I've Got a Problem (with metal, and my girlfriend)

BACKSTORY:
so, there's been a long running feud between me, and anyone who listens to Tool seriously. I've always disliked the band, mostly because of how incredibly difficult Tool fans are. This never posed a serious complication for me, until my girlfriend (of 8 months now) confessed to me that she loved the band, and though that they were brilliant. I would venture to say that we fight more about Tool, than anything else.

Recently she pulled the "I think you are being closed minded, when was the last time you sat down and listened to a tool album" card. I honestly haven't listned to any tool in over 5 years, and after finding out that Ænima went triple platinum, and won a grammy, I realized that passing it off for complete shit wasn't going to work forever.

PROBLEM:
I've agreed to listen to Ænima, (and potentially Lateralus later on) with an "open mind" and give it a shot. I know that metal is not the forte of most people here, but if there happens to be someone who can rationalize and put to words why this album is worth giving a chance, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Because come Sunday night I'm going to be listening to it, and I could do with some intellectual support.


shoot...

Haarry said:
Lateralus was pretty boring, Parabola stood out, but it was still pretty boring. I can't say I like Tool much and don't think I want to listen to any more tool. I applaud you for putting so much effort into this. I did the same thing with Radiohead, it didn't really work but I did discover Just from The Bends, great song.

Haha, woah! I'm exactly the same. I tried really hard to get into Radiohead and all I got out of it was a fondness for the song Just...

god I do love me some scrabble

Look at it this way:

At least she doesn't like Nickelback.

double post

Yeah... I would say that Tool is about as metal as Dredg... or that Isis/Aerogramme In The Fishtank colaboration.

I've gone on and off of tool. I really like the difficult vocal patterns and great baselines, but for some reason, their songs make me yearn for something deeper.

And "you're being closed minded" is the most over-used argument in the history of man. I'll admit, I use it often, but have recently switched to different tactics.

For example, In the backwards ass state of South Carolina, we had a state Constitution amendment up for vote to ban gay marriage. Instead of saying, "you're being closed minded if you vote for the amendment..." I said: "Give gays Bibles, not rights."

Still, 80% of the people disagreed with me, but who the hell cares? These people think the South still won the Civil War, women belong in the home, and blacks exist to serve the whites.

My point is, I wish people would say: "You seem to like varying meter in music and interesting bass lines... Try Tool and look for these aspects." Rather than, "Keep an open mind."

For when that statement hits the fan it's really like saying:

"I know you think this is shit but listen"

awthomp86 said:
My point is, I wish people would say: "You seem to like varying meter in music and interesting bass lines... Try Tool and look for these aspects." Rather than, "Keep an open mind."

For when that statement hits the fan it's really like saying:

"I know you think this is shit but listen"

kudos, man.

tmills said:
So what did you decide, Steve? Are you a Tool convert now?

I wouldn't go so far as to say that. However if she puts it on now in the car, I'll enjoy it, instead of driving the car off a cliff or punching her. It's not bad music, but I highly doubt I'll ever be in a place in my life where I'll say "geeze, I could really go for some Tool right now".

I feel about them the same way I feel about most "jam bands"... they can be as talented as they like, and still play songs I don't enjoy. Since I don't really listen to much prog/psyche/metal, the fact that they are one of the best doesn't mean much to me.

I respect what they do now, and understand why people like them.

My a-hole friend once told me that being open-minded is for people who don't know what they like.

frequency71988 said:
My a-hole friend once told me that being open-minded is for people who don't know what they like.

:D That's funny. I don't consider myself very open-minded but that is an incredibly dumb thing to say. Being unneccesarily eclectic in ones musical tastes is for those who don't know what they like, ugh I hate that, Delving only into the shallows of every genre that has ever existed and leaving it at that, telling indie and metal kids to go listen to Mozart, fucking hell. Half the time they have shite tastes anyway. Glad we don't have anyone who joined one of those "I'm so damn zany and I listen to totally random music because i'm so eclectic!!1" groups in here, we don't do we?

Man thank you for that interview, i just changed a whole lot for me. Especially because I generally hate Tool fans. I loved this bit:

AVC: Do you feel out of touch with your audience?

MJK: For the most part, I have no idea who those people are—especially when we're traveling through Europe. And it's not all our fault; it's a whole series of events. [You play] heavy music, and your record company, which has never owned an album anything like what you're doing, immediately markets you to the obvious stinky kid with the dreadlocks and the B.O. and the urine on his shoes because he's been sleeping in his own filth in a festival in the middle of the rain. They basically market right to that guy. And then you realize the only people showing up to your shows are those primates—these weird, cretin people… Then, let's say you're at a coffee shop, and you've got a friend sitting next to you, and you've been reading some Noam Chomsky, or you're reading The Onion, and you look over and see a bunch of kids [who] look like they could be made of cheese, because there are flies everywhere. And you go, "Hey, you want to go where they're going?" and everybody goes, "Fuck no." And they're wearing Tool shirts. Why would you want to go there? Why would anybody other than those kids wanna go see Tool if that's our representative in that area? So it ends up being a no-win situation. Of course, that's a completely extreme example.

the obvious stinky kid with the dreadlocks and the B.O. and the urine on his shoes

That's gotta be one of the most hilarious things I've heard in my entire life. While I'm not a Tool fan, I've just gotta respect Maynard for that.

THAT, my friend, does NOT work with women.

I tried it with my ex girlfriend (when we dated). Bad idea.