Bring on the sacred cows....
I've got a taste for blood.
I went to see MGMT in Dublin a couple of weeks ago.
Now, unlike some, I think MGMT's debut album is pretty great. Not just those incredible singles - there's two or three other tracks I'll still listen to come 2020 - and I'll be playing 'Kids' in DJ sets until the end of time.
But this gig was absolutely, unbelievably, sensationally, impressively awful. Yet for the majority of the show, the sold out Ambassador crowd seemed to be under the impression that those hippies onstage had powers to heal, to give life and to change your concept of sound forever.
Yet here I am, listening to a guitar solo that seems longer than Lent, feeling like an outsider - the only person in on a wonderful scam (outside of the band themselves).
Here's them semi-miming through 'Kids' at a gig in July. Seriously, check out the guitar solo at 2'22. Seriously!!!!
That guitar solo reminds me too much of this.
I wrote my review anyway, expecting a little bit of grief. I was worried that people would assume I was being outspoken or controversial just for the sake of it, when that really wasn't the case. Truth be told, I actually held back while writing that review - the one on our site had been toned down from an earlier, vitriolic draft I'd written on the Enterprise.
That in mind and I was pretty pleased when a few people said to me they appreciated where I was coming from and agreed with every word. Turns out I'm not the only person who was shocked at just how bad this band are onstage, yet for some reason no one had said a word. No one I know, anyway.
Quite the opposite in fact - people described their show at Oxegen as, at worse - a triumphant, highlight of the weekend, at best - a life changing musical orgasm. But even that lot are now admitting it was the sense of occasion which was great, not the performance, which was (when they thought about it) just a wee bit awful.
So which sacred cow is next to face being slayed? What band/album/gig that everyone raves about did you think was horrendous, but feel like you really shouldn't say?
It's an opinion amnesty.
For me, the ultimate sacred cow is Bob Dylan. Other than his glorious showing, singing TV theme tunes for Eyebrowy, I don't see what the big deal is.
Definitely, his finest hour:
I think his voice is irritating, he doesn't know what a decent chorus sounds like and he relies way too much on a lyric. A 'real' fan of music, the kind who reads Mojo Magazine and appreciates a good box set, really should like Bob Dylan, yet I dislike pretty much everything he has recorded.
There, I said it.
Should I feel bad, or just get on with my life?
And don't get me started on Metallica....


