Random metal thoughts

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Catch-as-catch-can.

[AlSymerz]

If my catch-alls caught those I'd definitely go and see a doctor.

 

[Dead1]

On 12/30/2022 at 8:17 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

It's certainly true that I hate Pantera's music, but my objections to the current touring lineup calling themselves Pantera have nothing to do with what band it is or if I like them or not. It's the basic principle that certain bands have certain special irreplaceable members and if those members aren't there onstage then it's simply not that band. Think Motorhead without Lemmy or Type O without Pete, or AC/DC without Angus or Van Halen without Eddie or Celtic Frost without Tom. I put Dimebag in that same category even though I can't stand their music. Big Vin and Rex are replaceable, or substitutable or whatever, but Daryl is not. They should have called it 'Primal Concrete Sledge' featuring Phil Anselmo or something like that. It's a Pantera tribute, fine, I understand there's a high demand for that but it's not Pantera.

Having listened to some of the current performances, Zakk Wylde does an admirable job.  I would argue that he was the best man for the job.

 

So Phil + Rex + Benante + Zakk = Pantera in my book.

Now writing mew music could be a problem but that is not on the cards (yet).

[AlSymerz]

Charlie thinks it is. He's spoken several times before Christmas about how right it would feel to write new music under the Pantera name. Of course he could just be trying to put his name to anything other than a new Anthrax record right now, but he's definitely spoken about it.

 

[navybsn]

And it would sell millions while still sucking turds. Maybe Phil has smoked up enough of his royalty money to try to cash in a bit more. I'm going to preliminarily rank it along side any Black Label Society or later Anthrax release in the category of won't GAF.

[AlSymerz]

I'm fine with Zakk and BLS, I don't give a shit that he thinks he's some kind of viking and loves to wear a skirt, I don't even care that everyone claims he's only good at something called pitch harmonics, but he's not Pantera. As a fill in, as a band paying tribute to an old band fair enough but I see this as no different to him doing Zakk Sabbath, or his Jimi Hendrix stuff.

When it comes to Charlie I've pretty much given up on Anthrax. I did have hope for them 10 years ago but Charlie and Scott have pretty much proven they have nothing left for the band and are struggling drastically to find it. Good luck to Charlie if he wants to keep playing with Pantera, Anthrax aren't going anywhere but 40 min festival sets any time soon and with each other member of Anthrax doing every thing but Anthrax I see Pantera as Charlie actually doing something other than playing with his g/f's band.

You're right though any album they make will sell millions simply because of the name, not because of how good or bad it might be.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

20 hours ago, KillaKukumba said:

I'm fine with Zakk and BLS, I don't give a shit that he thinks he's some kind of viking and loves to wear a skirt, I don't even care that everyone claims he's only good at something called pitch harmonics, but he's not Pantera. As a fill in, as a band paying tribute to an old band fair enough but I see this as no different to him doing Zakk Sabbath, or his Jimi Hendrix stuff.

I don't give a shit what the dude does one way or the other. And honestly, as someone who definitely doesn't have his finger on the pulse of the mainstream, I'm not anywhere near as familiar with him, his history and what his schtick is as you apparently are. I only know he has a long beard, he used to play with Ozzy, and he thinks he's a rockstar. (and for all I know he probably is one) But notice that he bills that Sabbath tribute cover band as "Zakk Sabbath" not Black Sabbath. Because any metalhead worth his bullet-belt knows you could never have a touring band without Iommi present billing theselves as "Black Sabbath." And I see this whole Pantera 2.0 thing in exactly the same way. I don't care that they want to do this tour to revive and celebrate Pantera's glorious hey-day. I have no problem with that at all, or with cover bands in general. More power to them, I hope they make lots of money. And I sincerely hope that anyone who's interested can find a way to see it. I just don't think they should be calling it Pantera. As long as Dime remains dead it's Zakk-tera or Sham-tera.

And dude it's "pinch" harmonics, not "pitch."

