numberthirty wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 7:06 pm Sidebar -

Hench totally picked up the ball and ran with it when it came to the "Tribute..." era of the "PRF Songwriting..." situation.

Dude is an "All Around..." keeper, but he never really gets enough credit for that aspect alone.

Bonus points...

I believe that there was a picture of "Cure Goth..." Hench back in the thread that went with the "The Cure" month. If it's still in existence? It's a keeper.

This, he's an all around great guy with a wonderful lady. I don't keep up much with the "Challenge" anymore, but when I do check in I'm deeply impressed.

Hm, I definitely agree that this place is a lot less toxic than it was when I first joined. I certainly hope that I am much less so than I was - I definitely used to fit into the "edgelord" category. It's been a work-in-progress for me and has taken a lot of listening and introspection. I think becoming a clinical social worker probably helped a bit...

The name Chris Hall sounds familiar to me. Was that the guy that belittled everyone whose car wasn't a supercar with space shuttle carbon brakes and ultimately ended up in prison? He always struck me as a douchebag.

ErickC wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 10:21 pm Was that the guy that belittled everyone whose car wasn't a supercar with space shuttle carbon brakes and ultimately ended up in prison? He always struck me as a douchebag.

HOF

People growing older and changing aside.....

I wonder whether, given the rise of the Trumpkinfascists, religious nutjobs running the supreme court, a global pandemic, etc. people here just don't have the energy to be nasty to others who are ( very roughly speaking) on the same side.

I clicked with something people have been thinking on about empathy/online culture/edgelord stuff.

Similar to what many have observed on this PRF, I see something I call (or stole from someone) "The Revenge of the Nerds" paradigm. Gen Xers and older millennials grew up in a culture that was horrible about inclusion and seemed to push for a conformity that was vapid at best and anti-intellectual/homophobic/racist/misogynistic at worst. It seems like the rapidly broadening culture that the online reality provided gave people spaces to congregate and belong to something. Couple that with many of our types finding in-person worlds in our 20's- music scenes, art scenes, academia where it appears the same traits that could leave us ostracized in school would be valued and celebrated. It's painfully ironic that in a range from pointless snark/elitism all the way to murderous toxicity in some online forums so many people who weren't welcomed as they grew up just decided to be the toxic alpha of their own little molehill.

I recall with embarrassment that one of my roomates in college while we were living in a punk house, had stayed in touch with more of the people from our high school. A probably reasonable girl came over who was guilty in my memory of running with a crowd of toxic machismo football douches and a condescending gaggle of social vampire cheerleaders. She had never wronged me or anyone I knew, she merely had friends that I knew were dicks. I proceeded to be a huge asshole to her for no reason and if I wasn't too high on my own supply as a medium-sized fish in the small pond of our local music scene, I would have noticed how horribly awkward and lame it was.

This is all to say that when I cringe at a 2005 thread of people being assholes to a jovial spirit it's as much from what I recognize in myself as their perceivable smallness.

It's true that there has been cultural progress. A majority welcoming of viewpoints and a distaste for gatekeeping in many places seems refreshing to me. It stands in the face of the horrendous comment threads you easily find on youtube, facebook etc.

Also, there must be a Trent Reznor C/NC thread somewhere.

I'll vote crap because the bosses in the fortresses in Super Mario World were an annoying waste of time.

seby wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:05 pm That an album like The Downward Spiral was as popular as it was makes me happy still. Can you imagine anything like that, with that kind of production, getting big time global radio play today?

A key thing to remember about that vague moment in major label music history, in the U.S., is that it occurred largely amid the void that was left after Nirvana was no more, in the early spring of 1994. By then several bands had helped sell the idea of "alternative" music to the masses, but when Kurt Cobain died, it was up in the air as to who would make good on its promise/carry the torch/etc., at least as far as the mainstream was concerned (nevermind what else had been happening then). Around that time were the major label releases of NIN's The Downward Spiral, Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring's Smash, Soundgarden's Superunknown, Rollins Band's Weight, Hole's Live Through This, Live's Throwing Copper, Pantera's Far Beyond Driven, and I forget what else. Many of these were successful, in no small part, because they were sold as being "the next big thing" in a post-Nirvana "alternative" world, that more major label execs and music fans wanted to hitch their wagon to. That most of this music doesn't do it for me now, is beside the point. At the time, if you were a young teenager in America, it was inescapable, unless you were, I dunno, Amish or Mormon or raised by wolves or something.

^ I will admit that I suffer from stunted growth as far as music goes, but there was something at least a little bit special about those years, 1994-1995.

Sonic Youth *headlined* Lollapalooza in 1995… and the rest of the lineups on the two stages (The Coctails?! Fuck yeah) were pretty awesome.

DaveA wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 5:28 pm

seby wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:05 pm That an album like The Downward Spiral was as popular as it was makes me happy still. Can you imagine anything like that, with that kind of production, getting big time global radio play today?

A key thing to remember about that vague moment in major label music history, in the U.S., is that it occurred largely amid the void that was left after Nirvana was no more, in the early spring of 1994. By then several bands had helped sell the idea of "alternative" music to the masses, but when Kurt Cobain died, it was up in the air as to who would make good on its promise/carry the torch/etc., at least as far as the mainstream was concerned (nevermind what else had been happening then). Around that time were the major label releases of NIN's The Downward Spiral, Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring's Smash, Soundgarden's Superunknown, Rollins Band's Weight, Hole's Live Through This, Live's Throwing Copper, Pantera's Far Beyond Driven, and I forget what else. Many of these were successful, in no small part, because they were sold as being "the next big thing" in a post-Nirvana "alternative" world, that more major label execs and music fans wanted to hitch their wagon to. That most of this music doesn't do it for me now, is beside the point. At the time, if you were a young teenager in America, it was inescapable, unless you were, I dunno, Amish or Mormon or raised by wolves or something.

Sounds like you lifted all that from the intro to this:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... ear-29203/

Wow, this is when alternative entered (read: fisted) the mainstream, or maybe it was vice versa.

enframed wrote: Sat Aug 27, 2022 7:15 pmSounds like you lifted all that from the intro to this:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... ear-29203/

LOL! I didn't, in fact. But I'm 100% not bullshitting you when I say that I was gonna conclude my post with a snarky comment like, "I apologize if this sounds like a blurb from some friggin' Rolling Stone 'think piece.'"

Fitting that they of all people would write that, since it was exactly the kind of music they (and Spin and many others) were covering then, by and large, with maybe a few more niche things in the margins. As noted, I lived through that era (eight grade/freshman year) and bought into a number of these things on some level before getting into proper indie/punk/whatever music, with a few stray things staying in the mix. It was the sort of fare one was blitzed with in print and on TV, at the mall and as covers played in high school Battle of Bands type things. As the article notes, it did fill a void between In Utero and nu metal/major label ska/swing and boyband shit, or whatever. Regardless of other things going on outside the TV sphere.

Wow, this is when alternative entered (read: fisted) the mainstream, or maybe it was vice versa.

They were going for broke. I know that Crow CD...and Judgement Night... and the DGC Rarities Vol. 1 were in every young person I knew then's room at some point.