So many bands trying to be Radiohead. . .

Hantra · « **on:** 1 Dec 2004, 01:08 pm »

I am so amazed at how many bands are out there now just shamelssly imitating Radiohead.

I am listening to XM right now, and there is a band called The Veils doing a song called Lavinia. It's just amazingly similar to something one would hear on The Bends. Coldplay and Muse are two other bands that try really hard to be Radiohead.

The other day, there was a Muse song on XM, and I was grooving to it at the office thinking it was Radiohead. Then I looked down, and was SHOCKED that it wasn't Radiohead.

It's one thing to be like White Stripes, and try hard to get that Led Zeppelin sound b/c at least they are a bit unique about it. Not only that, but it's not like Zeppelin is going to come out with anymore material, and they're 35 years old!

But to just shamelessly imitate a band that is coming with new material, and touring, that's just not right.

ted_b · « **Reply #1 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 01:47 pm »

B,
Hey, how are you? I agree.....except I wish they (Radiohead) WOULD release new stuff and tour....it's been too long

JoshK · « **Reply #2 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 02:00 pm »

The same is true for just about every popularly excepted band. I haven't heard the Veils. First time I heard Muse, I thought the same thing. I have the album and I would say it is more the one song then their whole sound IMO.

8thnerve · « **Reply #3 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 02:25 pm »

Yeah, okay, but don't pick on Coldplay, they've been cool since way before they were "known". I can agree that they have a similar electronic suicidal air, but Coldplay's seems more like Portishead in that regard. Have you heard Carbon Leaf. They sound like a Coldplay/Radiohead influenced stem from the Thorns. Wierd, but I like it.

In other news, I will finally get to hook up the second voice coil on the Gallo bass module tonight. I can't wait to be back in 20 Hz land again.

ctviggen · « **Reply #4 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 03:01 pm »

I like Muse, but I've never heard Radiohead. Does this mean I'll like Radiohead, too?

JoshK · « **Reply #5 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 03:04 pm »

Quote from: ctviggen

I like Muse, but I've never heard Radiohead. Does this mean I'll like Radiohead, too?

I think it would mean you'd like "The Bends" by Radiohead and probably the first album Pablo Honey too. Thing with Radiohead is their albums are quite different from one another, so some of my friends love one or tow of their albums and hate others. Then they are some that love them all.

woodsyi · « **Reply #6 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 03:24 pm »

I like them for all their stuff. Whether you like them or not, their music certains calls for great audio gear. If you only listen to them on car radios (begging pardon for those who are really into car stuff) you are missing out on some really good "music".

Hantra · « **Reply #7 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 03:39 pm »

Well I honestly have never heard Colplay except for what I've heard on the radio. Then again, that's why I've never heard anything else. I'm not exactly inspired to seek it out to see what it's about after hearing the radio stuff. Plus, it doesn't help that what's his face knocked up Gwyneth either. Bastard.

Nevertheless, I guess you're right about it happening quite a bit these days, I just don't really notice it that much b/c most stuff being imitated now sucks anyway.

It's kind of like Mrs. Doubtfire 2. Just makes you ask WHY.

slurve · « **Reply #8 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 03:52 pm »

I would just like to second the notion that I just dont see the similarity between the two bands, although I have heard more than a few people say that. Having listened to and enjoyed both extensively, the only thing I see in common seems to be that they are British. I think this a lot of British bands tend to get labled as being like some other British band. Fine by me, as I have come across most of my favorite material over the past few years( Travis, Idlewild, Coldplay, Keane) through these comparsions.

Just a thought
J

Hantra · « **Reply #9 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 04:22 pm »

Quote from: slurve

I think this a lot of British bands tend to get labled as being like some other British band. Fine by me, as I have come across most of my favorite material over the past few years( Travis, Idlewild, Coldplay, Keane) through these comparsions.
J

J: Ever listen to Boo Radleys? That's one of my fav Brit bands, but I don't think they've put out an album in 10 years.

jpsartre · « **Reply #10 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 08:26 pm »

Similar to what happened when Nirvana came out in the early 90's and everybody started trying to sound like that. There's very little musical innovation and too much immitation these days, across the board.

Carlman · « **Reply #11 on:** 1 Dec 2004, 09:46 pm »

What I think happens (ala Kurt Kobain, Beatles, Elvis, whatever..) is that people imitate them because they like them... and then they get signed because it's economically viable for the record companies to do so. So, by the time that genre is exhausted, then the exec's go out looking for new stuff. So, it's not like it's the artist's 'fault'... they were playing what they liked and got signed. Good for them. Eventually a sound will come out that some band that's been around a million years already sounds like... and they'll get signed... not because they're all of a sudden good, just because they have the popular sound.

Anyway, that's my 2 pennies. As to Radiohead, I like OK Computer the best. However, to me they're like trance music and there's a million new 'trance' 'musicians' out there... So, if you look at it from that angle, yeah, they all sound alike.... but, they each have a flavor of some sort... just depends on how deep you want to get into it.

