One Liner: Forgettable bedroom pop made by two local artists joining forces
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - bedroom pop
Home: Austin
Poster Position: Level 5 (24) Weekend One Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: Huh. Half of this band was the front-man for a band that I really liked off of one of the old ACL lineups (review here), who I then got to see again at Sound on Sound Fest right before a torrential downpour washed that entire Festival away forever. Leopold & His Fiction is a solid rock band fronted by Daniel Leopold. He apparently met Jane Ellen Bryant - also an ex-ACL lineup artist (review here) at a Black Fret event and were encouraged to work together. According to an article I read about them, they also ended up in an actual relationship.
The bummer, at least for me, is that this is super-not the Leopold sound. This is synthesizers and drum machines, like a couple making bedroom pop as a throwaway, which leads to pretty forgettable tunes. One album - 2023's Jane Leo - and the top track from that was their first single from 2021. "Tell Me (I'm on your Mind)," with 168k streams.
That song is fine, it just doesn't stick. Until the horns come in, it literally sounds like two people just noodling around on a song idea in there home studio during the pandemic. That is the first song on the album, and the second song on the album gets the second-most streams. You can actually watch people lose interest with this band on the stream count - 168k, 131k, 77k, 65k, 25k, 23k, 10k, 9k. That second tune is called "The More You Know."
I don't want to be rude about them - I liked them both individually back in their prior iterations, but this little Casio 2000 ass backing track just doesn't get me anywhere. The video is like a low rent Wes Anderson thing though. I kind of like it. I wouldn't go out of my way to hear this one.
One Liner: Atmospheric electro and dance, with that one big "Midnight City" song.
Wikipedia Genre: synth-pop, shoegaze, dream pop, post-rock, ambient, electronic rock
Home: Antibes, France
Poster Position: Level 2 (6) Weekend Two Only.
Sunday.
Thoughts: They were last at the Festival in 2016, although I don't think I saw the set.
I have a great memory of a Girl Talk show years ago, where he mixed in "Midnight City" as the fruition of a build-up and drop, and it worked so freaking well I levitated. Girl Talk was amazing. I wish that guy still did festival sets and was just plugged into a slot at every ACL. You know "Midnight City," it is far and away the biggest hit from this dude. 2011 song still getting airplay today.
Creepy ass video. But the song has 879.6 million streams on Spotify (!!!), so it is up there in the streaming stratosphere. The band is a French guy named Anthony Gonzalez (and used to also include another French guy named Nicolas Fromageau, who has the best French last name I've heard in the last ten minutes. That name sounds like a beret-wearing stinky-cheese salesman if I've ever heard one.) That song is from 2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, which is pretty cool for being kind of dreamy atmospheric synth pop mixed with dance tracks. It is a kind of schizo album, in that many tracks are super chill and relaxing ("Splendor," for example) and then others get you all hyped up to jam out ("Ok Pal," for example). It is a double-disc, for some reason, and so he could have left a song or three off of it, but it has a cool sound. The other hit from the album, and his second most listened-to track on Spotify, is "Wait," which was used to high comedy in some commercial I saw where two kids were about to kiss. Ah yes, this one. 310.5 million streams for the actual song.
I like that commercial. Like most, I'd never heard of the band until this 2011 album, but it looks like they've been making music for a while. 2008's Saturdays = Youth, 2007's Digital Shades Vol. 1, 2005's Before the Dawn Heals Us, 2003's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, and 2001's M83. Wikipedia shows that Saturdays = Youth was a breakout album for them, but I'm not feeling it much either. It isn't bad, just kind of sounds like Cure b-sides covered by a stinky cheese purveyor.
The group is named after the galaxy M83, not the Soviet M-class submarine, the smoke grenade, the US copy of the German Butterfly bomb used in WW2, or the Michigan highway, all of which also share that name. After those, 2014's You and the Night is an instrumental album that was apparently the soundtrack for a movie called Les Rencontres d'après minuit, which has the following plot, according to Wikipedia. "Around midnight, a young couple and their transvestite maid prepare for an orgy. Their guests will be The Slut, The Teen, The Stud and The Star. As each guest arrives they tell their story, most of them too fantastical to believe. Once the guests have shared their stories the hosts tell their story of immortality and a love that crosses death. As the orgy begins fantasy and reality combine until the group is both watcher of and participant in their own liaisons." Mmmmkay. The soundtrack is fine, just atmospheric synth twiddling. The next album, 2016's Junk, just does very little for me. Super 80's referential, with kind of a winking lean on outdated sounds in the midst of the synths and machine noises. I just don't care for it. I played "Do it, Try It" when I reviewed the album, so here is the other popular tune from this album, called "Go! (feat. Mai Lan)" Pretty snappy little tune and all, I just still don't care about hearing it anymore. In 2019, they released another album soundtrack, this one for something called Knife & Heart, which sounds like a lovely film. The first line of the Wikipedia Plot is thus: "A young man dances in a nightclub. He spots a man wearing a leather mask and goes with him to a room to have sex. A black bird flies past him as he follows the masked man, who later ties him to a bed and kills him with a dildo containing a concealed, retractable blade." Hoo boy. After that you get 2019's DSVII and then 2023's Fantasy. Neither of those albums boast much in the way of big songs - only one song cracks 4 million streams on either. This is "Oceans Niagra," from that 2023 album.
That one gives me a little hope that this show wouldn't just be boring atmospherics and then "Midnight City." It still isn't an amazing song or anything, but at least it isn't that soundtrack for the dildo murder movie. So then where do I stand on seeing this one play live? Hearing good things from people I trust about music makes me think that I should see the live show and experience the action in person. Even if I know I won't listen to this music otherwise at home, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go jam out in the crowd. We'll see how the schedule shakes out.
One Liner: Spanglish rap and reggae sounds mashed together.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is spanglish rap.
Home: L.A.
Poster Position: Level 3 (14) Both Weekends. Saturday.
Thoughts: I'm honestly not sure what you even call this at first listen. Spanglish rap? Reggae reggaeton rap? Feels like I keep hearing the same thing over and over, as well. I think he has a lot of remixes. A person with this name, I guess I assume it is this dude, added guest vocals to a song on the Sublime with Rome album called Blessings. Zuko is also the name of a character in Avatar: the Last Airbender, and the last name of Danny Zuko in Grease. But not much is helpful online to get to know him. Here is the best I could find: "Born in California’s Imperial Valley, Eddie grew up surrounded by the music of his Mexican family, singing at quinceañeras and family gatherings. As he took on music more seriously, he always kept his roots close weaving Spanish into his music and encouraging young Mexican-American’s to be proud of their family’s traditions. Eddie’s independently released 2017 EP El Zuko brought his breakout track “Made” which has gone on to amass over 2 million Spotify streams and opened the door to opening for Jay Rock on tour and collaborating with Sublime with Rome." So there you go!
