Music: A to Z 10.16.09: P is for…

Posted by Chris Crowing on 10.16.2009

…Papa Roach, Pantera and Pearl Jam, Paradise Lost and Pitchshifter, a descent into Pure Pop Perversion (featuring the Beatles, Beach Boys, Abba, Kylie Minogue, Take That, Girls Aloud and many more) and a slight shill for the upcoming Biffy Clyro record...



It's been a busy week this week. The first three bands chosen are those which I thought IU had most to say about, and then I found that I couldn't in all conscience omit Paradise Lost and Pitchshifter for sentimental reasons and their effect on my musical education. Then last weeks comments remind me of several bands I hadn't even considered, like Pink Floyd and Placebo as well as the concept of talking about Pop music given that my usual avenue of adoration is very much to the scraggly bearded, multi amplifiered, angry singer, rock persuasion. This may well be the longest, and best column I've ever submitted to 411.

There's a LOT to read this week, and I'm quite proud of all of it, so please step inside…



Biffy Clyro

Ayrshire's own, Biffy Clyro have a video up for their single "the Captain" to be released on 26th November, and it looks like the upcoming record Only Revolutions will continue where Puzzle left off and continue to position the Ayrshire boys as one of the UK (if not the World)'s premier alternative rock bands, while actually recapturing some of the anarchic chaos of their earlier records. Check out the awesomeness...



...and if that doesn't convince, the first single "That Golden Rule" is arguably even better.



Is it wrong that I pimp the bands I like so much? I don't care; I shall continue to spread the word to the infidel!

Pure Pop Perversion

Thanks to lev for suggesting this, and while I won't be talking about P!nk, Paramore or even Prince in particular or at length, I shall try to cover the whole of worthwhile pop music in one fell swoop. Ok, I guess Prince deserves a video just for being utterly awesome…

...but it seems that almost all tracks are 'embedding disabled by request' or have an 'audio track not authorised by the publisher.' That sucks...

While my regular readers, and anyone who has looked at the bands I tend to talk about will be well aware, my heart and soul is given to rock and roll. I like riffs, I like guitar solos, I like singers with voices that can soar to the skies and make then make gravel from mountains.

However, (and this may surprise you) I also like pop music. While I spend many column inches and hours in the pub venting my vitriolic hatred of the commercial, manufactured, unit-shifting, no-soul brand of pop music which tends to dominate the charts, it is not a hate of pop music, but a hate of lazy, soulless, meaningless music designed to do nothing but shift copies that earns my ire.

Indeed, even for a fan of heavy metal, progressive rock and messed-up electronica, I feel it would be hypocritical to write off pop music as a whole, and this is why…

For all that all music now is influenced by all that has gone before in some way (modern pop and rock is a direct descendant of the folk music of a hundred cultures, whichever route they have taken in between) there are choke points where the focus of popular music is distilled, then spills out in new and awesome diversity.

This is especially true in our modern hi-speed communication world, and while musical fashions had previously been largely local or slow moving phenomenon, the advent of television and national radio changed that, if you add to that the mass migrations and mingling of cultures that followed the Second World War the varied musical influences of the world started to coalesce.

This crystallized in some of the acts which would go down in musical history, largely white acts playing a variation of black musical standards (the blues) which would go on to be called rock music. Every decent pop act and rock band IN THE WORLD has a massive debt to these acts which I will name as the Beatles, the Beach Boys and to a lesser extent Elvis Presley.



It is a massive oversimplification to state that these acts form the root basis of all modern popular music, but the idea has a certain grace.

IMHO, The Beatles and Beach Boys displayed a perception of melody which inspires every worthwhile vocal pop group ever, even indirectly for those who don't know their history, and you could even argue that their experimentation with strange instruments led to electronica. The Beatles and Elvis played blues music at the start, and kicked open the door to the successors to Chuck Berry.

The Beatles increasingly progressive and psychedelic nature influenced a huge wave of bands which would progress their ideas beyond all perception, and the starker rhythms in some of their songs influenced the soon-to-begin genres of hard rock and heavy metal. Ian ‘Lemmy' Kilmisnter of Motorhead fame stated on the first episode of Radio One's Rock Show in the late nineties that "Daytripper" by the Beatles was one of his biggest influences in the beginning of his career.

