Music: Your flavor of the month?

Anybody who did a lot of drugs and liked rock music in the 90's was a 311 fan.

"Fourth of July.... Lucy in Sky.... I remember pine trees and a coat of many colors"

Yeah. The soundtrack to a couple of wasted years of my life.

 

Love Roadrunner.... he once said about rock music "If you're just lucky enough. it will change your life forever." I think that's one of the best things ever uttered in print.

 

"Pine trees"

Wasted?! Nooooooooo!!!

Man, you gotta admit that 311s early albums were raw and funky real!!

 

@riverman, what do you thing about 311?

Just asking as a younger guy seeking your extended wisdom...

Link correction:

 

Yeah. I never got into their later period when they went all jazzy. But 311 has grass roots!

 

Their later albums definitely bordered on "poppy". I know a lot of bands inevitably go that route after x number of years. Always liked their laid-back style but their most recent albums have been more "meh". Still, I like their fundamental style enough to be a fan for life.

 

Holy crap, mine too. At times, I can't get over the brilliance of that track.

 

I always thought their music was just so appealing.... almost like a breath of fresh air. They had the rock influence. They had the ska influence. They had the MC and the straight up rock singer. That is why I still think it's fresh. Same as Sublime. Was there even a band that just AGED so well as Sublime? It's a mixture of everything that is good about rock n' roll. You see so many bands go hard for one type of sound because they don't want to pigeon holed or ripped apart by fans or critcs for "god knows what." It's like my friend said about the Cars once..... "Man. Don't you just like feeling GOOD sometimes." That's what 311 is. They may you feel good by wearing their influences on their sleeves. It's just so much fun.

 

Huh, Sublime. I never thought of them as aging unusually well. But then, I wasn't a huge fan. I think this is the only song of theirs that I really liked:

 

Their positivity is def one of their best traits. I can understand why some bands mellow out over time. Yup, the mix of styles just makes them all around fun to listen to.

And as a drummer myself, I put Chad Sexton up there with the best of them.

 

It's the snare man. His snare drum may be the best in the business. Along with Dan Peter's from Mudhoney. Drummers always try to bowl you over with the bass drum. Fucking ridiculous. Nothing more hypnotic than a great tight tuned snare drum. Funny what you pick over after years of listening to records.

 

Totally the snare! Makes his rolls sound friggin' amazing. Over the years they've developed a crazy drum solo show during Applied Science. It's literally like a 10-minute group drum session with the other guys playing single toms each and Sexton's drum platform elevated him like 10 ft up in the air. Starting with the From Chaos album he's gone with a more sustained, deeper snare pop, maybe because it's more of a "rock" sound, but it's still good.

 

The acoustic version is even better:

 

My son loves them...not my thing....my problem is the musical dynamics...guitars should not bury the song and like many bands....I think their guitarist needs to give himself somewhere to go with his volume.....I don't care for guitar riffs that start at peak volume and stay there for a whole song...I also think that particular song is sort of copying a couple classic riffs ...lacks an intro, an ending and a bridge