Favorite Artists

[Avaitor]

I listened to the first song that leaked.

I nearly thrashed my copy of TVU&N.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Mighty Long Way is in my top 5 favorite Fishbone tracks. Others are In The Air, In The Name Of Swing, Sunless Saturday, and Knock It.

Mine would probably be Another Generation, Question Of Life, Change, Housework, and Pouring Rain. Before they became miserable and jaded and kicked out their best songwriters.

But sorry to distract away from the Lou Reed hate. 

[Avaitor]

We should probably cut back on the Metallica talk. This is Favorite Artists, not Least Favorite Artists.

So, how's about we talk about Demi instead? 

[Foggle]

Mighty Long Way is in my top 5 favorite Fishbone tracks. Others are In The Air, In The Name Of Swing, Sunless Saturday, and Knock It.

Mine would probably be Another Generation, Question Of Life, Change, Housework, and Pouring Rain. Before they became miserable and jaded and kicked out their best songwriters.

Another Generation is #6. Have you listened to Set The Booty Upright? It's a really good EP that I find most people haven't heard.

Oh yeah, some of their demos on Fishbone 101 are fucking amazing. Skankin' To The Beat, Mister Zero, And They Prey On You... just excellent.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Have you heard any Fishbone, Avaitor?

Mighty Long Way is in my top 5 favorite Fishbone tracks. Others are In The Air, In The Name Of Swing, Sunless Saturday, and Knock It.

Mine would probably be Another Generation, Question Of Life, Change, Housework, and Pouring Rain. Before they became miserable and jaded and kicked out their best songwriters.

Another Generation is #6. Have you listened to Set The Booty Upright? It's a really good EP that I find most people haven't heard.

Oh yeah, some of their demos on Fishbone 101 are fucking amazing. Skankin' To The Beat, Mister Zero, And They Prey On You... just excellent.

I enjoy pretty much everything before Give A Monkey A Brain, though I find the first album is a bit too heavy on filler. And Reality is when they seem to get a bit too big for their britches but too be fair, it lead to this which is probably their crowning achievement as a band since they all wrote it.

But Truth & Soul? That album is filled with soul and passion, and the lyrics are so hopeful and positive that you just can't help but love it. To be honest, I'm surprised it wasn't a huge hit at the time even on rock radio.

[Avaitor]

Have you heard any Fishbone, Avaitor?

The Reality of My Surroundings is somewhere in my top 100. Truth and Soul isn't too far off, either.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Have you heard any Fishbone, Avaitor?

The Reality of My Surroundings is somewhere in my top 100. Truth and Soul isn't too far off, either.

Cool!

Pyromania was pretty great, by the way. I'll be listening to Hysteria soon and hoping for the best there. So far, I can see why they were big. They might be "hair band" or whatever, but they definitely had the songs to back them up.

[Foggle]

Eh, I don't think there's really any filler on In Your Face. I like the whole thing almost as much as Truth and Soul. I don't outright hate any of the albums - Give a Monkey a Brain has Unyielding Condition, Lemon Meringue, and Nutt Megalomaniac / Chim Chim has Alcoholic / never listened to Psychotic Friends / I actually really like Still Stuck - but yeah, nothing compares to their early work.

So I assume you've heard the two EPs (the previously mentioned one and It's A Wonderful Life), but have you listened to those demos at all? Some very fun tracks.

[Avaitor]

Have you heard any Fishbone, Avaitor?

The Reality of My Surroundings is somewhere in my top 100. Truth and Soul isn't too far off, either.

Cool!

Pyromania was pretty great, by the way. I'll be listening to Hysteria soon and hoping for the best there. So far, I can see why they were big. They might be "hair band" or whatever, but they definitely had the songs to back them up.

Favorite song?

The first 3 Def Leppard albums are classic glam metal. They get progressively less heavy as they get along, but I think that Pyromania is a perfect balance between pop rock and hard rock sensibilities.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Eh, I don't think there's really any filler on In Your Face. I like the whole thing almost as much as Truth and Soul. I don't outright hate any of the albums - Give a Monkey a Brain has Unyielding Condition, Lemon Meringue, and Nutt Megalomaniac / Chim Chim has Alcoholic / never listened to Psychotic Friends / I actually really like Still Stuck - but yeah, nothing compares to their early work.

So I assume you've heard the two EPs (the previously mentioned one and It's A Wonderful Life), but have you listened to those demos at all? Some very fun tracks.

I dunno, I don't find the second half quite as good as the first half of IYF, I actually thought the EP was better. But I really detested Chim Chim, that one really felt like they were trying too hard. Still Stuck didn't age as well to me, the lyrics are pretty junk for the most part even though some songs are decent. But yeah, I've heard the demos. They're alright, but nothing quite as great as anything on the pre-Monkey material.

Have you heard any Fishbone, Avaitor?

The Reality of My Surroundings is somewhere in my top 100. Truth and Soul isn't too far off, either.

Cool!

Pyromania was pretty great, by the way. I'll be listening to Hysteria soon and hoping for the best there. So far, I can see why they were big. They might be "hair band" or whatever, but they definitely had the songs to back them up.

Favorite song?

