I voted NOT CRAP. It's so much more fun than any of their contemporaries.

Better than AIC? Give me a fucking break...Alice in Chains is worse than Ten-era Pearl Jam.

Better than Soundgarden. Totally. Jesus fucking Christ is it better than Soundgarden.

Staind? Nickelback? Obviously these two bands are blown out of the fucking water by STP.

They have a few kinda weird sounding radio singles:
-Sour Girl (stupid, but a good song)
-Interstate Love Song...a good song
-Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart...a great song

It's sleazy stuff...it's soulless...but it's fun. No. 4 doesn't even work that badly as an album.

I guess STP is similar to Magnum, p.i. for me...I look at these dated bands/shows...and I think "Wow! This isn't completely retarded!" I'm probably a victim of our increasingly fucked up Rupert Murdoch culture.

STP's first album is incredible CRAP. But their heights are way better than Pearl Jam's...why?...STP knew what they were...radio-friendly arena rock. If Pearl Jam hadn't been so busy fighting what they were, maybe they would have been relevant at some point to discerning listeners like ourselves. Stone Temple Pilots...it's fun music.

I even find myself playing some Stone Temple Pilots songs once in a while (on my computer, not actually playing them on my guitar). It holds up so, so, so much better than other stuff that came out in the '90s. Of course the lyrics are bad...I think that Scott Weiland's Mr. Burns-esque "heart" was in the right place...as right as a sackless heart like his can be.

Minotaur029 wrote:It's sleazy stuff...it's soulless...but it's fun. No. 4 doesn't even work that badly as an album.

I guess STP is similar to Magnum, p.i. for me...I look at these dated bands/shows...and I think "Wow! This isn't completely retarded!" I'm probably a victim of our increasingly fucked up Rupert Murdoch culture.

You are hereby never permitted to question my support of The Box Social or any other musical act ever again.

DrAwkward wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote:It's sleazy stuff...it's soulless...but it's fun. No. 4 doesn't even work that badly as an album.

I guess STP is similar to Magnum, p.i. for me...I look at these dated bands/shows...and I think "Wow! This isn't completely retarded!" I'm probably a victim of our increasingly fucked up Rupert Murdoch culture.

You are hereby never permitted to question my support of The Box Social or any other musical act ever again.

I hate to press the issue here, but I have to:

Dude! STP is still not a favorite.

The rationalization for NOT CRAP comes from the context. This band would get reamed in the '90s for copying Pearl Jam who at the time were considered to be making great music by a great deal of people. Now, no one likes Pearl Jam. Stone Temple Pilots hold up much better. The Stone Temple Pilots...to some extent (in spite of their self-delusion)...at least eventually realized what kind of band they were.

Jesus Christ almighty...I picked up their [Box Social's] single at Pitchfork when I was working for Sickroom and I had a long conversation with your former bandmate about how much the B.S. was just that: bullshit. We bonded pretty quickly over how crappy they were. Did you know they forgot to bring the new record with them on their latest tour? They had to call No Karma to have the LP shipped out to them on the road!! They'll break up soon I'll bet. If they want to get famous as fuck, they'll hang together with gritted teeth...if they have a shred of soul...eventually the two Nicks will be able to see through each other way too well, and one of them will flip out...probably Nick J.

I was listening to Houndrunner's LP on a nice little stereo in my living room a few nights ago...then I put on the Box Social single to see what I could get out of it. The Box Social single was TWICE as loud as the Houndrunner LP. Additionally...it was music made for the fucking Disney Channel or something. "Big T" could seriously be played on Lizzie McGuire or Hanna Montana or whatever "cute" pre-teen show they're shoving down children's throats nowadays. The Tom Petty "I Need To Know" would never work in that context. No STP song would ever appeal to an Hollister-clad teen girl trend lemming. Do you like Phantom Planet, D.J.? Do you like ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead (<-not the best example...I'm thinking more of this band's whiny quality). Fall Out Boy? The Box Social fits with those bands...it's for 15 year old girls and college freshman orientation weekend.

