Bands You Can't Understand

[alanp]

First up, I don't speak Finnish. But Korpiklaani are amazing. (Yes, some of their songs are in English. A great many of their songs are not.)

I don't speak Deutsch, either. But, you know, Rammstein. I'm not linking to a porn site for you lot.

What are some other bands you lot like that you don't understand? I know one guy who has gotten heavily into folk metal -- he even bought a balalaika.

[Muadzin]

Not a whole lot. English is still the lingua franca of international rock music and the odd act like Rammstein aside if you want international success you're not going to enjoy much singing in some language nobody can understand. And since I can understand German Rammstein doesn't count in my book. Maybe a genre like folk metal or viking metal is more liberal in that but I don't listen to those.

[matmosphere]

I used to enjoy Sigar Rós back in the day, but I probably haven't heard them in at least five years.

I have to admit when I read the title I sarcastically thought to myself "any band from the last ten or fifteen years. Get off my lawn kids!"

[jkokura]

I don't know if it's just the last 10 or 15 years Matt...

Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.

Jacob

[matmosphere]

I don't know if it's just the last 10 or 15 years Matt...

Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.

Jacob

Cash grab.

What about Tinted Windows. Lead to guitarist from Smashing Pumupkins, Bassist from Fountains Of Wayne, and the drummer from Cheap Trick. How is that not going to be good?!  having the forth guy be the signer from Hanson that's how.

[neandrewthal]

Gorguts 

Any Death Metal usually, even if it's in English.

Boredoms come to mind too:

You'd think rap would bould the hardest to be into when you can;t understand but these guys are awesome. (ok well I can understand a few phrases here and there)

[matmosphere]

To be more constructive and stop hijacking the thread. How did I not immediately think of Guitar Wolf. greatest punk band from the last twenty years, although I don't know that that's actually saying much.

Mono, Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant and the Polysics are are all great Japanese bands from the early aughts.

I've heard some OS Mutantes that I really liked.

[davent]

Lyrics, last thing i'll pay any attention to in a song so it really doesn't matter what language they're in, may or may not pay any attention at all. Will take many listenings to get there.

I do have a fair amount of Rammstein, Marta Sybestian a Hungarian folk singer who's voice totally transfixed me.

dave

[midwayfair]

Half of Lexa's music collection is in languages I don't understand a word of I think ...

But as far as not understanding the music, basically anything glitch. I don't understand the desire to create large amounts of art that's designed exclusively to be frustrating. I get wanting to crank out a Revolution No. 9 every once in a while, but a whole record of it? Whyyy?

Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.

I feel bad for Hanson. No one takes them seriously, but they've always been a pretty serious band. They had a serious amount of talent; they always played their own instruments, wrote their own songs (certain only passable lyrics, but if anyone says that Mmbop is actually a bad pop song, they're kidding themselves, even if you don't want to listen to pop [usually I don't]), and their harmonies were incredible. They were signed at SXSW because of their LIVE set, not because someone said, "Hey, I bet we can sell these kids to pre-teen girls." They won a grammy for a song they wrote barely into high school. They've done multiple albums that aren't radio pop. They had a #1 album after going independent. They still tour, and they do pretty well for themselves, but the Stevie Wonders and Justin Timberlakes of the world who can escape the shadow of what they did when they were young are few and far between. People don't have to like them, but I wonder how many people just see the name and think, "Lol, Mmbop" and don't listen to anything else even if they might like it.

[pickdropper]

Sigur Ros certainly qualifies.  I would throw Dead Can Dance in there as well.  Most of their songs are in English, but certainly not all of them.

It not a band per se, but anybody who likes Classical music often listens to music written in languages other than English.  When I was younger, I spent a lot of time performing songs in other languages.  Some of the time I knew what the song was about, but certainly not always.

[Muadzin]

Can anyone explain Hanson to me?!? After all these years, I'm still left shaking my head.

I feel bad for Hanson. No one takes them seriously, but they've always been a pretty serious band. They had a serious amount of talent; they always played their own instruments, wrote their own songs (certain only passable lyrics, but if anyone says that Mmbop is actually a bad pop song, they're kidding themselves, even if you don't want to listen to pop [usually I don't]), and their harmonies were incredible. They were signed at SXSW because of their LIVE set, not because someone said, "Hey, I bet we can sell these kids to pre-teen girls." They won a grammy for a song they wrote barely into high school. They've done multiple albums that aren't radio pop. They had a #1 album after going independent. They still tour, and they do pretty well for themselves, but the Stevie Wonders and Justin Timberlakes of the world who can escape the shadow of what they did when they were young are few and far between. People don't have to like them, but I wonder how many people just see the name and think, "Lol, Mmbop" and don't listen to anything else even if they might like it.

Ah, the curse of the early one hit wonder. It always reminds me of Radiohead and how they struggled to survive their one hit wonder Creep and then made it their life's work to make music as diametrically opposed to Creep as possible. Which was probably the best course of action they could have taken.

[matmosphere]

Jon, I'm sure what you say about Hanson is true, but you'd have a hard time selling me on the fact that there ages weren't a big part of why they were signed. I have little doubt that when that a&r guy did a cost /benefit comparison that there ages weren't a huge part of that. I know nothing of there's other than mbop, so I obviously can't judge any of that.

[mattlee0037]

Kings of Leon. They speak and sing in English but I sure don't know what most of their early albums lyrics are. I just kind of sing the vowel noises.

[Haberdasher]

For some reason the first one I think of is Elizabeth Fraser's Cocteau Twins material from the 1990's.  She is one of the most unique vocal stylists I've ever heard- and I used to get into listening to all the creative stuff she came up with- but I don't think I ever understood many of the words.  I honestly think a lot of it is rhythmic nonsense syllables to fit the feel of what she's singing, so it could be you aren't really meant to understand it.  It's "art" haha.

[m-Kresol]

Mono, Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant and the Polysics are are all great Japanese bands from the early aughts.

you do realize that Mono is an instrumental band - and most awesome at it? Not sure that qualifies

Anyways, as someone how does understand Rammstein lyrics, I hate them. I don't get how they could ever become famous/successful in the first place. might be their pornographic videos.

and i also have to join the Sigur Rós Club. I love Saeglopur. Great song. should have been in the lord of the rings soundtrack imo

if anyone isn't familiar with Sigur Rós and is wondering what the heck is he singing... Jonsí started using weird speech like voicing to fill in for lyrics while composing and never altered them in the end. He called it "hopelandic"