Objectivist Bands

Aesthetics Music
1

Hey does anybody know of any bands that are even remotely consistent with Objectivism? I enjoy alternative/indie rock, even some punk rock is okay, but lately the anti-mind and pro-welfare crap in the songs I listen to really annoy me. I used to like Weezer, Green Day, Brand New, Straylight Run (awesome band, horribly subjectivist lyrics :dough: ) Just to name a very few.

Anyway, this has been bothering me more and more lately. I got completely fed up when I was at a Green Day concert the other night. I just realized how incredibly dumb and irrisponsible these people were. I used to think that bands were either making fun of other people or I interpreted their lyrics to what I wanted them to be. For example, Straylight Run has this song called “Existentialism on Prom Night”. When I looked up the word existentialism, the encarta said something like "a nineteenth century philosophical movement centered around ones self. (I only read the first line :rolleyes: ) I took this to mean something like Objectivism, where its good to be selfish. This was my favorite song- then I figured out what Existentialism really is. Brand New names Morrissey as a great influence. That sucks! I realized when I went to go pick up one of The Simths cds that they have a song called “Meat is Murder”. I felt so disappointed because Brand New is a good band and has good lyrics, but why name such idiotic people as their influence?

If anybody knows an good bands, I would greatly appreciate it. (Sorry I had to get that off my chest)

2

Try ‘Rush’. They dedicated their album 2112 to Ayn Rand… look for their older music. Their current music isn’t that great, and they’ve probably drifted away from Rand now. But 2112, Hemispheres, and much of the older stuff is SUPERB.

3

Old Rush for sure. 2112 was explicitly based on Anthem. Neil Peart, the drummer, is also the lyricist and was heavily influenced by AR. Some of my favorites are The Trees, Tom Sawyer, Free Will, and Something for Nothing.

4

I understand your situation as I am a fan of indie-rock as well. But are lyrics THAT important to you? I mean, I can at times enjoy the music of Radiohead. Now, obviously they’re very anti-capitalist and their lyrics tend to be quite negative. But I admire them for their technical brilliance and their attention to detail. As far as I am concerned, lyrics are nowhere near as important as the music itself.

Now, since you did ask for some more optimistic, life-affirming bands, I will recommend you some artists.

  1. Super Furry Animals: The lyrics are often non-sensical, but they make killer melodies. Great summer music. A few recommended songs: Hello Sunshine, Sidewalk Surfer Girl, Juxtaposed with U, She’s got spies.

  2. The Postal Service: Very very optimistic music that sometimes feature great lyrics. Try: District sleeps, Recycled Air, Such great heights. (Such great heights is an especially fantastic song about love, and feature the lyrcis: They will see us / waving from such great heights / come down now they’ll say / But everything is perfect from far away / Come down now / But we’ll stay).

  3. Ed Harcourt: Singer / songwriter from England who writes simple, but moving songs. Check out: She fell into my arms, Like only lovers can, Whistle of the Distant Train, Apple of My eye, Watching the Sun come up.

  4. The Flaming Lips: Very established band that sometimes come up with some great life-affirming music.

I could give you many more examples, but check those out first. :rolleyes:

5

I thought I was the only one that liked him. I literally discovered him by accident on CD Baby. She Fell Into My Arms is on just about all my iPod playlists.

Actually, CD Baby is a great place to find “undiscovered” artists. I also like Jack Johnson and Jonathan Frankenreiter. Both of them have a laid back Hawaiian sense of style with their acoustics. The duo Jonathan and Jack play called Free is really nice.

  1. Ed Harcourt: Singer / songwriter from England who writes simple, but moving songs. Check out: She fell into my arms, Like only lovers can, Whistle of the Distant Train, Apple of My eye, Watching the Sun come up.
6

I understand your situation as I am a fan of indie-rock as well. But are lyrics THAT important to you? I mean, I can at times enjoy the music of Radiohead. Now, obviously they’re very anti-capitalist and their lyrics tend to be quite negative. But I admire them for their technical brilliance and their attention to detail. As far as I am concerned, lyrics are nowhere near as important as the music itself.

Now, since you did ask for some more optimistic, life-affirming bands, I will recommend you some artists.

