Date: October 19th, 2026 1:29 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
It's considered a fan favorite that anyone who listens to the full albums and not just the radio hits would know. Like there's probably ten times as many people in the world who know 1979 and Bullet With Butterfly Wings but if you know about Mayonaise you're sort of in the know.
Date: October 19th, 2026 10:09 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
It's really captures the essence of the 90s. I was listening to it yesterday and it dawned on me why he called the album Mellon Collie. Because that's what it is. The whole shtick is like this nostalgic Gen X faux melancholy. Like 1979 it's about lost youth. The whole bit is just about pretending to be sad for no reason. But it works. It really works. It's like what every dumbass white guy musician ever tried to do but Billy actually did it and did it well. It's what we would all do if we could but that level of talent is insanely rare.
Date: October 20th, 2026 12:24 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
Update: I just listened to it on the 2011 Remaster of Siamese Dream. Absolutely amazing. I can't believe how much better this version is than the 1993 CD master. Holy fuck it's so much better.
Date: October 20th, 2026 12:27 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
These new remasters are always 180. Have you listened to the mid-aughts beatles remasters? Fucking insane. Remember my first time listening to them on a pair of focal utopias. Was like holy fuck. Fell in love with abbey road all over again.
They actually used AI to mix this. They separated the voices with Peter Jackson's fancy algorithm that he used on the Get Back documentary. The version of Eleanor Rigby is insane. The violins are in stereo. This is better than anything people heard in the 60s. Yellow Submarine is crazy all the whacky sound effects are in stereo. All the individual voices can be picked out they don't blend together anymore. Somehow Paperback Writer on the bonus disc is incredible. I would pretty much buy these things every time they put put a new one.
I think Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures is coming out with a special remaster soon too. I think they did that one like 100% in analog or something. Who knows take my money.
Date: October 20th, 2026 12:44 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
Yeah I was reading about that a few years ago, about the algorithmic reconstruction. This might not be 100% technically accurate but going off of memory, I think I had read that the ai actually predicts what sound should have been there, if it had been done with less lossy instruments, so some of what you are hearing is "made up" almost in a sense. It doesn't sound synthetic to me though, so seems whatever they did was well calibrated. Also what was 180 about these versions is they have all kinds of cuts and versions that never made it to any released album before. Was 180 hearing the early versions of some of the songs.
Date: October 20th, 2026 1:00 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
Yeah the Sgt. Pepper one has a ton of alternate takes of some of their most famous songs. The AI stuff that separates the voices into multitrack sounds natural as fuck. There's no unwanted artifacts I can detect.
This new Zoot Allures 50th has 6 CDs lol. The funny thing to me is that it's really not that great an album. I say that as a pretty dyed in the wool Zappa fan. It's fairly mid to low mid as a record. But people listen to it because Black Napkins is an absolute banger and has early Steve Vai cooking on guitar solos. I honestly can't cosign any other track on that thing. How am I going to listen to 6 CDs worth of bonus content? I probably can't.
Date: October 20th, 2026 1:10 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
I never was big on zappa honestly. I tried to get into him, I really did. Both my boomer parents actually dug him, and my father had a huge collection of old zappa records. Tried to get into him but it just didn't do it for me. I didn't really find his shtick that interesting. Seemed like the cleverness itself was supposed to be the payoff. Obviously there was a lot of complexity to his compositions, but to me the constant layer of sarcasm and absurdity where it always felt like this entire thing was supposed to be some kind of inside joke never landed for me. idk I mean I like a lot of weird difficult underground stuff. I really liked the velvet underground but that was different. I genuinely liked the music. Sunday Morning is a beautiful song I enjoy listening to, you know, I just love the aesthetic of that whole album. Listneing to it growing up in the 2000s it just felt cool and vintage and strange. It feels like a transmission from some lost version of New York. It's interesting because a lot of people feel the opposite. I mean people who like mainstream music, they'll get into zappa, but say VU was just pretentious weird slop that nooone is supposed to really like. You have said this to me before even.
Date: October 20th, 2026 1:17 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
Zappa has a lot of terrible stuff that's difficult to listen to without much payoff. But peak Zappa is truly 20th century composition at its zenith. A song like Oh No pushes the limit of melody, jazz, and fusion rock and roll. You just have to wade through the dumb crap to get to the gold. Zappa is a bit of a treasured hunt.
I do like some VU. It has a very unique sound. I wouldn't listen to it every day but I give them a certain amount of credit. They were truly an Art Project if nothing else.
Date: October 20th, 2026 1:23 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
See that's the thing, it just seems like people are more comfortable with eccentricity when it comes through a display of exceptional raw talent. Talent is cool and all, but I just have always been more about aesthetic and sensibility. The stuff others see as Art Projects, I see as atmosphere. I get though you aren't one of these guys thats total anti-Art Project, you have talked in depth about radiohead, and a lot of their statements are rejected by non-artmo bros as boring, overwrought unlistenable slop. But you clearly can live in and appreciate a good chamber piece when it is masterfully executed. I have heard you talk about your first experience with kid-a, how it was like receiving a transmission from another civilization. Interesting though that radiohead is also very technically accomplished. So it still seems like you have some bias against full art-project purism. Like just because VU couldn't really play their instruments and reed was basically a junkie poet that couldn't really sing, that makes them more on the Art Project side of things.
