The White Stripes, or any other good band, isn't necessarily ruined by being on MTV, but the problem arises when MTV, or a radio station or whatever plays the song so often, over and over, and then other wanna-be songs that sound just like it start getting played, and it makes you so prematurely sick of the song. There is nothing worse than great songs getting played ad nauseum.

The only decent music scene is old music and underground. I have two ways I answer the question, " What kind of music do you listen to?" When asked:

In the past I’d say, “"Probably things that you've never heard of,” as I tug down my too-tight vintage argyle sweater and turn my toes to each other in my plaid skirt and black thick soled Mary Jane’s.

Now a days it’s more like, “I listen to all music, with the emphasis on "all.” This cop-out never works. So I am hard-pressed to either sound like some aging hipster or pretentious snob: "I listen to a lot of underground stuff: punk, pop, noise, dance…”

Bottom line, today’s mainstream rocks sucks, and has for a long time. If you want good tunes, you gotta dig for ‘em.

Addressing the question what is emo, this definition seems to do it best.

Emo is Hardcore Punk music with sensitive and emotional lyrics. The music is epitomized by post-Grunge, edgy rock with explosive energy mixed with sensitivity. Emotional lyrics about sadness, love and even anger are common lyrical theme.

Thanks, theusername. I got into the "dream pop" branch of punk in the 1990s. Stuff like Lush and My Bloody Valentine. Some people would put Cocteau Twins and Curve in that category too, but Curve's early stuff was more like techno with heavy guitars, and Cocteau Twins had been doing their own thing much earlier.

You hit that one on the head BIG TIME.

All you see now are a bunch guitarist (I use this term losely) strumming out cords with angst. That's it.

I guess you can link the bad music to the loss of the guitar solo.

I love all that stuff! Good taste... ;)

Were we separated at birth by any chance? :lol:

Being one with less mainstream tastes, I'm keeping an eye on the growing momentum of the underground American Black Metal scene. I love the intense, heavy sound, and many of the bands are not signed to labels and never will be because they focus on the music and not the money they can make from it. I just hope that the new incarnation of the genre isn't as litered with violence as its European predecessor. I really don't think a musician stabbing another dozens of times out of fear that someone else is gaining too much recognition will go over too well. Same with killing band members and eating their brains. One such incident
would draw so much criticism and ire from far more than just the ultra-religious that it would cripple underground metal in this country, most likely permanently.
Can someone please tell me what's so great about the White Stripes? I can see that some of their stuff isn't bad, but I odn't see what the huge hype is about. I should try to remember and paraphrase the 20-minute rant I started when Jack white made Rolling Stone's greatest guitarists list. I mean, he's got some talent, but just as an example, there's no excuse for putting him at 17 and David Gilmour at 82

As for the White Stripe they're just a good band that doesn't take thier music too seriously . I say they're one of the most original bands out at the moment imho. The Elephant album was a nice addition to my colllection.

HAHAHAH are you fuckin kidding me? Holy shit did they just lose a shitload of credibility... that's sad. And here I thought Rolling Stone was the last of the rock mags with some dignity.

Like I said in another thread.. the guy can play guitar enough to have a mainstream musical career, but he's nothing special. If you put him at 17, then why not the guitarist for Nickelback/Papa Roach/Staind at 18? They have about the same amount of talent.

Seriously, not to knock anyone who listens to him, but his solos are SLOPPY. Anyone could pull off the same sound by accurately hitting random frets above the 12th fret with some bends and a bit of speed. There's no feeling to them.

It's not the fault of people who buy disposable music from disposable artists who do nothing more than polute the music scene with their uninventive dribble - those bands will always exist. There will always be good and inventive bands, it's just that people are too lazy to look for such bands and with the way things are set up - it's impossible to rise to any kind of fame without the right connections and a fan base the size of Wisconsin.

Black and death metal are great examples. You've got amazing black and death metal acts that've reshaped the entire market and they'll never be known outside of black and death metal enthusiasts simply because people are far too lazy to venture out and find something new. Death practically invented death metal - almost every death metal act today pays homage (whether they'd like to or not) every time they step on stage and play. These bands have existed and will exist until the last note is ever played - it's just a matter of getting off your ass and looking for the music instead of expecting it to come to you.

