[Wayne77]

A post by Beagle in the "Train, drops of Jupiter" thread got me to thinking about how many bands out there have seemingly ripped off the Pearl Jam sound or at least, Eddie Vedder's vocal style.

How many can you name?

Here' mine:

Creed
Seven Mary Three - I actually like this particular incarnation of P.J.
3 Doors Down
Staind
Lifehouse - the latest pretty-boy rip offs of Pearl Jam -ugggh!!
Days of the New
SilverChair - remember these guys? Young band of 16 year olds that are probably the best example of blatant P.J. posturing...


I'm sure there are many more...

 

[Braver]

way of the world man, that's just the way it is.

I like the term "inspired by" better. too many bands being blamed of ripping off, while just having a similar style.

don't like it? then don't listen to it. the whole pop-business is like that. enough other bands to enjoy to make me worry about that kinda stuff.

damn kapitalism

raise the red flag!

 

[Beagle]

It is because bands have no talent or ideas of their own so they jump on a current trend, or copy a popular bands sound or style. They are in it only for the money, obviously.

 

[Wayne77]

Braver:

Good point but...

there's a big difference between inspiration and UNoriginality..

A band can certainly be inspired by another band without copying some very individual characteristics of that band, ie vocal styles. Its silly how much these guys sing like eddie Vedder, as it was crazy how much 80's bands like Kingdom Come and WhiteSnake sounded like Led Zeppelin. I never said a band doesn't have the right to copying, being "inspired by", ripping off, or whatever you want to call it, they just won't get any respect from me...not that they should care what I think though

thanks for the comments!

 

[Mr_Happy]

Don't forget Stone Temple Pilots.

 

[neil]

Quote:

Originally posted by Wayne77 Lifehouse - the latest pretty-boy rip offs of Pearl Jam -ugggh!!I'm sure there are many more...

Don't even get me started! Hanging By A Moment =~ Corduroy. I mean crap, listen to the rhythm/cadence of the word delivery on the chorus.. it makes me sick. Plus, I saw an interview with the lead singer of Lifehouse, and he says, "It just came to me. I had that song in my head and it was done in 15 minutes." No crap kid -- I also have Rush 2112 and Vivaldi Four Seasons in my head, but I don't lay it down and call it my own.

What a punk.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by neil What a punk.

So I take it you won't be buying the Lifehouse Anthology 12-CD box set?

 

[neil]

Quote:

Originally posted by Braver I like the term "inspired by" better. too many bands being blamed of ripping off, while just having a similar style.

Inspired shmimspired. There are just people that flat out copy because they don't have an ounce of artistic originality in their body. So many of these bubblegum bands don't have style..

The Eddie Vedder vocal copies were pretty lame. I mean, I'll lay down $10 that 3/4 of those suckers just decided to pick up that low rayyyyyrrr.... or yeahhhrrrrrr.. (basically, making all of their words somehow end in "rrrrrrrr" with a bunch of raspy wind behind it) because that's how Eddie did it. Heheh.

But, like in my last post, what gets my goat the most is when you just blatently copy the music.

 

[neil]

Quote:

Originally posted by jude So I take it you won't be buying the Lifehouse Anthology 12-CD box set?

Why would I need to buy that? I already have Corduroy on my Pearl Jam Vitalogy and bootleg album. That's like buying Tiffany to hear I Saw Him Standing There when I've already got my Beatles Please Please Me.

 

[Wayne77]

Quote:

Don't forget Stone Temple Pilots.

Yeah when they first came out, they sounded alot like PJ. They seem to have found their own sound now though..


Quote:

So I take it you won't be buying the Lifehouse Anthology 12-CD box set?

ROTFL!!!


Neil you are right on about that whole ...rrrr thing. NO ONE sang like that before PJ. Everytime I hear that stupid Lifehouse song I want to puke. Imagine Eddie Vedder hearing that song. I mean Vedder even refused to overly commercialize his OWN material! And now this young teeny bopper punk rips his style and profits hugely from it.

