The Music WTF Thread

[burlivesleftnut]

Why, in this age of digital music, am I still seeing a 15 minute bonus song track at the end of an album with two songs separated 5 minutes of silence?

Why are so many bands doing "INTO" or "OUTRO" tracks? Don't they know these just lost and ignored on most people's playlists? Why not just have them as part of the first song, or last song as it were?

What other habits of recording-tards bother or confound you?

[stereosforgeeks]

Why, in this age of digital music, am I still seeing a 15 minute bonus song track at the end of an album with two songs separated 5 minutes of silence?

Why are so many bands doing "INTO" or "OUTRO" tracks? Don't they know these just lost and ignored on most people's playlists? Why not just have them as part of the first song, or last song as it were?

What other habits of recording-tards bother or confound you?

As stated in the best new music thread: SKITS!!!!

[tapehead]

'Hidden' tracks don't bother me too much as I will just edit the mp3 and add it as an additional track, sans silence, to the digital version album (although honestly I haven't done this since Jarvis Cocker's lovely crooner 'Cunts are still running the world')

Redundant remixes of already quite shit songs can be annoying though.

You should get a record player, Burl - hidden tracks can be a real nice coda to a good listening experience, if you just believe in the 'album'

[TheBaxter]

why do they still insist on putting those stupid stickers on the tops of CD cases that take 10 minutes of peeling with your fingernails to get them off and be able to open the case?

[Keepcoolbutcare]

Why, in this age of digital music, am I still seeing a 15 minute bonus song track at the end of an album with two songs separated 5 minutes of silence?

thankfully, I don't think bands are doing what Cracker did on that album that had "Low" and Tool did on their debut full length, which was to have something like 80filler tracks, all under 5seconds, before you could get to the lastiest last last song on the album.

i had forgotten both those albums had done that, so after I uploaded the discs to my computer I was stumped as to why I had 99 Cracker songs on my itunes...

[minstrel]

why do they still insist on putting those stupid stickers on the tops of CD cases that take 10 minutes of peeling with your fingernails to get them off and be able to open the case?

Why are you using fingernails? Use a knife. It takes two seconds.

[stereosforgeeks]

Why, in this age of digital music, am I still seeing a 15 minute bonus song track at the end of an album with two songs separated 5 minutes of silence?

thankfully, I don't think bands are doing what Cracker did on that album that had "Low" and Tool did on their debut full length, which was to have something like 80filler tracks, all under 5seconds, before you could get to the lastiest last last song on the album.

i had forgotten both those albums had done that, so after I uploaded the discs to my computer I was stumped as to why I had 99 Cracker songs on my itunes...

NIN did something like that on Broken too.

[havocSchultz]

I was stumped as to why I had 99 Cracker songs on my itunes...

That's about 98 too many...

[St. Alphonzo]

I'm just glad that what Prince did on his "Lovesexy" CD back in the '80s (or was it '90s?) never caught on... no tracks at all. The whole damn album is one long track, the only way to get from song to song is to scan through. If I wanted that bullshit, I'd have bought the cassette.

Although, to be fair, I think I only listened to the whole thing once anyway.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

I was stumped as to why I had 99 Cracker songs on my itunes...

That's about 98 too many...

that was actually a pretty good album.

certainly a departure from the genre bursting brilliance of Camper Van Beethoven, but a solid alterna-rock-grunge album regardless.

[stereosforgeeks]

I was stumped as to why I had 99 Cracker songs on my itunes...

That's about 98 too many...

that was actually a pretty good album.

certainly a departure from the genre bursting brilliance of Camper Van Beethoven, but a solid alterna-rock-grunge album regardless.

Man I havent listened to Camper Van Beethoven in forever! Thanks for reminding me

*has too much music*

[havocSchultz]

I was stumped as to why I had 99 Cracker songs on my itunes...

That's about 98 too many...

that was actually a pretty good album.

certainly a departure from the genre bursting brilliance of Camper Van Beethoven, but a solid alterna-rock-grunge album regardless.

