Mexicola wrote:pointlessdude wrote:it's just pompous, pseudo-intelligent music that tricks people into thinking that long songs with lots of vocalizations, odd time signatures and general 'style over substance' thing is just superb.
Go listen to Lateralus.
I agree with both of you. Tool are overblown, pompous, aloof, self-indulgent etc, but I (still) like them alot. Not as much of a fanboy as I was 15+ years ago mind. I think they suffer from a fanbase of overly-earnest schoolboys mixed liberally with overly-pumped jocks/meatheads.
Then again, thinking about, aren't BOC a little pompous and aloof too? And isn't some of BOC's music a little self-indulgent? And aren't we all fanboys who over-analyse the work they create? I know I am.
Pots and kettles maybe? Then again, I love both bands so I guess that makes me twice as bad.
Yes = BOC is indulgent.
Songs with titles that are just random numbers and periods, obscure album art for each album except for Hi Scores and Trans Canada Highway, not posting updates for 5 years, not providing any major audio/video interviews for anyone to hear, having a track that's
nothing but fucking silence on an album.... The list goes on and on....
But see, the thing is that I don't really consider most of that "pretentious". I think that something that is artistic and creative is only pretentious when it's used by pretentious people. Pretentious people actually ruin those sorts of things for those who want to make a legitimate message out of them.
Richard James does that sort of shit a lot more than BoC does, and is he necessarily "pretentious"? No, not really, because his means behind it is not justified with a pretentious and pompous statement. Bands like Creed and Nickelback are good examples of what being pretentious really is, along with about 90% of "mainstream" rappers today.