[AlSymerz]

Using the name Pantera and referring to it as a reunion makes financial sense and although I don't think it's the right way to go maybe Phil and Rex are running out of easy money and need the cash grab. But the connection I made between Zakk Sabbath not being any different had nothing to do with naming rights rather that he is a fill-in in Pantera and for me that role is no different to his many other roles where he is simply the guitarist playing music that is not necessarily his.

I don't know anything about harmonics, the most harmonic thing I hear is two feral cats fucking down by the creek when the morning sun is warm and the dew is settling on the river bed. I also don't read with any great interest the latest round of insults Zakk gets for being himself, so whether they are accusing him of pitch, pinch, punch or crunch I wouldn't have a fucking clue I just know it happens.

 

[navybsn]

I think Zakk is just fine. He's actually a pretty funny dude with decent music taste and an awesome guitar collection. Just his music sucks (although I did like that first Ozzy album he did back in the day).

[AlSymerz]

I like music that sucks!

[AlSymerz]

Random metal thought for the day?

This truly metal guitar could be yours for around $3000.00

Are you metal enough?

[AlSymerz]

Saw this posted somewhere today, it's the Kerrang Readers Poll of 1984.

It was obviously a different time for music in 1984 but even so how does Deep Purple come second in the best new band category in 1984?

 

[FatherAlabaster]

Love seeing stuff like this. Temple Of Doom and Conan The Destroyer... disagree. Apparently Rush really is metal after all though, who knew.

It's funny, I think of a lot of albums from the mid 80s as "older stuff" but mid 80s Rush is somehow "newer Rush" to me.

[AlSymerz]

Rush was never a band I really got into, but of course they are metal. Let's not forget Jethro Tull won the first ever metal Grammy!

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Rush was a metal band? Is there maybe another band with the name Rush I'm unaware of? There are lots of things you could say about Rush, but I've never heard anyone accuse them of being a metal band. I'm not remotely a fan personally, but I'm sure even Geddy & Alex would agree they were prog rock.

Ian Anderson would probably either tell you to fuck off or die laughing if you tried to tell him Tull was a metal band.

Deep Purple had been broken up for 8 years before they reformed in '84 and released Perfect Strangers. So I suppose technically speaking one could say they were a "new" band.

I must say, that readers poll right there is the most pathetic all-around top 10 albums for 1984 I've ever seen.

I've still to this day never heard that band Marillion. They made some mention of them in pretty much every fucking issue of Kerrang back then. The editor must have had some kind of connection to them somehow.

Total travesty for anything other than Spinal Tap to be the #1 film in a rock mag poll.

[AlSymerz]

I remember Marillion being all over the place back then. I never heard them but I remember their logo being in nearly every magazine so I presume it was for an album. No idea what they sounded like or what happened to them but I reckon I stopped seeing the logo by the late 80's.

That album list is kind of weird, no Metallica, no Judas Priest, both of whom released albums that people today still call classics. Don't remember the last time I heard someone refer to a Animalize as a classic.

 

Wasn't their too many people still arguing over whether Spinal Tap was real or made up for it to be a top movie in it's year of release?

[FatherAlabaster]

19 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Rush was a metal band? Is there maybe another band with the name Rush I'm unaware of? There are lots of things you could say about Rush, but I've never heard anyone accuse them of being a metal band.

Hey man, it's on the cover. Right there in black and white. And they're even listed on MA. I don't know what more proof you could want. What are you basing your opinions on anyway, "the actual music" and "how it sounds" and "what the band members said"? Pffft.

[AlSymerz]

If Kerrang said so it must do true. Kerrang wouldn't lie to us

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, AlSymerz said:

That album list is kind of weird, no Metallica, no Judas Priest, both of whom released albums that people today still call classics. Don't remember the last time I heard someone refer to a Animalize as a classic.

Wasn't there too many people still arguing over whether Spinal Tap was real or made up for it to be a top movie in it's year of release?

 

No Metallica, No Priest, no Celtic Frost, no Mercyful Fate, no Exciter, no Metal Church, no Gravedigger, No Fastway, no Anthrax, no Bathory...my whole 1984 top 10 is missing.

