My Friend is driving me crazy with his total lack of music knowledge

ON eof my best friends is currently comparing EVERYTHING to the white stripes. ANy new badn we hear (sounds liek the stripes man) whatever local singer songwriter he's got a boner for (aww man just liek the stripes totally) everything form buckcherry to radioheadto marilyn manson he's likened to the whitestripes. He needs to SHUT THE FUCK UP. and the only reason he's even comparing them at all is because they are the super hip cool band, and he thinks they are a buzz word. I like teh stripes which makes it even worse. thanks for letting me vent.

sorry bout the bad spelling its late and im on pain killers

Man, you can't fix people like that. Just let him go. He'll be onto something new soon enough.

the white stripes sound like the vines sound like the hives sounds like grunge part 2: electric bogaloo. but they do not sound like radiohead. maybe you could try a quick music lesson. make a mixed cd with a band that is the paragon of a particular genre of music.
ie.:
1. heavy metal : iron maiden
2. power pop : the rentals
3. emo : dashboard confessional
4. hip-hop : tribe called quest
5. rock : white stripes
6. hardcore punk : exploited
7. pop punk : green day
8. berkley punk : circle jerks
9. classic rock : led zepplin

etc.
i dunno. just a suggestion.

just checking to see if this thread was about me...

That's a common refrain from a person who musically uneducated...how many times have you heard someone say "all rap sounds the same?" You can replace "rap" with "country" or "jazz." It's obviously untrue.

This is so an Onion headline in the making!
-----------------------------------

Area Man Being Driven Crazy By Friend's Total Lack of Musical Knowledge.

Area man Geek USA is becoming increasingly frustrated by his best friend's tendency to compare all the bands he hears to the White Stripes ...

I dunno if he's beyond hope. When I was 13 or 14 I wanted so badly to fit in with the metal kids, but the only rock song I'd ever heard was "November Rain". I must've compared that song to everything. So he's probably just trying too hard to show that he has some knowledge of what's hip. Make him a good mix CD that has the YEARS the songs on it came out, like stuff that predates the White Stripes.

I advise you to cut out his tongue.

as your attourney, i suggest you bludgeon him over the head with a bat until your friend had musical knowledge comprable to a pseudo-sentient food item.

or you could crush his spirit by bashing the white stripes in his presence.

either way, persistance will pay off in the end.

I say you make him a mixCD labeled like this:

1. heavy metal : white stripes
2. power pop : white stripes
3. emo : white stripes
4. hip-hop : white stripes
5. rock : white stripes
6. hardcore punk : white stripes
7. pop punk : white stripes
8. berkley punk : white stripes
9. classic rock : white stripes

you know. just to fuck with him and make sure he continues to make a fool of himself infront of everyone.

'Berkley punk?'

fuck music fashion snobbery....know what you like and find more to like...that is all there is to it...

The White Stripes were mentioned, I just wnat my complete lack of musical intelligence to devulge the information that the White Stripes suck and I hate them...

Make him listen to Leadbelly and stuff and then he won't be able to see White Stripes as the leaders, he'll have to see them as part of the lineage going back loads of decades. when i was 13 or 14 everything got compared to green day till my uncle educated me in 70s punk and new-wave.

You could try to train your friend to listen to better music. Put on a new album when they are in your car, house, etc. It's like osmosis. It actually worked for one of my friends. Or just be a music nazi and burn cds for them and make them listen to those, instead of the crap they're listening to.

You might also want to have him read books and watch documentaries.

such as..

The Beatles Anthology
The Filth and The Fury (Sex Pistols)
"Please Kill Me" by Legs Mcneil and Gilliam Mccain
"American Hardcore" by Steven Blush (a bit flawed, but still informative)
"No One Here Gets Out Alive" (Jim Morrison bio)
"Get in the Van" by Henry Rollns (the first two chapters)

Not a thorough list by any means, but I'm sure you get the picture. Also, books on one artist or band can also delve into a lot of history surrounding them. For example, any book on Kurt Cobain worth its weight in salt, will delve into how he was infuenced by The Beatles, Black Flag, Black Sabbath The Pixies, The Velvet Underground, etc. I haven't read it yet but I hear "Come As You Are" is a great Nirvana bio. It was written before he died, so it isn't written in that "oh isn't this tragic" kind of way.

While I do agree that over compensation in any aspect is unacceptable, I don't think berating someone for not knowing as much as you do about something is an intelligent way to kick off a proper education. Being good at liking something good does not make you smart, it just makes you more informed. After all, you didn't write the music, you just found it first.

I'm a music snob so I generally feel that people who are musically ignorant should be shunned as the tasteless freaks that they show themselves to be...unless they're foxy girls, of course, in which case a load of mix CDs are immediately required...

turn him on to something else.
i'm over the white stripes.
i've been kickin it up with some old tunes lately ala funkadelic.
and i can't get off that freakin trio channel with all their music stuff they have on.

?

Keith, did your parents lock you in the basement as a kid? 13 years old and you'd never heard any rock music?

So, maybe GeekUSA's friend isn't clueless, he's just found religion. He worships the One True Guitar Lick.

I was going to scold you all for being snobby towards people who obviously don't care about music as much as you do, but then I realized that if this guy is actively comparing some bands to other bands, then he must have something invested in it, too. Why don't you go easy on him at first- get him a copy of Nuggets, or some of those early Saints records, or something similar. You don't want anything too abrasive or weird for his first trip around the block.

About my friend some more, oh and we have been friends for years so the friendhsip isnt in question over something so stupid as tastes. i dont hate him for it or anything, and i dont think im smarter because im more well versed, its just annoying thats all. And he says it with total conviction and authority which makes it even worse. But here are two more things he did that induce massive frustration.

1. This one isnt so bad so ill start out with it first. Like fall 2001 i buy the strokes record and listened to it alot, one day while we were driving around, Hard to Explain came on and I said oh yeah i really like this band blah blah blah, and he goes "oh does this band do Last Nite?" excitedly i said, "yeah man you like that one?" he goes " No, in that video they look like little fags getting ready to fuck each other in the ass." "huh?". Fast Forward two years and he's going "oh i love the strokes man blah blah blah they are so great ive loved them since day one, they are the best." Shut up man.

2. this is crazy, he thinks the Blues were born in the 60's by jimmy page, robert plant, BLACK SABBATH, and eric clapton. When i mentioned that actually the best blues is the oringinal American stuff based out of the south in the early half of this past centruy. he goes, yeah but Sabbath defined blues, really made it what it is.


DEAL WITH THAT

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

Definitely have him watch some documentaries on the blues. Get his ass learned before he drives you off the brink. Sorry i don't know the names of any