The members of the Box Social are not themselves retarded...their Onion interview when they were like 18 proved that to me in addition to dealing with the Box Socialites themselves. In contrast, STP is full of one-celled rock stars...especially Weiland. They're [STP] idiots, and they're skilled at making stupid arena music. They're junkies...L.A. rock stars. The Box Social is completely sackless suburban crap...especially their new songs. I swear, I think they must have used some kind of Paris Hilton pitch-shifter on Junkunc's vocals on the new songs while the band was out doing a fatty. It's offensive.

Stone Temple Pilots at least have edge...Box Social?...that's just '80s hair metal solos slapped onto Fall Out Boy "teen punk" vocals. Fuck that.

Just my feeling.

I'll add a waffle factor of 9 for STP, mostly because they don't genuinely deserve a NOT CRAP vote in the first place...but they occasionally make a drive with my friends to the beach rather pleasant.

Wow, did Box Social kick your dog?

I think they're a good band. Granted my tastes run more classic rock/power-pop than most folks around this board, but still.....comparing them to Fall Out Boy? Come on now.

On the subject at hand.....STP is all right with me. I think a lot of their songs have aged much better than their contemporaries.

Minotaur029 wrote:The rationalization for NOT CRAP comes from the context. This band would get reamed in the '90s for copying Pearl Jam who at the time were considered to be making great music by a great deal of people. Now, no one likes Pearl Jam. Stone Temple Pilots hold up much better. The Stone Temple Pilots...to some extent (in spite of their self-delusion)...at least eventually realized what kind of band they were.

Um. Regardless of context, Pearl Jam's first three records are pretty spot-on great (to my ears), with Ten probably being the weakest of them, and Vitology being pretty tremendous. I pulled it out last summer and gave it a spin and it still held up. The idea that STP 'holds up' better, to me, is a laughable thought, although i'll concede that it's probably an aesthetic, subjective thing. Today, no one likes Pearl Jam, though? That's just dismissive and untrue.

I can understand the "at least they eventually realized what kind of band they were" point, since i have a weakness for the hair metal of my youth and maintain that the best bands of that genre were the ones who had no illusions about what they were. But still. If we're gonna argue context and what "holds up better" today, i think that a random sampling of music fans from many different walks of life would probably rate Pearl Jam as holding up better. But that is complete conjecture, as is your assertion that no one likes Pearl Jam any more. If you're basing your Not Crap vote on STP on how they rank next to Pearl Jam, i shall chuckle and shake my head and we shall leave it at that.

I'm actually not interested at all in re-hashing the Box Social thing--i just thought it was really funny that you trashed them for wanting to "be famous" while STP were pretty much just bandwagon-jumping LA whores. At least i know that the B.S. (ha) guys genuinely like the pop music they're emulating...i'd have a hard time believeing the STP guys thought anything other than "well, this sound is big right now, so let's go with that." But ya know, i don't know them personally, so maybe that's unfair.

Anyway, point being, you can compare the two and say STP is better because "at least they knew they were souless corporate fucks," but i could turn right around and say "at least the Box Social guys are being genuine about what they want to achieve." That argument is pointless, though, so i say to you "meh."

The Box Social single was TWICE as loud as the Houndrunner LP. Additionally...it was music made for the fucking Disney Channel or something. "Big T" could seriously be played on Lizzie McGuire or Hanna Montana or whatever "cute" pre-teen show they're shoving down children's throats nowadays. The Tom Petty "I Need To Know" would never work in that context. No STP song would ever appeal to an Hollister-clad teen girl trend lemming. Do you like Phantom Planet, D.J.? Do you like ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead (<-not the best example...I'm thinking more of this band's whiny quality). Fall Out Boy? The Box Social fits with those bands...it's for 15 year old girls and college freshman orientation weekend.

