I was going to bring this up on the rap-rock thread, but I changed my mind. Anyhow: The first time I listened to
Ill Communication and heard the flute-hop "Sure Shot" segue into the spaz-hardcore "Tough Guy" my jaw
dropped. I hadn't listened to
Check Your Head except as singles on the radio so I had no idea the Beasties would switch gears so violently on an album like this. It's not always a sign of "bad" album track order to stick two disparate songs together, and for a lot of them it's actually pretty common practice to have the last two songs be a huge bombastic blast followed by a subdued downtempo closing number (see
Nevermind) or vice-versa (see
Dig Your Own Hole), but it doesn't seem as common elsewhere, especially when it involves a band crossing genre lines. Examples?
― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 31 October 2002 21:45 (twenty-three years ago)
What, examples of huge stylistic shifts within albums? Where should I start?
How 'bout Mr. Bungle's [i]Disco Volante[/i]? From the grinding time-sig-switching hardcore opener "Everyone I Went to High School With is Dead" to the scary-movie-soundtrack-ish "Chemical Marriage"? Hell, that band switches "genre" violently every couple measures!
What about Beck's [i]Mellow Gold[/i]? From the stoner-anthem "Loser" and it's beatnik hip-hop style to "Pay No Mind" a straight-up acoustic folky number.
To be honest, nearly all of my favorite albums have vehement style switch-ups like you speak of...
Fishbone's [i]In Your Face[/i], [i]Truth and Soul[/i], [i]Reality of My Surroundings[/i], [i]Give a Monkey a Brain...[/i], [i]Chim Chim's Badass Revenge[/i], [i]Familyhood Nextperience[/i], [i]Live at the Temple Bar & More[/i]
Mr. Bungle's debut, [i]Disco Volante[/i], [i]California[/i]
Beck's [i]Mellow Gold[/i], [i]Odelay[/i], [i]Mutations[/i], [i]Midnight Vultures[/i]...well, [i]Sea Change[/i] is pretty homogenous though...
Blackalicious' [i]NIA[/i], [i]Blazing Arrow[/i]
Outkast's [i]Aquemini[/i], [i]Stankonia[/i]
Good question. Between it and the coffee I'm drinking, I'm on a rambley-typing roll! Woo-hoo!
― Nickalicious, Friday, 1 November 2002 20:33 (twenty-three years ago)