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http://www.guitar.com/VideosMain.aspx?ParID=F

video guitar lesson with bob balch on guitar.com

yeah i tend to agree with the one trick pony sentiments others have mentioned. they have a couple cool songs. never seen them live but one of my old bands was supposed to play with them until they cancelled.

The Kyuss thread inspired me to resurrect this.

Fu Manchu is totally NOT CRAP. A great rock band. You can play all these songs with two fingers.

YouTube clips

The "one trick pony" comments are kinda weird to read here. Can't most of the rock bands cherished here be described as one trick ponies if one wanted to concentrate enough negativity about them? I could certainly say the same about the Jesus Lizard. I find the term "one trick pony" a very lazy negative.

As for Fu Manchu, well yeah, they have a consistent flavor, but it's a good one. I don't listen to the records too often, but everything until King Of The Road has been pretty great... things certainly get tired after that.

I love the early stuff, but "Evil Eye" (off Action Is Go!) is probably their greatest song.

mackro wrote:I find the term "one trick pony" a very lazy negative.

Absolutely. I hate "one trick pony" and "all the songs sound the same." As if all bands should aspire to be able to perform at bar mitzvahs or something. Fuck that. I'll take a good trick over "range" 999 times out of 1000.

I love the early stuff, but "Evil Eye" (off Action Is Go!) is probably their greatest song.

Whoever decided to film that video in a housing development construction site was thinking. Not like Stanley Kubrick thinking, but thinking more than one would expect for a music video.

I also don't think one-trick pony is a bad thing IF you like that trick. I like Fu Manchu's trick. I also like AC/DC's trick, and The Ramones' trick.

stupid metal bullshit CRAP!

My pal Mark was playing their cover of "Godzilla" when I went to his place the other day, and I really liked it - mostly because it sounded like the BOC original, except played on a turntable that was going at 25 speed or something.

SO not crap for that.

I never bothered to check them out, but now I am acquiring some.

On each of their records there are always one or two great rock anthems. They are a really good live band. They are an honest band.

Not crap.

sack of smashed assholes wrote:how about fu manchu's arch nemesis nebula, if fu manchu is bad, well then nebula brings that genre to the perfect level of suck. I think I've liked one song by this band.

Hmmm....that makes sense as Nebula being a notch downward from the Chu. Although I must admit I like three more Nebula songs than you, which would be the entire Sun Creature EP released on Man's Ruin early in their career.

I give Fu Manchu a reluctant not crap because they put out two good albums (In Search Of and King of the Road) and have been a long-time bedrock stoner metal band. The record they put out last year had only one good song on it and I regret blowing my money on it. I also just don't care for their surfboards, weed and hot cars aesthetic. They should probably break up before it gets even worse, but I just can't bring myself to call it crap when I look at their entire catalog.