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Underground > Radio & Music >

Melt Banana/Boredoms Fans - Beware!!

Danzig: He Pitys the Fool!

18:44 / 27.06.03

Prepare to have your lives invaded by something worse than any disease or chemical weapon!!!

I was doing the shopping in Sainsburys, and happened to be flicking through a copy of Kerrang(and yes, I am ashamed), when I noticed a review of the new Melt Banana CD. At first I was surprised, but as I flicked further I saw The Boredoms name dropped as well. It would seem that as Mad Capsule Markets are starting to take off over on these shorea, that Kerrang has decided to start promoting everything Japanese.

I have witnessed such things before, with Emo, Stoner, Hardcore, and the like. It starts with a couple of references, and within 6 weeks it will be a crescendo. Everywhere you look, you will see 14 year old kids with braids/dreads, lip piercings, and fishnet tops professing their love for all things japanese. They will start telling you things you have known for years, about bands you have liked for years. Oh Yes, Here Comes the PAIN!!!

21:18 / 27.06.03

yes. god forbid the great unwashed listening to OUR music. i mean, what if they got a taste for it and stated listening to OTHER bands that we like? They'll have to wrench my ultra-hip-rare-never-played-mint-vinyl Merzbow records from my corpse before some OTHER PERSON listens to them! they're mine i tell you! all Mine!

Danzig: He Pitys the Fool!

16:46 / 28.06.03

I don't think i quite put that across in the right context. I am not saying that they shouldn't listen to good music, if it is for the right reasons. I don't think people should listen to, or take on an image for that matter based on what a magazine tells them is 'cool'. I am all for people listening because they enjoy what they here, it's when it become fashion to listen to certain bands that i have a problem.

22:49 / 28.06.03

Well, on the plus side those two bands are jawdroppingly brilliant, their extended influence can only be a good thing, and a new Melt Banana record makes my heart glad.

I have to be honest... I just can't see their influence catching on right now, beyond a slightly larger cult fanbase. Your average metal/rock fan is just too conservative - just look at what they play on the average metal night, any club, anywhere. When the most adventurous music that gets played is Skindred...

(Not a Skindred diss, BTW - they're cool and all)

.

16:53 / 29.06.03

If any of of those pesky kids pretends to start liking The Boredoms, just give 'em a copy of the god-awful Soul Discharge '99, that'll shut 'em up. On the other hand, it's not like The Boredoms haven't been in that "bubbling under" stage for years now, I remember that there was a minor buzz when Chocolate Synthesizer came out, but since then only Wire readers openly been fans I guess. And what's this about Mad Capsule Markets? I found their CD in the bargain bin the other day, had no idea what it was... Is mad Japanese gabba-punk really the "Next Big Thing"?

Professor Silly

18:28 / 29.06.03

As a side note, I recently played some Naked City (featuring Yamatsuka Eye from the Boredoms) at the tattoo shop I work at, and got responses ranging from "this is silly" to "this is the worst music I've ever heard in my life."

I sincerely doubt Japanese music will ever achieve more than a novelty status here in the U.S.--our overall culture is just way too dumbed-down to try something that different.

Matthew Fluxington

01:10 / 30.06.03

Just because a magazine reviews something it doesn't mean the readers of the magazine are going to buy the record. While it is true that some people are influenced in this way, it is extremely unlikely that the scenario from "Danzig Is GOD!"'s post will come true in anything but the nightmares of insecure hipsters.

I like a lot of groups who get loads of press and sell relatively few records. The music press really doesn't have as much power as you might think, I promise.

01:16 / 30.06.03

it's when it become fashion to listen to certain bands that i have a problem.

Why? Are you really that shallow that someone liking a group for 'the wrong reasons' affects your appreciation of that group? Hey, in the worst case scenario you can always go around telling people that you liked them before they sold out.

Matthew Fluxington

01:39 / 30.06.03

I always get suspicious of people with the attitude that other people are only listening to the music they like because they are the ones who are in it for social/fashion/popularity reasons. It always seems paranoid and delusional to me.

If you're the type of person who feels the need to approve of every member of an artist's audience, then it seems that you're hardly in a position of chastising other people for getting into music for social reasons. It seems to me that only a person overly concerned with the social aspects of music would be very hung up on who else listened to what they listen to. Do you feel that your identity is being threatened?

03:30 / 30.06.03

I dunno, lately I kinda feel that one can genuinely and validly disparage a good band's newfound popularity.
Friday before last, I saw the White Stripes at a free outdoor concert promoted by a market's biggest rock station. Which, yes, I realize that "free outdoor concert promoted by a market's biggest rock station" is pretty much a recipe for disaster, but this was pretty much my only chance in this town to see the White Stripes (who I think to be pretty fuckin rad).
And the band was indeed pretty fuckin rad, but for the entire concert I was keenly aware of how the predominately asshole crowd detracted from my enjoyment. I don't get to many "big" shows, but when I do, it seems that there are a lot of kids in attendance who don't get out to many shows and who therefore practice poor rockshow etiquette. A high index of drunk fuckers who could care less what music's playing. High schoolers in Korn t-shirts shoving and punching and saying "faggot" a lot. Middle aged men nodding somewhat to the beat as they awkwardly hit on girls much younger than them. And yes, these people--people who attend only mainstream acts--tend to ruin a concert by simply being present.
Anyway, I just know that Jack and Meg'll be old and unsexy before I even have a chance of going to a White Stripes show without the audience described above.

