Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine
Dreadful. I get it, they're challenging the norms on what could be considered music. That's why there are only like four tracks on here that have any sort of rhythm or melody, and all of them suck. I find it hard to believe that anyone, including the "artists", could possibly enjoy this, so the 1-star review must be what they've been going for anyway. ... That was the review I had prepared after making it through the album. And yet, a day later, there is more to be said. Most albums so far didn't captivate me for much longer than their runtime. This one was different. I did thorough research on the band's background. I found a concerningly active subreddit and was shocked to realize at least several people spent actual money on their physical records. I regrettably listened to "20 Jazz Funk Greats", which is still terrible, but at least undoubtedly music for the most part. I really tried to understand why this is a thing. I still don't. I spent the rest of the day listening to Igorrr and Mr.Bungle and had a great time. Long story short, this is still obviously a 1/5, but it might be the most fascinating one out there.
I listened to it twice because I didn't really like it the first time at all. I am still puzzled by how overrated Bowie is. Sure there are a few great ideas in this album, but pretty much every song has something I hate. The vocals are either too quiet or too loud, melodies are dissonant to the point of his singing sounding out of tune, and most of the choruses are frankly just annoying, including Changes which might be one of my least favorite tracks on here. Maybe I need to get to a few different Bowie records to really get it, but what I'm hearing here is mostly just barely enjoyable. I'm sure I'm missing something here as the whole universe seems to disagree and this guy evidently influenced some of my favorite artists, and I will come back to this record sometime in the far future. Life on Mars and Song for Bob Dylan are actually pretty great.
This album was exactly what I was hoping to find in this project: Excellent music I would never have considered thoroughly listening to otherwise. I spend the last day discovering the Soul genre and countless fantastic artists I had heard of, but never actually listened to. Is this particular album one of the greatest of all time? I have no idea, but it certainly is pretty great, and I'll give it five stars just for getting me interested in this huge part of music history that I had'nt been too invested in before.