You heard it here first - the Bagpuss-faced, housewives favourite. Paul McCartney founded Heavy Metal.



As I've said, this is a gross oversimplification, and I can't gloss over the influence of acts like the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Billie Holliday, Buddy Holly, the Yardbirds, and a thousand others, swiftly followed by Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Ike & Tina Turner, Abba, every artist on Tamla Mowtown records and more artists than I could possibly mention in one column without it becoming a very dull list, on the development of popular music of all description.

Basically, for metal fans to hate pop music is like wanting to kill your own cousin, understandable but flawed and wrong.

I reckon that's a controversial enough sentiment to be going along with, but I've got my teeth into this, and I feel the need to define the difference between my idea of good pop music, and the bile-inducing, hateful crap which masquerades as music but is undeniably and most perplexing popular…

First for the purposes of this argument, I'll split ‘pop music' from everything else, by defining pop as music which is relatively easy to listen to (i.e. not heavy, experimental, progressive or ambient by average standards) and is very popular in at least a national way.

For me, good pop music relies on quality vocals and song-writing in the first instance, but a lack of either can be made up via the charisma of the act. Musical virtuosity does NOT come in to pop music, and the maxim of Keep-It-Simple-Stupid is king. Furthermore, pop music is a product and presentation does actually come into the equation as to its quality – it's a multimedia industry after all. Also, in the realm of pop, the fact that a singer or whoever doesn't write their own songs doesn't bother me as much anymore as it used to, but I'll always have more respect for an artist or group who does write their own songs.

I think I'll try and nail this down in terms of categories, as pop music is a multi-faceted beast.

For quality vocals, I can't deny the sheer brilliance of Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera amongst others – although I utterly hate the tendency of any singer, male or female who thinks they are a bit good to attempt the tremolo-lip thing. It's flashy, excessive and 99% of the time doesn't help drive the song home, so stop it – especially if you are auditioning for However, given the sheer volume of this type of output it tends to wear on me, and often such ‘Diva' artists have range and technique yet no true soul, especially as their career moves on. However, most of the truly great ones have moments of startling beauty.



A step down in the level of quality comes the most obviously successful and pervasive acts. The likes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue and to a lesser extent Britney Spears have shown an ability to adapt and remain popular despite not having the best voice to fall back on. Their sense for the zeitgeist of a time, being able to shift between sub-genres and working with damned fine producers has resulted in some startlingly awesome pop music. I'll admit, Madonna bugs the hell out of me these days with her scary body, overwhelming arrogance and general unlikeable-ness and my preferences in her work tend towards the awesome Ray of Light record (credit there has to go to William Orbit in the first instance) and her eighties work such as "Like A Prayer."



Kylie is a true survivor, from her saccharine pop days (I'll even admit that the Jason Donovan record which has the duet with Kylie, "Especially For You" on it was the second record I ever owned, apart from a New Kids on The Block tape) to her period writing indie tunes with Nick Cave and James Dean Bradfield, and her electro-pop renaissance, she has a song for every mood and every occasion. Not the best voice, but an eye for an image and a habit of working with great producers will usually result in some starling tunes and memorable pop videos.



While it was suggested I write about P!nk, I choose to keep my thoughts brief as they are less than complimentary. I think she is a less than decent singer, getting by on her originally supposedly hip hop and now allegedly rock delivery, with attendant attitude and look to get by. Her songs are formulaic, childish and dull. Sure, it's got a beat and you can dance to it, but I'm sure that all her edginess is just a pose to compensate for not being the best looking or most talented singer. Basically, she's playing at being a rocker to gain your attention, and I hate that.

The same is true to a degree of Paramore, who are a half decent pop punk band, but they always play on being edgy and not-being-commercial and false, as in the video for "Misery Business." You'll notice Hayley has a salon-dyed hairstyle, is increasingly dressing in designer gear and wears more makeup than the girls who work on the cosmetics counter. Oh so alternative dear… I wouldn't have the slightest problem with Paramore as some pop-rock ear candy if they…

a) admitted they were a pop band, and stopped singing about how edgy they are…

or

b) had stayed as the humble, t-shirt wearing little Emo kids they started out as.

