Wednesday's Emotional Setup: Try Honesty
Just a short one today, kids, as I need some sleep badly (still ache from Andrew WK, had some bad pizza, and K. and I are tired) and I'm going to do another actual journal entry tomorrow.
I don't, as a rule, like emo. The reason why is somewhat related to the reason I don't like, for example, Linkin Park. When I was visiting Shane in London whenever we would go somewhere I would usually ride in our old friend Jim's car, and he had Meteora on repeat. The actual music was pretty bland nu-metal stuff ('Nobody's Listening' aside, which is notable and likeable for nothing more than the minimalism and the fact that Chester Bennington sounds like he's just another sample they're using), but the depressing monotony of the lyrics and the pessimism therein really got to me.
I also hate the way Billy Talent's new single 'Try Honesty' starts. It's got some okay stop-start stuff going on, but then the singer (and I first saw this on TV, so the video was in effect as well), who is goofily intense and twitchy, sings in his whiny voice I tripped/Fell down/Naked, and I'm already half changing the channel. Sure, the guitarist has a neat haircut but this is more of that A Simple Plan For Taking Back Sunday With Three Days Grace stuff, right?
And then it is redeemed by something I had feared top 40 rock (as opposed to pop) had lost: the absolutely killer chorus. The singer's voice starts sounding like my good friend Jon's does when he sings, and he zips out a quick line and then the other two non-drummers start screaming Try honesty/Try honesty! with the guitars in full force in that fast riffing mode that is one of the few things modern 'punk' does well. And it rocks. It rocks like something very hard and rocky. And the first time at least, the band goes from nothing to everything very, very quickly, another underutilized skill these days.
It's notable both for the fact that the lead singer lets the other two get the money shot of the song (as it were), and also for the fact that the chorus is nice and long; after the first couplet there are three more with different lyrics and even a different refrain, and so most of the song is this awesome chorus. What are the lyrical sentiments? I don't care. Do they have any other good songs? I don't care. There's a middle eight and stuff, but I tend to forget it, and there's this completely awesome part right at the end where the chorus is going on repeat and the guitars stop just doing the whole clipped riff thing and go right off into a more extended bit. I don't know the terms for this stuff, but it hits the sectors of my brain that grew up with all sorts of awesome grunge/punk singles that were dumb as rocks but were also big and loud and great for pogoing on the couch and playing Mario Cart with friends. This song makes my head twitch back and forth involuntarily as if I want to headbang but my hindbrain can't quite engage the muscles fully.
So I'm just going to go play air guitar for another four minutes, if that's okay with you.
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Just a short one today, kids, as I need some sleep badly (still ache from Andrew WK, had some bad pizza, and K. and I are tired) and I'm going to do another actual journal entry tomorrow.
I don't, as a rule, like emo. The reason why is somewhat related to the reason I don't like, for example, Linkin Park. When I was visiting Shane in London whenever we would go somewhere I would usually ride in our old friend Jim's car, and he had Meteora on repeat. The actual music was pretty bland nu-metal stuff ('Nobody's Listening' aside, which is notable and likeable for nothing more than the minimalism and the fact that Chester Bennington sounds like he's just another sample they're using), but the depressing monotony of the lyrics and the pessimism therein really got to me.
I also hate the way Billy Talent's new single 'Try Honesty' starts. It's got some okay stop-start stuff going on, but then the singer (and I first saw this on TV, so the video was in effect as well), who is goofily intense and twitchy, sings in his whiny voice I tripped/Fell down/Naked, and I'm already half changing the channel. Sure, the guitarist has a neat haircut but this is more of that A Simple Plan For Taking Back Sunday With Three Days Grace stuff, right?
And then it is redeemed by something I had feared top 40 rock (as opposed to pop) had lost: the absolutely killer chorus. The singer's voice starts sounding like my good friend Jon's does when he sings, and he zips out a quick line and then the other two non-drummers start screaming Try honesty/Try honesty! with the guitars in full force in that fast riffing mode that is one of the few things modern 'punk' does well. And it rocks. It rocks like something very hard and rocky. And the first time at least, the band goes from nothing to everything very, very quickly, another underutilized skill these days.
It's notable both for the fact that the lead singer lets the other two get the money shot of the song (as it were), and also for the fact that the chorus is nice and long; after the first couplet there are three more with different lyrics and even a different refrain, and so most of the song is this awesome chorus. What are the lyrical sentiments? I don't care. Do they have any other good songs? I don't care. There's a middle eight and stuff, but I tend to forget it, and there's this completely awesome part right at the end where the chorus is going on repeat and the guitars stop just doing the whole clipped riff thing and go right off into a more extended bit. I don't know the terms for this stuff, but it hits the sectors of my brain that grew up with all sorts of awesome grunge/punk singles that were dumb as rocks but were also big and loud and great for pogoing on the couch and playing Mario Cart with friends. This song makes my head twitch back and forth involuntarily as if I want to headbang but my hindbrain can't quite engage the muscles fully.
So I'm just going to go play air guitar for another four minutes, if that's okay with you.
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