Not that I would ever admit to watching that bubblegum drivel known as TRL, but Lifehouse sure seems to have Carson Dalys adoration...and that says alot...or very little...

 

[neil]

I think that Carson Daly and TRL (Total Request Live for those of you that don't watch MTV, such as myself) have limited air time. I mean, how much more bubblegum can you get than a bunch of girls giving shout-outs to their homies in the middle of a freaking music video.. then only playing through about 50% of the song, cutting it off, and then fading into a group of screaming females on some Time Square Set saying how much they loved the song. For pete's sake, what in the hell is that show for?

And Carson Daly has the look on his face.. the look of, Man, my career is uncertain and short-lived. Doesn't he? Nothing against the guy -- shoot, I'd love his job -- but he has the confidence of a field mouse in an owl cage.

What's crazy is that I was watching Charlie Rose the other night on PBS and they had the MTV big wigs, Kurt Loder, and freakin Carson Daly on. They were talking about the past, present, and future of MTV. And I was just amazed thinking that they have a guy that hosts the most idiotic show on cable television talking about the present and future of music on television. sigh

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by neil ...but he has the confidence of a field mouse in an owl cage.

LOL!

I thought that one of the most unintentionally comical moments was during the MTV 20th Anniversary special, when they played the old "Buddy Holly" video by Weezer, and Carson Daly said something like (this is not an exact quote, but an approximation from memory), "That video is amazing. I remember when it first came out, I was wondering how they did it -- did they just re-shoot it to look exactly like Happy Days, did they have the original cast mates from Happy Days actually participate?....."

Doh.....

 

[zoboomofo]

It cracks me up seeing you guys get all worked up about pop music. I see the same thing popping up for Radiohead (Bendsish era) inspired bands. It doesn't bother me all that much though until it gets heavy radio airplay. Then its just depressing. Why do the big record companies and radio always have to keep moving back in time by plugging refurbished rock when there's plenty of good new **** coming out? Alternative is really uncool these days, and its no wonder after a decade of "alternative" mainstream bands. Geez, now I'm all worked up. Anyway, to back track a little, I'll excuse a new band for being derivative because, hey, why not give em time to develop their own sound? It sort of worked for STP. Its the bands that develop into soft easy listenig favorites that make me gag (eg. Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls). I want to be inspired to explore new music, not be inundated with a rehashed formula for commercial success.

 

[DanG]

Quote:

Originally posted by Wayne77 Braver: there's a big difference between inspiration and UNoriginality.. A band can certainly be inspired by another band without copying some very individual characteristics of that band, ie vocal styles.

I quite agree! I doubt anyone would say that the Beatles "ripped off" Chuck Berry, even though they often said they were inspired by his work.

But with modern rock, the music is almost always so unoriginal and simple that it's difficult to say that one band copies another band's style -- there just isn't that much room in popular modern rock for real innovation! Start listening to Classical music and some classic Jazz, and then you get into a whole new world of differing styles, inspiration/copying/imitation, and real progress (as opposed to a band using a four-chord progression instead of a three-chord progression). You don't know what you're missing until you really get to know these styles of music!

 

[Wayne77]

Amen DanG!

The other day I was listening to Samuel Barbers string quartet and Al Dimeola's "The Grande Passion". I switched to the radio for a moment to get a concert update and was, once again, sorely unimpressed with the state of top 40 alternative. What happened to the good ol days when alternative was actually ALTERNATIVE? ie REM, the Smiths, The Church, The Clash, etc.

Going from Barber, Korngold, Miles Davis, etc, to Third Eye Blind, Lifehouse, Creed, etc is like going from a nice Filet Mignon to a stale kids meal at Mickey D's...

Of course, just as we all have junk food cravings every now and then, we all need to satisfy our musical junk food cravings. (I choose bands like Nirvana, ACDC, Tool, Primus, Floyd, Zeppelin) - I just try to get junk food that actually tastes good...ok maybe the junk food analogy isn't so great