The hypocrisy in their act offends me.

On the flip-side of the coin are those few artists, who despite their limitations and occasionally being the product of a vile marketing ploy like American Idol actually have some of my respect, because of their attitude, desire and a habit of producing good and entertaining if technically undemanding songs. Artists in this category include Kelly Clarkson and Will Young



As far as male solo artists are concerned, similar criteria apply, with a good voice and quality song-writing coming first and a bit of panache in the delivery coming afterwards. I've long been a fan of George Michael, although he hasn't done much worthwhile since the release of "Outside" – but the video for that more than makes up for it…except it's 'embedding disabled...' which sucks.



Two other favourites of mine, in completely different ways are Elton John and Robbie Williams (at least his first few records.) Sir Elton has talent in spades, and while he does get his words written by pen-for-0hire song-smiths like Gerry Anderson and Bernie Taupin his beautiful piano playing and wonderful voice have made a million classic. I can't stand "Candle in the Wind", but songs like "Your Song" and "Saturday Night's All Right" truly stand the test of time.



Robbie Williams on the other hand was never a great singer, but his song-writing partnership with Guy Chambers led to some stunning moments, like the emotive "Angels" or "No Regrets" as well as more bounce-along rock style fare like "South of the Border" or "Karma Killer." He is the kind of smarmy product of the pop machine that I REALLY should hate, but I ended up liking his material despite myself. There must be some kind of quality there…



For all that solo artists are a huge part of pop music, in the true tradition of the Beatles, Beach Boys, Temptations, Supremes and a host of others, the real beating heart of the genre is in the groups. The criteria here is all about the harmonies, about the sheer awe-inspiring impression that three or more singers working together can achieve.

Looking back, you have to pay due homage to Abba as one of the best examples of this art form, with sweetly layered vocals and well constructed songs varying between the heartfelt ("Knowing Me, Knowing You", "The Winner Takes It All") and the unashamedly cheesy dance-along classics ("Dancing Queen", "Gimme Gimme Gimmme.")



While Abba may be awesome, the very concept of the Mamma Mia musical/movie makes my skin itch…

In modern times, the likes of Destiny's Child have at times came close to the standard set by the great vocal groups of the seventies, although their later albums and solo work has increasingly become tainted by the curse of modern mainstream ‘RN'B' which bears no resemblance at all to proper old school RNB and is in fact a horrid, soulless, over produced, over played and uninteresting mode of music.



Likewise, the reunited Take That have come back with a series of more than competent songs and while I hated them on principle as a teenager, looking back I have to say that songs like "Babe" and "Pray" were always a cut above. Tunes like "Patience" and "Shine" are well crafted, well sung and perhaps most importantly the band themselves seem humble, thankful for a second chance and altogether more palatable than before.



However, the evil machine which seems to spew out these bands also spills out is share of effluent, with the unspeakable horror which is Westlife one of the greatest crimes. A band of mediocre singers, with less charisma than my ass and no original songs – why are they record breakingly successful again?

As a rule I disapprove of the ‘talent contests' like American Idol or the X Factor, on the basis that they are not in fact about creating a star, but about having a top rated TV show and making a ton of money off of the phone votes with the creation of a successful long term star a distant third in the priority queue.

That said, the several seasons of each show have produced a handful of decent acts, including Will Young, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis and Girls Aloud but if you believe the hype then every single winner should be a major international star on merit for a decade. Fail…

‘Girls Aloud?' I hear you cry!

Yes, I quite like Girls Aloud, and it's because they actually have a stream of quite enjoyable, if disposable electro-pop songs in their canon, which gives kudos to their production team. To be fair, Nadine, Kimberley and Nicola are all good singers, and Cheryl and Sarah aren't bad either, and if I have to listen to pop music when I'm out I'd much rather listen to "No Good Advice" or "Sound of the Underground" than a great deal of the disposable nonsense which populates the airwaves.



All in all, I'm fine with pop music that is well put together and well performed. Truly impressive songs will gain due kudos, and it is my personal peccadillo to prefer less technical artists with more character over the undoubtedly awesome talents who seem to sing by rote.