HIs moustache makes me think of Anthony Keidis. His voice sometimes sounds like Logic's singing voice. His first single available on Spotify is attributed to just Zuko, and is an ode to the humble tamale, surprisingly titled "Tamales." He has no actual albums, just one EP from 2017, and then more singles after that. Top track is a 2023 single - "Still" - with 4.6 million streams.
Now that I knew he sang on a Sublime song, I keep hearing it in this one. That chorus sounds like a hook that would have been in the background of some classic Sublime track. It's catchy for sure. And, of course, it was a TikTok hit because everything that is on this poster must have been a TikTok hit to become part of the festival.
"Yallego" has a boppin' beat and a fun moment where he sings some Rage Against the Machine lyrics. That one stands out among this stuff. But his second-most streamed track is from that initial EP six years ago - "Made" - with 2.7 million streams.
I much prefer the newer one to that one. Although I liked watching his granny make tortillas. Just a pretty basic beat and nothing all that exciting about his flow. Also, no clue what he is saying for large chunks of the song, which always makes it harder to give a stamp of approval. I probably would not go out of my way to see this one.
One Liner: Ex-bandmate of Maggie Rogers making great indie pop
Wikipedia Genre: indie pop
Home: Brooklyn
Poster Position: Level 3 (12) Weekend Two Only.
Sunday.
Thoughts: I am sort of surprised, but I like this much more than I originally expected. Apparently there is something called the Delaware Water Gap, which is a water gap on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. And so I assume that is what this dude named his thing after, because his real name is Samuel Jaffe.
He started the band in high school, and while he was at NYU Maggie Rogers actually was part of the band for a period of time. After that it has been a solo project. His big single blew up because of several celebrity call-outs - "actresses Margaret Qualley and Kaitlyn Dever posted an Instagram video of themselves performing a "socially distant dance party" to the song during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song was subsequently covered by singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams on her Instagram page and referred to by actress Florence Pugh as her "favourite song"." So there you go. This is "Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat," which has 61 million streams.
Maybe a Harry Styles vibe going on there? I like the insistent beat behind it. It is good. Catchy and danceable. Some of the other popular songs are a little less upbeat, and his band name is really not good for rolling off the tongue. He does a pretty enjoyable cover of Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" that takes it kind of downbeat and chill. HIs first single, back in 2015, is almost country folk, like some sort of Son Volt lament. it is actually really enjoyable!
Several early EPs, and a live album, but his first real true album is an eponymous one released in 2021. And nothing much since then. HIs second-most streamed is a 2018 single called "High Tops." 26 million streams.
Now he's into his Ryan Adams stage, with a little flourish of the Beatles - dude's voice has a British sneer to it here and elsewhere that is odd, being that he was born in Connecticut. Normally, I'd be running the other way from indie pop, but this has been legitimately enjoyable. I like it. I doubt I will be there for Sunday of Weekend Two, but this should be nice!
One Liner: Like the Lumineers popped up in small-town Ohio
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - folk, indie
Home: Waterville, Ohio
Poster Position: Level 5 (24) Weekend Two Only. Friday.
Thoughts: Huh. I think that Oliver Tree guy has forever ruined the name Oliver in a band, so that I was expecting this to be some whacked out garbage rap-ish that makes me sad for humanity. Instead, its like I found early demos by the Lumineers before they found their stride.
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was an American Naval Commander, the hero of the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. He even has a class of frigates named in his honor by the US Navy. I was hoping that there was some tie here to the Commodore Perry Estate here in Austin, which was recently revitalized with a new swanky hotel and restaurants, but no such luck. The Austin Commodore Perry wasn't even in the Navy, that honorific was a joke nickname given to him after his boat washed away in a storm on Lake Austin. There is also an Oliver Hazard Payne, who was the founder of the American Tobacco Trust, and an Oliver Hazard Belmont, who was an American politician. So who are these dudes, then?
According to one article, the band formed serendipitously when the lead singer came back to his hometown in Ohio, met up with a few old buddies, and they goofed around writing songs together for a week. They ended up winning a Facebook raffle (not sure what the hell that even means) for a song's worth of free studio time, which they turned into a single session that birthed all ten new tracks they had written. Kinda cool! The band name is because one of the three dudes is from Perryville, which is named after Commodore Perry. Strange band name though.
Their first single was in 2017, and then their first album popped out in 2018 - 34 N. River - named after their studio. After that, a couple of EPs have been released but no other full-on album. The sound is gentle and comfortable - it really does make me think of the Lumineers. Top track is a 2019 single called "Dandelion," with 14.4 million streams.
Basic little tune, but catchy and sunny. Feel good tune for sure. They do a good job of harmonizing on many of these songs. The other top track is "Caesar Knows," from that one album. 9.6 million streams.
A little more driving and danceable, builds up just a little bit with some excitement. The newest single, "Saratoga," is more polished and bright - like they finally got real studio time and a producer instead of something they won on Facebook.
Nice band. I like the sound, I could see enjoying their set.
One Liner: The lady who sings the dance EDM hooks has her own thing!
Wikipedia Genre: pop, dance, house, UK Funky, electro. (UK FUNKY!!!)
Home: Bewdley, England
Poster Position: Level 3 (13) Weekend One Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: Sort of interesting, in that usually when I am listening to this sort of house music/EDM stuff, the singer is some rando nobody who is totally interchangeable, and what you are listening to is the DJ type person who is making the music. This flips that, because it is the same generic singer person on each track, but the DJ is what changes. So, you get David Guetta, MEDUZA, Topic, Galantis, Oliver Heldens, Wilkinson, Lewis Thompson, etc. on her tunes, but it is always her voice that is singing the terrible lyrics about some inane topic.
She rose to fame after the UK version of The Voice, and in 2014 she became the first Voice contestant to reach #1 with her song "Gecko (Overdrive)" atop the UK Singles Chart. She won Brit Award for Best Dance Act two years running in 22 and 23. Her Wikipedia says she is a supporter of Walsall F.C., which I assume is a lower tier soccer team. Yes, their are in the fourth tier, and the team is located in a town called Walsall. Their nickname is the Saddlers, which is a terrible nickname. Does nothing to roll off of the tongue.
Many singles until Get to Know was released in 2019. That one features her biggest tune, "Lose Control" with Meduza and Goodboys. 831.4 million streams. Good gravy that is a lot of streams...
I'm sort of making it sound like she's crap, and she isn't at all. Her voice sounds fine! It is more just that I don't care for this style of music at all, so I really don't care to sit around and listen to someone say "aaah, I need you love" eighteen times in a row while some generic beat bops along in the background. I just don't care for it. That subdivision of unfinished castles is weird.