Date: October 20th, 2026 1:41 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
I have always had an ax to grind against so-called artists who put aesthetics over raw talent, pretty much my entire life. I mean, David Gilmour is a fat bald slob with no personality who wore all black his entire career and has never once given an interesting interview or soundbyte. But just ask yourself, how does it make you feel when he lays into the solo of Comfortably Numb. It's transporting. You either get it or you don't. You forget about the fact that David G isn't a sex symbol or a cultural icon. On the other end of the spectrum you have Sid Viscous who was nominally a bass player but never wrote a song and isn't even on any of the Sex Pistols recordings.
I've found in my time on Earth that typically people either gravitate towards one end of the spectrum or the other. Some people can't get over the fact that this skinny, emaciated proto hipster was the first to invent the punk rock aesthetic and wander around London in a black leather jacket with spikey hair and a swastika t shirt thumbing his nose at the system and vaulting the culture in a new direction based entirely on looks and attitude.
I've found that most people can't be both. Most people are either one way or the other. And I've found that you can tell pretty quickly which camp someone is in by asking whether they prefer Led Zeppelin or Bob Dylan. If you don't immediately say Led Zeppelin, odds are you're fully in the other direction. You're either a Notes On the Page Appreciator or you're an Aesthetics Guy.
Aesthetics Guys almost universally espouse the belief that the life story of the artist, their look, persona, attitude, and the drama of their existence is the paramount lens through which their work must be viewed. They are the Kings of Context. It's not just a song but it's really an overarching story. These people ask what does this song mean? What's its place in the greater culture? Where is culture even going? What does it mean to belong?
A note guy cares fuck all about. It's all about the tunes. Very few people aren't fully one way or the other about this.
Date: October 20th, 2026 2:00 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
No you don't get it. You are using "aesthetics" to mean the extramusical stuff. That isn't what I'm talking about to begin with. I'm talking about loving the sound of the record. Someone can be a technically accomplished guitar virtuoso and their music still sucks. Led Zeppelin sucks imo. It's boring. Their music is garbage regardless of how fast and technically complex their guitar playing is. You can create a compelling sonic atmosphere through relatively simple musical means if you are a talented artist and thats what I'm talking about. I'm saying I care about how the music sounds, how it affects me and how creative and original it is over whether their players got better guitar lessons.
Date: October 20th, 2026 2:08 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
Led Zeppelin is literally, literally the cornerstone example of a band where the virtuosity and skill level was extraordinarily high but they never once not even for a second sacrificed the quality of the tune for pointless, self-indulgent wanking. This is a universal truth of the universe. It's like as real as the weak nuclear force. Led Zeppelin being virtuosos and tuneful at the same time is exactly why they will be remembered long after all the bands of today are gone. It's an incontrovertible fact of reality. It's the fabric of timespace that binds us. There are thousands upon thousands of self-pleasuring guitar wankers who couldn't write a compelling song to save their lives. That's most guitar players! But no rational actor believes Led Zeppelin is in this category.
I think maybe you simply don't like music with too many notes. You sound like Kaiser Joseph in Amadeus. "There are simply too many notes the ear can hear." There's nothing wrong with only liking slow songs. Some of em are very good. But don't call music trash simply because it contains more notes than your ear can hear.
Date: October 20th, 2026 2:19 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
No you still are not getting it. Led Zeppelin isn't even a particularly good example of music that overwhelms the listener with compositional complexity. A lot of it is based on straight forward blues riffs and repetition. The extent to which people like it seems to be in their energy and sound, and other elements of their overall execution. The part I don't like, is the overall experience of listening to their music. I don't like their songs, when I hear it I don't want to listen to more I want to turn it off. It's a matter of taste. I shouldn't have said they are garbage, I didn't mean it in an objective sense, but they aren't for me. It's like how you can have a top chef prepare lamb vindaloo but someone still hates it because they don't like those types of spices to begin with. And your argument is basically circular anyway. Look at what you even said. You said yourself that Led Zeppelin were great because they combined technical virtuosity with compelling songs. So obviously you recognize technical skill alone isn't enough. But then when I tell you their songs aren't compelling to me you retreat back to the virtuosity idea saying I can't handle too many notes. It has nothing to do with the amount of notes. Plenty of stuff I like has a lot of notes. I understand what they are doing, I just don't like the result. It isn't something I want to continue listening to. Other people love it fine. I'm sure they are good at a certain aesthetic many people find compelling. I'm not one of those people.
Date: October 20th, 2026 2:43 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
That's like saying "I just don't like the Statue of David, the Sistine Chapel, or the Pyramids."
Uhhhh ok but why would I listen to you on anything else? Some people 'like' Deerhoof but why should I respect them? There are levels to this. You're entitled to your opinion but if you simply don't like the Masters it doesn't bode well for your credibility.
If I told you I was into painting but I didn't 'like' Velasquez, Rembrandt, Picasso or Van Gogh I wouldn't expect you to take me very seriously. You're entitled to your niche opinion but it certainly lacks universality and credibility within the space.
