I like the way this is going in the wrestling folder so I thought I would start this up in the music folder.

 

Today's list... 2005 Grammy Nominees.

 

Black Eyed peas

Ray Charles

Evanescence

Green Day

Alicia Keys

Maroon 5

Prince

Joss Stone

Usher

Kanye West

Black Eyed Peas - There's far better socially conscious alterno-rap out there. I remember hearing some stuff they did around '98 and being impressed, but I don't really care much for their music now. Perhaps it's overexposure. I also think they're sort of hypocritical, preaching social acceptance in "Where Is The Love" and making fun of those with mental handicaps in "Let's Get Retarded".

 

Ray Charles - Legend in every sense of the word. He's influenced popular music as much as anyone.

 

Evanescence - Here goes. I liked them when they were performing locally in seedy night clubs, but more because of the potential they had than the fact that they were outstanding. I thought that sound had a lot of promise. They're more of a group where the effort seems to outweigh the results nine times out of ten, and their sound is too overly produced at this point for me to like most of their music.

 

Green Day - They've had some good pop singles, and if they marketed themselves as a pop group instead of a punk group, I'd probably hold them in higher regard. Some of their stuff is admittedly fun in a B-52's sort of way, but I'm annoyed when they position themselves as anti-authority.

 

Alicia Keys - Not a big fan. Most of her melodies seem awkward, forced and overdone. Other soulstresses probably aren't having sleepless nights.

 

Maroon 5 - Probably my least favorite popular group there is right now. "Harder To Breathe" sounds like a David Cassidy comeback gone horribly wrong, with the Billy Badass lyrics making me want to do the whole faux fear thing with my fingers that Scott Hall used to do. The other two singles they've had don't really do anything much for me either. There's exactly one lyric of theirs that I like, which is "My heart is full and my door's always open, so come anytime you want."

 

Prince - Total legend, but I haven't heard anything by him I've liked since the Love Symbol album. In his time, no one knew how to blend funk, pop and rock with more style. His songs are best when they're narrative. "Little Red Corvette" has some truly awesome lyrics, for example, and Purple Rain just may be my favorite album ever, depending on my mood. Had a killer streak of endless greatness in the 80s, but has had trouble adjusting to the times sonically since then.

 

Joss Stone - Who?

 

Usher - The Michael Jackson impersonation is nauseating. I actually thought he had something passable going on in the late 90s, but everything off the Confessions album I've hated and tried to avoid.

 

Kanye West - "Jesus Walks" is one of the better new songs I've heard in ages. I haven't heard enough of his other stuff to comment.

I'm sorry, I don't listen to any of these people, but I couldn't hold off on this any longer:

 

Goodhelmet, your avatar rules.

 

I'll leave; carry on.

I guess Six has finally adjusted to his clone status.

 

I'm sorry, I don't listen to any of these people, but I couldn't hold off on this any longer:

 

Goodhelmet, your avatar rules.

 

I'll leave; carry on.

Thanks!

 

I was actually trying to find the pic that has Sgt. D and the NOt man merged together. I use that pic for my Anthrax/ S.O.D. comp I made but I can't find the site I took it from.

I guess Six has finally adjusted to his clone status.

 

Fuck, this totally went over my head.

 

Actually, if you remember my old avatar, it was a stormtrooper.

 

Well, I happen to be an old-school Alice Cooper fan. He has a song named Clones (with those lyrics), stormtroopers are clones.

 

2+2=

Okay so.

 

Black Eyed peas - The chick in this band is hot. Only notable thing about them, to me.

 

Ray Charles - The fucking man. It's ashame that he's become more famous post humously than when he was alive (in a sense), but that seems to happen with a lot of artists.

 

Evanescence - I used to think Amy Lee was super hot, and I wanted to bone her, but since then, I've decided that I don't really want to. I think this change occurred when Evanescence went main stream. Go figure.

 

Green Day - I fucking hate Green Day, but I can't help but get that stupid "I walk a lonely road" song stuck in my head every time I fucking hear it.

 

Alicia Keys - Not really a fan, but no strong dislike either.

 

Maroon 5 - See: Alicia Keys.

 

Prince - I LOVE Musicology, for whatever reason. Prince is a genius and a legend, and everything that Michael Jackson could have been if he hadn't gone crazy.

 

Joss Stone - I'd hit it.

 

Usher - I liked "Yeah" and that was about it. Otherwise, Usher sucks.

 

Kanye West - Best new mainstream artist of 2004, no matter what anyone says. "College Dropout" (once you remaster it and take out all of the skits) it's a FANTASTIC rap album.

