Dave - As Guns N Roses once said "You want to step into my world? It's a socio-psychotic state of bliss". One of the ways to achieve this is by discovering new music. Technology plays a big part in how music is marketed and how its discovered.
Once upon a time, people had to have their radios on and tuned into their favorite station to hear what new hits were being played. That didn't leave much room for new, "underground" music though. Most stations wouldn't play anything unless it was gaining traction, or if it was a specialty station geared toward alternative, or heavy metal or whatnot. Occasionally, you have a show on a regular station that had an hour or so for these genres so you might hear something unique instead of the same old songs you've heard 1000 times over and over again.
Melanie - It was very different depending where you lived as well. Even now I am amazed at the groups or singers that are considered "One Hit Wonders" here in the States that was hugely popular in England, and vice versa!
Dave - The age of MTV brought new discoveries as well. In preparing a new release, if it was a popular artist, you may get a new video a couple months in advance. You can have that one song pounded into your head until the new CD was released. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. It can get you so hyped up for the full-length CD. Or if the rest of the CD has a different sound, it could be a massive let down. Been there, done that. The choice for the lead off single if a big decision. You want something that will catch attention but also that is representative of the rest of the record.
Melanie - MTV was a huge game changer in England too. Suddenly we were seeing a lot more of the American Chart songs and often it wasn't as easy to get your hands on the CDs unlike over here. The record stores were very slow on the uptake when it came to the change hitting the industry and of course it wasn't like now where you could just jump on and order online!
Dave - I will give the example of the band Extreme. Their 2nd CD came out and they released "Decadence Dance", then "Get the Funk Out" as singles and videos. These were good representations of the CD but the 3rd single, acoustic ballad "More Than Words" is what caught everyone's attention. Top 40 hit, being played on the radio, getting attention from other stations that would never play their other music. People in their 60's and 70's were going into record stores looking for "the nice young guys that sing 'More Than Words'" and were denying it when the workers were bringing them a CD titled "Extreme II Pornograffitti". Yeah, I don't think they'd like the rest of the songs, except maybe "Hole Hearted", the 4th single and closest relation to the previous song they heard. Still acoustic but added bass and drums.
Melanie - Oh my goodness I remember when "More Than Words" was a thing in the UK! I had heard of Extreme before but suddenly everyone was talking about them and LOADS of people were annoyed that they had purchased the CD expecting more songs like that and of course were greeted by a WHOLE different sound!
Dave - As you might have gathered from some other music I mentioned before, I like going for a bit of the unknown bands. So, for my music, I was tuning into MTV for Headbanger's Ball. They had a little bit of everything there. The popular bands, new bands, older, lesser-known bands. More often than not, the brand-new stuff would be saved for the last videos of the night at 3:00 am. But it still gave you a chance to hear something fresh. Made quite a few discoveries there. A few of which, I actually liked more than the popular bands selling millions of records.
Dave - Today's world of YouTube and the internet is a whole different animal. You can follow the artist, or the label and constantly get new suggestions and videos popping up. Or YouTube could just offer suggestions based on other videos you've watched. How many times have you randomly clicked something because it "looked good" by the screencap? Another difference that I am seeing now is that they start promoting the new CD a lot earlier. Sometimes I see a new video without a new CD release date in sight and it ends up being almost a year before it actually comes out.
Dave - Since they start the groundwork so early, you often can hear 3-4 songs from the new record before its released. It gives you a much better overall feel of the sound they were going for with this release. I would hate when I would only hear one song and go buy the CD and be disappointed in the rest of it. It’s happened a few times. Now, I can hear a few choices first. Or if I wait until its released, the artist may put all the songs on their YouTube channel. (RANTING PREACHER MODE--I prefer to buy the CDs, yes, the actual physical CDs. Support the artists, people. Just because you can listen for free doesn't mean you should. The studio time, the equipment, production, etc all costs money. If you enjoy it that much, buy it. END RANT)
Melanie - Nice to see I am not the only one that gets ranty about things! Also it is a bit like DVDs - things might be streaming now but that doesn't guarantee they always will be!
Dave - I still don't think a lot of these artists are using the technology to their full advantage. You'd hear a lot of interviews and they say they went into the studio with 30-40 songs and picked the best 12 to go on the record. Where are the rest of the songs? If you aren't going to do anything with them, throw them up on YouTube or on the website. They could sell them cheap as digital downloads. Chances are they will write a bunch more before the next record comes out and these songs will never see the light of the day. There have been so many songs that were B-sides or demos that never made the actual CD that I ended up loving!
