Overrated, part 3 of 10(See: parts 1 and 2)
My list of top ten overrated acts continues. Number 8....
8) Depeche Mode - In the early days, Depress Mode was a slightly offbeat, perhaps alternative, band. They fit firmly into the New Romantic Camp, part of the New Wave movement. (As an aside, I really hate how the term "alternative" has been hijacked by the music industry to define the herds of new guitar rock bands that emerged in the 1990s. The corruption of that term is a slap in the face to the true alternative music scene of the very late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. Down with corporate music! But, back to these chaps with the hurry-up lifestyle).
When I first heard Master and Servant, I was amused. It had some slightly risqué content, but the disco beat was really too much for me. You see, I had spent much of my youth fighting the disco forces, and that largely meant my brother and his love of the disco queens. In contrast, I was listening to Alice Cooper, KISS, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin. His bad taste extended to the Solid Gold too, and the only good part was the female Solid Gold Dancers. You must click on that link if you have no idea what Solid Gold is.
I enjoyed Blasphemous Rumours for a while, but quickly tired of it. God was probably laughing at that song. I'm not the first person to think that Depeche Mode's lyric "I just can't get enough" could be easily misheard as "I just can't get it up." It's a pseudo-mondegreen.
The Pet Shop Boys have said that they were influenced by DM when they were recording Behaviour, so I rest my case. Pseudo-disco breeds pseudo-disco. Why have I used pseudo so many times? I am not sure, but I am reminded of Sussudio, that insipid Phil Collins disaster of a song. I originally thought it was spelled Psue-pseudio. Boy, was I wrong. Just to digress even further, Sussudio checked in at number 24 on VH1's "40 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever." There is also a list called the 40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirrty [sic] Songs...Ever, which is very amusing. Have a look at that, since I can't find a link to the other list.
Which leads me to KMFDM. If you are a Depeche Mode or KMFDM fan, you know what follows, so I don't have to say it ;-)
And now, Instant Club Hit, by the Dead Milkmen:
See: Part 4
12 comments:
Oh, I like them, too. My favorite album is much later--Violator.
I've always like that Dead Milkmen song. At least I can laugh at myself. But I never took them that seriously, especially in terms of their lyrics.
And Solid Gold? That was one of my favorite shows. My siblings and I used to have dance contests at our house, although we didn't have nearly as much gold lame on.
Wow, now that I watch that clip of Solid Gold, it seems quite strange, but at the time it seemed perfectly reasonable that I tuned in to see the Solid Gold Dancers dance the top 10.
Never heard of this band either. I wasnt into hard rock as a kid and still dont care for it. I like country over metal but I listen to oldies and such.
Yeah, Solid Gold. It seemed everyone watched it, but it just seems so bizarre now.
so far I'm with you on the over-rated list.
Totally with you on this one!
The "Dancers" were the main reason I refused to watch Solid Gold.
Zydeco: I could not disagree with you more on this one. Depeche is fantastic. They are still putting out great albums, the newest stuff is even better than the old, Dave's solo stuff is pretty good and the concerts are still great. I don't think you really supported your argument on this one.
nc: well, that's the problem with making such a list. Everyone is very dogmatic about what they like and don't like and it is impossible to convince someone of your argument. I really wouldn't want to even try to convince you because it would be pointless. But, I hope that some people get some amusement out of it.
Thanks for stopping by.
I'm with nc, I like Depeche Mode.
R42K: I won't hold that against you :-)
No offense, but your argument here is extremely weak. What did you actually mention about the artist?
1. You didn't like the "disco beat" of Master & Servant
2. You presumably thought the lyrics to Blasphemous Rumours were dumb (even though you once liked them)
3. You assume many people mishear the lyrics to Just Can't Get Enough
That's it. That's your argument to persuade readers that this band is overrated. Not very convincing. Your digressions seem to only cover up the fact that you have no real basis for including them on this list.
Anon: you are correct. The arguments in this, and the other 9 parts, are extremely weak, so weak, in fact, that I would hate to even use the term "argument", which I carefully avoided, I believe.
If I read these posts, I would certainly not take any of them seriously, especially if I liked the artist being slandered.
"That's your argument to persuade readers that this band is overrated."
On the contrary, my goal was not to persuade anybody of anything. I am happy that I succeeded in this case.
Post a Comment