 

Well obviously Spinal Tap wasn't a real band, they were totally ficticious. I've read that they were based loosely on Foghat. But the comedy film Spinal Tap was certainly very real. But who knows, maybe it didn't become the cult classic we all know and love today for some time after its release.

 

Foghat

[AlSymerz]

I remember reading somewhere decades ago, ages after the movie came out and any sensible person knew it was a spoof, that something like 70% of people who saw it were convinced it was a doco. It may have been some re-release party thing about the time the song Majesty Of Rock was released. It may even have just been the media talking up things to try and get more people to see the film, but it was one of those 'metal-facts' that mags trotted out when they had nothing else to talk about.

The fact that they then released an album in 92 I'm pretty sure helped the media (and Rob Riener) run the 'real band' 'real doco' theory for a bit longer. They did it again in 2009 when they released their 3rd album, but I think less people were interested in feeding the story and accepted the movie was a spoof and any actual music was released as an addition to the story.

Chistopher Guest once said the band that inspired the movie was Saxon because Harry Shearer toured with Saxon. Saxon also claimed this to be true, (which is good of them). But then in 2017 Guest changed his mind and said there was no specific inspiration but there was many who helped.

 

As good as Spinal Tap was Comic Strip did it better with Bad News.

[markm]

I wanted to respond to some of GG’s statements after a post where I initially questioned his desire to weigh on anything and everything that pops into his head. I started it, so to speak and figured it was worth addressing some of the points he made. The initial exchange was in the-what are you listening to now?  I believe this is the appropriate thread. I sat on it for a few days, so here goes…..

GG, we have a long history dating back to Metal-Fi. you’ve always asked for a straightforward pull no punches style so I know you’ll take this in the spirit it’s intended. I had meant to respond to a couple of  your posts but didn’t have time to last week and wanted to gather my thoughts first. 

Goatmaster General Said: It is lamentable that this is how I have come to be seen by some of my forum colleagues, as this cranky irascible guy with the bad attitude who hates everything, the proverbial old curmudgeon shaking his fist at the skies. I don't see myself that way of course, not remotely, but I suppose it's understandable how others might get that impression, especially if they only know me by my internet persona.

A question to start off with-kind of a non sequitur-what exactly is an internet persona? I know your IRL persona to a limited extent having met you in the flesh and I agree that your internet  persona as you call it, your doppelganger as it were and the real man (behind the mask?) whom I met are two entirely separate things. My impressions after meeting you were of a guy who is fairly low key and not the oversized, opinionated, borderline obnoxious personality you sometimes present online. 

Internet persona: I find this a curious distinction. Most of us that post, I don’t believe, separate our two selves. Now, I may present more articulately online as I can choose my words and use the U of Google, but I’m pretty much the same guy- just Mark whether online or IRL-not “Marky Mark” btw, that's just annoying. I am (I’m Me). 

From time to time it does occur to me to make a conscious effort to restrain myself and bite my tongue.

A little self editing would not be a bad thing. When we M-F outcasts came to the forums here, I wondered and hoped you and Dead might  have learned from your time at  M-F; behavior that I am convinced played a role in the exodus of posters from M-F and your subsequent ousting from the Vortex, all of which I was witness to. Taking accountability for my own verbose tendencies, I'll add that I may have been part of the downfall of M-F as well. But, clearly, a small group of posters rehashing and repeating the same points over and over became redundant and a turn off to a number of the so called non goat crew. In fact, some of our better "friends" who left told me so privately.  It was disappointing to me as I had found a nice home there with some great guys who enriched my listening and I think was entirely avoidable. 

Dead, who has been conspicuously absent as of late, seems to have tempered his rantings but in your case, I am wondering if the old adage is true, that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. As an older dog myself, I’d like to think that I can still learn a few and adapt to my surroundings and try not to beat dead horses or repeat stump speeches ad nauseum.  

 But I can assure you I mean no harm. My aim is simply to entertian. We're all friends here, right? A little prodding shouldn't be such a big deal. If we can't have a free exchange of ideas among our metal forum comrades then what's the point?

