You are under the impression that I’m being a music snob. I know you are joking here, but as far as blistering criticism of the film Ratatouille, you won’t receive that from me. Ratatouille is a great film.
You’ve softened your position somewhat, but you came out guns blazing with what can only be considered textbook musical snobbery. But good call on the Balkan folk and kora. Love me some Toumani Diabate. You should check out Bombino if you don’t know him.
Diabate and Bombino are both sensational. I recommend the late Congolese guitarist and singer Franco Luambo.
Yeah talk about PROJECTING. Good god. OP completely misunderstood the meaning of the song, and it’s not particularly deep or hard to figure out, either. I hope OP was being facetious somehow.
I was referring to popular music that has been easily accessible for the last thirty years, not the underground stuff that you have to make some effort to look for.
Then you shouldn't have made Radiohead the centerpiece of your argument. It was confusing. Radiohead isnt pop! Most casual listeners are not familiar with any of their music beyond Creep.
As far as them being "way more creative" than the bands I listed, a. Radiohead is one of the most creative rock bands ever so that's not really a fair standard and b. You're wrong. I listed a bunch of bands and some of them arent really all timers, but some of them are. None of them are just mindlessly running scales, melody free; i'm not sure what youre listening to. (Buckethead will just rip up and down from time to time, faster than pretty much anyone, but so much of his music is gentle and melodic.) Some are developing and applying innovative, complex techniques/ideas in creative, musical ways. Some are even capable, unlike Radiohead, of creating music that is happy. And I say all this as someone who has sat down and learned pretty much every Radiohead song worth learning on the guitar.
I was referring to popular music that has been easily accessible for the last thirty years, not the underground stuff that you have to make some effort to look for.
Then you shouldn't have made Radiohead the centerpiece of your argument. It was confusing. Radiohead isnt pop! Most casual listeners are not familiar with any of their music beyond Creep.
As far as them being "way more creative" than the bands I listed, a. Radiohead is one of the most creative rock bands ever so that's not really a fair standard and b. You're wrong. I listed a bunch of bands and some of them arent really all timers, but some of them are. None of them are just mindlessly running scales, melody free; i'm not sure what youre listening to. (Buckethead will just rip up and down from time to time, faster than pretty much anyone, but so much of his music is gentle and melodic.) Some are developing and applying innovative, complex techniques/ideas in creative, musical ways. Some are even capable, unlike Radiohead, of creating music that is happy. And I say all this as someone who has sat down and learned pretty much every Radiohead song worth learning on the guitar.
Everyone under the age of 60 is familiar with Radiohead, even if they haven’t done a deep dive into their catalogue. Everything else you mentioned, okay fine.
If you like Radiohead and haven't found anything else interesting in 30 years, you are just looking in the wrong places. (Evidenced by your next pick, the truly insipid Coldplay - ha!)
It was my instinct to disregard Coldplay but I was encouraged by a friend to dig in years ago, and while certainly no composer of masterpieces, they’re not that bad. It’s a very restrained compliment. Radiohead is far more consistent. They released landmark album after landmark album until slowing down just a few years ago. Each album was an exciting journey into a new soundscape. How could the same be said about Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift? Of course it couldn’t be. Radiohead cared about the craft and actually making groundbreaking music. Most of the others on the long list of bad recording artists didn’t even try. It was all just about producing the next stupid vapid hit.
Again, you are simply making inappropriate, almost bizarre comparisons.
Nobody would say that Taylor Swift is the Radiohead of the 2020s! Mariah Carey or Shania Twain would be more comparable mega-popstars from the 1990s.
You aren't even comparing bands, here. You are naming bubblegum pop stars and saying they are worse than an experimental rock group. Um, yeah.
If you want to make a comparison to Radiohead, I would look at actual bands - more like Tame Impala, Foals, maybe Fontaines DC. They certainly "care about the craft."
In the sixties and seventies you had phenomenal talent that was still mainstream. Today that isn’t the case.
Again, hard disagree.
FKA Twigs is a phenomenal talent. Heck, Kendrick Lamar is a phenomenal talent. These are extremely mainstream artists, not exactly hard to come across.
If you are defining music in 2026 as Taylor Swift, that's on you.
Everyone under the age of 60 is familiar with Radiohead, even if they haven’t done a deep dive into their catalogue. Everything else you mentioned, okay fine.
