Dave Matthews Band

[Jowy]

They make bad music that makes my ears want to bleed. Does anyone seriously like them? If so, why?

[escobert]

No. just no.

[Jowy]

I would rather listen to dogs barking jingle bells.

[Slothy]

I would rather listen to Tool then listen to tool's rail on talented bands.

Not totally sure what I'm trying to say there, but if you don't like them, oh well. Not going to change the fact that they're talented musicians making great music; whether it's your thing or not doesn't really matter to anyone but you.

[Caraliz]

Oh god

[The Man]

They're definitely not the worst band I've ever heard, but they're definitely also nowhere near as good as many of their fans seem to think they are.

[Bunny]

Not totally sure what I'm trying to say there, but if you don't like them, oh well. Not going to change the fact that they're talented musicians making great music

I want to know exactly what makes a musician "talented". Not just in your eyes, but in general. I think I could get a wide variety of answers here.

At one point in my life I listened to DMB. I don't anymore because I realized that all of the songs sound exactly the same and the singer is terrible.

[The Man]

They're definitely all quite competent at their instruments. That said, you're quite right that most of their songs sound the same.

[Darkswordofchaos]

their losers

[Levian]

one of my best friends love them and wants to get a DMB tattoo. :p

I've only heard one of their songs but that one was pretty good. I wouldn't forward if it got shuffled to on my iPod. xD

[rubah]

I'd probably like them better if they had a bit more interesting songs. I mean the sound is okay, but that's all there is. I have the same problem with interpol, and all of their songs being similar.

[Slothy]

They're definitely all quite competent at their instruments. That said, you're quite right that most of their songs sound the same.

You see, I'm not sure where this "most of their songs sound the same" criticism comes from. I have to question whether people who say this have listened to much DMB, or only what they've heard on the radio or from thei casual fan friends which would probably amount to listening to 17 different versions of Crash on repeat.

Also, I wouldn't judge the DMB unless you've heard some of their live stuff. They're a jam band and are much better live. In fact, I've heard few jam bands that are this together while going off on totally unrelated tangents before.

[The Man]

I've listened extensively to the first two albums and somewhat more cursorily to the two that followed, as well as the original leak of the Lillywhite sessions. There were a few songs that departed from the usual formula, such as "Two Step," but on the whole their songs sounded almost as similar to me as Coldplay's. Which doesn't make them bad, per sé, but it does make them significantly less original. I exhuasted most of the enjoyment I could derive from their work years ago.

Then again, a lot of the apparent similarity between their songs could come from Matthews' limited range as a singer and lyricist.

I'd like to point out that you didn't respond to Bunny's post.

[Gwawr]

They're alright. Their chord progressions are nothing special (mostly I, VI, V, vi etc), but neither were the progressions of The Beatles, Oasis (who practically ARE The Beatles) and any number of the Second British Invasion, so I'm not really complaining about that.

All of the members of the band can clearly play their instruments unlike the influx of poor American Idol/X Factor singers that seem to be storming the charts with covers of previous hits.

To be honest, I quite like the simplicity of the outfit. Drum lines are there to keep the beat, rather than go off on some 'double-pedal' mental self-gratifying solo, and the guitar stumming patterns are simple but do the job. I don't mind his voice at all.

In my experience, the immediate turning off of anything by a band you don't think you like leads of a shallow, narrow-minded appreciation of music. *shrug*

[The Man]

I'd say the Beatles' chord progressions were significantly more complex than most of Matthews'. Stuff like "I Am the Walrus" is insane. Then again, you're probably referring to their British Invasion material, but even then, stuff like "I'll Be Back" and "No Reply" contains some rather unconventional key changes. Then again it's been awhile since I've tried to play any of Matthews' stuff so it very well could be more complex than I'm remembering.

[Slothy]

I'd like to point out that you didn't respond to Bunny's post.

On what makes a talented musician? I fail to see why I should given that it seems fairly self explanatory, but since you insist, I generally consider talented musicians to be musicians who are very proficient at their instrument and in the case of a band setting, play very well off of each other. I'll admit that not everyone brings a lot to the table in terms of proficiency (I don't think Steffan Lessard is a particularly amazing bass player, but he does the job and did write my favourite DMB song so I can't knock him too much), but as a whole, they all play together extremely well, especially when they break into their extended jams.


To be honest, I quite like the simplicity of the outfit. Drum lines are there to keep the beat, rather than go off on some 'double-pedal' mental self-gratifying solo

As a drummer I find the description of drummers serving to keep the beat to be quite narrow minded and downright rediculous. Like saying all guitar players should only play rhythm, though I agree that complex drumming for the sake of complex drumming is ridiculous. That said, I find it ironic that you'd refer to Carter's drumming as their to keep the beat. He does keep the rhythm obviously, but his drumming is quite complex and unorthodox, particularly for mainstream rock music.