The first 3 Def Leppard albums are classic glam metal. They get progressively less heavy as they get along, but I think that Pyromania is a perfect balance between pop rock and hard rock sensibilities.

Would Stagefright be predictable? The singles I already know, but the other stuff was pretty great. The album actually seemed like it was getting better as it went. By Billy's Got A Gun I was kind of sad it was over.

I'm aware that Hysteria is more pop, but I'm still eager to give it a go. If the singles are anything close to what I should expect, at least the songs are still good even if the sound is lighter.

[Foggle]

Still Stuck isn't amazing, but I love Jackass Brigade and their cover of Date Rape.

Yeah, the only good song on Chim Chim is Alcoholic. The rest is pretty disposable, except for Swim, which is easily Fishbone's second worst after Babyhead.

Crazy Glue is pretty bad if I recall correctly. Forgot that even existed until now. What are your thoughts on it?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Still Stuck isn't amazing, but I love Jackass Brigade and their cover of Date Rape.

Yeah, the only good song on Chim Chim is Alcoholic. The rest is pretty disposable, except for Swim, which is easily Fishbone's second worst after Babyhead.

Crazy Glue is pretty bad if I recall correctly. Forgot that even existed until now. What are your thoughts on it?

Yeah, those are the best things on Still Stuck. It was the closest they've sounded to the old style since Reality.

When it comes to Fishbone, there are a few qualifiers for what makes a bad song.

One is that no matter how dark their material can get, they always rely on the fact that natural positivity is always the counterbalance to whatever bad will happen. They deal with some dark themes on Truth & Soul and Reality, but while they acknowledge these things, they realize that in the grand scheme these things are microscopic compared to the good the world offers. They're at their best when they are positive, because their appeal is the underdogs who never give up.

After Reality, other than a small handful of songs, they completely lost the plot.

Two is that their sound is wide and inclusive. It makes them accessible to anyone who loves music. They write all styles and aren't afraid to combine them. This makes their pleas of unity even more believable than they already were.

After Reality, every album is pretty much 10+ songs of the same style.

Three is that the lyrics are very powerful, sometimes moving, sometimes funny, and sometimes dark. But always hopeful.

After Reality, their lyrics lost almost all soul. Unyielding Condition is the only song with lyrics that matches their older stuff.


But despite that, there are some songs before Reality that suffer from what I mentioned. Babyhead is terrible. If I Were A... I'd is total filler, Junkie's Prayer is redundant considering the following song (It's well written, but... it's not really needed is it?), One Day is four minutes of the same thing over and over (I like this song, but I can't really defend how repetitive it is), Subliminal Fascism and Deep Inside are both short songs treading the same territory on the same album, the second half of IYF kind of relies more on groove than song, and the EP's production isn't strong enough. But as to their B-Sides, well It's A Wonderful Life is pretty great, but the rest kind of bore me.

^Despite all that, I really enjoy their first three albums and EPs. It's just such a shame they lost the plot.

[Foggle]

One Day is four minutes of the same thing over and over (I like this song, but I can't really defend how repetitive it is)

I don't care that it's repetitive... One Day is one of my favorites.

the second half of IYF kind of relies more on groove than song

I don't think this is a bad thing at all. But you know what kind of music I like.

I'm listening to Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx right now. Five tracks in at the moment. This is actually a really good album so far, IMO. Yeah, Everybody Is A Star is shit (I hate Gwen Stefani) and Where'd You Get Those Pants? has abysmal lyrics, but the music is really fun. Shakey Ground is a great funk rock track, while The Suffering and One Planet People are just pleasant listens (dark lyrics of the former notwithstanding).

[Spark Of Spirit]

My problem with Nuttwerx is that it feels very phony. Not forced like Chim Chim, or too much like Monkey, or even scattershot like Still Stuck. It feels like they went in to make an album that they think people wanted from Fishbone (Positive and upbeat), but instead they just sort of threw non-negative lyrics together and called it a day.

I'm listening to Psychotic Friends Nuttwerx right now. Five tracks in at the moment. This is actually a really good album so far, IMO. Yeah, Everybody Is A Star is shit (I hate Gwen Stefani) and Where'd You Get Those Pants? has abysmal lyrics, but the music is really fun. Shakey Ground is a great funk rock track, while The Suffering and One Planet People are just pleasant listens (dark lyrics of the former notwithstanding).

Aids and Armageddon
Armageddon and Aids
well I don't want to talk about it
cause I think I might have got it
anyway I just got laid
Armageddon and Aids

[Foggle]

My problem with Nuttwerx is that it feels very phony. Not forced like Chim Chim, or too much like Monkey, or even scattershot like Still Stuck. It feels like they went in to make an album that they think people wanted from Fishbone (Positive and upbeat), but instead they just sort of threw non-negative lyrics together and called it a day.

It doesn't really sound like Fishbone to me (well, nothing after Reality does, tbh), but I'm loving this one so far. Like it a lot more than Still Stuck for the time being.

Aids and Armageddon
Armageddon and Aids
well I don't want to talk about it
cause I think I might have got it
anyway I just got laid
Armageddon and Aids

About to hit this track... oh god...