OK, so my whole argument concerns the effects of trendy folks on concerts, and concert-going may not be a major factor in your particular music-appreciation matrix. In which case, I really can't think of a good reason for you to groan when poseurs like the same bands as you.

I'm seeing Melt-Banana this Saturday and will be sure to keep an eye out for any fourteen year-olds.

Danzig: He Pitys the Fool!

06:40 / 30.06.03

To be honest, i am not that bigger fan of either Melt Banana or Boredoms but i appreciate what they do. It was more as a general point of reference for a situation i can envisage arising, as i have on many occasions in the past.

In response to Flux, in alot of cases, when Kerrang reviews something, generally readers do buy the records. The general Kerrang fan base is of an almost religion like following. It is almost as if it likes to creates opinions for impressionable teenagers. It is not a healthy scenario. Having spoken to Phil Alexander(The Editor) in the past, he is fully aware of the influence his magazine produces, but seems to be concerned little with the consequences. He is more than happy to promote bands that he favours, yet let other perfectly talented bands fall by the way side because he doesn't deem them worthy of his time. This is neither good or responsible journalism. There is no objectivity, just a 'We like, so you should like' attitude.

So no, it doesn't make me feel insecure or threaten my identity, it is just a general concern. Maybe that was the case for me in the past with other bands, but not this time. And, yes i do hold some resentment towards kerrang for the current appalling state of rock music.

Maybe i'm just getting old and bitter!

The Return Of Rothkoid

11:15 / 30.06.03

It is almost as if it likes to creates opinions for impressionable teenagers. It is not a healthy scenario

No, but it's what all media does, to a certain extent. People who read Wire (or "The Wire" or whatever it's called) and people who read TV Hits rely upon the reviewers to tell them about something they haven't heard. They then purchase according to what they believe in - or according to the writer they trust. It's not just teens who do it - look at the amount of stuff NME put on the cover which then sells through the roof!

To be honest, everyone wasn't born with inherently good musical taste. If these mags, mass as they may be, enable someone to develop a bit of a clue and start striking out on their own - as it was with me - then so much the better. We can't all be born into the Coldwater Suplex family, after all.

Danzig: He Pitys the Fool!

12:30 / 30.06.03

I think you have all convinced me that i'm getting old and bitter. Having just read what I have already posted, I've realised that I've turned into one of the very same people that I would have berated for their old school sensibilities when I was a teenager. I can feel phrases like 'You Youngens', and 'Back when I was a lad' beginning to swell in the pit of my stomach.

You have all pretty much convinced me that I am being a tit. Sorry. Maybe i'll think a bit more before I start random threads in future. It was an impulse thing, what can I say.

21:33 / 30.06.03

Nevertheless, I'd be interested to see whether they are consciously promoting Japanese music, and what the results are on Kerrang's readership.

21:50 / 30.06.03

What *is* Kerrang's readership at the moment?

21:53 / 30.06.03

As a frequent reader of Kerrang (I don't buy it, I just read my housemate's copy whilst my dinner's cooking) I should like to point out that they do have a habit of slipping in a bit of hype for crazy, brilliant, far-out bands every now and then amongst all the dross - and that said bands tend not to go on to fame and stardom.

Having said that though, I am surprised that Melt-Banana are playing the Mean Fiddler (aka LA2) in London - that place is pretty damn big for an insane Japanese spazz-punk band.. I think they are developing a substantial cult audience (emphasis on the 'cult' hopefully). Everybody seems to know them as "ooh yeah, that crazy Japanese band! They're fantastic!".

Can't wait for Cellscape! Dug up my old Melt-Banana live tape the other day and it still KICKS SO MUCH ASS!!! So to speak.

at the scarwash

00:09 / 02.07.03

I saw Melt Banana this Saturday at Fat Cat's here in Houston. An absolutely amazing show. My ears are still bleeding. Just as the first time I saw them, they absolutely fucking destroyed the crowd. But when I got home and tossed the LP on, I discovered (being able to hear things more clearly) that they had improved dramatically as musicians and as songwriters(?). Sure, still aggro gibbering rabid lemur vocals and digitally vomited guitar-lines, smash smash kill kill rhythm section. But much catchier than I remember them being when I saw them in 99. I could buy finding a pop jam on their newest record. Unlikely, sure. But that was the most crowded I've ever seen the club that they played. Maybe that only means that more ironic T-shirt-wearing hipsters are into being into them. They got a good write up in the local free weekly. But whatever. I certainly would love to turn on top 40 radio and hear mad Japanese rock murderers like Melt Banana rather than Shania Twain or Justin Timberlake.

15:55 / 02.07.03

i'm so pissed that i missed them. i think they're still going to be at ATP: LA this fall, though, so...