Melanie - Totally with you on that Dave! One of my all time favorite songs of all time is Anna Stesia by Prince which was only released on his LoveSexy album! Another is Love Song by Madonna and Prince which was only found on Madonna's Like A Prayer Album. So many great songs out there that should be shared!
Be sure to let us know how you find new music in the comments!
The Code Word For This Article Is Discover!
Susan -
Normandie is supposed to be a post-hardcore / alternative rock band from Sweden but their most recent album, released in February of 2021, has more of a pop/punk feel to it rather than alternative rock. They claim to be Sweden's best kept secret so I'm here to tell you why you should give Normandie a listen.
Their style of music has been compared to the likes of Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bring Me The Horizon and Pvris
All of their bios seem to have conflicting information of who is actually in the band so I hope this is up to date. Normandie consists of Lead vocalist Philip Strand, guitarist Håkan Almbladh, basist Lucas Englund and drummer Anton Franzon.
I've been listening to a few of Normandie's tracks lately while writing, so decided to check the back catalogue. Dark & Beautiful Secrets is the band's third album and while some critics have slammed it for being too commercial, I can certainly see the appeal and to be honest, the same could be said for a lot of Bring Me The Horizon's most recent releases...I mean, you know a band is not 100% rock any more when you hear them played in the background of a British Soap, right?
Dark & Beautiful Secrets is an album that I like to call vocal journaling, where an artist is using the medium of music to tell the world their experiences and for this album, it focuses on lead singer Philip's struggles with anxiety.
I think the website Punktastic summed it up when describing the song Hostage and this is the essence of the vocal journaking.
It’s a song that will resonate deeply with anyone who’s struggled with the internal battles of anxiety disorders, lyrically capturing the repetitive thoughts and inescapable nature of panic – it’s all too familiar, but there’s strength in sharing this experience, and the result is a truly cathartic few minutes that show a new side to this band.
Standout tracks:
Babylon, Hostage, Jericho, Holy Water, Bury Me Alive, Thrown In The Gutter, Renegade and Chemicals
The band recently released a series of acoustic versions of songs from the album and I am a sucker for an acoustic track!
Melanie Here - The Code Word For This Article Is Normandie
Susan Harris is a writer from Cork, Ireland and when she’s not torturing her readers with heart-wrenching plot twists or killer cliffhangers, she’s probably getting some new book related ink, binging her latest TV or music obsession, or with her nose in a book. She is a proud founding Member of the Muser VIPers and is responsible for Melanie not breaking the Website on an almost daily basis! You can check out all her books on Amazon HERE All Links To Buy / Subscribe to Amazon Programs On Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which in turns helps support all the Muser giveaways we do!)
Dave - 1987. Hard rock and heavy metal were hitting the airwaves and the time was ripe for new bands to explode onto the scene. One of those bands got the prime gig of opening for Aerosmith. That band is Guns N' Roses. The downright brutal assault of "Appetite for Destruction" was making a lot of noise on the radio and MTV and quickly making this LA band a worldwide success.
Dave - The chart-topping success of that record, made their independent EP "Live Like a Suicide" a hot commodity fetching some outrageous prices. So, the band cut 4 new acoustic songs and rereleased that EP on "Lies". The acoustic side brought a new sound to the band. "Patience" was nothing like anything on "Appetite".  "Use Your Illusion 1 & 2" brought another change in tempo for the band. Incorporating some piano and keyboards and an influence of blues on several songs kept things fresh and kept fans guessing. This was one of the first times I can remember a record store having a midnight sale at the day of the release for diehard fans. Songs were getting more epic too. "November Rain clocked in at almost 9 minutes. "Coma" comes in at over 10 minutes. Even though its the longest song on the record, its one of my favorites. Those 10 minutes have about 4 tempo changes, keeping things fresh. If it had been the same repetitive rhythm for 10 minutes, it could have been boring.
