Mike Patton doesn't like Wolfmother
He does not like them on a cake
He does not like them with a rake
He does not like them on a bill
He'd sooner puke than hear their swill
This may be old news for some of you (I am well aware that this video has been in circulation for a little while now), but those infamous words that overcame the duke of musical absurdity three years ago are still well worth considering today.
Wolfmother may not be the most innovative act on the scene (they're far from the best Australia has to offer), but in a world that's birthed such genre abominations as cock-core, crab-rock, and hipster-hop (you only think they're made up!), they're hardly the worst offenders. "Straight mediocrity dug out of a late 60's time capsule" is about as harsh as I'll be on them.
But this point leads to a more pressing question: to what degree is it acceptable for a new band to establish themselves on the sound of an existing group, no less a sound that was big decades ago?
Sure, we're all familiar with groups that started off as copy-cats and gradually developed their own styles along the way, getting better or worse as they weaned themselves off the milk of their influences. Earshot sounded an awful lot like Tool when they came out, Portugal the Man earned more than a few valid Mars Volta comparisons with their debut, and Abigail's Ghost started out as a nearly perfect facsimile of Porcupine Tree during the In Absentia years.
Yet, an important attribute to notice regarding these said groups is the fact that they all, to varying degrees, aped their established contemporaries-- they weren't pushing any limits, but they weren't really doing any harm either- trends jogging in place, if you will.
It's one thing for a group to get their stylistic bearings through imitation, but it's another thing entirely when a new band rips off an already antiquated sound, and does so with all the grace of a marble paper weight. Meet Hollywood Undead. As M. Shadows might say- they're "You're F**king Nightmare."
Desperate Times call for sh**ty, derivative music
Bands like this confound me. I certainly carry my own biases, as does any music buff, but I generally try to be as non-judgmental as possible when it comes to genres or movements I don't understand or care for (after all- most people aren't too fond of the music I enjoy). However, in the spirit of Mr. Patton, I'm willing to make an exception:
Hollywood Undead doesn't suck-
They mega-quantum-6.022× 1023 power- blow donkey shlongs.
Why, you might ask?
That's why.
But still, even after thinking this over quite rigorously, I find myself lost for virtually any sensible reason why six idiots would ever wish to form a band of this kind. Either they:
-thought that no one would remember how Linkin Park sounded when they came out ten-years ago ("In the End" wasn't that big...).
-thought that wearing masks always makes you sound more original and hardcore (hxc) for always.
-believed that adding some ghetto-white-boy-party-songs into their repertoire of angsty-white-boy-problem-songs would constitute a real niche for them.
-were all in meth comas from 99' through 05' and failed to realize, after they awoke, that rap rock is one of the biggest dinosaurs in the music word (this might actually might be possible).
It's a mystery all right, but more than anything else, Hollywood Undead seems symptomatic of a new current of rock bands that have already, automatically run out of ideas. I use the term "regressive rock" semi-facetiously (I don't claim ownership of it and I certainly don't consider it a genre), but it seems to pretty aptly describe what bands like this do.
Contrary to the way progressive bands supposedly push music beyond it's expected means and limitations, bands such as Wolfmother, Jet, and Hollywood Undead do just the opposite. It's pretty damn annoying; people hear these groups and not only like them; they think what they're doing is pretty fresh.
Fresh, my buttocks.
It's all well and good to pay tribute to the great and maybe not-so-great forefathers of rock's past, but Zeppelin, AC/DC, and, yes, Linkin Park, all did what they needed to do well enough the first time; we don't need to hear their triumphs relived in bands with half the talent and none of the originality. I'll throw on my Dragon Ball Z 't' and listen to LP on my walkman should I ever feel that nostalgia upon me- Hollywood Undead, no thanks.
There is a time and a place for most regressive rock (strip clubs and sports bars, for example), but your ipod shouldn't be one of them.
...
Okay, there may be some exceptions to this rule.
From Mike Patton's 60's Italian pop music cover project, Mondo Cane
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