-C

jpsartre · « **Reply #12 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 12:12 am »

No doubt about that. Even back in the '70s bands had to stick to a commercial formula to get large advancements from the labels. Case in point Pink Floyd after DSOTM. Ironically, that's when they stopped enjoying making music, by their own admission.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #13 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 04:34 am »

I've never heard Radiohead, either. Very rarely do I listen to radio at all, and then I avoid the extremely popular stuff. I imagine my aversion to pop leads me to miss out on some good things, but Radiohead's been so hyped-to-death & sold so many albums that I just assumed they're crap. Maybe I'll have to check them out after all.

It's certainly not new to see a band come up with a semi-original sound only to have every wanker with a guitar start to imitate them. It's a lot easier to copy something than to create something.

ted_b · « **Reply #14 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 04:55 am »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

I imagine my aversion to pop leads me to miss out on some good things, but Radiohead's been so hyped-to-death & sold so many albums that I just assumed they're crap. Maybe I'll have to check them out after all.....

I

Ron,
Yes, do yourself a BIG favor and take some time to get into Radiohead. They are not a band that hits you over the head with one great song, and then you're hooked....only to find out that they have nothing left in the tank. They are a band that takes some listening, but I believe are 1 of 2 or 3 truly great things to happen to modern music in the last 10 years. OK Computer, to me, is a perfect album, a 10, written and performed as though they were abducted by the aliens they sing about, taught how to make an album, then came home and made it. They learned songwriting in The Bends, then learned to put it all together in OKC. Next came Kid A and Amnesiac (almost like Parts 1 and 2 of the same album,really) and are definitely a delibrate journey away from the sound of OKC, and not a place to start your Radiohead introduction with, IMO (as good as these are, they are very electronica and require a lot of patience...then it sinks in) . Then they returned to the guitar-oriented sound in Hail To The Thief, which I happen to like very much, but some found it disjointed. "There There' is a track that is very accessible and not a bad place to start.

I'm 50 and was turned onto them by my college-age son on vacation a couple years ago. I consider it a nice favor returned, since I turned him on to The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Dylan, etc etc.

Ted_B

JoshK · « **Reply #15 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 04:24 pm »

I agree with Ted's assesment of Radiohead, more or less. Actually I owned Pablo Honey (their first, most raw, just starting out album) in my early college years and didn't like it so I traded it to a friend for some other album I can't remember now. I was into them at the time and so I dismissed them for a few years when some of my other friends were into them.

Then in grad school I finally relistened to them, starting with OK Computer, but I was mixed about whether I like it or not at the time. I didn't sink in right away, the genius of what they were doing. I finally bought The Bends and was hooked. This is probably my favorite album of theirs still because it is the most guitar oriented with good song writing album of RH's. I picked up Pablo Honey again and it had a whole new light. I think this is the most underrated of their albums and it quite good actually.

OK Computer in my mind is a genius album but not quite as accessible because it is genius. It of course was/is the most critically acclaimed RH alb and what drove them to fame. The first time you hear it, you might ask yourself, what is all the hype? I think this is normal for this alb.

Then I think RH did want seems normal for a highly tauted band that has to follow up such a critically acclaimed alb, they went into experimenting with their sound and broke free of what people expected from a RH album. This is the works involved in Kid A and Amnesiac, which I admit took some getting use to for me but now I think they are yet another great work of RH. Then they turned back to Bends/OKC style with Hail to the Theif. I love this alb too but it isn't quite a genius in my mind; really good but not great.

I think if you want to start with RH you will have to decide whether you want to start with their best or most accessible. If you start with their best though be prepared to not "get it" at first. Its kinda a creeper, imo.

woodsyi · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 07:02 pm »

Didn't Smashing Pumpkins out "creep" RH that year?

Hantra · « **Reply #17 on:** 2 Dec 2004, 07:48 pm »

Quote from: woodsyi

Didn't Smashing Pumpkins out "creep" RH that year?

What year was that?

jasonc · « **Reply #18 on:** 6 Jan 2005, 01:17 am »

Like many my first introduction to radiohead was Creep.. I liked the song but not enough to go find the album (Pablo Honey) and discover more.
The day I heard Fake Plastic Trees on the radio driving home from college changed things.. needless to say I picked up The Bends soon after. I no longer own this same CD because I played it until it would no longer function correctly. I got a new one.
What others are saying about the other albums says it well.
If you have the noggin for radiohead then you need to check out The Wrens. The album is The Meadowlands. This one just continues to blow me away.
Usually one of two things happen when i get a new album, either I like it immediatly and my interest dies down over time or the opposite when I'm not too impressed and then the album grows on me and we become friends.
This one has taken me on a different journey. I liked it immediatly, however there was a small window when I thought I had the album pinned so I didn't listen to it as much. Not soon after what you could call this blue period, it just started unleashing awesome stuff. I've been listening to it for quite some time now. It's a brilliant album which I see could just potentially follow the same fait as my first radiohead purchase.

Hantra · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 Mar 2005, 02:02 am »

I wussed out and bought the Keane disc. I must admit that I like it. It's growing on me. . .