What makes bad pop music for me are the one's where the organic ‘real' product is distorted beyond belief by effects, and while I appreciate that the likes of Lady GaGa may well be quite talented, the fact that the song is processed to within an inch of it's life and the vocals are fed through a vocoder ALL THE TIME removes any value in it. IMHO it's better to just miss the perfect note, and really feel it. Pop does not have to mean sterile, produced pish.

Furthermore, the songs and artists where it is clear that the only motive of the record company/production team/artist is to make money and/or chase fame instantly lose credence for me – just as a rock band who clearly aim at being nothing but successful, as opposed to good will fall from my favour.

Writing nice, pop songs because it is what comes out is absolutely fine, and I guess many of my preferred singer/songwriters would fall into this category (e.g. Alanis Morrisette, Yusuf Islam) but producing pop music (or any kind of music) for the sheer expedition of becoming famous is hateful and will ever earn my utter disdain.

Of course this has been a very cursory and limited examination of what pop music means to me, and you could argue that the boundaries of pop music can be thrown wider to include what I would term dance, hip hop, urban soul and even the more pedestrian realms of rock music. As I've said before, genre divisions are a mutable thing, changed by the very act of observing them.

Doubtless the acts I have chosen to praise displays my preference for dance-tinged, or sweetly acoustic pop music, but the rule I am about to explain holds true for all music.



A general rule exists for all music. If it's really well performed from a technical point of view then it has merit. If it is written and performed with genuine passion and verve, then it has merit. If it has both of these things, then it is great, whatever shade, genre or label you wish to attach to it.

You can tell it in the eyes of the artists. Some folks are born to sing, born to rock and it shows in their eyes, while some are just after fame, or to feel special by being different. I dont care if you are pop, rock, folk, metal, urban or dance, just so long as you love it....



* Please note, all 'Best...' designations are merely this writer's opinion, and stand as a recommendation for new fans, rather than an attempt to make a definitive statement. I'll likely change my mind by next week anyway.

Papa Roach

What: Nu-metal superstars, finding enduring success by turning into a sleaze rock band.
From: Vacaville, California, USA
In the Beginning: Formed from high school in 1993, the band released several EPs and one full length record independently and toured heavily before being picked up by DreamWorks in late 1999, leading to the release of heavily promoted, multi-platinum debut Infest in 2000.
Best Album*: Infest (2000)
Best Song*: "Dead Cell", "Between Angels & Insects", "Blood Brothers", "Getting Away With Murder", "To Be Loved", "I Almost Told You That I Loved You"
Recently...: Most recent record Metamorphosis was released in March, and the band are currently touring the world in support of the record.

Like pretty much everyone outside the nascent north California nu-metal scene which spawned them, the first glimpse I had of Papa Roach came from the suspiciously polished video for "Last Resort"…



…which, given my continuing abject hatred for the suicide scene which has characterised alternative culture in the decade which followed remain my least favourite Papa Roach song.

However the Infest album spent the majority of 2000-2001 in my discman (before mp3 players and iPods there were portable CD players with headphones, in hindsight it was like the dark ages...) alongside Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory because it is a very entertaining album.

From the opener "Infest", skipping over "Last Resort", there is a series of damned fine tunes with "Broken Home", "Dead Cell", "Between Angels & Insects" and "Blood Brothers" all showing up on some of my playlists ten years later.

Probably most memorable is "Blood Brothers" if only because I've heard it the most due to the many hours spent playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 when I was a student...



Even at the time, there was a backlash against Papa Roach - the second time I saw them was playing on the roof of Radio City Music hall for the MTV awards, which is a sure sign of the Man's approval which of course made them anathema to 'true' metal fans the world over.

There was, and remains credence in the case against Papa Roach. Part of a mainstream-acceptable scene-of-the-moment, with a limited (annoying) singer and arguably more limited musicians, writing cookie cutter teen angst songs, it was always to be expected. Given their 'metamorphosis' from nu-metal band to something a tad more 80s in execution, I guess there is even more fuel for the fire of dislike for them, but I'll get to that in a minute.