What's with all the emo hate in this thread? Half the "emo" bands in this thread that are hated against aren't even emo. There are a number of talented emo and emo-core acts out there that write songs with a purpose and do more than drone on about how Mommy threw out my Twisted Sister records and daddy left. because I didn't make the football team. Also, for a 2-piece band White Stripes (isn't it sans the -the?) are an amazingly versatile band - just listen to "Seven Nation Army". The whole song was done on the same guitar...

What everyone is listening to might suck but what's popular almost always sucks - look and you'll find the good music is there just waiting in antipation to be listened to.
Black and death metal are a great example. There are some amazing black and death metal acts now who continue to reinvent the market every time they put out an album. You've got bands like Death who are known by everyone in the scene but not many people outside of the scene eventhough they're one of the biggest influences on death metal.

See, matter of opinion. It sounds like you equate good guitar playing to precision. I'd venture a guess that you're a fan of Joe Satriani and his ilk. I think White plays with reckless abandon, and no matter how "sloppy" you think it is, I think it's full of passion and just balls out rock energy.

Comparing him to the guitarists of Nickelback or whoever is insulting. Guitar "skills" vs. originality is a huge thing.

That said, I think Gilmour should have been #1 on Rolling Stone's list, but that's a pipe dream, as his guitar playing isn't "sexy" enough for anyone to give him the credit he deserves.

Whenever I hear Jack White's solos, I don't get the impression that they have a lot of feeling behind them unlike other players such as Slash or Jimmy Page.

Whenever they (or most other very talented artists) belt out a solo, it always seems to fit right in. I haven't heard all White Stripes songs, but the ones I HAVE heard have solos that sound so totally out of place.

It's definitely a matter of opinion, but also a matter of what one considers art and talent. For example, an artist can paint a simple stripe on a clear canvas. Some people might look at that stripe and go "wow, that is the most beautiful piece of art I've ever seen" while others say "...it's a f'n stripe. Paint something like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and then we'll talk.."

rock....jeez.....first, i no longer know exactly what it is.
aor?

assuming i know what i am talking about:
for myself, when i was younger, i was glad this music was out there.
at that point, most of it was new to me.
it did not represent a kind of stagnation.
now it does.

whether this sense comes from radio, from mtv, from having the records--from repetition--or if it is a quality of the music itself, i can no longer tell.

sometimes, if i have not heard something for a long time, i'll be able to listen again----e.g. "tomorrow never knows"---other such music i can deal with in a wallpaper sense if i am doing something else---e.g. led zep in a bar (except for stairway to heaven, which i loathe)....

i still listen to newer bands and sometimes like them--radiohead since ok computer for example--broadcast (mostly because i liked stereolab and then got bored with them and broadcast uses the same basic sound with cooler electronics)...and i like a clutch of japanese bands that work out of the general space of rock (psycehdelic variant)...particularly acid mothers temple.

acid mothers is the only reason i can still remember why i liked rock in the first place.

i have music from lots of styles on my i-tunes playlist. sometimes, when something straighter turns up in the collage, i rather like it.
sometimes, i delete it.

i dont feel badly about this, really--i dont feel like i loose anything because of it---it is simply a fact.

sigh.
The best music ever is the music you were listening to between ages 17-23.
From that point on you will be disappointed in and bitch about all new music.

"Why do they have to have new bands? Everyone knows rock music attained
perfection in 1974, it's a scientifically proven fact!" - Homer Simpson

actually, for what its worth, i know about music that is much more interesting and much more emotionally involving to me now than i had any idea existed when i was 17-23.

rock was never the best music i listened to.
for example, it was hard to get worked up about the dead when i already knew later coltrane.
rock was one option among many. and it is an option that has simply stagnated, that i lost interest in.
no nostalgia for it.
and still less for being 17-23.

best "mainstream" solo to come out in the last 8 years?

Audioslave- Like a stone


im a huge rage fan, and a big soundgarden fan, but not a big audioslave fan.

that solo may be easy as fuck, but man, the tone tom morello gets out of it is fantastic. very very epic.