Brian Jonestown Massacre

[edger]

I'm with Schwa on this one. I can separate the appeal of the music from the appeal of the band, but without ever hearing them, the name would not be a pull factor for me. A deterrent if anything, or a catalyst of negative assumptions. I think we all judge a book by their cover, even if only for the short-term or on an intuitive level.

[Esau.]

Kudos Schwa, had I known not liking a bands name would warrant such discussion, I would have said something about band names long ago.

Seriously? Phish?

As for Brian Jonestown Massacre, I've heard the band's music and have never really had any interest in it - a bit too far into the indie sound for me. As for the band name - meh

Do you think Jerry Bob and the boys really thought being dead was so great?

Kind of a weak comparison in my opinion, considering the (possible) origins of the name.

The name "Grateful Dead" was chosen from a dictionary. Some claim it was a Funk & Wagnalls, others, the Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book Of the Dead), but according to Phil Lesh, in his biography (pp. 62), "...Jer (Garcia) picked up an old Britannica World Language Dictionary...(and)...In that silvery elf-voice he said to me, 'Hey, man, how about the Grateful Dead?'" The definition there was "A song meant to show a lost soul to the other side."

According to the Garcia biography, Captain Trips by Sandy Troy, the band was smoking the psychedelic DMT at the time.

For a long time I always heard the name came from this.

"We now return our souls to the creator, as we stand on the edge of eternal darkness.

Let our chant fill the void in order that others may know.

In the land of the night the ship of the sun is drawn by the grateful dead."

-- Egyptian Book of the Dead

[Northern Wish]

A weak comparison for a weak observation.....

The name sucks so the music must too? What?!?!

Or that its related to an event with negative connotations: how about Led Zeppelin?

Indie sound? Ok maybe to some, but if they aren't a reincarnation of the 60's psych sound- then I don't know what is. They've been around for longer than the term "indie" has been used to describe a genre of music not a professional standing.

[Schwa.]

Sean,

Not one person in this thread, so far, has said what you've implied.

Sincerely,

The Name Hater.

[Esau.]

They've been around for longer than the term "indie" has been used to describe a genre of music not a professional standing.

Ok, I'll play along since I'm celebrating the death of my 30s and am half lit up...

Brian Jonestown Massacre formed 1990.

The term "indie" - popped up early 80s.

60's psych, indie, jamband, rock & roll, emo, doesn't matter to me really. I'm not one to get worked up (or even care), about the music genre labels ot there today. I just like what I like and go from there.

[Northern Wish]

How is the popcorn Booche? ;-)

[Schwa.]

he likes his salty.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

happy birthday Esau?!?

quick, ollie, start a thread!

(dibs on Catalyst of Negative Assumptions, DB and the Thunderflurry Five's sophomore album)

[c-towns]

i plan to hate many more bands....starting with the Hold Steady.

I would like to subscribe to your newsletter sir.

[ollie]

no need to name call. Umphyrey's McGee doesn't reference the death of 200+ people.

900+. You're obviously very concerned.

I'm surprised no one's faux offended by the Brian Jones part.

[Schwa.]

i think you're missing the point.

[ollie]

i think you're missing the point.

Totes.

[Booche]

{{{Schwa}}}

[Cosmic ChrisC]

I guess Dayglo Abortions is a bad name for a band, huh?

[Booche]

As is nero.

[fluffhead77]

Fuck the BJM.

Now this.

Now THAT'S a band I can get into!

[Tungsten Gruvsten]

I guess really in the end who cares? Schwa can listen to whatever music he wants for whatever reason he wants. I've bought music because of the bands name, hell I used to buy albums based on their covers...sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't...

[NewRider]

Umphyrey's McGee doesn't reference the death of 200+ people.

They once came close to boring me to death.

[edger]

Lol!! That is a tragedy NR.

[SaggyBalls]

So referencing the death of a cult following and a dead rock star...matters?

I'm faux-offended but only that people can take those sensibilities so seriously.

[edger]

For me certain things just leave a foul taste in my mouth or tweak the senses negatively. It's not so much about being offended, but it's not what I'm chasing.

[NewRider]

For me certain things just leave a foul taste in my mouth

That's what she said!

[deranger]

Ha ha, Nero. He was such a douchebag. Caligula was worse though. There's probably like a bunch of bands named Caligula.

So, other than organicmama, did any one else go to the show and how was it? Brief review/synopsis? I debated going but didn't.

[organicmama]

No one else...? Well, I'll say a bit more. Doors opened at 8 or so. Anton was in the DJ booth until about 10:30 playing dubstep which was hilarious. He seems really into the electronic beats now. Some of the newer album Who Killed St Pepper almost reminds me of Jimmy Swift-but I don't think I would even identify it as BJM (or Anton) because the sound is so different. But I love the new album-it's very groovy. They had an opening band (who I couldn't hear their name) but they were kind of psych. rock/pop. As long as they played the sitar I was okay, otherwise it was a bit too pop for me. BJM came on at 10:30 and played a solid 2 hours. No fighting on stage. Joel and Matt Hollywood took the centre, Anton on the left. I think they seemed a little shocked at the toronto audience's enthusiasm. Apparently they played for an audience of 60 in Detroit. They smoked up a storm on stage (by-laws... f-em!). They played a lot of their hits (all on the red album-best hits) which were awesome, and then sparsely tossed in some newer songs. Anton claimed he was officially kicked out of Canada-they let him in for 2 days to play and that's all. He's going to the courts and telling them how much he loves Tim Hortons.

Oh yes, there was one official crowd surfer which I thought was hilarious, and a mini mosh pit?!

[jiggs99]

Haven't listened to any of BJM's recent stuff, but about 4/5 years ago one of my bandmates at the time lent me the Dig documentary.

Wasn't all that impressed with it (I've seen enough people documented while destroying themselves or close to it), but when he was in semi-sound mind and body, I found Anton Newcombe pretty funny and thought he had some interesting thoughts on music in general.

I paid their website a visit and found most of their albums zipped up and available for free, so I ended up listening to a large part of their catalogue.

Newcombe is clearly a skilled songwriter, though the production on some of that stuff is woefully bad. Also, he tends to rip off his influences a little "too" much at times right down to the album titles (i.e. - Her Satanic Majesty's 2nd Request or Bringing It All Back Home Again).

Still, there's some pretty good stuff in there. I'll take the Sadies any day of the week and twice on Sundays, but if the BJM were playing a show close to here and I knew about it, I'd probably go see it. I hear they are a killer live band.