13 Questionable Bands

[westen44]

To me it's obvious why most of these are on there, although maybe one or possibly two have received more criticism than they deserve.  Who is to say?  It's all subjective.  Funny commercial, though, especially after reading the article. 


https://loudwire.com/bands-people-made-you-feel-bad-about-loving/

[uwe]

There's not a single band in that list that I even kind of like (with the possible exception of Black Veil Brides who intrigued me for the same reason the New York Dolls - hated by critics at the time, now widely regarded as icons - intrigued me as a teenager), but also not a single one that I really despise. I never got into Limp Bizkit because I don't like rap and heavy metal mixed; I'm fine with both genres on their own (same reason why Body Count never did anything for me). I also find baseball or golf caps extremely unfetching on 99,99 percent of the male world population, especially red ones. But I would have never dared question the Soggy Cookies' or whatever they were called musical ability.

Generally, bands vilified by critics raise my curiosity: I only got into bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper, Sweet, Slade, The New York Dolls, Kiss, Angel, Starz, Judas Priest, Scorpions, The Doctors of Madness, Be Bop Deluxe, Rush, Black Veil Brides or Nickelback after they got slammed in the press.

[Pilgrim]

I was pleasantly surprised that I actually recognized  ONE cut from the bands mentioned - Creed's "With Eyes Wide Open."

Aside from that, I don't have a clue about any of those bands.

[westen44]

One of my relatives always liked Creed and I would tell her I didn't like them from time to time.  One day a guitarist wanted to know if I would be interested in singing a Creed song.  I discovered it was too high for me.  It's hard to be a critic when you can't even do as good of a job as the person you've been criticizing.  So from that point on I just shut up about Creed. 

[uwe]

Creed were diluted grunge to me - the kind of grunge for a female audience that still likes to hear a melody once they have grown out of boy bands. But it was skillfully done. Very much a US phenomena. At least their chord changes weren't as wince-worthy as some of that Soundgarden stuff that had my toe nails truly curl up. But of course Soundgarden was art while Creed were sell-outs - according to the popular narrative at least.

[westen44]

My relative who liked Creed was my niece.  We have always had a completely different taste in music.  That's why it was almost shocking when the other day she said she liked a Steel Woods song I played.  That is literally the only time we've liked the same music.  No exaggeration.  i honestly can't remember it ever happening before. 

[Dave W]

Nothing questionable about any of these bands for me. The answer is no.

[westen44]

I scrolled down too far and ended up looking at the part on Black Sabbath.  I was wondering how they could possibly get on a list like that and why I hadn't noticed them the first time.  Then I noticed--wrong list.  That was the 50 Most Game Changing Hard Rock + Metal albums list. 

If both my niece and I like them, I am beginning to wonder what might be going on with the Steel Woods, though.  They must have formed some kind of unusual generational bridge. 

[uwe]

Black Sabbath's perception has changed greatly over the decades. Back in the 70ies, they weren't really seen as a band with a musical contribution, more as a one hit wonder (Paranoid) with a mad singer you couldn't take entirely serious. That only changed a little with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (the album), their most orchestral and arranged work (Vol. IV already indicated that direction). Soon after though, Punk happened and Sabbath and their sluggish riffs (no doubt an art, but not valued as one back then) were dubbed dinosaurs. When Ozzy left/was fired (after the Dave Walker intermezzo), they were viewed as a spent force that had seen its ass kicked by an upstart opening act named Van Halen (with a very nimble guitarist who had all digits intact) on the European tour.

Even during the Dio years - musically nothing to be ashamed of -, they were still smiled upon, Ronnie's lyrical sword & sorcery obsession never endeared him to critics. Gillan joining (and I think Born Again is one of the best albums Gillan has sung on outside his Deep Purple canon, I also think that this album and its production - derided at the time, a sonic classic by today's standards - was an unsung trigger for Grunge music as a whole) was viewed as a hilarious move spawned by and in drunken stupor (well, it actually was!  ).



After that, with constantly changing line-ups, it was diminishing returns, though not without highlights.





