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Originally Posted by Everyneurotic
can we define pressure? the first post implied that pressure was when an artist/band wanted to make the leap from cult-like or underground to a bit more massive. i was also thinking about expectations from the audience/critics which have cracked many a band/artist.
ok let's see:
sy: exception to the rule, they powered through it.
lpd: what pressure? it's not like they had a chance to break big or had amazingly great expectations around them (besides doing the best albums they can).
girl trouble: don't know them.
melvins: remember the mid to late 90's? controversial at best, utter crap at worst; they sabotaged themselves over any attempt to really be a big band.
suicide: i think they are kinda like a nostalgia act, and yeah, i'm not really into their later albums.
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You are honestly always a pleasure to argue with, because you at least have interesting ideas about music rather than resorting to lame name calling as some do.
That said...
I like the Melvins major label albums a lot. Houdini and Stoner Witch are both classics with great songs and cool experimental bits too. I don't know that there was anything "controversial" about that phase except if you were the Atlantic A&R fool who signed them because of the Nirvana connection and then realized what you'd got. Houdini was liked enough by the band themselves that they did it as their ATP set. The Melvins are every bit as much of an example as Sonic Youth of a great band that didn't compromise when they got signed to a major label, the only difference is they got kicked back to the indies, arguably by intention.
LPD and Girl Trouble both never signed to majors, but I still think that to keep a band consistently putting out awesome records and shows for coming on three decades is a remarkable accomplishment. Many would argue that doing it without ever getting big label backing is
more of an accomplishment, and most bands really do cave under just that pressure.
You rather contradict yourself in calling Suicide a nostalgia act and then saying you don't like their new records. The very fact they make new records that are challenging to their own fan base (which you didn't say you were part of, but you get what I'm saying) is a strong case for them not being a nostalgia act. They certainly couldn't remake the first record if they even tried, but they're hardly stuck in the Ocasec new wave phase either. You might even be blown away by their next record, in another seven or eight years when they get around to making it...