You wake up from a coma that started back in 2004. What music artist/band/group are you most surprised (good or bad,) by the direction they took musically over the last twenty years?
Leave Britney alone aged.. well.
Hanson. They're still together and touring.
Justin Timberlake became an actor and SNL regular renown for his holiday dick jokes.
I'd say collectively the genre of black metal. In 2004 most black metal acts were still doing the same kind of lo-fi DIY "buzzsaw in a garbage can" style that had been popular throughout the 90s. You could find artists who were starting to get more creative with it, but you really had to look hard sometimes.
Don't get me wrong, I still love old school black metal, but when that's all there is it starts to all sound alike after awhile.
Now it seems like every time I hear a new black metal release people have really started pushing the genre WAY past a bunch of white guys in corpse paint singing about how depressed they are lol! Now there's tons of interesting electronic bands, lots of crossover bands, lots of avant garde artistic stuff, lots of stuff from different countries all over the world all adding their own unique sounds... It's just really refreshing to hear a genre that was notoriously strict become something so much bigger and better
What bands do you recommend that are of the newer style?
The last Ihsahn album was really good! It sounded like it was half Emperor half John Williams score lol! I just recently started listening to
Botanist which is a one man project where he makes atmospheric black metal using hammered dulcimers!
Just yesterday I was listening to this band Kaatayra from Brazil who use a lot of traditional folk instruments and it had kind of a zen vibe to it in parts.
I recently found a post black metal band from Japan called Asunojokei whose music sounds kind of like a black metal band playing anime theme songs lol
Dødheimsgard have been around forever but their last album Black Medium Current was VERY eclectic to the point of being almost psychedelic at times!
There are a ton more if you look around honestly
I still enjoy the second-wave stuff from time to time, but you're absolutely spot-on with what's been coming out in recent years. I'm really into groups that have kept the original BM music style but embraced modern production. A few that come to mind are Faidra, Spectral Wound, Asarhaddon, and Funeral Winds; fantastic bands that play "true" BM but have good recording quality.
Like you mentioned, the big change is just how many "crossover" bands there are, and I'm all for it. You didn't ask for suggestions, but I'm going to offer some of my favorites anyway:
I've heard a few of these but I'm saving the rest to listen to later! What Darkthrone was doing a few albums ago is now called "Black N' Roll" and it's its own awesome genre now!
Ok I’ll start. Radiohead To me the are like the Beatles (continued) Every album has a new direction Not surprised, just glad every album is new and they arent cookie cutter.
Was genuinely thinking of them here. Hail To The Thief released in 2003, and it kinda sounded like they were winding down. Imagine blinking and then having In Rainbows, The King Of Limbs, and A Moon Shaped Pool dropped on you all at once.
I'll also say Foo Fighters. Based on the 2004 criteria, we would only know about what's below the red line here and then suddenly have a ton of other, evolved stuff.
Sigh...Antiflag. as a band that stood so strongly for pro-feminism, anti-racism, anti-corporate, just progressive politics to the max, having that news come out about Justin Sane being a complete fucking creep really shatters the music and the message.
Andre 3000 making a flute album was unexpected and I wasn't even in a coma for 20 years. It's good
Maroon 5.
They have adapted to the times in ways no one could have expected.
I ask this genuinely - but do you like them? They are one band that I never understood how anyone got into them. I get that people like all kinds of stuff, but they always seemed like a worse version of Nickleback.
I'd be amazed and impressed to see the Psychedelic Furs are playing.
Honestly I'd mostly be upset about people who have died. Bowie. Prince.
George Michael dying of a heart attack on Christmas day was pretty out of left field given that he wrote Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart. I probably would have to see a newspaper to believe it.
Taylor Swift. She started out as a country singer, completely changed her genre, and became a pop sensation.
Edit: Nevermind, her first album was in 2005 I think.
I miss when she was a country singer. It really felt like a perfect match for her. And then she left it.
And then there's her 2020 albums, folklore, and evermore. These will forever be my favorite pieces of music from Taylor Swift of all time. And they aren't pop or country.
I would say the prevalence of K-Pop. The occasional foreign language song would hit the charts every once in a while, but for an entire genre of foreign music to have fans everywhere is surprising.
Lit. Went from pop punk to straight modern country.
Lmao wait what? 🎵It's no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy🎵
Yep, now Google their country stuff lol
Honestly, the fact that I can still see any bands from 20 years ago surprises me now, so..