I don’t doubt that  you mean any harm. You blurt without thinking things through that much. You are absolutely entertaining.  Certainly, we should be able to exchange our ideas as long as the exchange includes tolerance and respect for different personality styles.  It needs to be said that  there is a difference between joking between friends and put downs and insults. 

Personality differences aside, I think you  lose sight of the fact that we all come here for different reasons. Sometimes I feel you want to force your expectations on the rest of us. Surely you realize, others don’t necessarily want to interact online in the brash way you do. Most people want to join a forum to share their interest in music, get some recommendations and call it a day. 

I’m prone to long discussions myself as evidenced by this post. That disclosure aside, this next point may sound a little harsh, but I think there’s a kind of arrogance thinking that anyone’s opinions are so fascinating that everyone would want to read everything you write. I’m often thinking, does he really think anyone is going to take the time to read all this redundancy?  He’s said this 100 times before. And, IRL, I don’t think you behave this way. It’s bizarre to me. 

I have observed that most civilized people in our society allow themselves to be guided by the old adage: if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. But that's just not me. For better or worse I'm gonna give you both barrels, the bad along with the good. Naturally I expect others to do the same (because who doesn't love reading a good rant or witty quip about some shitty band?) although clearly most of us aren't prepared to go that route and prefer to stay quiet and keep their more negative thoughts to themselves, as is of course their perogative.

Sure, ranting is amusing, and at the end of the day you, I and anyone else can behave any way we like within the parameters the moderators set.  Personally, I'm one to comment about genres or albums I don’t like that are being hyped, but  generally, I’m more inclined to comment on a band or album that I DO  like than I dislike, especially if it’s an album someone loves. I just don’t take pleasure in shitting on other peoples’ music because as you’ve written, music is something that makes you feel something, it’s emotional and most people have deep personal connections to their favorite music. 

Look we’ve had a lot of great dialogue and we’ve had our share of disagreements. I enjoy having an internet metal community as you do. You present yourself in your “online persona” as a highly opinionated individual.

So, no, I'm not prepared to go your route as you stated above. We each have our own route. If I seem to get riled up from time to time, it's not because I'm "butt hurt" as you like to say, it's  because I find overly opinionated people difficult to stomach and frankly exhausting to be around. They suck all the air out of a room or forum.  I have enough challenging personalities in my personal life and at work.  It's not the way I choose to interact with people here. This should be an enjoyable experience, a way to share and learn about music, and  not (for me, anyway) to engage in endless chest beating, adolescent pissing contests.  We are grown men. 

[JonoBlade]

 

On 1/12/2023 at 12:17 AM, AlSymerz said:

As good as Spinal Tap was Comic Strip did it better with Bad News.

I happened to watch both Spinal Tap and Bad News (+ More Bad News) a few months ago. To be honest, neither hold up that great. I mean there are some classic moments, but I wasn't rolling in the aisles. Nostalgia holds these things together. Both films are more interesting now simply from an anthropological standpoint. In that sense, they are documentaries. 

But, I do listen to the Bad News album every now and then and still crack up. I'll be walking down the street and realise I'm grinning like an idiot. 

RIP Rik, you beautiful bastard. I saw him on the tube once, coming back from a gig at Hammersmith. I don't remember what the gig was but I remember him.

 

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

On 1/17/2023 at 10:21 AM, markm said:

I wanted to respond to some of GG’s statements after a post where I initially questioned his desire to weigh on anything and everything that pops into his head. I started it, so to speak and figured it was worth addressing some of the points he made. The initial exchange was in the-what are you listening to now?  I believe this is the appropriate thread. I sat on it for a few days, so here goes…..

GG, we have a long history dating back to Metal-Fi. you’ve always asked for a straightforward pull no punches style so I know you’ll take this in the spirit it’s intended. I had meant to respond to a couple of  your posts but didn’t have time to last week and wanted to gather my thoughts first. 