Dave - "The Spaghetti Incident?" is definitely a WTF moment for most fans. An album of cover songs but not really with the typical GNR stamp. A perfect example of this is "Down on the Farm". It was originally by a punk band called the UK Subs. GNR covered it at Farm Aid 4 in 1990. At Farm Aid, it sounded much more rocked out. This studio version sounds more punk. Everything sounds like the original style it was done in by the original bands. This was 1993 and the beginning of the long drought and a lot of changes for the band. Everyone was gone except for Axl and the controversy started about name changes since "the original members" weren't there. Well, if you want to get technical, Slash wasn't an original member either. Tracii Guns (went on to form L.A. Guns) was the original guitarist (hence the name-- GUNS N' Roses). 1999 brought us the first new song since 93, and first original GNR song from 91. "Oh My God" brought a heavier, more industrial sound as it was featured on the "End of Days" soundtrack. The eagerly awaited new GNR CD has a name. "Chinese Democracy". Of course, it wont actually be released 2008. But I'll get to that in a bit after I rant a little. OK, maybe a lot. Thus begins my defense. Comments can run rampant and fans and fandoms can become so toxic. The second that something is different or changes, the assaults come rushing in. Complaining that isn't GNR. Its just Axl and some hired guns. This doesn't sound like GNR. So called fans want to pull apart every bit of originality. You could just as easily say Velvet Revolver was just GNR with a new singer. But that’s beside the point. First things first. 1. "This isn't GNR". Ummm, yes, it is. Look at the label. Says it right there. Guns N Roses. So, as I said, 2008 brought the release of "Chinese Democracy" the end to the 15-year gap of new GNR music-- and the start of fans crying about it. With as many songs that have been worked on for this record over the years, they only gave us 14 new songs. But clocking in at just over 71 minutes, that was just about the limit for one CD unless they wanted double release. It's a very diverse record. Different influences and keeping the shift in momentum. The title track, "Better", There Was a Time", "Madagascar", "Catcher in the Rye". But one of the sickest burns is in "Street of Dreams"-- "What I thought was beautiful, don't live inside of you anymore". OUCH! In the years since then, Slash and Duff have re-joined Axl for the reunion tour. I kinda have mixed feelings about this. I love seeing them together but they went right on the road. It seems like a quick money grab to me. If you are going to regroup, hit the studio first. Record new music so you have something to market. I will say one thing that is surprising about this reunion. Something that is separates it from other reunion tours is they are not ignoring the time that the other members were out of the band. They actually had Slash and Duff learn some "Chinese Democracy" so they can play them live. With the new release of the single "Absurd", a reworked version of "Silkworms" from the "Chinese Democracy" demos, maybe we'll be hearing a full record soon.
Dave Christy loves horror, music, documentaries and more. He is also the co-runner of several fan based groups including Morningstars (THE Lucifer fan group also run by Melanie), and now is a member of the VIPers Spotlight Lounge team for Melanie's Muses. Other than "In The Spotlight" Features -check out his "31 Days Of Halloween Movies"
The Code Word For This Article Is November
Dave -
The mostly piano driven "Break Through" shows you don't need the pounding drum beat to find the emotion behind the songs and fall under the spell of the vocals carrying you away.
"In My Blood" is the latest video from "Seven". No way to accurately describe this one. Alice in Wonderland/dinner party from hell? Who knows? But the masks kinda remind me of the ones that In This Moment uses in their live shows. Great song and video regardless.
"Seven" offers you 11 new songs of absolute perfection. If you like what you see and hear in the videos above, check out their previous release "Phoenix" as well.
The Code Word For This Article Is Seven Dave Christy loves horror, music, documentaries and more. He is also the co-runner of several fan based groups including Morningstars (THE Lucifer fan group also run by Melanie), and now is a member of the VIPers Spotlight Lounge team for Melanie's Muses. Other than "In The Spotlight" Features -check out his "31 Days Of Halloween Movies" All Links To Buy / Subscribe to Amazon Programs On Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which in turns helps support all the Muser giveaways we do!)
Nothing but Thieves are one of those bands that I never tire of listening to and Conor Mason is one of my all time fave male vocalists.
Last year, when they released Moral Panic (Review here) I didn't think the band could make the album any better. But sometimes, I'm wrong!
Earlier this month, Nothing but Thieves decided to give us an EP that's like Moral Panic 2.0!
The EP is only 5 songs and feels more like the deluxe version of the original album and doesn't disappoint. If you enjoyed Moral Panic, then these few tracks will also be your cup of tea!
Standout tracks:
Everything but I especially love Ce n’est Rien
Melanie Here - The Code Word For This Article Is Nothing
Susan Harris is a writer from Cork, Ireland and when she’s not torturing her readers with heart-wrenching plot twists or killer cliffhangers, she’s probably getting some new book related ink, binging her latest TV or music obsession, or with her nose in a book. She is a proud founding Member of the Muser VIPers and is responsible for Melanie not breaking the Website on an almost daily basis! You can check out all her books on Amazon HERE All Links To Buy / Subscribe to Amazon Programs On Amazon in this article are Amazon Affiliate Links(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which in turns helps support all the Muser giveaways we do!) |
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