20
Platinum Blonde is still touring. Just sayin.
I wouldn't know about biggest surprise, but I didn't see the Red Hot Chili Peppers replacing guitar with keyboard. I really liked what John Frusciante and his predecessors had brought to the group. I went from a deep Peppers fan to not listening to anything post Stadium Arcadium
Probably Beyonce, Robert Plant, and well, not musically but R Kelley.
Kinda surprised the Beatles released a new song to be honest.
Not me. They released two new songs in the '90s (Real Love and Free As a Bird).
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Coldplay switched to making lifeless, generic pop music...
I just noticed that ABBA very recently made a new album.
ABBA is still producing music?! I thought they had retired back in late 90s?
Yeah same. They decided to come back when we least expected it.
The Deftones managed to pull off what they were heading toward in their self-titled album, which was deeply iffy back in 2003. Going from Around The Fur and White Pony to the likes of "Good Morning Beautiful" or "Lucky You" was jarring. Even promising tracks like "Minerva" felt unpolished and off-brand. "When Girls Telephone Boys" had the right energy but wasn't exactly an easy recommendation for new listeners. It's the kind of song where you think you know the lyrics, and then you read what they're supposed to be, and you understand even less than you did before.
Saturday Night Wrist captured more of the frisson from their earlier work. "Cherry Waves" and "Kimdracula" in particular. But it's considerably more relaxed than anything previous. Even seemingly frenetic tracks like "Combat" feel halfway to pop. Diamond Eyes has more of the vibe but less of the polish. It does let parts of each song stand out more. "Command / Control" and "You've Seen The Butcher" aren't great songs, but they understood what was good about them, and let it come to the fore. "Risk" is solid.
They finally nailed it for Koi No Yokan. The first song is so-so - as is tradition - but beyond that it's just A+ material. Spacious, detailed, bombastic, and like little else. The classic vitriol comes out in "Leathers." The gentle new stuff becomes "Entombed." The dreamy frisson evolves into "Rosemary." It's unambiguously a fantastic album.
No idea what the fuck happened on Gore. They had it and they lost it. The first track is one of their best songs ever, and then it's half an hour of ehhh. The album only picks up for some transitions on either side of "Phantom Bride." For about two non-consecutive minutes, Sergio Vega and Stephen Carpenter get to flex, and then it closes with a track that just leaves you wanting.
Ohms veers back toward the right idea. It's a lot more 90s than even their self-titled album, between the opening track and the middle run of "The Spell Of Mathematics" through "This Link Is Dead." Tracks like "Error" are novel, and modern, and clean. Holy shit, the things this band has done to clarify and distinguish all the work they put in. I can't even listen to 80s wall-of-sound sludge anymore. Better to convey the world's loudest guitar than a whole orchestra constantly going hard.
But now I want to check back in after another twenty years, because they pissed off the bassist they've had since Diamond Eyes. I have no fucking idea what they're going to sound like next. I might be more interested in whatever that guy does without them.
This reads a bit like a diatribe of Patrick Bateman on music. In a good way I might add, I'm curious after the Deftones, and I've only seen them in a festival in the early noughties.
Well, not to repeat myself, but Koi No Yokan is really really good, and there's a reason millennials cannot shut up about Around The Fur and White Pony.
Beastie Boys.
Bush.
Justin Timberlake.
Gwen Stefani.
Sido
Linkin Park
If the last thing I’d heard from them was Meteora and then woke up to hear a song like Heavy or Talking to Myself, I would straight up just not believe it’s the same band. That’s not to say I don’t like their later stuff, but its radically different.
On the other hand, the 20th anniversary editions of Hybrid Theory and Meteora would blow my mind.
Would definitely recommend listening to A Thousand Suns in its entirety. Absolutely their magnum opus. Also should check out the 20th anniversary editions of Hybrid Theory and Meteora. They’re both filled with insane amounts of demos and unreleased songs. Lost, Fighting Myself, QWERTY, and And One are some of the best demos that should have made it to albums
sigh Chester.... Him and Chris Cornell. There's always gonna be a hole in my music-loving heart when I hear either of these guys sing.
Exactly who I was thinking of. I actually really appreciate that they evolved their music, instead of just doing the same things for 15 years.
Every time I'd start to grow out of their sound they'd come out with something completely new and I'd get sucked right back in. And yet their early stuff is so iconic that even parodies of it totally rock.