So I just watched Eminem's new video... No Love (ft. Lil Wayne), and while perusing the comments (a dangerous pass-time on YouTube, I know) I saw one that I've heard many times before - and it goes something like this...
Eminem's new music is shit... blah blah blah. His lyrics were so much better on (insert one of the first couple CDs here)... blah blah blah. Bring back Slim Shady!
The man is turning 38 soon and you want him to sound/rap/write the way he did 11 years ago when the Slim Shady LP came out!?!? For the love of god- artists grow and change over time, but you want them to stay in the same timeless box!? But heaven forbid they actually do that! Cuz then you'll bitch and complain about them putting out the same sounding album time after time. Ugh!! This new CD is probably my favorite by him. I think it's the truest album he's put out! I never got into the shock-value songs of the past... give me the Eminem that's working through his bus full of demons! If you want to hear Slim Shady- go listen to the old stuff!! But don't expect a man who has put 11 years and countless troubles over those times under his belt to sound the way he did when he was 27!! Arg!!!
hanging out with some old friends tonight and at one point (ok- at many points) the conversation turned to music... new and old. This got me thinking about some of the music that I was getting into around the time I was getting to know these guys. In fact- it was because I was getting to know these guys that these songs crossed my path in the first place
(disclaimer... if you don't like metal/screaming vocals, you may as well quit now)
I can still remember the first time Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest by Zao was played in my presence. I had never heard anything quite like it before... and I loved what I was hearing!! This was the first track on the CD... so chances are very good this is what got it all started!!
That really got the ball rolling... been pummeling my ears with all sorts of heavy/extreme music ever since! The following are some other pioneering songs I can recall from my youth around that same time (in no particular order)
It was also around this time I came across a band called Circle of Dust. It was a one man project and he had just recently put out what would end up being his last CD (under that name). That release- Disengage- has always been my favorite C.o.D. release, and produced a song I still love today- Chasm. As time passed however- the man behind this band (Scott Albert... now Klayton) continued to make music- but now released it under the name Celldweller. You may have heard me mention this name before, as this project of his has become one of my music favorites.
Some of these bands are still around and putting out music I enjoy (Underoath, Project 86, Living Sacrifice [they're recently reformed after breaking up for a few years]), and others have transformed (Luti-Kriss is now Norma Jean). Some are not around anymore (Extol, Embodyment, Lengsel, Stretch Arm Strong), and others are but just don't hold my interest as much these days (Zao, P.O.D., Blindside). But in that window of the last few years of the 90s- these bands helped shape my musical tastes- at least on the heavy end... and at the very least it's been fun recalling "the good ol days"