I remember owning it and listening to it originally because of Low...
But it's been forever and that's still the only song I remember unfortunately...

Not to say that it's any fault of them or the album...
I was listening to a bunch of alt-rock/grunge at the time...
Some stuff just doesn't get the extended look it deserves...

[Fawst]

"THESE are the CRIES of the CARROTS."

Fucking classic.

The best hidden track was the end of Weird Al's Off the Deep End. I fell asleep listening to that one night, and then all of a sudden the hidden track pops on with all this banging and jangling, and him screaming "WAAAAAAAAAAKE UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!"

Sure did.

I don't have a problem with a short opening intro track, what I DON'T like is when there is an instrumental "sister" song that is separated by a track number. For instance, on dredg's first album, there is a track, I believe it's three, that is one of the most badass guitar riffs ever, with a fucking SICK bass line. Of course, because it's a separate track, it glitches when you hear the mp3 versions. The CD is a flawless blend of tracks, but they have yet to solve that one little problem with mp3 players.

[DennisMM]

Bands that still insist on using the 80 minute CD limit to its full potential even if they don't have enough decent music for an old 40 minute LP. You can go the other way, though, as REM did with Accelerate. No 30 minute album should cost more than ten bucks regular price.

[Zarles]

Ringtones. I hate them. My distastes for them might lie with the people that insist upon having some 4-second snippet of a song that blares at top fucking volume every time their phone rings, but still - I hate them. HATE. Remember when phones just rang?

Fuckin' teenagers. Die.

[papalazeru]

Ringtones. I hate them. My distastes for them might lie with the people that insist upon having some 4-second snippet of a song that blares at top fucking volume every time their phone rings, but still - I hate them. HATE. Remember when phones just rang?

Fuckin' teenagers. Die.

What if it's a tune from Labyrinth?

[stereosforgeeks]

Ringtones. I hate them. My distastes for them might lie with the people that insist upon having some 4-second snippet of a song that blares at top fucking volume every time their phone rings, but still - I hate them. HATE. Remember when phones just rang?

Fuckin' teenagers. Die.

ringtones with lyrics bother me for sure. I do choose my ringtones though from my instrumental music mp3s.

[Zarles]

Ringtones. I hate them. My distastes for them might lie with the people that insist upon having some 4-second snippet of a song that blares at top fucking volume every time their phone rings, but still - I hate them. HATE. Remember when phones just rang?

Fuckin' teenagers. Die.

What if it's a tune from Labyrinth?

You still deserve to have your phone smashed over head when it goes off in the middle of a movie, but slightly less so.

[DennisMM]

Remember when phones just rang?

My ringtone is an old telephone bell.

[Zarles]

Remember when phones just rang?

My ringtone is an old telephone bell.

You should be elected President of the Whole Goddamned World.

[papalazeru]

Ringtones. I hate them. My distastes for them might lie with the people that insist upon having some 4-second snippet of a song that blares at top fucking volume every time their phone rings, but still - I hate them. HATE. Remember when phones just rang?

Fuckin' teenagers. Die.

What if it's a tune from Labyrinth?

You still deserve to have your phone smashed over head when it goes off in the middle of a movie, but slightly less so.

See, now I have to downlaod Labyrinth and put it in my phone.

where do you live again? NYC?

[DennisMM]

Those BLARING tones are horrible at least in part because they do BLARE. I never turn my ringtone volume up more than halfway unless I need to hear it in my sleep or over loud noise of some sort - a lawnmower, for example.

[Pacino86845]

My carrier pigeon only has one ring tone...

[papalazeru]

Those BLARING tones are horrible at least in part because they do BLARE. I never turn my ringtone volume up more than halfway unless I need to hear it in my sleep or over loud noise of some sort - a lawnmower, for example.

I do have to agree with you guys to a certain level.

But...when someone plays a good tune on their ring tone which I haven't heard in years....


I used to have Dogtanion, Trap door and Ulysses on mine for ring tones.

Now I settle for MST3K

[DennisMM]

If the song weren't so unexpectedly loud and if I didn't hear a random five second bit I wouldn't mind it half as much. But I still wouldn't like it.