Black Eyed Peas - The chick in the band is hot. Other than that, nothing notable to mention. Horrible band live.

 

Ray Charles - Incredible legend.

 

Evanescence - Loss got me into them. I listened to Fallen several times after buying it, but I honestly haven't been into them since.

 

Green Day - They're not exactly influential in any sense of the word, but they're fun. I actually like some of their latter stuff more than, say, the Dookie era, which is strange considering the Dookie era was heavily followed during my high school days.

 

Alicia Keys - Not a fan.

 

Maroon 5 - Definitely not a fan, and to make matters worse, my girlfriend plays them ALL THE TIME.

 

Prince - I'm not a fan, but he's a legend. Very talented.

 

Joss Stone - Like Loss, who?

 

Usher - I got an Usher T-shirt for free at a Super Bowl party once. I use it as a dustcloth.

 

Kanye West - Who?

Black Eyed Peas - I'm not really a big fan at all. The gooey-sweet sentiment of "Where Is The Love" belongs on a blog somewhere, not in my CD player.

 

Ray Charles - The hype around him is so high-pitched nowadays that he's almost entered the "so underrated that he's overrated" category, which is sad because he's made some tremendous music. "Let's Go Get Stoned" is a personal favorite.

 

Evanescence - I kind of agree with Loss in that these guys have been made way too glossy. That said, they're not anything amazing and they definitely lend credence to my theory that you can put a competent female vocalist with almost any band and come up with nothing worse than mediocrity.

 

Green Day - I'm not quite as irked by the anti-authority pose, but I am kind of annoyed that everybody thinks they've had some kind of phenomenal career when they have exactly two albums (Dookie, American Idiot) that are better than average. If they continue their career along the Beatles-esque path (see: "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"), they could put together one hell of an album before the decade is out.

 

Alicia Keys - Phenomenal talent, but it all seems misused. All of her song seem flawed in one way or another (and not in a good way), be it a weird melody or an odd beat in the back. If she pulls it all together - which she seems excruciatingly close to doing - she'll be one of the best the genre has ever seen.

 

Maroon 5 - "This Love" is somewhat catchy, but these guys are headed straight for a bargain bin in six months time. Yet another reason why the Grammys are fucking laughable.

 

Prince - It's weird to say, but I just don't get it. Maybe I'm listening to the wrong albums, but the most reaction he's gotten out of me was some drunken whoos during a college rendition of "Pussy Control."

 

Joss Stone - Whoever had the bright idea to open her mainstream career with a quirky cover of "Fell In Love With A Girl" really should be shot. It's hard to judge her talent in context, as it seems like there's a thousand girls who can sing soul out there, and ruining a White Stripes song doesn't make attempts to judge her objectively any easier.

 

Usher - Michael Jackson sans the crotch grabbing and bizarre personality isn't a bad thing, but Michael Jackson sans the decent songwriting ain't great either.

 

Kanye West - I already kind of opined this in another thread here, but Kanye is going to be the new rev of Dre.

Black Eyed peas - not terribly educated on them, i think i've heard like 2 songs by them. they're okay, but seemed like a watered-down version of the roots.

 

Ray Charles - that man could fuckin ROCK. amazing voice, fantastic sense of rhythm on his rockers, makes me wanna move my ass. that said, the big syrupy strings and irritating choir of "georgia on my mind" can suck my dick.

 

Evanescence - ugh. i was complaining the other day about how nobody in rock is content anymore to just sit down and craft a good pop song and add some distortion. these guys would make a good case for that if they weren't so bland and their melodies didn't suck.

 

Green Day - they could sit down & craft a good pop song and add some distortion. quite bubblegummy and likable, but i got tired of them after 'dookie' (which is still a good album). haven't heard the new one.

 

Alicia Keys - only heard "falling." good voice, great chorus. she gets a thumbs up.

 

Maroon 5 - i don't know who they are.

 

Prince - not god, but i do like him. great sense of experimentation and poppiness that the beatles & outkast have, but he's very erratic and sometimes his stuff just doesn't work. it takes some time to get over the cheesiness of his lyrics, but there's a funky nuget center that's satisfying.

 

Joss Stone - a girly friend played one of her albums once while i was riding in her car. i don't remember a thing about it. i think that says a lot about her. but i can't be sure, since i can't back up that claim with examples, since i can't remember a thing about the album.

 

Usher - oddly enough, i enjoy "you make me wanna..." it's fresh and cool. everything else i've heard by him is really bad.

 

Kanye West - haven't heard his solo stuff, but he did some production on 'the blueprint' so he gets a thumbs up.

Black Eyed peas = Better pre Fergie creatively, better post Fergie commercially. "Joints and Jams" remains awesome though.

