Top cliches used by music writers

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Andrew J, Apr 24, 2017.

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  1. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
  2. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I admit, that does look great. Splendid track list too.
     
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  3. Man at C&A

    Man at C&A Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    I'm guilty of that one!
     
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  4. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    My thought Ed Zachary--- I have to get that boot.
     
  5. Rufus McDufus

    Rufus McDufus Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    "Eclectic" - they nicked material/style from several other bands, not just one in particular.

    "Sublime" - I really like them but I wanted to use a more pretentious word.
     
  6. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    "innovation" or "innovator" have been used a lot. But for music, I am not sure what exactly innovation means as all the music or musicians are ultimately influenced by the former and current peers. Maybe using various influences to generate an artist's original sounds would be better than innovation to describe sth relatively less trendy.
     
  7. Aghast of Ithaca

    Aghast of Ithaca Forum Resident

    Location:
    Angleterre
    I never saw the term 'deep cut' until I came to this forum. It's used here all the time. Same with 'earworm'.
     
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  8. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident


    They said "contender" for AOTY, not the AOTY itself.
     
  9. katieinthecoconut

    katieinthecoconut Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Calling tracks a "slice of" or other similar terms.

    "Fast rising" seems to be an emerging one.

    Basically writers seems to like to compare music to bread.
     
  10. "An ECLECTIC blend of musical styles is WOVEN together in a musical TAPESTRY that TRANSPIRES simple rock/pop music and is an AURAL treat for the ears.

    This MELANGE of GENRES by the band HARKENS us back to the Psychedelic 60's.
     
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  11. "Kick Ass Rock and Roll"

    "Dylanesque"

    "12 string jingle jangle"

    "Booming bass"

    "Searing guitar leads"

    "Breakneck drumming careening out of control"

    " Not since the Beatles..."

    "Harmonies from Heaven"

    "Obviously, standing on the shoulders of past greats, they are echoing their musical legacy.
     
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  12. Mr Sam

    Mr Sam "...don't look so good no more"

    Location:
    France
    An undisputable classic, though, to be fair, it's not been that overused since the Wainwright/Springsteen/Murphy classes of 1970-73.
     
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  13. snap

    snap Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    "Put together and simmered slow, these musicians turn out an incredible stew (or gumbo)."
     
  14. marmil

    marmil It's such a long story...

    "ragged but right" - makes me wanna puke
     
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  15. talkradio

    talkradio Faded Primadonna

    Location:
    Cologne, Germany
    [album title] is [band name]'s White Album
     
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  16. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    It may be correct, but it's - dare I say it? - pretentious.
     
    GLENN likes this.
  17. A few cribbed from The Rock Snob's Dictionary:

    Cosmic: Musically meaningless adjective deployed by rock writers to ascribe a mysterious "otherness" to the actually quite straightforward country music played by GRAM PARSONS and other lysergically-inclined, NUDIE-suited, anti-Nashville mavericks in the late 1960s and early ’70s; derived from Parsons’s resistance of the term “country rock” and insistence that what he played was, in fact, “cosmic American music.” The term was repurposed in the 1980s to describe the anthemic “big music” of such British groups as the Waterboys, the Alarm, Simple Minds, and early U2. The Grievous Angel album represents the apotheosis of Parsons’s cosmic vision.

    Jangle:
    Critic-beloved noun-adjective used to evoke sunny guitar pop; derived from Bob Dylan’s allusion to the “jingle-jangle morning” in “Mr. Tambourine Man” and the chiming sound of the RICKENBACKER played by Dylan’s foremost pop acolyte and songwriting beneficiary, the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn. While most readily associated with the mid-’60s, the word jangle has also been applied to the precious pop of studenty English bands (such as the Smiths and Belle and Sebastian) and to L.A.’s flagrantly retro Paisley Underground scene. Nick Heyward’s first solo record after leaving Haircut 100 is a lost masterpiece of jangle-pop.

    Neo-: Generous rock-critic term for “refried,” usually used to elevate knowing hommagistes above the station of mere tribute bands. The Strokes’ Room On Fire is a delightful platter of neo–New York punk.

    Rewards repeated listens: Euphemistic phrase employed by rock critics to confer value upon a dubious musical work that, given the reputations involved, has to be better than it sounds. To the unschooled novitiate, Ice Cream for Crow may sound like self-indulgent and studiously demented tripe, but Beefheart’s swan-song LP rewards repeated listens.

     
  18. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    More authentically "like Buddy Holly on acid"

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    I like that one. I think of it as the opposite of "Brickwalled".
     
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  20. Halfwit

    Halfwit Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin
    Despite its flaws..
     
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  21. Andrew J

    Andrew J Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    South East England
    Would mention of Altamont to represent loss of innocence, in every potted history 0f the 1960s be a cliche? It's definitely used a hell of a lot, especially with Woodstock as a contrast. Maybe it's used deservedly. Not sure.
     
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  22. Say It Right

    Say It Right Not for the Hearing Impaired

    Location:
    Niagara Falls
    "Formulaic" used to be applied selectively.

    At least 3 titles have been "best Stones album since Exile on Main St."
     
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  23. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    That's kind of a 'rhetorical fondue' in itself (cheesy, baby, cheesy).
     
  24. Brendan K

    Brendan K Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    Fantastic video on the cliches of a specific artist thats popular among teens today:

     
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  25. zen

    zen Senior Member

    Hard-rock dinosaurs that still roam the earth...
     
    Miriam likes this.
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