Then a million more remixes and singles until 2021's Only Honest on the Weekend, which has her second-highest streamer with 327.8 million for the David Guetta tune "Remember."
I know there is a thing about the Brits not fixing their teeth, but that mole - I'm imagining Austin Powers focused on her chin. At first, I thought they were piercings. The perfect thing about me talking about those is how perfect my entire body is. Because she's cashing fat checks and has a fit body, and I'm a schlubby old man, so I have a feeling she'd laugh in my face. After that, it is all remixes and more singles. I'mma be honest, her techno ass version of Bryan Adam's cheeseball classic "Heaven" was kind of fun.
Not my thing! I could imagine it being a high energy show, but I guess it will literally be her and some dancers going crazy on stage while a laptop plays the songs. Nah.
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, pop, alternative rock, dance-pop, electronic rock, electropop
Home: Long Beach, CA
Poster Position: Level 3 (11) Weekend One Only. Friday.
Thoughts: Remember that AJR band? I do not like that band - they very much annoyed me when they were getting lots of radio play a year or three ago. Well, this band reminds me of that. Which is too bad, because a young person in my office specifically brought them up as a "great rock band" right when the schedule came out. So, in my mind ever since then, I'd had a "great rock band" waiting for me to check out on the poster. This is much more pop and dance-forward than anything I would really consider to be rock. It is three guys, and I am shocked that they are listed as lead singer, drummer, and bassist. I honestly did not think that a drummer was being used anywhere on this album - just sounds like a machine.
Their big hit popped out in 2018, as a single accompanied by a music video that caught a lot of people's attention. "The video attracted attention for its choreography and cinematography, done by lead singer Josh Taylor and JA Collective, and received positive reviews from publications including Alternative Press and Rock Sound, the former calling the cinematography "first-class" and the latter calling the band "so multi-talented"." All of the attention led to a real record deal, a tour, and recording of new music. This is that single - "Still Feel" - with 131.6 million streams.
And 73 million views for that video, so its definitely a thing. Totally badass choreography. 100%. I want a deep dive on how many takes that took to nail, because they freaking nailed it. The song is good-not-great but the video is amazing. By the way, that location, with all of the square lighted tiles, was the Batcave for the Christopher Nolan movies.
When the original two members first got together, they launched an ambitious project to create fifty songs together and "Still Feel" was one of those 50. But according to a video I just watched, it was an entirely different style of song originally. Their first EP was in 2017, featuring three of those songs, but pretty much this same sound. First album was 2019's Now, Not Yet, which featured the big hit but didn't repurpose those EP songs. 2022 saw the oddly named Give Me Your Shoulders, Pt. 1 as well as Conditions of a Punk, which repeated the songs from the Pt. 1 album. The top track from those 2022 albums was "What's Wrong," with 19.1 million streams.
More great choreography, and another okay song. I really love when they do the dance moves where the guys get tangled together by the arms and move as a writhing unit. Looks super cool!
There is also a Tiny Desk show, pre-pandemic.
His falsetto is so effortless - he just jumps up into that register at will and without any seeming difficulty. I like that they brought the dancers along even for the Tiny Desk, although their "reading and Rubics" performance is a little too cute for me. The sounds in "Still Alive" are really slick - that slick bass and the 70's squiggles on the guitar are cool. But that third song, when they do the dancing, is for sure the worst of the three tunes they play.
Curious if they'll do all of the dancing stuff on stage at the Fest, or if this is more something they just save for their videos. I just watched a Kimmel appearance, and it appears they do keep the dancing going. Might be a fun show to see live.
One Liner: Crunk lady rapper bragging her way into a Cardi B guest spot
Wikipedia Genre: hip hop, crunk, trap
Home: Memphis
Poster Position: Level 2 (6) Both Weekends. Weekend One - Sunday. Weekend Two - Friday.
Thoughts: Fun stuff! This is in the neighborhood of Bia, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, etc. In fact, her top track features Cardi B. Real name is Gloria Hallelujah Woods, which is a fantastic name. Born in Memphis, she was a part of her church choir until she apparently "lost her voice" and switched over to rapping when she was 16.
Just one album - 2022's Anyways, Life's Great - with a pile of singles floating around before that. Her first big single popped off for good reason, because it is catchy as hell. "F.N.F. (Let's Go)" was a 2022 single that was even nominated for Best Rap Performance. 46.5 million streams.
I'm sorry, but watch that video and try to not have fun. She looks like she is having a legitimately good time with her rachet ass friends. Good times. And of course, the song reached peak popularity because of a TikTok challenge called the #FNFChallenge. Afterwards, she got signed to Yo Gotti's Memphis label and finally dropped her album. That album features her top song, which features Cardi B. "Tomorrow 2," with 96.5 million streams.
She really does a great middle finger. Like, absolutely unequivocal. Beat is like a 3 on that one, so I'm not in love with it. I wish there was a little more meat on it.
Weird entry on her Wikipedia says: "In February 2023, a stampede at a concert at the Main Street Armory in Rochester, New York resulted in 3 deaths and 7 people injured. The stampede started after audience members thought they heard gunshots while people were leaving the venue." Great reporting there. Was that at a GloRilla concert? Doofus ass Wikipedia people.
These tunes are fun, although pretty aggressive. I was trying to get substantive work done today while listening along and finally had to just turn it off because it was stressing me out. But I could see her show being fun for the young kids.
One Liner: Rockin' Nashville country from an ex-Voice competitor
Wikipedia Genre: Country
Home: Nashville
Poster Position: Level 4 (21) Weekend Two Only.
Sunday.
Thoughts: Feels like this guy is perfect for next year's Two Step Inn Festival to play some rockin' country action for the ladies to yell along to. His full name is actually Corey Kent White, and he rose to some level of fame by competing on The Voice in 2015. In 2022, he shortened his name to Corey Kent and released his hit song "Wild as Her." 93.1 million streams.
Catchy little tune, seems like it would be a fun one to sing along (and he has live versions on Spotify so that you can hear how that would sound!), but also pretty generic new country stuff. Mentions dirt roads, and apparently co-written by Morgan Wallen and someone named Colby Keeling. The newest single is pretty good too - driving tune about how love is going to kill him.
First album was 2020's From the West, and it has a similar sound to the rest of this. Seems like he came out fully formed with this sort of Nashville sound intact in his voice. He grew up in Oklahoma, idolizing Garth Brooks. He got his first taste of fame performing at the Oklahoma State Fair when he was 11. He graduated high school early at 16, went to Nashville briefly, but then moved back to go to Oklahoma State. But then he ended up back in Nashville giving the music a go, and ended up on the Voice with Blake Shelton's team. He did not win. A bunch of singles followed that initial album, until his only other disc, 2021's '21. That one has his second-most streamed tune, "Ain't My Day" with 11.3 million streams.