 

Ray Charles = Legend with a great back catalogue.

 

Evanescence = Great voice, mediocre band.

 

Green Day = "Warning" put me off but at least they rock again these days. They say some stupid shit for guys their age though.

 

Alicia Keys = Total package, talent, looks, charisma, cleans up well... she'll be around for as long as she wants unless she Fionas her career.

 

Maroon 5 = bland but catchy pop merchants. Singer has an annoying voice.

 

Prince = See Ray Charles. Change "great" to "decent".

 

Joss Stone = Talented but a 17 year old English girl from rural Devon to singing soul songs as if she were a middle aged black woman doesn't work for me.

 

Usher = Michael Jackson v.3.0. Now back to black with more arrogance and less kiddy fiddling.

 

Kanye West = Great producer when he's on, arrogant as fuck in interviews. May grow into a top tier name over the next few years if he doesn't become overexposed.

Black Eyed peas: I never want to hear them again thanks to the 2004 NBA Finals.

 

Ray Charles: Unfortunately, it took seeing Ray to open my eyes to all of the incredible things he put together during his amazing career. A dazzling entertainer and musician, made all the more impressive that he did it without the gift of vision. I hate to dance, but some of his back catalog makes me wanna get out there and embarrass myself on the dance floor.

 

Evanescence: Loss turned me onto their first single which was addictive. The song got overplayed by every music outlet that summer, and I never got too into their other stuff. My Immortal was a guilty pleasure of mine, though.

 

Green Day: Never could understand what all the hype was about. I'm a fan of Come Around and a few others, but so much of their catalog seems too basic to make them as highly-regarded as they are. I dug Blvd. of Broken Dreams the first day I heard it, but oversaturation killed in dead in the water for me.

 

Alicia Keys: Incredibly talented singer and pianist. I hate her, too. I don't think I've dug one of her songs yet and everytime I try and give her a shot, I'm too bored to struggle on.

 

Maroon 5: Harder to Breathe was the perfect summer jam in 2003 and I can still listen to the first two verses today, but the rest of their stuff is so ordinary. The type of group that gets by because they've got an attractive front man.

 

Prince: I've heard so little of him, which probably makes me the Anti-Christ around the 'net, but what can I say? I guess he's never really appealed to me enough for me to track down more of his material.

 

Joss Stone: Who?

 

Usher: The concept album was suave and well-timed, but I've admitedly never been a big fan. When everyone was creaming themselves over his early work, I was struggling to figure out what the big deal was. So he's a great dancer with an excellent stage presence. Can't dig the music itself. It was funny to see everyone jump on the Ursher bandwagon when Yeah! got real big last winter.

 

Kanye West : Brings a fresh sound to the game and his production overshadows his respectable lyrical skills. It was cool to see him get larger than life last winter and he's avoided 50's fate of being overexposed thus far. I just wish fringe fans would give Kanye's entire production catalog a listen and not just the five or six songs they play on the radio. Some of his catchiest stuff has been done with MCs that aren't big in the mainstream scene and thus, they're usually overlooked, which is a shame, since that's usually my favorite stuff.

Black Eyed peas: I remember seeing Will.I.Am (the black guy) on Cartoon Network in little videos they'd run when a show ran short. Between that and Fergie's hotness, that pretty much sums up all there is to that group.

 

Ray Charles: Your personal savior. His version of America the Beautiful should be the goddamned national anthem, cause God...he done shed his grace on thee.

 

Evanescence: I think Amy Lee has a great voice, I don't know why people turned heel on this group once they hit big.

 

Green Day: I know I should like them because I'm a leftie and they're all "RARR BUSH SUCKS", but I never cared for them. That lonely road song makes me want to break my radio.

 

Alicia Keys: You can tell her handlers really, really, really want you to take her as a serious artist and musician and then she goes and does "My Boo" with Usher....

 

Maroon 5: They won the Best New Artist Grammy, which means their careers should be over in about 15 minutes.

 

Prince: Chris Rock said it best...remember when you were a kid and there'd be an argument over who was better, Prince or Michael Jackson? Prince won.

 

Joss Stone: It was hard enough to wrap my mind around white folks singing the blues, let alone white chicks from England, but she's pretty good.

 

Usher: He's talented but everything he's done is PLAYED. THE. FUCK. OUT. It's even a running gag on the lone R&B/Rap/Top 40 station here that they play Usher nonstop.

 

Kanye West: I like his music, but I can't stand how big his ego has grown. It was absolutely fucking hilarious seeing him at the Grammys when he lost Best New Artist. I thought he was going to cry.