  1. Super Furry Animals: The lyrics are often non-sensical, but they make killer melodies. Great summer music. A few recommended songs: Hello Sunshine, Sidewalk Surfer Girl, Juxtaposed with U, She’s got spies.

  2. The Postal Service: Very very optimistic music that sometimes feature great lyrics. Try: District sleeps, Recycled Air, Such great heights. (Such great heights is an especially fantastic song about love, and feature the lyrcis: They will see us / waving from such great heights / come down now they’ll say / But everything is perfect from far away / Come down now / But we’ll stay).

  3. Ed Harcourt: Singer / songwriter from England who writes simple, but moving songs. Check out: She fell into my arms, Like only lovers can, Whistle of the Distant Train, Apple of My eye, Watching the Sun come up.

  4. The Flaming Lips: Very established band that sometimes come up with some great life-affirming music.

I could give you many more examples, but check those out first. :rolleyes:

Will do. Actually I love the Postal Service and have heard a few song from The Flaming Lips. Lyrics are fairly important to me, but not everything. I was just asking for some bands that fit more with Objectivism to at least try to balance it at little. Since you like Indie rock you should go to straylightrun.comand check it out. You can download all their songs for free. I recommend Existentialism On Prom Night and The Tension and the Terror.

Thanks for the bands.

Zak

7

My favorites include:

  1. Sex Pistols, gotta love royalty disparaging punk bands!

  2. Beastie Boys, just for their fun lyrics. Before little Eminem, there were these guys and still are #1 in my book!

  3. Any indy punk I can find online.

  4. Any indy RnB/Rap I can find online.

That’s about it. I really don’t get like religious with music. I just listen to what I can find that is decent.

But for pop bands. I would say Sevendust and Powerman 5k are my two favorites at the present. :slight_smile:

– Bridget

8

Oooh … I love music.

Some of my faves:

Enigma - Very good music, particularly sexual but not lewd at all.

Mike Oldfield - I just started to listen to his stuff, but I like what I’ve heard so far. My fave is “The Songs of Distant Earth.”

Savage Garden - Pop band with awesome love songs. The band broke up and one guy went solo, Darren Hayes. His stuff is good too.

I like the Barenaked Ladies. They have very positive and upbeat music. I’m not very fond of country music in general, but Keith Urban has some great music with a very happy sense of life.

Natalie

9
  1. The Postal Service: Very very optimistic music that sometimes feature great lyrics. Try: District sleeps, Recycled Air, Such great heights. (Such great heights is

an especially fantastic song about love, and feature the lyrcis: They will see us / waving from such great heights / come down now they’ll say / But everything is perfect from far away / Come down now / But we’ll stay).

Oh my god. The Postal Service.

These songs have some of the most lovely, vulnerable lyrics in pop music today.

Such Great Heights is an amazing song, but so is Brand New Colony, off the same album.

"i’ll be the grapes fermented, bottled and

served with the table set in my finest suit

like a perfect gentleman

i’ll be the fire escape that’s bolted to the

ancient brick where you will sit and

contemplate your day

i’ll be the waterwings that save you if you

start drowning in an open tab when your

judgement’s on the brink

i’ll be the phonograph that plays your favorite

albums back as you’re lying there drifting off

to sleep…"

These songs make me want to hug myself. Seriously.

It’s hard to recommend music to other Objectivists. Especially if you don’t know them very well. If all you have in common is philosophy, that still leaves a wide and complex range of personal values that you respond to in art. So, I don’t think there’s any such thing as an Objectivist recommendation for pop music. These discussions often take the form of negative polemics against a corrupt culture, but on a good day, you might be able to talk about something that hints at a this-worldly, idealistic, passionate sense of life. (See: Postal Service, The)

10

If I may offer a few bands that I really love…these are all Pittsburgh bands…and since I’m a Pittsburgher…well, you do the math…

First up…Don Caballero. I think they broke up, but I’m not sure. All instrumental (very important for those of you who don’t want to hear whiney lyrics!) and just one of the best prog-core bands EVER. At one point they were described as John Coltrane meets Metallica, but that’s garbage. Simply put…I’ve never heard their like before. The drummer is fantastic. The guitars are constantly searching out strange phrases and rhythms. Plus, with song titles like “Delivering The Groceries At 138 b.p.m.” you can’t go wrong!

