The title says it all! Opinions expressed here are those of the authors. Personal tastes may vary, and we are cool with that.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

30 Day Music Challenge, Day 17: A Song Often Heard on the Radio

Are you kidding me? Metal is not played on mainstream radio here in Canada! You have to go to a specialty station in order to hear any metal, and out here in the boonies, good luck with that. Besides, I don't listen to the radio much anymore since I have a Last.fm account and an MP3 player. The bus I commute to work on plays a local station that plays mainstream shit music, so I never take the bus to work without my MP3 player!

But, now we get into controversy! Because back when I lived in Ontario several years ago and was working for a large retail company, I had to listen to their satellite radio for 8 hours a day. Of course, because this was retail, it had to be "appropriate" music for a very mixed clientele. And guess what metal got played all the time there?

Evanescence.

Compared to a solid stream of Britney, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, and other "artists" of that ilk, Evanescence was a breath of fresh air when it came on, let me tell you.

And the controversy? Is Evanescence metal? Well, I think so. Lots of people will disagree. And I will not be ashamed at all to say that I love Evanescence and Amy Lee. So there!

Actually, come to think of it, when I shifted departments at this store I was working at, I was able to play my own CDs at one point, and I did have an Evanescence CD to play. Funnily enough, the guy I had big issues with in the department was a HUGE Eva fan, and even went to see them in concert when they came through town (I couldn't go - long story). So, we were able to connect over something positive in the end, which was nice.

Here is one of the songs that got a lot of airplay at that time.

10 comments:

sorcha said...

I only really like 4 songs by Evanescence. Going under, My Immortal and Bring me to life (with and without Ben Moody).
Otherwise, I personally don't like Evanescence to much.

Allyson said...

Fair enough. They are certainly not everyone's cup of tea!

Sorcha said...

I think it's mostly because I was almost raised with Within Temptation and later Nightwish. So Evanescence was just.. I don't know how to explain that.

But, for as far that they are not metal, they sure are. They are just not the screaming type of metal. More the somehow classy style of metal.

Eric James said...

I personally don't think they are metal. I think of them as alternative/gothic rock mostly. Yeah, I am not so big on Evanescence either.

Almagest said...

I used to like them when they broke, back again in like - 2002? ah, it was 2003 actually - when I was still a total metal noob, but when I discovered Pandora in 2006 and was introduced to a lot of awesome symphonic metal, I gradually got bored of her voice and thought it sounded too whiny. Last year or so when I heard "Bring Me To Life" I was like: WTF? I didn't understand how I could ever have liked the song, and her voice.

I, too, describe them alternative rock or pop rock with symphonic elements, at best. Not the worst music I know by a long shot, haha, I can imagine that there are situations where you are so desperate for decent music that you begin to appreciate them, sort of :P, but I can't stand how everyone tries to copy them now, they're a bane to the female-fronted scene.

Eric James said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric James said...

Winterstorm, I agree that many female-fronted metal bands have tried to cash in on Evanescence's success by changing and altering their sound. Of course this is very common of any band in any genre when a particular band gets big.

Almagest said...

Except, of course, that Evanescence aren't even part of the genre. They have nothing to do with it, there are not even contacts or collaborations or anything. They're two entirely different worlds.

Eric James said...

True, I agree.. they really aren't symphonic metal or anything like that.

Almagest said...

Yeah, well, they're in their separate plane of existence. It's as if female-fronted metal bands suddenly copied Lady Gaga. It makes no sense at all.