The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 265

In Motion is great. On My Teeth was less my thing but it's good.

 

I hate the "You sold out" argument everyone tosses around when a band goes slightly on the poppier side for an album.

 

I definitely recommend you check it out!

 

The Word Alive is getting the same hate from people for their recent album.

 

My favorite thing that the singer has said regarding this album was something like "Our fans have grown and are allowed to expand their music tastes, so why can't a band?" Boom.

 

Perfect

You sold out and True Fans arguments really piss me off. And that posted managed to encompass both into his post somehow

 

No need to apologise! How's your brother doing?

 

He’s doing better, thank you! They had him walking a bit today, his white blood cells have stabilized more and he’s been moved to another room. There’s a chance he’ll go home Sunday or Monday if he keeps improving.

 

Love these two tweets from Telle.

 

The True Fans argument is often used by people who like an album and want to show others that they are wrong for not liking it. Because somehow being a true fan means blindly liking anything a band releases.

There are the people who throw a tantrum for every change a band makes, and those who blindly like anything a band puts out because they are "true fans". Both are bad and annoying.

 

while I agree people shouldn’t complain to the band, TWA do in particular seem to be going all in on the radio hard rock sound over the past couple releases. If I was a bigger fan of them I’d be pissed too because they’re remarkably boring.

Can’t remember which thread I said this in but the growth/mature angle from bands always sounds disingenuous since it almost invariably means poppier and, for me at least, really boring. Metal bands generally don’t make exciting hard rock imo. Again, that’s their choice, a perfectly reasonable one that fans should respect, but I don’t think it’s wrong for fans to be upset a band is going mainstream, especially when they call it “growth.” They just shouldn’t be entitled assholes about it.

 

I’ve seen the true fan argument go for people who don’t like an album. “True fans know this is the worst album XYZ band has made”

 

The true fan argument is the worst I think. That and “this isn’t __.” They are what they make lol

 

On the other side of the coin, TWA are extremely talented and are far better than metalcore. It’s inevitable that as people get older, including musicians, their tastes will change and it’s really refreshing to see them try something different, even if it doesn’t work out all the time.

 

Yeah that argument goes both ways and they are equally annoying.

 

People should just accept that a band is like a friend you've had some great times with, but that one day your paths might go different ways and you will keep the memories of those good times you've had together.

 

I like this analogy.

 

I can’t speak to their individual talents, all I know is that I like telle as a vocalist, but I didn’t think they ever wrote anything particularly interesting either so maybe I’m not the best to comment on their progression. I will say however I disagree with the thought if a band being “better than x genre.” Imo those bands should then bear the burden to expand the genre, not leave it. That line always makes my tastes feel invalidated, like there’s a linearity to musical maturity (not saying you’re doing that!) Why is pop seemingly the only genre that can be expanded into? Underoath are a great case study of this. Insanely talented, and wrote 3-5 really different stellar metalcore albums. Songs like Wake Me are imo a disservice to their talents, but No Frame is brilliant.

I guess my main point is what a lot of these bands call “trying something different” and “refreshing” sounds silly because there’s nothing different about a lot of these. The new word alive sounds like new parkway drive sounds like new all that remains and on and on and on. I’m not against poppier directions, I think UO nailed it, paramore nailed it. I think most bands are really bad at it. If it prolongs their career I’m happy for them and i think fans should respect it, I just, again, don’t think it’s an invalid criticism.

Hope none of that sounded combative/personal. I’m just perpetually frustrated that metalcore is dying. Or at least the brand of it that I like is lol

 

It’s all good. You are entitled to your opinion and I think there is truth in both of our points!

 

Agreed! I think another interesting example to your point is Silverstein. Their latest tried a lot of things that weren’t particularly innovative and very pop punky, but were still refreshing and new for them. And I friggin loved it.

 

I love the new Silverstein and give them a lot of credit for staying pretty relevant in a scene they helped foster.

 

New Silverstein is excellent - I think they are one of if not the most consistent band in their genre. I didn't think they had the innovation or longevity in them when they released Rescue but they bounced back incredibly well.

 

I think Rescue is underrated. Not their best for sure, but it deserves more love than it gets.

 

The new Silverstein is one of my favorites from them so I concur

 

This is a topical article considering the discussion y'all were having a couple of pages back