For all that, I liked the album in my time of innocence, and I find myself still liking it now. Even though the songs arn't the most technical, simple rhythms work and the slightly forced rapping is more than balanced out by songs with an effective flow, and some awesome choruses. I'll ever be a nu-metal fan, that isn't going to change.

However, by the time their second major release LoveHateTragedy came out in 2002, nu-metal had gone from 'hot new scene' to the point of saturated ubiquity where it stopped being interesting, and even those of us who truly liked it were sick to the back teeth of it (Emo is at this stage right now). The fact that the record itself suffered from 'second album syndrome' and lacked the snap and addictive qualities of it's predecessor didn't help.



It seems to me that there was more than two years between LoveHateTragedy in 2002 and Getting Away With Murder in 2004, but I guess that seeing as that period included finishing university and joining the ranks of the permanently employed, a certain time-distortion is to be expected.

In any case, I'd almost completely forgotten about Papa Roach in the intervening time, and while I quite liked the lead single to the record, it wasn't enough to make me buy it, and even at that stage I remember commenting on a certain change in image for the band...



...which would only increase with their next record the Paramour Sessions. The decadent video for "To Be Loved" shows off the band's almost-emo, but definitely glam-rock leanings, from the black shirts and nu-metal aesthetic of their earlier days. The music itself has become more outgoing, more bombastic, and as the band have been rebuilding their commercial career fishing for scraps at the mainstream/classic rock edge of the burgeoning Emo wave, (not to mention Jacoby Shaddix stint as host on MTV's ever entertaining Scarred show) they have become perhaps more fun, but definitely less interesting.



Their most recent album Metamorphosis continues this trend of enjoyable, yet unsatisfying pop candy dressed up as rock music. While "Hollywood Whore" is laced with a pleasing vitriol, it reads like it came from the pen of a National Enquirer writer's out of hours creative writing - there is no insight and no awesome imagery to add to the bog standard rawk tune it plays over. As such, it reads like they sat down and thought 'were a rock band, so we should hate these D-list celebs and starfuckers, let's write the most obvious song to that effect...' which is pretty contemptible. Unless we arrange it that they follow Courtney Love around playing the song 24/7. That would amuse me.



Their status as lowbrow purveyors of sleaze/glam rock is confirmed by their slot on this summers Crue Fest, and it increasingly seems that their exquisitely teased hairdos, obvious tattoos and panda eyes take as much precedence as the songs. OK, the songs are fun in a 'I'd dance to it in a club' sort of way, but would I buy the album, or count myself a fan these days. No.

Papa Roach rank pretty high in my 'guilty pleasure' rankings, and while I still play Infest quite a bit, their later stuff is merely inoffensive to me but ultimately completely disposable. It's almost a shame, as I think they could have been more, but their recent musical and stylistic choices have almost confirmed all the 'true metal' criticism they received right back at the start.

Pantera

What: Groove metal overlords.
From: Arlington, Texas, USA
In the Beginning: Formed in 1981 by the Abbott brothers, Pantera released a series of glam metal album, before Phil Anselmo joined in 1987. The first record with Anselmo, 1988's Power Metal was more aggressive than previous work, but the real breakthrough came with the major release of Cowboys From Hell in 1990. A new era of metal was beginning...
Best Album*: Cowboys From Hell (1990), Vulgar Display of Power (1992), Far Beyond Driven (1994)
Best Song*: "Cowboys From Hell", "Fucking Hostile", "5 Minutes Alone"
Recently...: Pantera disbanded in 2003, and any hope of a reunion was dashed when Dimebag Darrell was shot dead on December 8th, 2004.

Pantera are another of those bands who featured on the mix tapes which gave me my first, post-Metallica education into alternative music, and that selection of songs from Vulgar Display of Power (if memory serves "Walk", "Mouth for War", "Fucking Hostile", "This Love" and "Hollow") jammed between songs from Fear Factory's Demanufacture and so soon after my sudden intense love for Metallica's Master of Puppets made a lasting impression. The riff is king. Thus, so it remains with me.



Swiftly devouring their back catalogue, I discovered a band with a wholly individual approach, yet similar to the other bands who were lighting up my life at the time. Pantera always seemed to be more organic, more joyful, more outgoing than Metallica's thought-out thrash opuses and Fear Factory's sterile blast beats (there's nothing wrong with either band's approach, but variety IS the spice of life.)

