Monday, July 09, 2007

Teenage Nervous Breakdown

Apropos of a heated conversation on one of the threads downstairs, I was musing to myself yesterday about how the whole grunge thing -- Pearl Jam in particular -- was basically nothing more than just Led Zeppelin riffage with angsty lyrics replacing the macho squeeze-yer-lemon stuff. And how when bands figured out that it was even more commercial to insert big melodic pop choruses you got -- tada -- emo (and by the way -- emo will forever be for me merely one of the two stupidest coinages for a rock genre).

In any case, here's a sort of barely pre-emo song that sums up the whole esthetic -- Tonic's "You Wanted More."



Goddamn thing's infernally catchy, of course.

True confession: Back in the day, I had to review the DVD of American Pie for the Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review, and that video was one of the bonus features. I used to play it obsessively, which should give you an insight into my emotional state at the time.

PS: A coveted PowerPop No-Prize to the reader who guesses the second incredibly stupid genre coinage.

20 comments:

Dave said...

Hm, dunno, sounds closer to Savage Garden than emo to me. Which would be a compliment if they'd have the guts to go all-out with the Savage Garden.

Dave said...

Oh, and it's gotta be "ACTIVE," right? Or is that more of a radio categorization? Otherwise, probably "grunge." Or, um, "power pop." (Sorry, don't excommunicate me.)

steve simels said...

Nu Metal.

Don't know how to do the umlaut in HTML.

Dave said...

That is worse. But I am all for a good genre coinage.

Anonymous said...

I dunno, I think the coinage of "nerdcore" is pretty lame, though I like the music.

(Did you really figure out how to embed your own videos? I told you it was easy.)

--NYM

Kid Charlemagne said...

I've always hated "shoegazing."
It's a genre that deserved a better name, especially considering great bands like Ride.

steve simels said...

NYM --

I thought you posted the video. I didn't do anything...


Weird....

steve simels said...

dave:

If you're still there, any thoughts on Rooney?

I have to review their new album this week, so I'm curious...

Kid Charlemagne said...

Steve,

I posted the video. Hope that's ok!!

Does Rooney still sound like ELO?

steve simels said...

KC:

Bless you for posting the vid. Somebody I'm gonna have to figure out how to do it myself, but if you're gonna be the i.t. guy, I'm down with it.

Actually, the Rooney CD mostly sounds like Wham. It's annoying, acually. I mean, if I want to hear George Michael pastiches, I'd rather hear them on the soundtrack of a Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore movie....

Kid Charlemagne said...

Steve,

That's a shame. The producer John Fields has done a lot of cool power pop stuff in the past.

I checked out a tune on Rooney's website and it was pretty vanilla sounding.

billy b said...

Can't lissen to the vid at work, but Tonic's toon Casual Affair from the debut album was nice.


Anyone got any thoughts on the story about Mr. Mojo Risin's demise?

Iara Alencar said...

enceradeira??

Kid Charlemagne said...

Floor polisher?? :o)

Iara Alencar said...

oi yes! I saw waxing the floor and he called me the attention. I am iara, Brazilian, nor I know as I found you.

Kid Charlemagne said...

Well Iara however you found us, welcome! We have a pretty firm rule here that we always encourage beautiful Brazilian women to post!

steve simels said...

Wow -- we're going international!

Iara Alencar said...

obrigada...thak's.

serĂ¡ um prazer.

Anonymous said...

I've always been slightly baffled and more than slightly irritated by "soft/light rock". Seriously, can you rock softly or lightly? If you think you can, you're not rockin'... I'm talkin' to you, Celine and Elton...

Tonic's first two albums are pretty solid, imo. The third was a bit formulaic and seemed to lack enthusiasm, which I suppose isn't unusual these days.

TMink said...

I think the song works. Nice guitars! A little earnest for me on the chorus, but I am just a cynical bastard that way.

The video does nothing for me.

Trey