More rock and roll country action with those opening guitar licks. That long haired dude has an even more generic new country singer voice, but Kent sounds just fine on that. Again, pretty generic tune - "we drinkin' tonight!" "she took every last beer I had!" "neon light!" "I'll be hurtin' in the mornin'!"
If you are the Nashville country type, then this one is going to push all of your buttons and get you riled up. For me, I'm probably not going to go to this show.
One Liner: Low key indie pop with one massive hit about Trump making love and killing us all
Wikipedia Genre: indie rock, indie pop, alternative pop, chamber pop
Home: London
Poster Position: Level 5 (28) Weekend One Only.
Sunday.
Thoughts: Holy Hannah. Bottom line of the entire poster, and this dude has a song with 304 million streams. A bunch of legit artists out there don't have a song with that many spins! There has to be a story behind it. According to an interview, it is about the idea of then-UK Prime Minister Theresa May and then-U.S. President Donald Trump deciding to spend a night of romance together before triggering atomic warfare. Which is a weird construct! According to Wikipedia, it (OF COURSE) then became a TikTok thing and blew up in 2021, long after its initial release in 2017. The TikTok love came after a cover by singer Sarah Cothran. Please read this short article to understand how deeply stupid the world now is. Anyway, it is kinda funny anyway. "As the World Caves In."
A little bit campy showtune Morissey thing, a little bit "Imagine" piano-riff ripoff, but also cleverly written lyrics. A YouTube comment said that the poster just got married and used this as their wedding song. Some dark shit to introduce to your nascent marriage!
My guy is British-Canadian, born in Reading, England. Lives in London now. Hey, and this Vice article supports what I said, that he sounds kinda like Morissey! I am always so very pleased when my thought is supported by someone who knows what they are talking about! Maltese started writing when he was 14, but didn't really start to seriously make music until he was 19. He has a surprisingly large catalog, with 2018's Bad Contestant, 2020's Krystal, 2021's Good Morning Its Now Tomorrow, and 2023's Driving Just to Drive. I like those last two album names. Seems like he really got busy with music during the pandemic!
After that massive hit, the top track has 31.4 million streams, and comes from the 2020 album. In fact, the majority of his top tracks come from that album. This is the oddly named "Intolewd."
Super low-key vibe. Sounds like a pandemic creation made in his bedroom with a synth and drum machine. Weird little tune - 1:20 long - barely feels like a real tune!
Anyway, sure! Letting his catalog just run in the background of a workday is pretty nice - nothing terribly loud or invigorating, just a string of alt pop floating by on a chilled wave. Not sure that I'll see it, since it will likely get the Friday at noon treatment, but not terrible!
Poster Position: Level 3 (13) Both Weekends. Friday.
Thoughts: There are some of these entries where I am either really enjoying the new tunes, or at least satisfied with letting the tunes spool out over a day or two at the desk. This is not one of those. I have got to write this entry just so that I can turn this godawful schlock off as soon as possible. If you are a fan of pop country, then I apologize for any feelings I may be hurting, but this is killing me inside.
Daniel Gerard Breland feels like the next evolution of the world caused by the popularity of "Old Town Road." It is country rap, with some R&B flavors, over the top of terribly generic beats. He apparently turned down the opportunity to go to NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and went to Georgetown to study business instead. He graduated and moved to Atlanta with a sales job in tech. On the side, he started making tracks on his laptop, and placed some songs with artists like Trey Songz and YK Osiris. But his personal big break was the terrible song "My Truck," which went platinum once Sam Hunt helped with a remix. 34.3 million streams for the remix, 68 million streams for the original.
I'm sort of surprised that this guy didn't make the Two Step Inn lineup and instead is on this ACL poster instead. Super hate that song. I can totally see a bunch of Trump Flag dorks blaring it as they drive too fast down the beach in Port A in their jacked up F-950s. Many of his top songs are not actually his songs - he is making appearances now on many other songs. Like, his top track on Spotify has 76.5 million streams, but it is actually a Dierks Bentley song that he just appears on. After that, his top ten is songs with Alana Springsteen, Keith Urban, Sam Hunt, Thomas Rhett, Nelly (?!?), and something named Kidd G (and that song truly, deeply, sucks ass).
One album, 2022's Cross Country. The top song on there is that Keith Urban one, with the Thomas Rhett one in second place. The top track without a more famous person helping him is "Natural," with 4.4 million streams.
That guitar part sounds like he stole the riff from "Red Neck Girl" and looped it while trying to copy Brooks & Dunn. But also, that song freaking bloooooooooows. I really hate this so much. I'm sorry. He seems like a likeable guy with a lovely smile, but if I never hear another one of these songs again, my life will be markedly improved.
One Liner: Roots rocking Americana revivalists with two great albums and then ...
Wikipedia Genre: Folk rock, alternative rock, indie folk Home: London Poster Position: 1
Both Weekends.
Sunday.
Thoughts: Here is what I said in 2019: "I'm honestly shocked that they were named to the top of the ACL bill yet again." And I feel the same way again now, especially after Mumford (without the Sons) was here last year. And in my opinion, Marcus makes the sound of this band, regardless of whether the sons are back there or not. But whatever, at least Mumford is SIGNIFANTLY better than some electro-dork twiddling knobs on a main stage.
They were here in 2016, then 2019, so it looks like we are on a three-year-gap-cycle (accounting for the missing COVID year). But to me that feels like too short of a gap. I feel like those bands who make the quick turnaround to come back to play again are usually ones whose star has shot up or their stature has changed in a major way. Like Chance the Rapper coming back several times, with only year gaps, as he went from mixtape rapper to megastar. Have the Sons released new music since 2019? No. Didn't they almost break up? Sort of. We'll dig into all of that here. First things first, I like Mumford & Sons. I don't want you to get the impression here at the start that I am a hater. Their first two albums were awesome. The thing that I am not entirely comprehending is why they should headline by beloved ACL without any new music or buzz, when instead the C3 folks should have booked Taylor Swift or an REM reunion show. ;)
I know someone can likely argue with me about the genesis of the throwback-stomping-roots-folk-rock movement, but to me its these guys. And they did it with no warning, just a guerrilla attack blast of banjo and emotionally-charged power. When "Little Lion Man" started getting alternative radio play, from 2009's Sigh No More, I think we were all kind of confused about what was going on, and then you found yourself standing on top of your Accord, ripping off your shirt, pumping your fist, and yelling about how you really f'ed it up this time.