I have one musical ringtone. Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" plays only when Julia calls me from her mobile.

[papalazeru]

If the song weren't so unexpectedly loud and if I didn't hear a random five second bit I wouldn't mind it half as much. But I still wouldn't like it.

I have one musical ringtone. Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" plays only when Julia calls me from her mobile.

Hoist by your own P'tard.

Does it make a difference that it's Mike Oldfield?

[DennisMM]

Note again: It ONLY plays if Julia is calling my mobile from her mobile. If she's calling from her mobile to my mobile, something's seriously wrong and I know I must take the call. It's an alarm, but a quiet one.

[papalazeru]

Note again: It ONLY plays if Julia is calling my mobile from her mobile. If she's calling from her mobile to my mobile, something's seriously wrong and I know I must take the call. It's an alarm, but a quiet one.

that's fair enough.

I do have different ring tones for different people though.

I must admit, I do thing that my phone is far too loud at the top level. It's embarssing when I go to work and it makes the most horrendous noise.

That's generally why ring tones are things like, Village people and Labyrinth, at least people can have a laugh at my own expense.

[tapehead]

there's also the pre-gap songs, or track '0's, that you have to manually cue to play on a cd player, and can be totally lost on cd rom or dvd drives - I remember Ash had two on 1977 Jack Names the Planets and Don't Know, there's one on Blur's Think Tank and Bloc Party's first album, and there's on on QOTSA' Songs for the Deaf called 'The Real Song For The Deaf' - guess what that one is? (it's not silence, but I'm sure the vibrations it produces from a stereo system at high volume might be fun for the hearing impaired)

London's Calling by the Clash has the great track 'Train in Vain' that's nowhere on the liner notes (least not on the shitty old vinyl I've got)

Heaps of metal albums have these things, and we haven't even mentioned 'double groove' vinyl yet, like Mr.Bungle's 'Disco Volante'.

Obviously though, I don't find this kind of stuff a bother at all...

[LaDracul]

Mine is, "Why oh why do some artists release songs with someone else's music but different lyrics"?

For example, Jessica Simpson ripping off John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" for "I Think I'm In Love"

Rhianna stealing New Order's "Blue Monday" for "Drive"...I think she also stole "Tainted Love" for "Beep"...

There's a few exceptions, but why can't you just do a damn cover song?!

[Seppuku]

London's Calling by the Clash has the great track 'Train in Vain' that's nowhere on the liner notes (least not on the shitty old vinyl I've got)

I think the band were planning on giving it away free to NME readers, ala Capital Radio One, but added it to the album at the last minute when the deal fell through. I had a cassette release of London Calling donkey's years ago which actually cut the track from the album.

I don't really have too many qualms with CDs I suppose, other than a couple of things:

1) The little plastic notches in the case that fill the hole in the middle still break apart 1 in every 10 CDs I buy.

2) Over-loud, everything in the red remasterings of old vinyl LPs. If the record execs want to quash the digital revolution, then releasing mp3-quality CDs is a pretty opaque way of going about it.

[stereosforgeeks]

there's also the pre-gap songs, or track '0's, that you have to manually cue to play on a cd player, and can be totally lost on cd rom or dvd drives - I remember Ash had two on 1977 Jack Names the Planets and Don't Know, there's one on Blur's Think Tank and Bloc Party's first album, and there's on on QOTSA' Songs for the Deaf called 'The Real Song For The Deaf' - guess what that one is? (it's not silence, but I'm sure the vibrations it produces from a stereo system at high volume might be fun for the hearing impaired)

London's Calling by the Clash has the great track 'Train in Vain' that's nowhere on the liner notes (least not on the shitty old vinyl I've got)

Heaps of metal albums have these things, and we haven't even mentioned 'double groove' vinyl yet, like Mr.Bungle's 'Disco Volante'.

Obviously though, I don't find this kind of stuff a bother at all...

Less Than Jake did that too. Ahh memories of when I actually listened to ska.

[DennisMM]

Mine is, "Why oh why do some artists release songs with someone else's music but different lyrics"?

