Sunday, April 27, 2008

Battle Of The Bands:Not What You Thought They Were, Hard Rock

Haven't posted one of these, nor much of anything else for that matter, in a while.
Mr Dillitante has kinda grabbed that baton and run with it, doing a fairly decent job, I might add.
Now it's my turn again.

Today, we have two *similarish sounding bands fronted by powerful, dark sounding, vocalists.

From Seattle, and despite their own repeated denials,the first band was often confused with being part of the early 90's grunge movement. Anybody with an ear to actually hear with can tell you, this band is not grunge. It's classic-style hard rock.
But then again, and even these guys have to admit it: in a world where lots of great bands don't get signed, they can be thankful for the grunge frenzy that swept the industry, and along with it the over-the-top strategy to sign anything from Seattle, as every label attempted to be the first to discover the next Nirvana.

After catching lightening in a jar with the release of their first album, which was a great album, subsequent efforts just kinda didn't live up. And the last album just kinda sucked. I played it once,ho hum, and put it away. ('nuff of that,eh?)
The band split in 1999, and has since reformed with the original members and will be releasing a new album. It'll probably suck.
I love this band, and play their first album pretty regularly, but can't seem to recognize them as anything more than a 'one good album' act.

From Tallahassee, and again, despite their own repeated denials, our second entrant is not a Christian rock band. True, several of their songs evoked images of Christian spirituality, and they found a great following among spiritually minded listeners, but ministry was not their purpose.
That, plus alcohol abuse, and the fact the front man believed he was the reincarnation of Jim Morrison should have put any 'Christian' label to rest. But it still persisted.
After bursting on the scene in 1996, 'til their break up in 2004, they put out three great albums, a few controversies, and became the sound of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Many detractors fault them not for their music, but for the hypocrisy of not living up to their Christian image. An image they didn't foster, nor ask for.
Usually, these detractors are the same ones who were heartened to hear that Ozzie Osborn prayed to God for his wife's cancer recovery. Funny,ain't it?

OK, 'nuff said...
Live, from their appearances on the David Letterman Show...


Candlebox

vs.
Creed






It's a tough call. Leaning toward Creed, but only because ~three good albums~ trumps ~one awesome plus three mediocre albums~.

*similiarish: adj. very much the same,but not really so much, but kinda so; in a way that you really can't put your finger on,ya know?

9 comments:

Jade said...

I'm partial to Creed... probably because of the spirituality of their music.

Brian said...

Ya' know...when you started on about a Seattle band from the early 90's that wasn't really grunge but benefited from its penumbra and was really just straight-up rock and roll, I though you were talking about Alice in Chains...

DJRainDog said...

CREED?! You LIKE CREED?! I am totally going to puke my lunch on SOMEbody's shoes. HATES the nasty Creed! HATES IT, Precioussssssss...! Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Faith No More -- Much better choices.

Kristopher said...

I liked Creed better when they were Pearl Jam

Gino said...

jade: A+ for you. :)

brian: never fails. i name two, and you just have to come up with a 3rd.
AIC is ok. but candlebox whipped their butt.

dj: i said 'creed', you offer 'screed'. LOL

kris:?

Brian said...

Hey man, I was just being polite not making fun of you for liking Creed...

DJRainDog said...

LOL. Gino, you're right; it's true. Everything infuriates me, and I hate everyone. ;-) (Except obviously, when I don't.)

Mr. D said...

My impression is that Creed gets crap because of external factors. They aren't a great band, but I certainly like them better than a lot of other modern stuff. I'm not familiar with the other guys, although I liked that song. I'll vote for Creed.

Mike said...

I vote for Candlebox, based on this: I only really liked one song each band did ("One" for Creed, "You" for Candlebox). I like the song "You" better than I like "One," so Candlebox wins.

But frankly, neither band brings all that much to the table.