Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

Nee Lewman said:
People listen to Panic! At the Disco? For like enjoyment?
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When I first started getting into new music back in 2011-2013 they were one of the first bands I got REALLY into. That lasted until 2016 and I just stopped enjoying them. I still have a lot of nostalgia for them and do enjoy their first two albums though I admit they aren’t that good
 
Fleetwood-Matt said:
When I first started getting into new music back in 2011-2013 they were one of the first bands I got REALLY into. That lasted until 2016 and I just stopped enjoying them. I still have a lot of nostalgia for them and do enjoy their first two albums though I admit they aren’t that good
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Death of a Bachelor was the Rhino album of the day. If one song came on the radio, I’d be okay with it. Having never listened to an entire album before, it was a LOT. On the bright side, it provided a skosh of appreciation for My Chemical Romance.
 
Nee Lewman said:
Death of a Bachelor was the Rhino album of the day. If one song came on the radio, I’d be okay with it. Having never listened to an entire album before, it was a LOT. On the bright side, it provided a skosh of appreciation for My Chemical Romance.
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Had I been 15 instead of 30 they likely woulda spoke to my overly sincere young heart. As someone in my 30s they weren’t my cup of tea, nor was I their target demographic.
 
Nee Lewman said:
Probably a tepid take for here but being a bit of a classical listener, it feels like heresy…. I don’t really like Opera.

Hell I’m not huge into vocal jazz either.

Huh, you’d think I would like more post rock.
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Opera loses a lot more of its thunder than any other kind of music, though, if you’re passively listening vs watching a live performance. I’m not sure which of those you’re referring to, but felt impelled to comment.

Opera is often in a language other than English - so you’ll miss the plot and meaning if you don’t speak Italian or German or whatever language it’s in, unless you either speak that language fluently enough to be able to hear what they’re singing or if you’re actively following along with translated lyrics. In a live performance, the translation is projected above the stage, so you can easily follow along.

Opera is also intended to be performed live and acted out in space on a stage - it’s as much a visual art form as it is aural. It’s easy to miss the drama or hilarity of the moment if you’re not seeing someone act it out. The Marriage of Figaro is a great example - the music by Mozart is beautiful and elegant, but without seeing the characters tiptoe around onstage and hide from each other and spy on each other and hook up with each other, it’s a lot less funny. There’s a lot of “mistaken identity” plotlines and things that happen outside of the lyrics onstage so you need to watch a live or recorded performance at least once to really know what’s going on in any particular opera. Some of the songs are also very repetitive and can feel like filler but they may serve a purpose in moving the plot along, which again, won’t really be apparent if you’re listening and aren’t fluent in the language of the opera. The staging and plot help you understand why certain scenes are more dramatic than others and help prepare you to sit up straight and pay attention for the big climactic arias and understand why the singer is suddenly so overcome with emotion that all they can do is sing their feelings to the universe in a way that stops time and collapses geography. It’s philsophical and religious without being mystical or supernatural. Without the visuals or translation, you can hear that these moments are important but won’t really fully alpreciate why.

Third, opera in live performance can really be a spectacle unlike anything else. Multiple world-class singers, sometimes dozens of them on the stage at once, all singing together. A live orchestra provides the accompaniment. Lavish costumes, set pieces, and props. It’s the best waste of tons of money that you can experience [and the good news is that a huge chunk of that money for many opera houses comes from billionaires and banks and defense contractors - you can rest easy watching their money go up in flames]. The purpose of all of those expenditures is to extract the audience from their lives and overwhelm them so that they are fully invested for 2-4 hours in whatever unfolds onstage. It’s intended to make you think deep thoughts about love, mortality, justice, and betrayal in new ways. There’s no branded merch for sale in the lobby (except maybe for the venue itself) - no one is selling you anything or turning a profit here. That’s not to mention the opulence and history of many opera houses around the world that are destinations to visit and tour in themselves.

If you can sit through a live performance of La Traviata or The Marriage of Figaro or Tosca and not feel anything, then opera isn’t for you. But if you’re listening to a record or streaming the audio for an opera to check it out and feel bored and confused by it - yeah, that’s not surprising. I’d have to know an opera really well to have the patience to just listen to the music all the way through.
 
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