Next…The Speaking Canaries. Damon Che, the drummer from Don Caballero, plays guitar and sings for the Canaries. Pretty talented guy, no? These guys were the first Pittsburgh “super group”. Imagine Eddie Van Halen forming Van Halen in the '90s instead of the '70s. Check out a couple of their songs at http://www.scatrecords.com/canaries.htm

Lastly…Zombi. I worked at the library with the drummer of this band. Think of Rush doing soundtrack work for Italian horror movies of the 70s and 80s. Oh, yeah! Lots of old school synths and driving rhythms. Go to http://zombi.us/x/audiovisual.html and check 'em out!

11

I don’t believe Ayn Rand says much about music because it’s what you make of it. I enjoy listening to the bands that are the base of modern music today. Joy Division, although dour and gothic, is the inspiriation for many bands through the 1980s. Ian Curtis’ lyrics are poetic, poignant reminders of the depressed soul. I would actually recommend JD’s live albums, not the studio ones, at first. They are probably the best live band I’ve ever heard with so much raw emotion. Nirvana would have to be another band, bridging the gap between the 1980s and 90s. Metallica, pre-black album is awesome with magnum opus “…And Justice for All” which is a masterpiece.

Other more modern albums would include Snow Patrol’s debut (quick, but emotional.. wonderful vocals) and some new-metal like Crossfade, although they are nowhere near the 3 groups above.

XM radio is great for music. There are so many channels, and commerical free. I couldn’t live without it! It’s only $10 a month, so only $.33 a day and well worth it. Go from CD-quality classical to alt. rock with a simple hit of the button.

12

Other more modern albums would include Snow Patrol’s debut (quick, but emotional.. wonderful vocals) and some new-metal like Crossfade, although they are nowhere near the 3 groups above.  

Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get that. How is it?

Also, My Chemical Romance is also a really talented band, but their lyrics are quite troubled and sometimes violent. They are more screamo than indie, though. If you go to their website their songs are free and you don’t even have to download them.

I checked out the websites for The Speaking Canaries and Zombie, but the one for The Speaking Canaries would not work. Zombie has good music, but I prefer singing. That’s why I don’t really enjoy classical music, even though I play the violin. It just gets boring to me.

13

Wow, thanks for recommending My Chemical Romance. I enjoy them. I’m usually into a bit more screaming, but they work for me.

14

For a treat, look up the official site of the Finnish Band Nightwish and check out the fantastic voice of Tarja Turunen. MP3 samples are available and the site is in 3 languages. :pimp:

Also check out Dragonforce for lyrics that make Spinal Tap sound like Pink Floyd and some of the most entertaining trad metal ever recorded. :slight_smile:

(I can’t post without that great emoticon.)

15

Since it has gone off topic…

I feel like a Viking at a tea party.

AC/DC!

How can any man deny music that makes you want to cockwalk like George Jefferson and beat your chest?

16

A recent discovery for me was Elliott Smith. His lyrics were very troubled but his music is brilliant. Check out his last album, “From A Basement On The Hill”. It was released after his death, apparently by suicide, and is amazing.

17

Just found another one I thought I’d share. Check out the Austrailian band, Jet. Especially their fourth single, “Look What You’ve Done” off their first album, Get Born.

18

Yeah, I love that song too. ^^

Mr. Loki: Have you heard of the band Modest Mouse? I ask because they are from Issaquah too. They are really…uh… interesting. They have some good songs and some bad ones.

19

Yeah, I could chuck a baseball at their house. They play all over town (Seattle-Issaquah is too nice for bands) all the time.

20
  1. The Postal Service: Very very optimistic music that sometimes feature great lyrics. Try: District sleeps, Recycled Air, Such great heights. (Such great heights is an especially fantastic song about love, and feature the lyrcis: They will see us / waving from such great heights / come down now they’ll say / But everything is perfect from far away / Come down now / But we’ll stay).

Either Iron and Wine did a cover of that song (which is the version I prefer), or vice versa. In either case, Iron and Wine is definitely worth checking out – very relaxing, happy music.

edit: just checked, the original is by Postal Service.