That chorus, and then the soaring aaaaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhaaaaaaa! in the middle are just so great. And they still feel real and unsullied after several years and a load of copy cats. That one clocks in at 592 million streams on Spotify (and that is up from 124.5 million in 2016 and 251.5 in 2019, so they are still getting mad plays after all these years). I actually would have expected that "The Cave" to be the top track off of that album, but it only fires up 444 million (118.8 million in 2016, 253 million in 2019). The banjo speed on that track is impressive. But that album was massively popular, selling enough to become more than 3x platinum in the U.S. and similarly huge in other countries. The second album, 2012's Babel, didn't sell as many copies, but won the Grammy for Album of the Year and felt even bigger than the first disc. They didn't stray from the original formula, sticking to fist-pumping banjo rock and earnest lyrics with great sing-along choruses. The big hit from this album, and the band's biggest track overall (just baaaaaarely), is "I Will Wait," with over 593 million streams (150.5 million in 2016, 310.5 million in 2019).
I have a special spot in my heart for that song because when my youngest kiddo was still very small, that was about the only song she knew the lyrics to and it was damn cute when she would repeat along with it in the back seat of the 'burb as we tooled around life. Anyway, Babel picks up right where Sigh left off and is excellent. I can get it if you don't like rock or dislike bluegrass or whatever, but it is hard to deny the propulsive joy I feel when I hear these songs.
And then the third album. Oh, that third album. As I said in my original review of the album, it isn't actually bad music, its just disappointing because of the legacy created by this band. If this album had been released under a pseudonym, no one would have noticed it because it is generically blah, but people wouldn't have crapped all over it either. Just another middling soft rock album in a pile of eight billion that have disappeared into history. But because it was Mumford & Sons, and they turned their back on their core sound and style, everybody hated it. I just read something in Rolling Stone where one of the band members said they could have made Sign No More 2, but then they all would have been depressed. I don't know, man, is it better to be depressed because fans and critics alike hate your new album, or to be depressed because your massively popular third album just won some more Grammys, made you a jillion dollars, and created world peace?
And since that weak third album, their next small effort decided to go even further afield from their original sound and go full-on Paul Simon and give their music the Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints treatment. A short five song EP called Johannesburg came out in 2016, and is actually really enjoyable. Of course, I am a sucker for Graceland and even facsimiles of Graceland (like Vampire Weekend), so this one hits a sweet spot for me. The EP was a project with Baaba Maal ("legendary Senegalese singer"), The Very Best ("Swedish-Malawian" "electronic pop collective"), and Beatenberg ("South African pop trio"), hammered out when Mumford & Sons toured down to South Africa and decided to make something with all of these disparate artists. I get that some people may continue to crap on the band here, for an imperialistic appropriation of sounds or sonic tourism or whatever, but if anyone seems earnest and real about just wanting to join up with these people and make music, it's this band. Screw it, I like these songs. The album opener is "There Will Be Time."
I see the poor banjo guy picking at his axe during that video, but I can't say that I hear any of the old school banjo-fied soul Mumford, but you definitely get the earnest, soaring sing-along that honestly just gave me goosebumps in watching that video. The second track, "Wona" sounds just like Vampire Weekend to me. I couldn't find who sang it in a 3 second google search, but if it isn't Ezra Keonig I'd be surprised. And then the closer, "Si Tu Veux" is a real beauty. I've been bummed for years that I missed out on a special show they did in Austin. They had a show with the Austin High Band, in which I was a player back almost 30 years ago. Ugh.
Man, I wanted to be part of the drum line something fierce. In the caste system of the high school marching band, at least in my memory's eye, it went something like this: drums > trumpet > saxophone > tuba > those other big ass horns that I think were called baritones > trombone > clarinet > xylophones and other weird pit shit > french horn > flute and piccolo. If I forgot your instrument, you go below the flutes. And I think this was part of this cool tour they did where they traveled across the country on a train (the Railroad Revival Tour) and played shows with Edward Sharpe and Old Crow Medicine Show from the train. Sounded so cool. But I missed out on that.
Their ACL show in 2016 was actually really great. They are high energy, their hits are truly fantastic to bop along to in a big crowd, and the crowd was into it. But since then, they really haven't done anything to increase the excitement level here.
Instead, 2018's Delta was released with a whimper, with a 5.8 (of 10) from Pitchfork ("Modern rock isn’t dead—it’s just weightless."), a 2 star (of 5) from Rolling Stone ("Experimental new album takes the band’s sound to gloomy extremes."), a bad review from SPIN ("The result is an hour-long slog with only a few brief realizations of their old potential before the next crescendo hits."), and an overall 59% on Metacritic. My review of it was as I remember this album, uneven - with a few good songs, and then a handful of actively bad tracks. And no new music since then except for a 2020 single called "Bling Leading the Blind." Has 20 million streams though!
Comes on heavy with the banjo and the Of Monsters and Men vibe. Really a good track. Feels like they went back to some of the power that made them dope in the first place. I especially like the breakdown after the first verse. Those bashing drums are great.
Back to the comment earlier about them potentially breaking up. Winston Marshall (check out his full name - Winston Aubrey Aladar deBalkan Marshall (!!!)) was the banjo guy and lead guitarist for the band (I mean, they are all labeled as multi-instrumentalists, but those were his main jobs). But in March 2021, Marshall praised one of those right-wing outrage dorks, Andy Ngo, on Twitter for his 2021 book Unmasked, which is deeply critical of the antifa movement. Social media blew up on Marshall, and he announced he was taking time away from the band. He apologized, but it was one of those "if you were offended then you shouldn't have been because I'm not a fascist" things, and then he announced that he was leaving Mumford & Sons so that he could speak his mind on controversial issues without his bandmates and their families suffering the consequences. Which, like not making Sigh No More 2, is deeply stupid. Just shut up and count your freaking money, you moron. He's become a little right-wing celeb for giving up his luxe lifestyle to speak his mind - google him and dopey publications like the New York Post praise his decision.
But, the band is soldiering on, apparently now just a three-some of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, piano). I assume they have hired a new banjo guy, but Wikipedia doesn't mention him.
The weird thing, yet again, is just that without new music it seems like an odd time to bring them right back out as a top headliner. Everyone who comes to the show is going to just want to hear the classics from Babel and Sigh No More. No one is coming to that show hoping that they go for deep cuts off of Delta. So, pretty much the same show as seven years ago, right? I'll give you two songs from Delta as well, despite my description up above. First, their most popular is "Guiding Light," and I'll fully admit that its a solid tune. 121.6 million streams. A feel good video. What's not to like? A driving, insistent feel to the song and a joyous chorus, it feels like the old Mumford back for another run. Actually, I asked a question, and my answer is the lyrics - the lyrics to this song are super generic platitudes. "I had it all on the line" and "you'll always be my only guiding light" and whatnot, there is nothing original or interesting in those words at all. Now I'll give you a weird video that puts together two of the songs I really hate, along with some cool imagery. This is "Picture You" and "Darkness Visible." 21 and 13 million streams, respectively. I mean, what is that electro-snap BS? "Darkness Visible" has the fewest streams of anything on the album, so I'm not alone in being disappointed by this stuff. When they played in 2019, the setlist counts were about like this: seven songs from Delta (ugh), five songs from Wilder Mind (double mega-uggh), four songs from Sigh No More, three songs from Babel, and three covers ("Walking on Sunshine," NIN's "Hurt," and "You Shook Me All Night Long," which are actually pretty fun covers for them to tackle). So that kind of sucks. A good bit more than half of the tunes will be from their two newer albums, and we'll only get the biggest hits from the OG stuff. Luckily, I just looked up their most recent show, and a short set looked like this: Babel 3, Sigh No More 3, Wilder Mind 3, Delta 2. That's a better sweet spot! We'll see who might be opposite them, but I'd likely expect that they'd be on my dance card at the end of the day. "I WILL WAIT I WILL WAIT FOR YOU!"
