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Worst musical genres ever.

I quite like this opera. How to describe the first atomic test explosion in music? I think Adams does well. Some good singing elsewhere too....

I know the libretto was largely taken from Oppenheimer's book, but much of it seems somewhere between "prosaic" and "silly" to me.
 
I think opera has to be silly to work. Nixon in China and Death of Klinghoffer are fine operas but loosely accurate with an element of pantomime. Glass operas are the same.
 
My bete noire is the awful crop of 90s boy bands that always centre on a plodding 4 4 beat. You know the ones, boyzone, westlife, lighthouse, etc, off they go, da da da chhh da da da chhh da da da.... It's horrible.
 
I think opera has to be silly to work. Nixon in China and Death of Klinghoffer are fine operas but loosely accurate with an element of pantomime. Glass operas are the same.

Maybe that's why the only ones I can sort of tolerate are the ones in languages I don't understand...
 
I guess I know what you're getting at.. but as a teenager in 1989/1990 obsessed with Death, Autopsy, Obituary, Repulsion, Master, Nihilist etc it wasn't about the 'complex musical construction'. I think that came a bit later (and tbh it's where I lost interest a bit!)

Any of those bands had far different musical constructions from earlier heavy metal and thrash bands far from binary or ternary form of cycle between verse and chorus in a musical piece. It was more of a series of different phrases together in a song. It became much more complex years after with the new wave of prog/tech death metal, but even the 80's had extremely technical and complex metal with prog influences like Atheist. Even Metallica.
 
I think opera has to be silly to work. Nixon in China and Death of Klinghoffer are fine operas but loosely accurate with an element of pantomime. Glass operas are the same.
Did you go to the Edinburgh Festival Death of K? That production made me really angry.
 
Did you go to the Edinburgh Festival Death of K? That production made me really angry.


Death of Klinghoffer has always been controversial. Why did it make you angry? Yes I went and enjoyed it, but I have always enjoyed Adams' singing parts, forgetting the libretto. I was a bit worried at the beginning when the audience was invaded by men carrying large guns. They then kidnapped members of the audience and dragged them onstage, including the bloke in the wheelchair. It was a relief when they ALL started singing.... :)

That reminds me that I have a DVD of the opera, Adams conducting the LSO. There is a lot of cinema involved. Think I will give it a spin now.
 
Death of Klinghoffer has always been controversial. Why did it make you angry? Yes I went and enjoyed it, but I have always enjoyed Adams' singing parts, forgetting the libretto. I was a bit worried at the beginning when the audience was invaded by men carrying large guns. They then kidnapped members of the audience and dragged them onstage, including the bloke in the wheelchair. It was a relief when they ALL started singing.... :)

That reminds me that I have a DVD of the opera, Adams conducting the LSO. There is a lot of cinema involved. Think I will give it a spin now.
It was the mock hostage taking in the venue after we had had the Moscow theatre siege. It’s a great opera.
 
However, I just don't get heavy metal. I find it juvenile and lacking in humour, range, invention, depth or subtlety.
I like to keep an open mind and am willing to be persuaded.

Can anyone recommend some heavy metal that might change my mind?

* before age 40
Generally speaking, me neither, but I also like to keep an open mind. Indeed, finding the odd gem amongst a genre that on the whole hasn't yet clicked is one of the great pleasures in appreciating music. I ****ing love Tool (insert Finbar Saunders quote here)...I've heard them described as 'prog metal' which is both immediately off-putting, yet also a pretty fair descriptor.

 
For metal haters, there's also Opeth. One minute they're screaming death metal growls at you (although not on the last couple of albums). The next you're grooving with mellotron and then chilling with some lovely acoustic number.

This and Face of Melinda are two of my favourite Opeth tracks,


The finishing riff from 4.30 is just sublime.

 
Metal has evolved considerably since the NWOBHM days, and I can't think of a more diverse genre. I don't like it all, a fair bit isn't my cup of tea. Incessant death metal growls and chugging guitar can be tiresome. Masks, costumes and posing I find hard to watch with a straight face. I prefer it performed with people dressed in t-shirt and jeans or nice shirt and trousers.

Ally
Honorable member of the metal fashion police
 
I'm ashamed to admit it but I don't get on well with Reggae. There are of course exceptions. I played Benjamin Zephaniah's - Rasta album to death when it came out. Also, Reggae's philosophical ideals and politics I very much align with.

Ally
 
Going through the record collection last night, 20 years after buying, I'm still not sure about 'Power Electronics' of Whitehouse et al.
 
The correct answer is 'World music', especially when it is appropriated by white people. Bundu Boys, remember them, only social workers liked them & they all met a sad end. Paul Simon - Graceland, utter shite.
 
The correct answer is 'World music', especially when it is appropriated by white people. Bundu Boys, remember them, only social workers liked them & they all met a sad end. Paul Simon - Graceland, utter shite.
I find Im more tolerant of those singing out of poverty and repression ... love te social,worker comment...but from what i recall the Bundu boys were community workers and leaders keen to set an example of non violence and showcase South African tribal culture..... see talking like a social worker.... i bought a s/h Bundu boys a year back.It had the hit on it... the rest was well below that standard

But that music was for the open air....

Just like Reggae... its outdoors music firstly and thats a good way to listen to it even if recorded.

music with too much cocaine involved i avoid as much as possible... even John Martyn and Jeff Beck blew some of their skills away as well as current cocaine influenced musicians
 


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