Goatmaster General Said: It is lamentable that this is how I have come to be seen by some of my forum colleagues, as this cranky irascible guy with the bad attitude who hates everything, the proverbial old curmudgeon shaking his fist at the skies. I don't see myself that way of course, not remotely, but I suppose it's understandable how others might get that impression, especially if they only know me by my internet persona.

A question to start off with-kind of a non sequitur-what exactly is an internet persona? I know your IRL persona to a limited extent having met you in the flesh and I agree that your internet  persona as you call it, your doppelganger as it were and the real man (behind the mask?) whom I met are two entirely separate things. My impressions after meeting you were of a guy who is fairly low key and not the oversized, opinionated, borderline obnoxious personality you sometimes present online. 

Internet persona: I find this a curious distinction. Most of us that post, I don’t believe, separate our two selves. Now, I may present more articulately online as I can choose my words and use the U of Google, but I’m pretty much the same guy- just Mark whether online or IRL-not “Marky Mark” btw, that's just annoying. I am (I’m Me). 

From time to time it does occur to me to make a conscious effort to restrain myself and bite my tongue.

A little self editing would not be a bad thing. When we M-F outcasts came to the forums here, I wondered and hoped you and Dead might  have learned from your time at  M-F; behavior that I am convinced played a role in the exodus of posters from M-F and your subsequent ousting from the Vortex, all of which I was witness to. Taking accountability for my own verbose tendencies, I'll add that I may have been part of the downfall of M-F as well. But, clearly, a small group of posters rehashing and repeating the same points over and over became redundant and a turn off to a number of the so called non goat crew. In fact, some of our better "friends" who left told me so privately.  It was disappointing to me as I had found a nice home there with some great guys who enriched my listening and I think was entirely avoidable. 

Dead, who has been conspicuously absent as of late, seems to have tempered his rantings but in your case, I am wondering if the old adage is true, that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. As an older dog myself, I’d like to think that I can still learn a few and adapt to my surroundings and try not to beat dead horses or repeat stump speeches ad nauseum.  

 But I can assure you I mean no harm. My aim is simply to entertian. We're all friends here, right? A little prodding shouldn't be such a big deal. If we can't have a free exchange of ideas among our metal forum comrades then what's the point?

I don’t doubt that  you mean any harm. You blurt without thinking things through that much. You are absolutely entertaining.  Certainly, we should be able to exchange our ideas as long as the exchange includes tolerance and respect for different personality styles.  It needs to be said that  there is a difference between joking between friends and put downs and insults. 

Personality differences aside, I think you  lose sight of the fact that we all come here for different reasons. Sometimes I feel you want to force your expectations on the rest of us. Surely you realize, others don’t necessarily want to interact online in the brash way you do. Most people want to join a forum to share their interest in music, get some recommendations and call it a day. 

I’m prone to long discussions myself as evidenced by this post. That disclosure aside, this next point may sound a little harsh, but I think there’s a kind of arrogance thinking that anyone’s opinions are so fascinating that everyone would want to read everything you write. I’m often thinking, does he really think anyone is going to take the time to read all this redundancy?  He’s said this 100 times before. And, IRL, I don’t think you behave this way. It’s bizarre to me. 

I have observed that most civilized people in our society allow themselves to be guided by the old adage: if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. But that's just not me. For better or worse I'm gonna give you both barrels, the bad along with the good. Naturally I expect others to do the same (because who doesn't love reading a good rant or witty quip about some shitty band?) although clearly most of us aren't prepared to go that route and prefer to stay quiet and keep their more negative thoughts to themselves, as is of course their perogative.

Sure, ranting is amusing, and at the end of the day you, I and anyone else can behave any way we like within the parameters the moderators set.  Personally, I'm one to comment about genres or albums I don’t like that are being hyped, but  generally, I’m more inclined to comment on a band or album that I DO  like than I dislike, especially if it’s an album someone loves. I just don’t take pleasure in shitting on other peoples’ music because as you’ve written, music is something that makes you feel something, it’s emotional and most people have deep personal connections to their favorite music. 

