overcomplicating things just for the sake of overcomplicating things? Some songs could be better if maybe it didn't have something unnecessary in it, or the song is far too long and the length serves no purpose? Any thoughts?

I think you're talking about bad progressive rock or something. Some bands can do a thirty minute song and make it work, other bands fail at it. Although a lot of the time it may take a couple spins to fully click with even the best of albums, in fact, especially the best of albums.

Sonic Youth - Hey lets write a great pop song and fill the middle with 2 mins of repetitive screechy guitar noises and do it on every track on the album.

Might as well get Bellamy's singing out of the way.

U2.Any sense of energy and vitality in their contemporary music is devoid due to the overproduction of their post-Achtung Baby work. Although The Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum are a bit bombastic for my liking as well.

I'm sorry i don't recall them doing that on every track on every album :nono: and besides a few 2 minute noise freak-outs never killed anyone, they used it to great effect in 'Total Trash'.

:thumb:

But I love the way he sings, even if it is over-emphasized and dramatic.

So I think a difference exists between artists that 'overdo it' and artists who have simply employed a certain dramatic aspect purposefully.

Tool is the epitome of a band that overdoes it. They are extremely pretentious when it comes to their lyrics and song structure. I actually appreciate Adam Jones's guitar and Maynard's voice sometimes hits it. They are listenable.

Dream Theater is a wankfest for the sake of being a wankfest. When it comes to muscianship, they overdo it.

Those are obvious, but they weren't mentioned yet.

Agreed on the account of Dream Theatre, I think they definitely overdo it and not for the sake of their music but for the sake of being wanks.

I don't think Tool overdo it, nor do I think they are pretentious. How are they pretentious about their lyrics and song structure? I think it is their fans that make them so hatable. Most of their fans build them up to be some kind of demi-gods of music, and most of their fans are pretentious when it comes to Tool's style and choice of the structure of their music. I don't think Tool set out to be over-the-top in the way that we're talking about.

If Tool knocked off around 15-20 minutes of their album running times then I would listen to them a lot more. I really like Tool but rarely finish an album unfortunately.

I don't dislike his dramatic singing as a whole, it works well for the music but, a lot of the time he over does it and comes off sounding way cheesy.

Zappa.

I love both Tool and Dream Theater and I don't agree with either points you make. That being said though...

Tool are not overly pretentious to me but I can see how Dream Theater can come across as being a wankfest. I look at it like this, as Lateralus said with artists being dramatic, Dream Theater just like to create big epic pieces of music. They can also create songs that are more accessible though, and aren't afraid to do that.

As much as I love Dream Theater and the song 'The Count Of Tuscany' there is a part in the song that annoys me, just before the final closing part (my favourite part of the song). Before the end there is this really mellow trippy instrumental moment, it goes for far too long in my opinion. Watching them live everyone was really into the song but when that part kicked in it was like a buzzkill. Maybe they just wanted to throw everything into that song. Besides that it is an epic close to that album.

:clap:

Their fans are annoying. I just think that Tool tries to be this strange band simply because they feel like it will get them cool points. That is why they attract many idiots. The idiots think that Tool is the most experimental and philosophical band on the planet.

I don't necessarily hate Tool. As I said, I love Jones. I prefer A Perfect Circle over Tool because I think that A Perfect Circle is much more relaxed and just tries to play good music instead of trying to look really strange.

how so?

i'm not disagreeing with you, i'm just not sure what you mean.

Fall Out Boy, ffs, why do you need so many ironic or punning long ass song titles! And what makes you think you can cover Joy Division!

FoB's big pompous sound is what makes them enjoyable imo.
And Joy Division were boring anywho.

Gasp! You monster!

HAHAHAHA are you saying Fall Out Boy> Joy Division?

Reallly?

Speaking of Joy Divison's cover



I think the band "..." are a bit over the top with their depressive..ness. Even though they're depressive black metal and that's what they do. To be honest I prefer it to Fall Out Boy's. I prefer wailing from some singer I don't even know the name of than some overweight indie kid who thinks he's clever.

"You're Crashing, But You're No Wave"
"This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"
"The Take Over, The Breaks Over"
"Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?"

^^^ it's awful isn't it? (and all from the same album)

I don't really mind Meat Loaf all that much but I have to say "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" (another long ass song name) really annoys me with it's length. It goes for about 12 minutes and those 12 minutes mostly consist of the repeating lines "I would do anything for love, anything you've been dreaming of..." blah blah blah, over and over it goes. It just seems to go on forever. I think that he may overdo a lot in most of his songs too, not just that.

With him it's not so much obscurity as it is that sometimes I think he's weird for the sake of being weird. Don't get me wrong, I like me some Zappa and voted for him in the HOF thread (I think), but sometimes it just comes out as overdone and annoying.

Yeah definitely, their fans, IMO, are the most annoying aspect of Tool. But I honestly don't think they try to be 'strange' to simply get them cool points. I don't even think they're really that strange or experimental or amazingly different. And I hate the fans (which happens to be most of them) who think that Tool are the most philosophical and experimental band on the planet and put them on such a huge pedestal.

I can see how you'd think they're are a bit overdone but I don't think they set out to do this purposefully to gain kudos.

Dimmu Borgir

I love Black Metal, and I don't mind the anti Christian sentiment that is very common in the genre as I'm not very religious. Although it's painfully clear that they build their image on this and it seems to attract angry suburban children. Their fans are so damn pretentious and act like they're HUGE fans of the genre. They always use a full fledged orchestra and I swear they're all theatrics and no real substance.

Couldn't agree more

Ugh, Tool fans.

"Man, Tool is so weird in a good way. No other band has songs that long."

^^^^^^^hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I swear I'm not one of them.

Neither am I

i agree about frank zappa overdoing it, but preeeetty sure he did that on purpose and it's the reason why he's awesome.

Television did it first!

Dunno why people love to bitch just because a song is longer than 5 minutes, but whatever floats your boat I s'pose.

Some highlights on artists overdoing it-

Emerson, Lake & Palmer: People who don't know any better LOVE to whine about Yes and Genesis (probably because they have ADD), but it was really only ELP that took the concept of prog. rock to the point where it became truly tedious for even fans of the genre. It started with their album Brain Salad Surgery, but after that its like they buckled under the sheer weight of their pointlessness for the remainder of the 70's. Also, their live performances made Peter Gabriel's costume parties look almost humble, lol.

Kanye West: Yes, we know your albums don't always suck. So why do you act like your the only one on the planet doing music anymore, consciously choosing to make an ass out of yourself at every opportunity you get in the limelight?

Muse: It must be fun opening for U2 all the time while pretending to be some kind of modern prog. group. Exogenesis Symphony? Really? Give me a fucking break.

I'm struggling to see any particular connection between Television and Tool aside from the fact that their names both begin with T.

Taylor Swift, although it's not exactly her fault i really liked her demos, but i think she sounds best just her and her guitar, a lot of her songs get drowned out with all this extra unnecessary stuff her producers put in the songs.

yeah pretty much.

Anyway, I think that King Crimson have a tendency to outlive their welcome. Same thing with Yes, although they can hold my attention longer.

Also Ronnie Dio seems to have a condition where he HAS TO YELL OVER EVERYTHING. But, it works most of the time so whatever.

totally overdone...all the way from the cheezy 80s hair metal to his actual hair....

it is still mesmerizing to watch, though...

WTF was going on at 2:57? :laughing:

Doublepost, ****ed up, see toilet photo below.