One Liner: One nice little song that is apparently considered Western AF
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia - country?
Home: No clue.
Poster Position: Level 5 (24) Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Well, this will be simple. She has one song available on Spotify - "Any Fool Will Do - Western AF Version" - with no recorded streaming numbers. Her Spotify bio says debut album coming in 2024. Soooooooo, not too much to listen to on this one!
Not much written about her either. I know who her agent is, but otherwise no profiles or stories. Not sure how she scored a spot on the ACL poster! Nice enough song - her voice is strong, and her basic guitar playing is fine. Pretty tune! No reason to seek her out in the fall though.
One Liner: All I can think of is Coldplay on their big TikTok hit
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is soft pop rock
Home: Toronto
Poster Position: Level 4 (21) Weekend Two Only.
Saturday.
Thoughts: The top song, which is embedded in their Spotify like 87 times, I think, sounds very much like Coldplay. Which is interesting in that I think that Coldplay has lost much of its coolness these days, and yet someone is out here stealing that same piano and falsetto vibe as their first album. "Those Eyes" has 316.7 million streams.
Without looking, I can almost guarantee that this song has been a viral TikTok thing where people give "those eyes" to the camera over and over along with the tune. Let's research. Yep. Apparently people usually use a sped up version of the song to do their rendition. That version has 66 million streams oin Spotify and is their second-most streamed tune. It sounds goofy as hell.
According to a bio on the web: "New West is a Toronto-based music collective formed in 2017. The group is comprised of four like-minded songwriters and instrumentalists from varying notable studio production and musical backgrounds: Kala Wita, Vella, Ben Key and Noel West." Huh, so actually four people in there.
After the big hit, there is only one tune with more than 10 million streams, called "Next to You," and it sounds a lot like the hit. Not sure when the other four members of the band get to contribute, unless each of them sounds like Chris Martin? 15.4 million streams.
Nice. No beef with that song, has a good line of a story in it that you can visualize, and the sound is pleasant soft rock. Sort of hard to find info about them, as their name is a pain to google - you get so many things called "New West" like a Tejano club in Dallas or a physicians' group in Denver or a record label in Nashville. They're fine. I doubt I would go out of my way to catch their set, but stranger things have happened.
One Liner: Thrashing punky grunge from some Nirvana-loving Austin gals
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but punk and grunge
Home: Austin
Poster Position: Level 5 (25) Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Yeah baby. My wife would hate this so very much, but I am digging it. I'm sure once I start reading about the band, everyone else will be comparing it to Bleach-era Nirvana as well, but this is making me really happy. Skuzzy, pounding, chunky riffage tied to heavy drumming. Yummy. The first video I spotted was this one live in studio for KUTX, where they rip right in to it.
Oh, they switch instruments! That is cool. "Evangeline" very much sounds like what I am talking about. Not sure what she is saying before "you know you like that," but it totally sounds like Kurt Cobain screaming his words. And "Hair of Dog" just freaking rules. I love the band - the vocals, well, maybe not my favorite thing, but the music that is happening here is making my hair stand on end.
The only reference I found on Wikipedia for "Die Spitz" is that it was a German mail order franchise for apres sail wear in a BBC television drama called Howard's Way in the late 80s. If these ladies named their punk band after that reference, I will be really impressed by how super freaking weird that would be. But actually, here is the story, taken from a KUTX article: "“We wanted to have the word ‘spit’ in our name because it sounds epic. “Die” was chosen initially because it’s an article in German. “Die Spitz” Google translated means “the point”. After a long night of pacing the living room with a brown paper bag in our hands we were thinking of “Die Spitz” and “pig pen”. After direct correlation to “The Point”, Ringo Starr’s animated film, we went with the name. I like to imagine a grim reaper spitting when I explain it to people. Later on in our shebang we got a message in the Instagram DMS saying that “die spitz” means “die horny” in German. Spitz is slang for horny. Helps us have a name to stand the test of the time.” "
They formed the band as juniors in high school, during the pandemic lockdown, as a way to pass time together. Their first show was at the Hole in the Wall in January 2022, and a year later they took home Austin Music Awards for Best Punk, Best New Act, and Best Residency. Pretty awesome.
Just one album - 2023's Teeth - which is only 7 songs and 23 minutes, but my favorites on there are "Slater" and "Hair of Dog." Oh, "Monkey Song" jams too. The top track overall is "Hair of Dog," with 63k streams.
That video kind of rules too. And they have the light-up ceiling like that other good video with the dancing guys - Half-Alive. Everybody gets to hang in the BatCave these days, man.
This is very fun - I'd love to see them play. Feels like one of those smaller shows where the energy is wrong in the park - not enough people to truly mosh about and so it feels odd to just stand there and watch people thrash to the max on stage. We'll see!
One Liner: Increasingly more operatic alt rock from Jared Leto's band with his brother
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock
Home: L.A.
Poster Level: 2 (3) Both Weekends
Saturday.
Thoughts: This is one of those bands I have heard of for years, but really never given the time of day. Kind of like last year when I discovered Paramore for the first time, despite so many of my peers having long-ago experienced them. I know the major fact about the band - that actor Jared Leto is the lead singer and face of the band.
You know, one of the 38 guys who has played the Joker. Fight Club? Girl, Interrupted? American Psycho? Requiem for a Dream? Dallas Buyer's Club (Academy Award for that one)? Blade Runner 2049? That awful Morbius movie? That dude. Pretty great acting career. Well, in the midst of that career, he started this band up with his little brother in 1998.
The initial two albums are pretty straight-forward alternative rock. I like them. 30 Seconds to Mars was released in 2002 to limited commercial success, and none of those songs have really popped off on Spotify since then. Sort of reminds me of Linkin Park but without the rapper and scratching. But then 2005's A Beautiful Lie blew up the charts, reaching #9 in the US Rock charts, going platinum in the U.S., and supporting two top three singles. The biggest of those is this bands top single overall, with "The Kill" boasting 447 million streams.
