Pollyanna
Platinum Member
Sure, GD, point made. Any "genre" that includes November Rain, Relax, Over The Rainbow, Bohemian Rhapsody, American Pie, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Sex Machine, You Learn and Blister in the Sun (All-Time Top Pop Singles list from GD's link) is too broad to be useful.
But the context of this thread is about commercial bands being crap.
Another thing to consider is that the recording quality was poor. If a band's focus is more on sound than energy/power/groove and songs rely on subtle nuances in the studio for their character, then a bad recording sound will kill it, especially if the vocalist - the main thing in this music - has weak foldback and doesn't have enough stage experience to compensate.
Compare the studio and live of INXS's Burn For You:
Live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHWcjnDFts
Studio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTBsztbSM3U
The studio is a great piece of pop IMO but the live recording isn't too flash.
I hated playing supports for Top 40 bands in the 80s. The crowds would only turn up when the headline act was due to start, and more than once we were sabotaged by their sound crews. The crew for The Venetians left the PA howling with low end feedback for our enitre set. I guess it ensured we wouldn't upstage them - as if that would happen anyway.
There was another gig (forgot the main act) where we were given the most gruesome monitoring and we couldn't get it fixed. My toms were inaudible, my snare was normal volume and my kick sounded like the 1812 Overture!
So good to be out of that scene ...
But the context of this thread is about commercial bands being crap.
Another thing to consider is that the recording quality was poor. If a band's focus is more on sound than energy/power/groove and songs rely on subtle nuances in the studio for their character, then a bad recording sound will kill it, especially if the vocalist - the main thing in this music - has weak foldback and doesn't have enough stage experience to compensate.
Compare the studio and live of INXS's Burn For You:
Live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzHWcjnDFts
Studio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTBsztbSM3U
The studio is a great piece of pop IMO but the live recording isn't too flash.
I hated playing supports for Top 40 bands in the 80s. The crowds would only turn up when the headline act was due to start, and more than once we were sabotaged by their sound crews. The crew for The Venetians left the PA howling with low end feedback for our enitre set. I guess it ensured we wouldn't upstage them - as if that would happen anyway.
There was another gig (forgot the main act) where we were given the most gruesome monitoring and we couldn't get it fixed. My toms were inaudible, my snare was normal volume and my kick sounded like the 1812 Overture!
So good to be out of that scene ...