"Bad" Music? Really??

I went through the collab/prog reviewer reviews for the Asia debut. I thought maybe two reviews out of all those sounded like a bit of bashing was going on.  The other negative reviews said the album would not appeal to a proghead's tastes, which is fair enough, I guess.  In any case, I personally reject the weak defence usually offered for this album that it was a breath of fresh air in a stagnant music scene and that it would get a fairer assessment from a pop perspective.  I think the examples I gave above show that it was more about what you wanted to listen to.  If you - as in the OP - like it, fine, go ahead and review it but surely criticism of an album, especially one like Asia which is not utterly beyond reproach by any means, does not amount to bashing.  By the way, the overall rating for the Asia debut is 3.09, so a lot more reviewers like it than you care to admit. 

altaeria wrote: TheGazzardian wrote: As far as I'm concerned, isn't it sort of the POINT of this site? I suppose... if the site is designed to encourage reviewers to simply bash or praise rather than describe and evaluate. Obviously a review is going to be Subjective in manner, but should we completely ignore Objectivity.  Let's try not to be the Fox News Channel of Prog Rock.

^The Fox News reference is way off beam. I do have a problem with people who bash commercial music for the sake of it, because, like any other art form, there are good or bad. But I think you will find that the site works very well in its way of allowing reviewers to present their personal feelings and ratings on albums. The cream will always rise to the top, and, by and large, the majority of albums rated on the site find their correct level.

I'd say Asia's debut album is worth 2 stars tops, maybe 1. I've never really enjoyed it and don't see what there is in it that can be enjoyed by other prog rock lovers - I even have difficulty considering it a good pop album. Heat of the Moment, the best known track off of it, I find annoying. Of the other tracks, the only other one I kind of like is the one with that cool keyboard bit at the intro. But once that intro ends, the song looses interest to me. To express this in a review - the purpose of which is to give others my opinion and a reason for them, so that they may make their own judgement based on their own tastes and the music I describe - seems entirely valid to me. I don't see at all how that is worthless for the integrity of the site.

Henry Plainview wrote: I absolutely hate Journey, Asia, and Styx. I'm not going to apologize for that and calling me elitist isn't going to change my opinion. I find them just as annoying as any rock group you care to name

John Mayer's third album Continuum was shockingly good, if you ignore the single Waiting For The World To Change which was the worst thing on it.

I don't believe that music exists, so I think it's impossible to make any value judgement about it. But I absolutely hate Journey, Asia, and Styx. I'm not going to apologize for that and calling me elitist isn't going to change my opinion. I find them just as annoying as any rock group you care to name, although heavy autotune is really more of a pop and hip hop thing. The average state of music hasn't changed in a very long time, complaining about modern rock versus old rock is false nostalgia because the vast, vast majority of it has always been terrible.

Noak, are those BOOBS in your signature? This is A NO BOOB ZONE.

Edited by Henry Plainview - November 02 2010 at 18:23

Okay. They're still awful, no matter how talented musicians they are.

yanch wrote: Journey and Styx had their interesting moments and I quite agree that Schon and Rolie are excellent musicians.Journey and Styx produced some good music during their heyday and I do think get some undeserved harsh criticism.  Asia on the other hand just has no redeeming value. You had 4 HUGELY talented musicians that got together at  a time when prog needed a huge boost and gave us a bland, dull, boring, uninspired piece of crap. IMHO they deserve all the bad reviews for that.

Journey and Styx had their interesting moments and I quite agree that Schon and Rolie are excellent musicians.Journey and Styx produced some good music during their heyday and I do think get some undeserved harsh criticism.  Asia on the other hand just has no redeeming value. You had 4 HUGELY talented musicians that got together at  a time when prog needed a huge boost and gave us a bland, dull, boring, uninspired piece of crap. IMHO they deserve all the bad reviews for that.