No song displays the joyous abandon of Pantera (and let's be honest, were talking about the stellar skills of Darrell Abbott here) better than this one...



"Cowboys from Hell" live in Moscow - that's just messed up!

No other band exemplifies the 'groove' in the genre title 'groove metal' better than Pantera, and for my money no other band (with the obvious exceptions of Metallica, Slayer, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and even Nirvana and Fugazi) have had such an impact of the evolution in style for the meta-genre which is heavy alternative music.

Doubtless someone, almost certainly my most erudite and beloved commenter, AndrewCrow will have something to say about that little statement.



Of course, Pantera weren't a one trick band, and songs like "Hollow" show their ability to display restraint, melody and convey emotions other than rage through their music. My favourite such example is this...



Their last record Reinventing the Steel is their least impressive, as you can guess from the contrived, forced title. However, given the division in the band, with Anselmo increasingly erratic and distant because of his back pain and drug use, not to mention paying more attention to Superjoint Ritual and Down (who are also both awesome) the lack of passion and cohesion is the be expected. I'd rather not dwell on that, and instead roll with the good times...



Given the division on the band and the split in 2003, we did for a time have some decent payment for the loss on Pantera in a rejuvenated Down and the promising (if initially disappointing) Damageplan. However, Dimebag's untimely death (which i still mark with a raised glass of bourbon, as he was the first icon of mine to die where I remember the moment I got the news) robbed us of Damageplan and any hopes of a Pantera reunion.

Let's take a moment to remember Darrell 'Dimebag / Diamond' Abbott, arguably the greatest guitarist of his generation, 8/20/66 - 12/08/05.



As you may have guessed, I hold Pantera in pretty high esteem with both Dimebag and Anselmo being massive heroes of mine. I'll admit that I don't listen to them as much as I once did, but many of the bands I now listen more often to are directly influenced by the Texan titans. I've really enjoyed spending a few days going back and listening to some songs I haven't given time to in more than a few years ("Hollow" and "By Demons Be Driven" in particular) and it's a great reminder of why I love writing about music.

Pearl Jam

What: Grunge megastars
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
In the Beginning: Formed from the ashes of Mother Love Bone, and following the Temple of the Dog tribute record, Pearl jam got a record deal on the basis of the burgeoning grunge wave and their debut record Ten became a sleeper hit.
Best Album*: Ten (1991), Vs. (1993)
Best Song*: "Jeremy", "Black", "Daughter", "Rearviewmirror", "Given to Fly"
Recently...: Newest record, Backspacer released on September 20 and debuted at number 1. The band have been playing festival dates and a limited European tour in support of the record, but a full tour is in the works for 2010.

For some reason, I resisted giving Pearl Jam a fair listen for years after my 'alternative awakening' - at least partially as I remember the band being mentioned as a favourite band on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and I decided that they can't possibly be any good.



I was eventually badgered into giving them a listen (bear in mind that while I understand Pearl jam were ubiquitously popular in a mainstream way in 90s America, they were never all that in the UK - we got Oasis instead) by my friend Charlie, and the handy find of the awesome Vs. and Ten records in Fopp for a measly £5 each. That's a low-risk investment!

I fell in love with Pearl Jam fast, adding another layer of variety to my alternative music taste. More tuneful than Nirvana, but rockier than the indie I'd grown up on. Easier to listen to than the various shades of metal I was into, but more rewarding that common-or-garden mainstream rock.

(Hint: FF to 1.01)



Looking back, there was one song I remembered hearing people talk about when I was in the early years of high school, and the line "Jeremy spoke in class today..." was one that I recognised. While I was long aware and somewhat jaded by teen angst style songs at this stage, "Jeremy" has always stood ahead of the average, being the most impassioned, intelligent and musically interesting song of its type. Eddie Vedder also looks like the very devil himself in the video, and that's just cool.



Of course, driving blues rock and teen angst are not the sum total of Pearl Jam's repertoire and I soon discovered possible the best, most tortured love song I've ever heard.



"I know some day you'll have a beautiful life / I know you'll be the sun in some body else's sky / but why, why, why, can't it be mine?"

