Bad opinions • Page 298

I tried the Big Sean thing and something about him just really rates on me like I can't do it. I'm kinda glad the whole "punchline flow" died out a bit.

 

see me now is the best big sean verse

 

Big Sean is a more interesting artist for sure, but like not by a huge margin

They're both pretty good back to back on Looking For Trouble

 

Now I'm playing it for the first time in a few years and Cole's verse is all very basic boring stuff even if it is technically way better executed than Sean's verse, which also has a lot of cringeworthy lines (and feels like it was added late and mixed poorly).

 

This wasnt controversial when the album came out but it seems to be now,

Sun Kil Moon - Benji is still a 9/10 album for me. Would be a 10 if not for that damn Jim Wise song. Basically none of my friends except Jake Jenkins is a fan of SKM, even if they were before, and i hear a lot that its cause hes been an asshole publicly since he released that album, which i wont deny, he has.

The lyrics are so touching, and as scatterbrained and open journal-styled as they are, you really start to notice the more you listen that songs like "Dogs" and "Ben's my friend" actually convey powerful, and deliberate, underlying messages about human nature... when you see the big picture and dont get lost in all the little random anecdotes and imagery he brings up.

Musically so beautiful too and even the dull moments like "I Love My Dad" still are endearing in their simplicity. You get the vibe from that basic blues riff and simple 2/4 beat that his dad is just a simple guy. And that song stands out in the way that it points out love for a family member is a deep part of you even if they were abusive or not a great influence on your childhood. Knowing that in spite of the emotional damage and torment, deep down they care about you.

Its crazy to think that in one song he's bleary eyed and sentimental about his dad, but in "I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Same" you also see a lot of the bitterness, and self doubt, and depression, and callous treatment of others that likely stemmed from a rocky relationship with his father.

I know that he has a Bud Light, Blue Collar Comedy persona or whatever and talks a lot of shit... but that album really reveals the hurt in his personal life, that probably influenced that mask he puts on when he's performing and/or drunk.

 

No love for Jim Wise? Maybe it's the lyrical themes set to a lullaby that makes it one of the more compelling songs on the album for me. Curious to hear why you're not a fan.

There's so much to unpack in that album, I don't even know where to start. The whole thing is a gut punch really, from "Carissa" all the way through, I have to be in a certain mood to make it through the whole thing. "Ben's My Friend" is like a weird beam of sunlight at the end though, which I suppose was intended and is poetic.

Still a classic album for me, but it is one of those times where as a fan/listener you have to navigate Mark's antics/shtick or whatever.

 

I haven't listened to that album in a couple years. It's due for a revisit, but that style really needed to be a "just one album" thing

 

Seems very isolated from the themes of needing to bring family closer because you never know when youll lose them. And the themes of going back home and learning how you became the person you became.

Heartwrenching story but its a sore thumb on the album and gives the album a low point musically that it wouldnt have otherwise.

Well hes going through a midlife crisis. Death is all around him in his family and he has aches and pains that hinder him on tour. Going home for Carissa's funeral made him feel heavy because it ignited a lot of memories of his childhood that still affect him today, and made him do some soul searching.

"Ben's my friend" first talks about what his life was like while recording an album about that trip. I imagine he came back with a lot of anxiety and started to feel like the grind of a music career was too much. Then he sees another 40 something musician he knows, Ben Gibbard, and Ben rocking out on stage even though hes probably going through the same thing, while Mark feels totally out of place, encourages and almost energizes Mark to press on, and stop letting his worries interfere with what he loves to do. That his music career isnt over just because he feels more mortal and vulnerable at this age.

Its the perfect outro to the album because you can tell by the lyrics that its the last song he wrote and recorded. The album was about a very heavy time in his life, why not sum it up with the story of what inspired you to keep going and put it on a record? I want to be a career musician myself so to me its a fascinating look into what its like on the other side of a long music career.

As long as the artist doesnt abuse people or support prejudiced/violent organizations. I tend to separate being entertained, and liking someone. Im never going to know Mark Kozelek or be his friend in my life. It doesnt bother me to appreciate an art form from a distance.

 

Interesting take. Guess I've always viewed the album about morality in general, from his family (Carissa, his uncle) to people he never knew (massacres in "Pray for Newtown," Richard Ramirez, James Gandolfini dying at the same age his drummer currently is), with Jim Wise fitting somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. But I do agree about the rest with Ben being an (unknowing) inspiration to him.

 

Moose Blood is pretty underrated

 

I don't know where else to put this but my cousin just told me I remind her of Anthony Ronald McDonald and I've never been so upset in my life

EDIT: who is responsible for this word filter LMAO

 

Moose Blood is pretty overrated

 

Pretty extremely overrated

 

I grew up listening to Dave Matthews Band. My dad and my older brothers all love Dave Matthews Band so I've always liked him by default. It's not until just recently as I revisit his stuff that I realize I don't like him. I have nothing against the songwriting or the musicianship, I just cannot stand his voice. I rarely feel that way about anyone.

 

DMB is fucking garbage and all my friends in high school loved them and took me to a concert once

 

DMB has some annoying fans and "hike up your skirt a little more and show the world to me" is arguably the worst lyric but I like some of their songs and Boyd Tinsley is super talented

 

he's truly awful, zero redeeming qualities

 

DMB is good. Their fans generally are not

 

Crush is a great song. His singles are okay. I rallied against him and his bros in HS but he's not that bad

 

College Dropout>Late Registration (although both are masterpieces)

I don't enjoy Weezer at all, and have never considered Pinkerton an "emo" album.

 

the first one doesn't seem that unpopular to me at all and the second one is fine as far as not liking them goes but of course pinkerton is an emo album lol

 

very much an emo/indie rock album but genres r dumb anyways

 

Pinkerton isn't very good, emo or not

 

Whoa, we agree

 

it's Rivers' worst impulses all rolled into one fun package