Look we’ve had a lot of great dialogue and we’ve had our share of disagreements. I enjoy having an internet metal community as you do. You present yourself in your “online persona” as a highly opinionated individual.

So, no, I'm not prepared to go your route as you stated above. We each have our own route. If I seem to get riled up from time to time, it's not because I'm "butt hurt" as you like to say, it's  because I find overly opinionated people difficult to stomach and frankly exhausting to be around. They suck all the air out of a room or forum.  I have enough challenging personalities in my personal life and at work.  It's not the way I choose to interact with people here. This should be an enjoyable experience, a way to share and learn about music, and  not (for me, anyway) to engage in endless chest beating, adolescent pissing contests.  We are grown men. 

Alright then Mr. M, I have read your complaint and have taken some time to think it over.

I hope you understand that obviously it's never been my intention to suck all the air out of the forum, nor do I have any desire to shut down or override yours or anyone else's opinions. I generally see my musical opinions as the dissenting opinions (I'm well aware mine is rarely if ever going to be the majority opinion) and I think it's important to have different perspectives represented, and for all perspectives to be welcome. For better or worse I just have a more colorful and demonstrative way of expressing myself through the written word than maybe some other people do. I think I tend to be more of an animated and demonstrative communicator than most in real life as well, and certainly just as opinionated, I just don't get as many opportunities as I'd like to have these types of music-themed group discussions face to face. I'm not sure if anyone writes exactly the same way as they'd speak when talking to a group of friends or colleagues, and I also think it's normal for people to come across somewhat differently one on one than they might when part a larger group, either online or in person.

By "internet persona" I just mean that you can't really know someone just from reading their forum posts in the same way that you could know them in real life, because you're only getting part of the picture. Everyone constructs a mental image of the people they post with on a regular basis. Not just what they look like, but their personalities and mannerisms and tendencies as well. And the longer you've interacted with someone, the more info you'll have gathered with which to construct that mental image. Sometimes when you have the chance to meet forum people irl the mental image can turn out to be pretty close, and other times it can be way off. I think many of us would like to believe we're the exact same person online as we are in real life, but I don't know how true I necessarily think that is. I suppose in a way we're all responsible at least in part for the mental images other people have concocted of us, because on a message board like this all the others get to see is what we've chosen to show them. But yet even at times when we feel like we're pretty much being an open book, we still have no control over how things will be taken, or how our motives and intentions and words can always be misconstrued.

You talk of chest beating and pissing contests, and I honestly don't even understand what you're talking about. I thought we were just having some fun talking about music and trading a liittle harmless good-natured banter. To me that's maybe the best part of belonging to a forum (besides the opportunity to be verbose and long-winded) that you'll get to know people after posting together for awhile and hopefully you can get to a place where you'll all feel comfortable joking around with each other. For me this forum thing is just a lot more fun if we can all joke around a bit. Not surprisingly, different people from different backgrounds with different life experiences and from different generations will be accustomed to different types of banter. I'd imagine some people's idea of "banter" can be a bit more aggressive or more savage than others. I guess I do tend to forget that other people can sometimes be a bit more sensitive than I am to what I see as merely some friendly off the cuff banter between friends. I suppose there will always be some people who due to their more reserved natures will tend to take things more personally, or will be more likely to feel marginalized or disenfranchised like they think I'm trying to invalidate their opinions simply by asserting my own. And that's unfortunate.

All I can really do at this point sir is apologize for any misunderstandings we may have had over the years, or if you feel I've "crossed the line" or in some way wronged you, and let you know that I do sincerely regret any offense or distress any of my brash outspokenness may have caused. I do think of you as a friend, and I would never want to harm or to wound a friend. I know I've made jokes at your expense, as well as jokes at the expense of some of the music you may like. But you have also reciprocated in kind with jokes of your own, and we've even talked about this issue privately in the past. So I guess I thought we were all cool and basically on the same page when it seems we really weren't. Clearly this is something that's been building up for some time and you felt you needed to get it off your chest. So if you're not enjoying my personal brand of good-natured banter Mr. M, then I don't know what else to tell you other than just offer to leave you out of it from here on out. Likewise if any of my strong opinions or "hot takes" or just outright dumping on some of the music you've posted have truly bothered or offended you so much, or if you feel comments I've made have been out of bounds or that I'm in some way ruining this forum experience for you by making everything all about me, then maybe I should just stop commenting on your posts and giving you my unwanted and redundant feedback on whatever you've might've been listening to lately. Fair enough?