Sure, it's a sentiment that is much derided for it's ubiquity, but "Black" is far more than just another broken heart song, and is possible the most searing, writer-bleeding-all-over-the-page-in-words song I've yet come across.

Following becoming the biggest band in North America with their first two records, Pearl Jam started to turn aside from fame. Right at the point where they played with Neil Young, it seems they decided that they had no desire to possess the massive fame which consumed Cobain (even though by that point Pearl jam were actually selling more records, probably because Vs. and Vitalogy were more palatable to mainstream audiences than the by turns abrasive and whimsical In Utero.)

They all but stopped making music videos, entered a long running dispute with Ticketmaster over their shocking pricing policies which severely curtailed their touring in North American for several years and started releasing most of their live shows as 'real' releases.



In fact, in 2006 Rolling Stone magazine described Pearl Jam as having spent the previous ten years deliberately dismantling their own fame.

Yet somehow, they remain one of the biggest, most beloved, most influential bands in the world, to be talked of in the same commercial tones as U2 or but also with the hushed reverence usually reserved for artists of a previous age, or a more eclectic persuasion like the Smiths, Grateful Dead or even their idol Neil Young.



Always one of the most politically aware grunge bands, as evidenced by the cutting social commentary in their lyrics right from the start, but also more noticeably in recent years with their condemnation of the Bush administration and the multifarious evils associated with it.

It will come as no surprise that I love that, but also the fact that they tend to do so in an earnest, intelligent, consistent way (as opposed to Green Day suddenly developing politics when it becomes cool to 'Rock against Bush.') I've always had the impression that Eddie Vedder would make a very articulate and interesting dinner guest...



Of course, Vedder and his charismatic, intelligent front-man persona are only part of the Pearl jam package, and while much of their work edges on the laid back, almost folk, blues-suffused edge of the alternative rock spectrum, they often do so with such panache, with such layered melodies that you cannot help but be struck dumb by the sheer awe-inspiring musicality of the band. Due kudos is thus paid to Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Mike McCready and the string of drummers (now Matt Cameron, ex of Soundgarden.)



How dumb is it that the Universal and Island record channels have 'embedding disabled' when Pearl jam's official YouTube channel doesn't? I also have to say that this is the most Pearl Jam have ever sounded like Bruce Springsteen, and for some reason that is a compliment in this case...

In the past few years, the quality of their product, a return to regular touring and the attention that comes with being an articulate, politically aware rock band in these times has seen the band return to the forefront of rock music, with their self titled record in 2006 debuting at #2 and the newest record Backspacer debuting at #1 - the first since 1996's No Code to do so.

Perhaps this is a sign that articulate, talented bands are coming to the fore after a long period of flash-in-the-pan-rock-genres and watered down, lowest common denominator pop music. We can hope....

Paradise Lost

What: Gothic Metal Legends
From: Halifax, England
In the Beginning: The band released debut record Lost Paradise in 1990, showing the influences of death metal titans like Celtic Frost and Death. Their real breakthrough came with their second record Gothic in 1991, effectively creating the sub-genre of gothic metal (which is death/doom with added symphonics and melody.)
Best Album*: Shades of God (1992), Draconian Times (1995), One Second (1997), Paradise Lost (2005)
Best Song*: "As I Die", "True Belief", "Forever Failure", "Say Just Words", "Mercy", "Forever After"
Recently...: Newest record Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us was released on September 25th, 28th and October 6th in Germany, the rest of Europe and the USA respectively.

Like so much else, I first discovered Paradise Lost on the many mix tapes I was given at the start of my education, where a selection of songs from the (I was to discover) contentious One Second record added to my burgeoning tapestry of alternative tastes.



Of course, this record actually characterised a departure from Paradise Lost's roots, and glory years as the banner band for Gothic Metal, and while the electronics-heavy, Depeche Mode influenced sound on this album divided fans, it really made an impression on me and my musical development (leading me to VAST, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and all forms of electronic music.)