I think you're doing the elitist snob thing a little wrong, dude. Bands don't suck because they might appeal to a "Hollister-clad teen girl trend lemming," it just so happens that Hollister-clad teen girl trend lemmings usually have shit taste and aren't very discerning. But it's because they aren't very discerning that occasionally they'll actually like something that is actually quality (remind me to give you my dissertation on how Devo 2.0 is goddamn brilliant sometime). Now that isn't to say that Fall Out Boy or Phantom Planet are any good, because they're horrible (and by the way, Trail of Dead? Wtf?), but they're not horrible because teenybopper girls like them. They're horrible on their own merits, not the merits of their fanbase. Even no-taste casual "i like all kinds of music except country and rap" douchebags like Nirvana.

So, take that whole "this band sucks because they could be played on this teenybopper show" rationale and shove it. Seriously. It's wrongheaded. And "Plush" could totally be played on one of those shows anyway.

Core was the one of the first six CD's I ever owned (first six CD's free! club).

Purple was the first vinyl I ever purchased.

"Heeey, Everybodyyyyyyy" and "Maybe she swam away..." made me and my friends laugh in junior high.

STP had one of them "behind the scenes while we made records" TV shows when I was 13 or so. I had never seen anybody yell into a guitar pickup until this show. I saw Eric Kretz recording drums in the front yard. I thought it was neat. STP contributed to my interest in audio production as a young teen.

STP did a fun cover of the Peanuts Christmas song.

They had a swingy version of Sex Type Thing, it was groovy.

STP had a significant impact on my teen years. I liked them. I still like listening to them. Not crap.

man, fuck the stone temple pilots
what the fuck is wrong with you people?

Vitalogy is Pearl Jam's first decent album. You can't deny a song like "Corduroy." "Last Exit" is pretty fucking good. "Better Man" for as stupid as it is...is kind of a neat song...it was recorded well. "Immortality" isn't that bad. "Not For You" is pretty great. "Tremor Christ" is overrated by Pearl Jam fanatics, but it's all right as well. "Whipping" is okay.

"Nothingman." Terrible. "Spin the Black Circle." Must've seemed cool and a "departure" at the time...but still...terrible. "Bugs" and "Privacy" are completely retarded and embarassing. "Satan's Bed" is a bit embarassing. If you like the first three Pearl Jam records, I think it helps me understand your tastes better. Those first two records sound like crap to me...Vs. is particularly embarassing while Ten just sounds gross.

I think Mark Prindle pretty much nails Pearl Jam perfectly. Read his reviews...I basically agree with those. It's not often a reviewer's thoughts agree with mine so well, but Prindle's are spot on in the case of Pearl Jam.

Pearl Jam actually figured out what it was doing by the time Yield came around...and Binaural had me wondering what everybody hated so much about Pearl Jam. Then, they got too old and irrelevant to be good anymore. Their last two records are their worst ever in a lot of ways.

That being said, the goat voice now makes me embarassed to listen to any Pearl Jam, regardless of the fact that I can actually respect Yield and Binaural. Weiland's voice, in contrast, doesn't really bother me, especially after he got away from the whole Vedder emulation thing.

And I thought about it, and yes, I guess "Plush" could be played in Abercrombie and Fitch. But that's a bit of a stretch.

The Fall Out Boy comparison for the Box Social however...I think that it's almost entirely valid. I'm offended by "teen punk" type music. As for "elitist snobbery," I think that the sheer number of my final uploads (joke uploads) on each of my Sendspace thread contributions should dispell that myth pretty tidily.

And people who like Nirvana, aren't listening to Nirvana...they're listening to Nirvana as presented by David Geffen.

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes."
-Walt Whitman

Minotaur029 wrote:And people who like Nirvana, aren't listening to Nirvana...they're listening to Nirvana as presented by David Geffen.

Uh....ok.

that's a whole lot of thought to put into fucking Pearl Jam

fucking Pearl Jam
hahahahahaha