Musical Review Pet Peeve thread

[Against Will]

I'm in a bad mood.

1) People that compare bands that don't sound anything like Joy Division to Joy Division.
sub A) Comparing bands to Pixies, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground, Led Zeppelin. Basically, if you have guitars, drums, and maybe a bass in your band, you probably sound like one, several or all of these bands.
sub B) Comparing bands to formerly-obscure-now-practically-arena-rock bands because no one will listen to bands that say they sound like Nirvana on their one sheet even though they sound EXACTLY LIKE NIRVANA.

Because I don't feel very creative, I'm reposting a list penned by genius musical/cultural critic Jessica Hopper of words and phrases that should be purged from all professional and critical music literature.

breaking the boundries of genre
genre defying
genre defining
decidedly different
defies categorization
auspicious debut
ambitious debut
striking debut
thoughtful debut
willingness to reinvent themselves
distinguished by
a sound that is distinctly their own
unique, but familiar
uniquely
singular voice
engaging
surpassing
cinematic
soaring
sweeping
epic
dynamic
soundscape
musical landscape (also see "traversing of")
musical tapestry
punctuating rhythms
punctuating bombast

And

"is proof that"
"proves that"
auspicious
Like _______ on acid
garnering attention
most notably
throws down the gauntlet
atmospherics
____ bliss
lilting
sonic nightmare
sonic equivalent of
bombastic combination
classic combination of
pastiche
vividly etched
hearkens
to surprinsing effect
avoids the trappings
surprisingly ( WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME ANYTHING ON A RECORD TOUCHED OFF GENUINE SURPRISE?)

[bannedwit]

Don't worry, the growing power of the every mighty genre of "Rap" will soon put all of us out of business...

They have enough music to "sample" (a.k.a. cut/copy and paste from a real song) for years to come. The best is that they sample songs that have been sampled before. I have heard one background tune from Notorious BIG (which had to be taken (sorry "sampled") from an actual musician) and just heard the same background tune out of Gwen Stefani.

Who needs to play instruments anymore anyways... Losing battle because people can't get enough of this rap B.S.

[superbassman2000]

its true...with all the music that is out already, i think we can safely cut and paste a hit song without anyone knowing where we got the music...

but i agree with AW, music reviews are pretty much dumb

[tZer]

Pet peeves, reviewers, reviews, 'define your sound' discussions, and the like are instruments of evil and are all designed to waste your time. Avoid conversations based on these topics at all costs and do not allow them to occupy your precious 'music time'.

Recommended methods for avoiding these sort of topics in conversation include:

• Point eagerly at a tall, black man across the street and say "Hey, isn't that Bootsy Collins?" - Then when he turns to see, run!
• Point eagerly at a tall, white man across the street and say "Hey, isn't that Les Claypool?" - Then when he turns to see, run!
• Start looking intently at the sandwich/other food items the conversation starter is eating and begin drooling. Then reach for it and insist on having a bite and don't take 'no' for an answer.
• Answer every question with, "would you like fries with that?" - (OK, cliche I know... but it does work!)
• Look disgusted and pee on his shoes.