While songs like "Say Just Words", "Soul Courageous" and "Blood of Another" are almost embarrassingly direct, it's the truly restrained, atmospheric moments on this record that truly hold my heart twelve years later, and songs like "Mercy", "This Cold Life" and "Take Me Down" are some of the most ice-cold-shivers-up-the-spine songs I've ever heard and remain an important part of my daily listening canon.

I would also contend that this move by Paradise Lost, melding what I like to term Gloom Metal with ambient electronics is a huge influence on the wave of female fronted, teeny-goth-metal bands who had tremendous success in the noughties, with the application varying between Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish and Within Temptation amongst others. It's just a personal theory, but I think it holds credence.

Of course, by the time they took a further step into Euro-pop electronica with Host I was an experienced metalhead and still regard Host as one of the WORST records I have ever heard. It would take the band some years to swing back to their roots and start producing quality albums again.

However, for Paradise Lost's classic import I had to delve into their previous catalogue, and immerse myself in some of the most completely nihilistic music I've ever heard.



Their addition of a more melodic, symphonic aesthetic to the death/doom template made them at once a more refined taste and also more mainstream-acceptable than the bands who had originally inspired them. This material taught me how to be heavy but not fast, how to be dark yet beautiful and how to keep a straight face through the most ridiculous lyrics…



Yes, "As I Die" would have been more apt, seeing as this is a cover but I LOL'd the first time I heard this song, and still laugh every single time. You can't always take metal too seriously...

Pitchshifter

What: Industrial rock/metal Pioneers
From: Nottingham, England
In the Beginning: Formed as by brothers Mark and JS Clayden, the band were instantly successful (at least in the realms of their underground ambition at the time) with seminal albums such as Industrial and Submit, before reaching for an arguably more commercial direction with the name contraction to Pitchshifter and the release of www.pitchshifter.com record.
Best Album*: Industrial (1991), www.pitshshifter.com (1998)
Best Song*: "Gravid Rage", "Genius", "A Better Lie", "As Seen On TV"
Recently...: Supposedly disbanded in 2003, the band have continued to make festival appearances and had a full-scale tour in 2006. Despite working on side projects such as the searingly awesome This Is Menace, there are reports that the band are back working on a full-scale Pitchshifter record. Please....

Like more than a few bands, I first discovered Pitshchifter through a video on the ever-awesome ITV Chart Show in 1998. Imagine the scene, I'm sitting on the coach of my living room with a cup of tea and a piece of toast (rock n' roll baby!) having just watched Gazetta Football Italia and this comes on….



… as you can imagine, my response was enthusiastic. What the FRACK is this? I swiftly went out and purchased their album and beheld a crushing combination of what I would come to learn was called Industrial, mixed with the more familiar forms of punk and drum & bass. Catchy, aggressive, politically aware and intelligent, and utterly uncompromising, this was a band I could fall straight in love with.

I didn't really get their earlier records as a teenager, but with a decades experience I can see their harrowing intensity for what it is, and it has a place in my affections. However, the albums which really have a warm place are their mainstream breakthrough (relatively speaking) www.pitchshifter.com and it's successor Deviant. Jammed full of intelligent anarchic vitriol, crushing riffs, awesome break beats and Deviant even has some Jello Biafra spoken word on it. I have vivid memories of playing the original Grand Theft Auto game while listening to "Civilised" on repeat…



Following the band's self imposed hiatus, bass player Mark Clayden and drummer Jason Bowld embarked on the This is Menace project where they got a series of guest singers to sing for them, removing the ‘front-man' aspect from the project and really developing the idea of an anarchic musical collective. With underground figures like Jeff Walker (Carcass) and Mikee Goodman (Sikth) appearing alongside the more mainstream likes of Charlie Simpson (Fighstar) and Matt Davies (Funeral for a Friend) the two This is Menace records are both blistering metal assaults showing what can be achieved by driven musicians who are doing things for the sake of their passion and beliefs more than money and fame. That's just awesome beyond words in my estimation.



There are rumours that Pitchshifter are to make a proper comeback, and I think in this time when rock music has been so diluted by massive mainstream attention and a million bands are faking political concern because it is fashionable we REALLY need bands like Pitshchifter who kick a tremendous amount or arse, and then talk eloquently about the evils and hypocrisies in the world to stand up and be counted. Please guys, you've been missed, and we need you…