Thing is I really do enjoy exploring some of the random stuff people have posted that I might never have come across on my own because it's well outside of my normal comfort zone, and then reporting my findings back to the group. And you Mr. M have proven to be a gold mine of alternative musical suggestions outside of my comfort zone, which I do genuinely enjoy checking out, even if ultimately not many of them end up working for me. The good Doctor has even told me that he enjoys my little reports and I should keep up the good work. But I'm not trying to run anyone off, or dominate the narrative, or force my opinions down anyone's throat. I'm not even trying to persuade you to change your mind about any of this diverse music you like, because no one ese's opinion could ever change mine. You make it sound like you think I'm trying to filibuster and shout down any and all opposition to the Goat Party agenda, or turn us into some kind of a goat utopia. While from my perspective, I'm just some guy throwing my two cents worth into the ongoing discussion like anyone else can. I'm just one lone guy with some unpopular opinions, I really don't think I have as much power to control the overall forum narrative as you give me credit for.

But yet as I've said, I can recognize that my idea of humor can miss the mark sometimes, and that not everyone is going to be in the mood for one of my hot takes or goat rants or be all revved up for a healthy debate at all times. Bottom line, we're all trying to have a little fun here, and if you're telling me it's not fun for you specificallly because of something I've said or done, then it's not gonna be fun for me either. We've known each other too long to be at odds. Even if I accept this role you've given me as "the contrarian," I don't want to be the source of anyone's discontent or be the one to torpedo their good time. That's not why I'm here. Rather, I'd like to think I do my share to contribute to the collective enjoyment we all derive from coming here.

[AlSymerz]

9 hours ago, JonoBlade said:

 

I happened to watch both Spinal Tap and Bad News (+ More Bad News) a few months ago. To be honest, neither hold up that great. I mean there are some classic moments, but I wasn't rolling in the aisles. Nostalgia holds these things together. Both films are more interesting now simply from an anthropological standpoint. In that sense, they are documentaries. 

But, I do listen to the Bad News album every now and then and still crack up. I'll be walking down the street and realise I'm grinning like an idiot. 

RIP Rik, you beautiful bastard. I saw him on the tube once, coming back from a gig at Hammersmith. I don't remember what the gig was but I remember him.

 

 

Everything is held up by nostalgia, but the fact that there is no one capable of repeating what these guys did makes them all the better for me. To me they are the same as any good movie from back in the time.

I don't look at Mad Max and think any differently of it today as I did 40 years ago. I don't laugh at Vince Gil screaming "I am the Nightrider" like I did the first time I saw it. And I don't flinch when the guy's hand gets ripped off like I might of as a teenager. But that doesn't change how I feel about the movie 40 years on, and the same happens with shows like Bad News.

I own and regularly watch all the Red Dwarf episodes. I've laughed at them a hundred times and I still laugh today, maybe not as heartedly but even knowing the gags are coming doesn't spoil most of them. Same goes for The Paul Hogan show and Bazza Mckenzie. The most recent series I've seen that does the same for me is Russell Coight

[Thatguy]

17 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Paul Hogan show

Just no. I never found him funny even back in the day when it was fresh.

 

17 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Bazza Mckenzie

Yep, but I haven't seen the films for years and years. The comic strip was funny.

 

18 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Russell Coight

Funnier in conception than execution. By that I mean the joke wears thin pretty quickly. He still makes me smile but for me it's a sketch rather than a longer form thing. You wouldn't give Uncle Arthur his own show either, but he makes you smile in small doses.

 

But appreciation of humour is probably even more subjective than appreciation of music.