It was only the advent of Grunge - not the LA glam hard rock before which patterned itself more after Led Zep and Aerosmith - that led to a lasting re-appreciation of Sabbath and a reinstatement of theirs into the "holy trinity" of Brit heavy rock that is Led Zep, Purple and the Sabs. I remember my surprise when all these Grungies all of the sudden voiced admiration for Sabbath's music (and not just Ozzy's showmanship) come the 90ies. Before that, mention of Black Sabbath was invariably always tied to some joke on them, even in metal mags. Now, the sheer physical necessity of a handicapped guitarist (and closet Joe Pass fan) to downtune co-led to a new musical movement. Life writes the most amazing stories.

[westen44]

As a teenager, Hendrix's and Black Sabbath's second albums were among my favorites that I played over and over.  No critic would have been able to convince me, for example, that Little Wing, Spanish Castle Magic, War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man, etc. were not great songs.  Even today I tend to not pay much attention to critics.  Rinus Gerritsen, in speaking of Golden Earring's early days, once said they needed another American manager like they needed a hole in the head.  The same could be said for critics. 

[wellREDman]

I'd venture that Sabs renaissance began slightly before grunge, As a DJ in a rock club in the early nineties Faith no More's version of War pigs was a floor filler, which I think led to a lot of kids seeking them out and getting into them

[slinkp]

I think Black Flag were probably the first of the punk/hardcore era to think Sabbath were cool...
I believe that's where they got the idea to start playing the slower sludgier songs. It's been written that Flag's relentless tour stops in the Northwest were the early inspiration for the bands that later became known as "grunge".

[westen44]

I just now noticed "War Pigs" in part was probably inspired by "If 6 Was 9."  As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. 

[gweimer]

Black Sabbath's perception has changed greatly over the decades. Back in the 70ies, they weren't really seen as a band with a musical contribution, more as a one hit wonder (Paranoid) with a mad singer you couldn't take entirely serious. That only changed a little with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (the album), their most orchestral and arranged work (Vol. IV already indicated that direction). Soon after though, Punk happened and Sabbath and their sluggish riffs (no doubt an art, but not valued as one back then) were dubbed dinosaurs. When Ozzy left/was fired (after the Dave Walker intermezzo), they were viewed as a spent force that had seen its ass kicked by an upstart opening act named Van Halen (with a very nimble guitarist who had all digits intact) on the European tour.

Even during the Dio years - musically nothing to be ashamed of -, they were still smiled upon, Ronnie's lyrical sword & sorcery obsession never endeared him to critics. Gillan joining (and I think Born Again is one of the best albums Gillan has sung on outside his Deep Purple canon, I also think that this album and its production - derided at the time, a sonic classic by today's standards - was an unsung trigger for Grunge music as a whole) was viewed as a hilarious move spawned by and in drunken stupor (well, it actually was!  ).



After that, with constantly changing line-ups, it was diminishing returns, though not without highlights.





It was only the advent of Grunge - not the LA glam hard rock before which patterned itself more after Led Zep and Aerosmith - that led to a lasting re-appreciation of Sabbath and a reinstatement of theirs into the "holy trinity" of Brit heavy rock that is Led Zep, Purple and the Sabs. I remember my surprise when all these Grungies all of the sudden voiced admiration for Sabbath's music (and not just Ozzy's showmanship) come the 90ies. Before that, mention of Black Sabbath was invariably always tied to some joke on them, even in metal mags. Now, the sheer physical necessity of a handicapped guitarist (and closet Joe Pass fan) to downtune co-led to a new musical movement. Life writes the most amazing stories.

I liked Born Again, and got to interview Ian Gillan on the tour with them.  Bev Bevan was on drums.  I always refer to Born Again as one of the most oppressive and brutal albums, soundwise, and that isn't a complaint.

[uwe]

It is, but it went totally underneath the radar as everyone focused on "the three Sabbath guys who can't get over losing Ozzy have now hired DP has-been Ian Gillan and he doesn't even wear black or leather, now how pathetic is that?"