From: 5ea8manchest@vms.csd.mu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.rock-n-roll.metal
Subject: Re: Good vs. Bad Mellower Music
Date: 28 Jan 1993 17:37:23 GMT
Organization: Marquette University - Computer Services
Reply-To: 5ea8manchest@vms.csd.mu.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: vmsd.csd.mu.edu

In article <1993Jan28.024728.8867@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca>, bui@ee470.ee.mcgill.ca (BUI/DON/MR) writes:
>In article <009673DC.643B36C0@vms.csd.mu.edu> 5ea8manchest@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:
>
>>Maybe I was a little hard on VH; they're definitely talented, which puts
>>them beyond the Skid Row, Slaughter, etc. types.  I still don't see anything
>>really gripping after VH I, though; if you think about it, that seemed like
>>a semi-angry album (Runnin' With the Devil, Atomic Punk), but then they turned
>>into a party-music band; party-music is simply not emotionally rivetting,
>>and I guess this is why I labeled them pop-metal crap.  Maybe they're sort
>>of hard rock's answer to the beach Boys or something. . .  but this means they
>>changed their approach from emotional to light-heated, which I think is an
>>artistic
>>compromise, even if they're skill as such has improved.  Eric M.
>
>
>You obvoiusly know nothing about Van Halen.  VH I, semi-angry?  Those songs
>you mentioned did not seem even remotely "angry" to me at all.  What about 
>"Ice-Cream Man", "You Really Got Me", "Feel Your Love Tonight", "I'm The One"
>etc., etc.....  That was the ultimate party record.  They got fairly "dark"
>according to their standards on "Fair Warning" (their 4th), so they definitely
>did not go "from emotional to light-heated".
>
>What do you know of their "artistic compromises"?  It seems to me they 
>made the records they felt like making, and were damn good at it.  
>
>To you: angry = emotional = good
>	fun = light-heated = bad
>
>There are times when I feel like listening to something really heavy and 
>angry like old Metallica or Pantera, and there are other times when I'll 
>throw on some VH and kick back and relax.
>
>You're missing out on some good bands cuz they're not "serious" or 
>"artistic" enough for you, but that's you're prerogative.
>
>
>							-Don
>
>
I am aware that VH I contained many party-type songs (although they are
musically pretty aggressive, except for Ice cream Man), but I guess
my appreciation for that record was based more on the angrer-type thing
on two or three of the songs.  If you read my original post on good mellow
music, however, I think you'll find that I do like bands that are not
angry (KIng's X, Masters of Reality, etc.); however, they probably
could be called "artsy" and, in the case of King's X, "serious."
I do tend to focus on lyrics more than most, although there are
exceptions; I like Zep quite a bit, but if you read their lyrics
as poetry, they would genrally be ridiculous.  Also, I don't mind
people who like to listen to light-hearterd music when the mood is 
right, as long as they are capable of switching gears and appreciating
more serious stuff (I do this by listening to old ZZ top, for instance,
instead of old Black Sabbath).  
	As an interesting side-note, I saw Hentry Rollins this summer
(now that's angry music), and he did a cover of runnin' With the Devil,
which he acknowledged people might criticize him for but he did it because
he liked it.  Eric M.