MN Rube Chat

somuchyummy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 27, 2017 7:15 am top five alltime band for me. i understand how some people didn't like them - their music featured a lot of unconventional twists and turns. but i like that about them. i often didn't get where the songs were going right away, but had to listen to them a dozen times before the chord changes and melodies made sense. but i found that part of it rewarding.

a few other points: their state fair gig a few years back made it really clear to me how deep the grooves are on their songs. funky as fook. their "meet the band, each guy gets a solo" song that night was james brown's "papa don't take no mess" - and the groove of that song fit right in the pocket of everything else they played that night.

second thing: guitar players loooooooved the dan. their songs always featured some of the coolest, most blistering guitar solos because they always a) brought in great players to do them and b) like i said earlier, the chord changes were different and set up so many more possibilities for the guitarists to work with. it never was the old 1-4-5.

finally, they have been knocked for being cold and clinical. and some of their records do carry a pristine sheen that i don't care for (worst offender, The Royal Scam). but lyrically, their songs were anything but clinical. common recurrent theme is being an outsider and misunderstood or not fitting into the world, trying to find or keep friends, trying to find a home. really human stuff.