Yeah, you think about it, I guess it makes good sense that their music videos are going to be epic little movies, with a legit movie star in the band. Nice throwback to The Shining. Also, I guess we have two other dudes in the band at this time... "Attack" also sounds familiar. After the first three songs on this album, the play count drops precipitously. I'm guessing you have a lot of emo kids who are now older and just want to hear those hits, but don't necessarily need the whole thing anymore. Sounds pretty solid to me on first listen.
The name apparently comes from a "rare manuscript titled Argus Apocraphex." Leto described the name as "a reference, a rough translation from the book. I think the idea is interesting, it's a metaphor for the future," he explained. "Thirty seconds to Mars—the fact that we're so close to something that's not a tangible idea. Also, Mars being the God of War makes it really interesting, as well. You could substitute that in there, but what's important for my brother and I, is that it be imaginative and really represent the sound of our music in as unique a way as possible." Also, in order to go to Mars in thirty seconds, you would need to travel at 4.068 billion miles an hour. Which, I'm not so sure that the molecules of your body would decide to come along with you for the ride.
2010's This is War seems to have a little more theatrical bent to it, like in the opening track when the synths swell and the childrens' choir pushes out their declaration that THIS IS WAR! Then the next track - the catchy "Night of the Hunter" pops in like a 80's synth fever dream. Less of the guitars and power chords, more of the drum machines and danceable grooves. Oooh, and then this gets good with "Kings and Queens" - kicks off with a guitar blast and some arena-ready "wooooaaaaaaaahhhhhs." I said this about a different song to a friend who likes this band, and I think he got offended, but some of this is making me think of The Greatest Showman showtunes. Listen to this song, and tell me if the chorus doesn't seem like something that you could imagine Hugh Jackman and the Bearded Lady blaring into each others faces. 149.7 million streams.
And I'm not trying to diss it, it is powerful and catchy just like those showtunes! I could legitimately see enjoying the sensation of a massive crowd loudly singing along! I bet playing that opening drum salvo feels like you are the greatest golden god of the drums ever. Got goosebumps watching that video - soaring anthem made stronger by the dead kid in the red getting his ass back up! Honestly, a really good song.
But that isn't the top song on this disc, the top song is the title track, which is giving me some Muse vibes like one of their songs about some weird cyberwar being fought out on a distant planet or whatever. 184.1 million streams.
Another legit movie! I definitely prefer the massive anthemic singing to the screamo stuff. And also, I'm sorry, but a bunch of random tanks and helicopters are launching towards him and his instinct is to shoot them? What do you think that will accomplish, Private Leto? Also, just because I'm annoying like this, pause the video at 3:37 to see his rifle ejecting the entire shell - casing with bullet still attached - which is not the way guns work. Some of these songs dig into schmaltzy strings and there is a TON of woahs involved.
After those big albums, things never quite get back to that level. 2013's Love Lust Faith + Dreams has some songs that would be big hits for most bands, but none top 100 million. And, in my opinion, they are getting more operatic and cheesy. More drum machines, more woahs. 2018's AMERICA grosses me out with just the cover - in large letters it says KIM JUSTIN JESUS MICHAEL MICKEY DONALD. Oh, and the top song here is the first one, which is that one I sent to my friend to make fun of this sounding like The Greatest Showman. Hahaha. "Walk on Water" is totally a showtune. 148.2 million streams.
An arresting video, made me want to slow it down so that I could comprehend all of the things going on in there. But also, I don't see how that song and that video have anything to do with one another. "America is super varied, and weird, and scary, and beautiful - OH OH OH OH WALK ON WATER WOAH WOAH WOAH!" The other songs on here keep edging further away from the traditional rock sound and more into drum machines and beats and A$AP Rocky cameos. I like them less as we go. By the end of the album, you're under 10 million streams per tune.
They have a new single - "Stuck" - that apparently goes along with an album that is scheduled to drop in September. There is a guitar in there, but this sounds nothing like the original two albums - more like Justin Bieber than My Chemical Romance.
I have a feeling that I'll see them, just because I feel like they are the logical band to be on the same stage as the Foo Fighters on Saturday night. Otherwise, I probably would not have said that I'm going out of my way to see them, but it will likely be good. The guy knows how to entertain an audience.
One Liner: Underwhelming bedroom pop music by weird haircut
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, bedroom pop, synth-pop
Home: New York
Poster Position: Level 3 (11) Both Weekends.
Saturday.
Thoughts: Brendan Patrick Rice was born in New York in 1997. I was a junior in college. He's now a flamboyantly coifed bedroom pop singer who goes by the name Gus Dapperton. Wikipedia says: "Dapperton has received particular attention for his fashion style, consisting at some points of a green bowl cut, noticeable jewelry, eyeliner, brightly colored clothing, and thick-rimmed glasses." Spill Tab, who was at ACL last year, left college to become an assistant tour manager Dapperton, so we have some ties to the dude. BENEE, who has also come through for ACL, stars on Dapperton's current #1 song, just like he appeared on her one ginormous song - "Supalonely" - from 2020's Hey u x. TikTok hit, of course. Very little in the way of history on his Wikipedia, other than he started college at Drexel and left to go tour.
First album was 2019's Where Polly People Go To Read, which probably has more meaning than I can discern as an album title. 2020's Orca was his other album. But his most popular tunes are not on those albums, they are other singles tossed out along the way. Such as his pretty straight-forward cover of Springsteen's "I'm on Fire." But the top track is "Prune, You Talk Funny," from a 2017 single of the same name.
I just never have cared for this sort of bedroom pop stuff. Maybe sometimes a song strikes a chord, but this never goes anywhere for me. It's like the kind of song Napoleon Dynamite would make if he ended up in art school after high school. He'd think it sounded badass, but it would be this jenky. Second-most streamed is 2017's "I'm Just Snacking," with 52 million streams, but I also don't find it interesting, so I thought I'd give you the new single so that you could try that on for size. "Don't Let Me Down" has 1.5 million streams and features our friend BENEE.
Honestly feels more like her song than his. Still don't much care for it. Feels like when I choose an artist like this, and I go just watch someone click "go" on their laptop and sing, it feels underwhelming. This would not be my choice for the hour he will be playing.
Spotify started serving up similar things after I made it through his whole catalog, and I literally couldn't tell the difference.
One Liner: The Queen of Country Pop Wikipedia Genre: Country, pop, country pop. Home: Ontario
Poster Position: 1 Weekend One Only.
Saturday.
Thoughts: I heard an excellent podcast about Shania in the 60 Songs That Explain The 90's - badass podcast by the way, I listen to very few pods, but on a long road trip while the rest of my family sleeps or something I throw this one on and learn awesome things and laugh a lot. Anyway, it was an eye-opening reach into some of the factoids that I did not know about Ms. Twain.
