New Don Henley

Granny Gremlin · May 08, 2015, 03:07:26 PM

Synchronicity is funny sometimes.

I just openned and read an email my little brother sent me this morning titled "Band You might like." On the first song the vocalist sounds like a young Don Henley, could be mistaken for The Eagles except for the etheral delay guitar and synth bits and related outro; FML.

So I googled "war on drugs eagles" and got a comment on a pitchfork article tearing Don up for bitching about stealing (riffs/melodies etc) that said "I guess he hasn't heard The War on Drugs yet." LOL.

... some of the other songs have a more Tom Petty direction so me bro wasn't too far off.

Pilgrim · May 08, 2015, 03:48:50 PM

"James Dean" is one of my all-time favorite tunes. But it's dangerous for me to listen to it while driving. I had it rockin' the car loudly one night when I was headed home after signing off a radio station - came up to my 90-degree turn off the highway and tried it way too hot. Spun a 180 in the road, slammed it into first and went up that road like a scalded cat.

Had to go back the next day to pick up the center cap I threw off the RR wheel.

I blame it all on James Dean, the musical number.

Dave W · May 08, 2015, 05:19:09 PM

Quote from: Pilgrim on May 08, 2015, 10:48:50 AM
I don't dislike Wagner's music because he was an ardent anti-Semite. I don't dislike Henley's music because he's a butt.

Wagner's ghost just told me he plans to visit you and slap you upside the head for using his name in the same post as Henley's.

I've never been an Eagles fan so I don't need a pretext to dislike him personally.

Pilgrim · May 08, 2015, 05:24:29 PM

I wish you had been able to post that to Uwe. I would have looked forward to his reply. Possibly including Panzers.

Probably someone will get creative and come up with a new rap number with samples from Wagner: "Ride of the Home Boys."

Rob · May 08, 2015, 06:15:10 PM

Quote from: Dave W on May 08, 2015, 05:19:09 PM
Wagner's ghost just told me he plans to visit you and slap you upside the head for using his name in the same post as Henley's.

I've never been an Eagles fan so I don't need a pretext to dislike him personally.

Well. . . I wore a Henley collar shirt today.

uwe · May 11, 2015, 12:17:22 PM

Sorry, I find Wagner dreary, even if he hadn't been an anti-semite. But given how humorless he was, it fits: He probably had a hard time getting jewish humor.

Prefer Bach, Beethoven or Mozart (not a very original choice I know, but I hardly ever listen to classical music). Apart from the music, all that seer and sages stuff in Wagner's operas drive me mad, give me Verdi or Puccini any day, I like Italian opera, good entertainment is for me when the nice girl from the poor background with the tuberculosis sings a little aria before she succumbs in bed.

Henley's lyrics are infinitely better than Wagner's.

Dave W · May 11, 2015, 01:12:29 PM

I find Wagner dreary too. Not as dreary as anything connected to The Eagles. But to each his own. I have good friends who are fans of artists I can't listen to, and they probably feel the same way about some of mine.

westen44 · May 11, 2015, 02:53:03 PM

I don't like Don Henley, but I don't know if that would keep me from listening to the music. Lars Ulrich might be another matter. That would be harder. From what I've heard about him, his elitism might be unbearable IRL.

uwe · May 13, 2015, 12:02:19 PM

Lars is a card-carrying DP fan. Good man. Leave him alone!

westen44 · May 13, 2015, 01:32:35 PM

As for Lars, I'm not a hater, just pointing out that from what I've heard he doesn't like hanging out with the common people. I'm sure that could be said for a lot of celebrities. He should be glad to get all the support he can. I've openly said I like the drumming on "St. Anger," and I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on that.

uwe · May 13, 2015, 01:47:10 PM

Although I don't listen to it frequently, I thought St. Anger was a brave experiment. So was Lulu. Moan all you want about Metallica, but they defy expectations and are not held ransom by their fanbase. That is why they are Metallica and not Armoured Saint.

Lars is just like spoiled rotten ADS kids are once they have grown up and made their first 100 million.

westen44 · May 13, 2015, 03:34:10 PM

Maybe St. Anger was a good name for the album because it did seem to actually make quite a few people angry. I distinctly remember being around a few of them myself. Their attitude kind of puzzled me, especially since mine was just the opposite. Lars himself thought the reaction was extreme (especially about not liking the drums) and I agree with him.

uwe · May 13, 2015, 03:50:38 PM

It sounded like a rehearsal room with slightly nasty acoustics and to all intents and purposes was meant to sound like that. They said that all along.

westen44 · May 13, 2015, 08:02:40 PM

I also thought it was clear that they were deliberately going for a raw sound. I liked it immediately. Obviously, though, there were quite a few others who didn't. Whatever their reasons were, I didn't relate to their dissatisfaction. I've even had one or two people bring up how they felt betrayed by the St. Anger album when we hadn't even been discussing Metallica in the first place.

Psycho Bass Guy · May 14, 2015, 12:27:06 PM

Quote from: uwe on May 13, 2015, 01:47:10 PM
Although I don't listen to it frequently, I thought St. Anger was a brave experiment. So was Lulu. Moan all you want about Metallica, but they defy expectations and are not held ransom by their fanbase. That is why they are Metallica and not Armoured Saint.

Metallica is Metallica because Cliff Burton showed Het how to compose. Kill 'Em All, written mostly before Cliff was in the band, was very much largely just a rehash of their NBWHM roots, musically and thematically, but Ride the Lighting was neo-prog thrash with just enough raw rock sensibility to keep it from being too pretentious for millions of pissed off working class headbangers. Master of Puppets cemented Metallica as thrash gods and they have been riding that wave ever since. Even devoid of bass, ...and Justice for All has Cliff's fingerprints all over it. Without those groundbreaking albums, no one would have given half a shit about the crap that was the "the Black Album" and given them a rabid fanbase to slowly alienate as they went from torn jeans to Gucci capri pants while playing grab-ass with pop-schlock production. I don't know whether to laugh or cry whenever I hear the semi-recent Avenged Sevenfold song on the radio that uses triggered drum samples from "the Black Album." IMO, the bravest thing they did post-Cliff was S&M, and even it was mostly bland. Now they're just a sad self-parody, I don't care how many millions they rake in. In 50 years, no one will care about St. Anger, but "Harvester of Sorrow," "Welcome Home/Sanitarium," and "Creeping Death" will still be classics.