This is not 1960s when everyone watched one of three network TVs. It's not even 1980s when people waited for the premiere of "Thriller" video on MTV.
Pop culture today is far more fragmented. There are many people under 60 who are not familiar with U2 or Coldplay, let alone Radiohead.
In the sixties and seventies you had phenomenal talent that was still mainstream. Today that isn’t the case.
Again, hard disagree.
FKA Twigs is a phenomenal talent. Heck, Kendrick Lamar is a phenomenal talent. These are extremely mainstream artists, not exactly hard to come across.
If you are defining music in 2026 as Taylor Swift, that's on you.
I tried listening to Lamar’s albums Damn! and To Pimp a Butterfly and my opinion is that a few of the songs were mediocre at best while the rest were underwhelming and boring. Sometimes he uses listenable jazz backing tracks, but he is vastly over-rated. In his lyrics, he never said anything new or groundbreaking about race relations in America. He was just marketed well by the music industry during a tumultuous time of focusing on police brutality.
He has limited talent but is just promoted so well that people who don’t know better fall for the marketing gimmick. In essence, he is like the male rapper version of Taylor Swift. Terrible, but people are fooled into thinking he’s great.
It was my instinct to disregard Coldplay but I was encouraged by a friend to dig in years ago, and while certainly no composer of masterpieces, they’re not that bad. It’s a very restrained compliment. Radiohead is far more consistent. They released landmark album after landmark album until slowing down just a few years ago. Each album was an exciting journey into a new soundscape. How could the same be said about Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift? Of course it couldn’t be. Radiohead cared about the craft and actually making groundbreaking music. Most of the others on the long list of bad recording artists didn’t even try. It was all just about producing the next stupid vapid hit.
Again, you are simply making inappropriate, almost bizarre comparisons.
Nobody would say that Taylor Swift is the Radiohead of the 2020s! Mariah Carey or Shania Twain would be more comparable mega-popstars from the 1990s.
You aren't even comparing bands, here. You are naming bubblegum pop stars and saying they are worse than an experimental rock group. Um, yeah.
If you want to make a comparison to Radiohead, I would look at actual bands - more like Tame Impala, Foals, maybe Fontaines DC. They certainly "care about the craft."
By the way, what made you decide to revive this thread? You got bored with the other thread topics or what? Just curious.
Everyone under the age of 60 is familiar with Radiohead, even if they haven’t done a deep dive into their catalogue. Everything else you mentioned, okay fine.
This is not 1960s when everyone watched one of three network TVs. It's not even 1980s when people waited for the premiere of "Thriller" video on MTV.
Pop culture today is far more fragmented. There are many people under 60 who are not familiar with U2 or Coldplay, let alone Radiohead.
Almost everyone under 60 in the developed world and who didn’t spend the 80s, 90s, and 00s living under a rock are aware of U2, Coldplay, and Radiohead.
You are likely thinking of the early 2000s hit "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne. The song tells a story of social judgment where a "preppy" girl rejects a "skater" because of his baggy clothes and low social status. Years later, he becomes a world-famous rock star, while she is a lonely single mother. The lyrics contrast his high-value lifestyle and success with her regretful situation, highlighting how her superficial choice in high school eventually led to a missed opportunity for a much better life.
However, the song doesn't end with them getting back together. In a twist, the narrator reveals she is the one now dating the successful musician. She mocks the first girl’s entitlement, making it clear that the rock star has moved on to someone who appreciated him from the start. He isn't coerced into taking her back; instead,
, he leaves her behind in the past. It serves as a blunt lesson about the long-term consequences of judging people based on their appearance or status.
You are likely thinking of the early 2000s hit "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne. The song tells a story of social judgment where a "preppy" girl rejects a "skater" because of his baggy clothes and low social status. Years later, he becomes a world-famous rock star, while she is a lonely single mother. The lyrics contrast his high-value lifestyle and success with her regretful situation, highlighting how her superficial choice in high school eventually led to a missed opportunity for a much better life.
However, the song doesn't end with them getting back together. In a twist, the narrator reveals she is the one now dating the successful musician. She mocks the first girl’s entitlement, making it clear that the rock star has moved on to someone who appreciated him from the start. He isn't coerced into taking her back; instead, , he leaves her behind in the past. It serves as a blunt lesson about the long-term consequences of judging people based on their appearance or status.