Eilleen Regina "Shania" Edwards, born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1965, has sold over 100 million records, meaning she is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time and the best selling female country artist of all time. The "Twain" surname comes from her step-father, who adopted her and her sisters when she was young. She started performing in bars when she was 8, to make money for her family, and apparently hated it (but loved making music). She started her real career by singing in a cover band called Longshot, and then another one called Flirt. A Toronto DJ noticed her and she started getting some better gigs and spots on other people's songs. In 1987, her step-dad and mom were killed in a car accident, and so she had to take care of her siblings by performing at a local resort. When her siblings finally moved out on their own, she got busy making a demo and got signed in Nashville. How hardcore is that? What a terrible hand to be dealt!
I have never heard any of the songs from her debut album - 1993's Shania Twain. Wikipedia calls it a commercial failure. Definitely more of a traditional country sound - snare clicks, steel guitar slides, an affected twang in her voice. The cover is amazing, and definitely makes you understand that she is Canadian, it is a photo of her posing in the snow, with a huge wolf, by a weird-looking fire. She is wearing a thirty pound coat that entirely covers up the assets that later album covers would use to make sales. The last song on the album actually has an explicit label on it? That is honestly shocking. [loyal reader, I just read the lyrics, which are awful by the way, and there are definitely no curse words in that song.] Just so you can experience the OG stuff, the top track is the opener, "What Made You Say That." with 6 million streams.
Apparently she learned to take off the heavy coat by now to sell some records. Not a great song, really apparent why it took to album #2 for her to take off.
She really broke through with 1995's The Woman in Me. This album was made with future husband and super-producer Mutt Lange (AC/DC, Def Leppard, The Cars, Bryan Adams, Huey Lewis & the News, Britney, Maroon 5, Nickelback, Muse - what a list!), and sold over 20 million copies. Grabbed a Grammy too. "Any Man of Mine," "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under," those are undeniable 90's country hits. I don't know that I had ever just listened to the whole album before though - it isn't great. The opening song is a really slow and jenky ballad that then gets blown away by "Any Man of Mine." Poor sequencing for sure. But that song still jams. 188 million streams.
(upbeat country music - love the subtitles). They use the "We Will Rock You" beat during the verses to great effect, and then the chorus is perfect country breakdown. I'm trying to think if there is a more beautiful woman in country music, and I'm not thinking of one. A google reminds me that Faith Hill is very pretty, but also makes me realize that I don't know many female country artists at all! Oh, and "(If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!" is a song I know too. That is a good one, even if the title is super clunky. But overall, this album is not great. Has some bangers, but much of it drags.
"Any Man of Mine" would get heavy play at the Christian summer camp where I attended and later worked back around this time, and my memory of this was that the highly immature young men involved here would battle to take the CD and throw it into the river when the ladies played it. Or we'd mosh in the middle of the dance floor. Or just sit down in the middle of the dance floor to ruin their dance. Turds. I'm sure we thought we were hilarious.
Apparently, around the time that her career took off, she became divisive in Nashville because people thought she was not a serious artist and just a midriff-baring interloper who used too much rock and roll in her version of country. Weird, now, to think of that being a big deal. Almost every country artist now sounds like rock and roll, and showing off tummies and cleavage seems ho hum.
And then Come on Over, from 1997, was the explosion that included not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but SIX exclamation points used in the song titles!!!!!! This is the best-selling country music album ever, the best-selling studio album by a female act ever, the best-selling album of the 1990s, and the 9th best-selling album in the United States, according to Wikipedia. Over 40 million copies worldwide! And even the non-hits on this one sound familiar - gohhl-darned-don-doooooooonandunnit! - so I guess this was the disc that actually made it into the rotation at camp or something. Four Grammy awards from this one. But like The Woman in Me, this is an uneven album. Some majorly great songs - "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," "From This Moment On," "You're Still the One," "That Don't Impress Me Much" - those are legit songs. Two of those have been played at countless weddings for decades. Funny to me that the least popular song on the album for Spotify streams is the one titled "If you Wanna Touch Her, Ask!" Country fans don't much care for that MeToo B.S., y'all. But the top track is the two-exclamation-mark transgender anthem we never knew we needed. "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," with 448 million streams.
Nice flip of the Robert Palmer video there. She's very in to little aside vocalizations. Woah! Yeah! Ow!Ow!Ow! Woooo! Come on! Those things pop up repeatedly in her songs.
After those two mega-blockbusters, she had a gap until 2002's Up! (hey, an exclamation point!) These songs are much less streamed than her big hits, with only three of them over 10m. Although, it was still certified Platinum in the U.S. and sold more than 20 million copies. That is freaking insane... The top track is the title song, which is also the first song on the album, with 24.5 million streams.
Oh, that is terrible. Just awful on so many levels - awful video, crappy lyrics - it sounds like she tried to copy the Dixie Chicks but never actually listened to them. And her look is awful too. Just stick to what got you here, Shania! For reasons that are unclear until researched, she released a Red, Green, and Blue version of this album.
After that, a major gap in her catalog, during which she apparently was diagnosed with Lyme disease and dysphonia (hoarse voice). She came back to the stage with a Vegas residency, and then in 2015 launched the Rock this Country tour, which was supposed to be her farewell tour. That, obviously, did not happen. But she has talked about how hard it has been to adjust her voice to deal with a new range and ability. Bummer.
Instead, she went back to the studio for 2017's Now, which kicks off with a tune that starts like a redux of "Any Man of Mine," but then fires up some reggae feels. Really weird. What is happening? The whole album is a miss for me, just soft adult alternative pop type stuff. Again, why wouldn't she just stick to the genre that she had crushed back in the mid-90's? The top track is "Life's About to Get Good" which, for some reason does not have an exclamation point involved in the title. 17.9 million streams.
Ugh. Come on, man. And you can tell that they are adding effects on her voice, which is a bummer. She had a great voice! I went through that whole album, and it never gets any better.
According to Wikipedia, in 2018, "Twain underwent laryngoplasty to have Gore-Tex stabilizers implanted in her throat to reduce the workload on her vocal muscles." Which has very obviously affected her voice. You can really hear it on her new album from 2023 called Queen of Me. This one leans back towards country at times, but then also goes back to this drum-machine soft pop crap that she has been making this century. The voice is not as honey smooth as it was back in the day. She almost has a Miley Cyrus vocal fry sound on some of these songs. And she actually cusses on this one! "Pretty Liar" drops an F-bomb!
Yeah, I'd go watch her play. You know, it would be very fun to sing along to the classic hits! But more than likely, I would imagine that she'll be up against someone else who I want to see more. But this is definitely a fun add to the poster.