This goes back to the forties at least, when such songs usually were "answer songs." An answer song often continued a story or somehow replied to the mood of the original record.

Today people do it because it's cheap, I suppose, to license even a well known melody. You like a tune, go with it! It's easier than writing a new one.

Without massively long "samples" Sean Combs would have had almost no career as a producer.

[Nachokoolaid]

Mine is, "Why oh why do some artists release songs with someone else's music but different lyrics"?

For example, Jessica Simpson ripping off John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" for "I Think I'm In Love"

Rhianna stealing New Order's "Blue Monday" for "Drive"...I think she also stole "Tainted Love" for "Beep"...

There's a few exceptions, but why can't you just do a damn cover song?!

Ice Ice Baby = Under Pressure
Can't Touch This = Superfreak

Best examples of that, I think.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

there's also the pre-gap songs, or track '0's, that you have to manually cue to play on a cd player, and can be totally lost on cd rom or dvd drives - I remember Ash had two on 1977 Jack Names the Planets and Don't Know, there's one on Blur's Think Tank and Bloc Party's first album, and there's on on QOTSA' Songs for the Deaf called 'The Real Song For The Deaf' - guess what that one is? (it's not silence, but I'm sure the vibrations it produces from a stereo system at high volume might be fun for the hearing impaired)

London's Calling by the Clash has the great track 'Train in Vain' that's nowhere on the liner notes (least not on the shitty old vinyl I've got)

Heaps of metal albums have these things, and we haven't even mentioned 'double groove' vinyl yet, like Mr.Bungle's 'Disco Volante'.

Obviously though, I don't find this kind of stuff a bother at all...

The best one was Songs In The Key of X. Hidden before track 1 was a song by Nick Cave and The Dirty Three and The Dirty Three doing their version of the X-Files theme. There was a note in the liner that said, "Nick Cave and The Dirty Three would like to remind you that 0 is a number too." Intrigued, I put the disc in and used the seek button to go back and BAM! there it was. As word got out it was discovered that not all CD players could find them.

[tapehead]

Mine is, "Why oh why do some artists release songs with someone else's music but different lyrics"?

For example, Jessica Simpson ripping off John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" for "I Think I'm In Love"

Rhianna stealing New Order's "Blue Monday" for "Drive"...I think she also stole "Tainted Love" for "Beep"...

There's a few exceptions, but why can't you just do a damn cover song?!

Ice Ice Baby = Under Pressure
Can't Touch This = Superfreak

Best examples of that, I think.

Actually this is wrong - these two tracks just use samples... insanely catchy samples that happened to be very distinctive elements of the songs from which they were taken.

The best one was Songs In The Key of X. Hidden before track 1 was a song by Nick Cave and The Dirty Three and The Dirty Three doing their version of the X-Files theme.

Oh yeah, that's a good one, I liked that version.

[Zarles]

CD cases that are of absolute shit quality and break into a million pieces when you open them for the first time. I love the band, but every Fugazi CD I have ever purchased has come in the thinnest, cheapest quality plastic CD case I've ever seen. I guess that's how they keep the cost down to 10 bucks apiece.

[R.Sammy]

I don't have a problem with a short opening intro track, what I DON'T like is when there is an instrumental "sister" song that is separated by a track number. For instance, on dredg's first album, there is a track, I believe it's three, that is one of the most badass guitar riffs ever, with a fucking SICK bass line. Of course, because it's a separate track, it glitches when you hear the mp3 versions. The CD is a flawless blend of tracks, but they have yet to solve that one little problem with mp3 players.

I had the same problem with my iriver firmware, and I am also a big fan of the album as an experience, with intros outros and segues, as well as the overall relationship between all the songs. When I downloaded and installed Rockbox it no longer had this problem and I now have seamless transitions between tracks. Rockbox has a lot of other sweet features like a good equalizer, crossfeed, and a computer-like file browser for music. Plus I can play Doom

I guess rockbox may work differently on different mp3 players but its worth a shot. As long as you back up your original system files, you can always get rid of it.