Date: October 20th, 2026 2:59 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
Your treating canon like it's a list of works that anyone with sufficiently developed taste must personally enjoy. That's not how serious engagement with art works. People disagree vehemently about which works are overrated in a canon all the time, or about which they don't personally enjoy or even which ones they don't personally care for, but still belong for other reasons. The canon isn't a list of things you're required to enjoy to prove you have taste. No serious critic treats it that way. It's facile to suggest that. What makes you think being in classic rock canon even make something "great" to begin with? Who decided that canon was infallible? Boomers writing for rolling stone? You know how many critics from the generation before that wouldn't have considered it art at all?
Date: October 20th, 2026 3:16 AM Author: Tan Kitty Market
My grandfather was a classical musician who didn't think rock was legitimate in any way. My dad likes classic rock but couldn't name a single tune from the grunge, alternative, indie, post rock, pop punk, emo, or hardcore eras. And I look down on Gen Z music as having no value whatsoever. The difference is I'm right and everyone else is wrong.
If you want to make a case about why a specific band is overrated you can. Like I wouldn't listen to Bob Dylan or Billie Joel. There's plenty of goated famous stuff I don't really like. But the canon must exist for a reason. I don't think it was just the bands Jann Wenner pulled out of a hat. With this much distance and time, the market has spoken and Classic Rock is a legitimately popular and critically acclaimed musical era. Hell, I argue all the time that The Eagles and Rolling Stones are overrated. But I can say that convincingly because I also stan for The Beatles.
In other words Bona Fides matter. If your starting point is your favorite band is Velvet Underground but you don't like Led Zeppelin that's not a strong position to combat from. Meanwhile arguing that the Stones suck as a die hard Beatles fan is pound for pound. You have to go pound for pound. You're fighting in the wrong weight class. You're featherweight and you're going after a heavyweight. You gotta bulk up son and come correct.
Date: October 20th, 2026 3:44 AM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
You're treating music like it's boxing. And I get it. You would never say that Farisa's Crossing is War and Peace. But if we're gonna play this game you best come correct. The Velvet Underground is good music. Whok knows this. You can even ask him yourself. You just don't seem to get it. There are hundreds upon hundreds of bands in the canon. I pick ones that can swing like a heavyweight. I always do. But I don't confuse a title belt with a knockout. Led Zeppelin sold a billion records. Great. Hang the plaques on the wall. Put their faces on Mount Rushmore. At the end of the day selling records isn't enough for me.
The Velvet Underground could walk into the ring with three chords, a droning viola and a busted amplifier and go twelve rounds with the best of them. Not because Lou Reed wore sunglasses or hung around Andy Warhol. Because the actual records were good. That's what you keep missing. You think because Zeppelin filled stadiums and got crowned heavyweight champions by three generations of classic rock listeners, everybody else is obligated to bow before them. That's not how this works.
You look at the record books to tell you who won the fight. I actually watch the fight. That's the difference.
Date: October 20th, 2026 12:24 PM Author: Tan Kitty Market
They were pretty mid at the time. They had no following until decades later mostly due to their association with Andy Warhol. I can't give them more than a 5.5/10. On the other hand Led Zeppelin is widely regarded as the greatest hard rock band of all time. Fact not opinion.
Date: October 20th, 2026 12:38 PM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
You appeal to commercial success as a proxy for authority way too often bro. Just because something is popular, economically successful or has mass appeal doesn't make it good. A lot of great things are niche just by their nature. Even radiohead is considered niche by many people's standards, although they are on the popular side for difficult art music. Some things appeal better to the status-quo average person. I get that you seem to think that the greatest Art should both have mass appeal and should endure AND it should have additional layers that appeal to the Art Project elite. But there are always sacrifices. Some types of art HAVE to be the sort of thing that only appeal to a small minority and that doesn't make it bad. There have been great historical artists even who have released statements that have almost universally gotten poor reception, only to have them be considered a masterpiece 200 years later. You are being too reductive.
Date: October 20th, 2026 8:13 PM Author: Tan Kitty Market
One thing people don't talk about is that Siamese Dream is a way better complete album than Mellon Collie. I mean who in their right mind thought that releasing 30 junk tracks and 5 bangers on a double disc was a good idea?
Date: October 20th, 2026 8:18 PM Author: Charismatic overrated masturbator
I have to be honest man, smashing pumpkins is one of those bands i was VERY RELUCTANT about even having to admit I liked ANY of their work. I actually hung out with a lot of guys who liked them so that's how I have heard them. They have a few songs that I like, but I feel like I'm betraying myself from even having to admit it. They just don't give off good vibes to me. I don't think the art is at the level some of their cult following and what certain critics try to crack it up to be. They could never compete with the true masters. They could never compete with The Pixies for instance.
Date: October 20th, 2026 8:27 PM Author: Tan Kitty Market
The Pixies have like 3 songs total. They don't even have 5 listenable songs but I will give them that their couple hits are legit. It's all about HITS dudes that's what you need to focus on. I live of die by the HITS.