Believe it or not, believe like other things other than Bob Dylan. This is Murray Krugman, right? (Please tell me he's still at UNH or else this will be one confusing post haha)
They were just in Europe before this latest acoustic run. Found an article from last year. Looks like they do sail: Breaking Benjamin Members Travel By Sea to Europe for Tour
It's either you love him or you hate him with that guy. Once you get past his idolization of Bob Dylan, he's a very intelligent guy and you can learn a lot. My biggest problem with him is that he's not open minded about music after 1980. Meaning, he'll easily dismiss something that sounds new to him which isn't the greatest thing to do if you're involved in a music industry program. I'm guessing he's still like that?
I find it refreshing that a good non-ironic discussion is being had when so many rock bands from the 2000's get the shaft on this site
Not entirely but I do see that sometimes. When doing critical listening where people would bring in songs of their own choosing he was harshly critical a lot of the time but did have the right idea - it was cool to hear him have highly positive opinions on artists like Chance the Rapper and Danny Brown even though he still has some pretty outdated opinions on pop and rap. I brought in a Dikembe song and he was pretty into it.
truthfully I might just be sheltered in my world of emo and indie rock but I had no idea anyone still cared about active rock radio stuff. Among me and my friends Breaking Benjamin are just a big meme
Good to hear he's evolving and not dismissing everything haha. I remember my critical listening class. I played an Underoath song and he instantly started reading the paper. Afterwards, he bashed them for a good 10 minutes about how they were a flash in the pan and that this music isn't profitable. I got pretty pissed at him haha. Looking back, he was both right and wrong. Someone tried scoring brownie points and brought in Like a Rolling Stone. He laid into that worse than Underoath lol.
The true test for this guy, whoever he is, is to bring in a thrice song. Either from Vheissu or Baggers probably and see what he says. If it's a bashing, take away his credibility Give their first album Saturate a listen, it still holds up really well. Also other "radio rock" bands with excellent albums are Chevelle's This Type of Thinking, Papa Roach's Getting Away with Murder and P.O.D.'s Satellite if you'd like to give it a shot. On a side note I also feel like over played radio singles hurt opinions too. Take P.O.D for example who are known for the overplayed Youth of the Nation by most people, but wouldn't expect the rest of the album to have a great mix of rock, punk, reggae and hip hop all blended in their songs.
Chevelle's first three or four records are all actually pretty solid. They're another band that has sort of made the same record over and over again but they've somehow managed to dodge sustained popularity of a band like Breaking Benjamin.
Agreed, I really love their first 4 and then Hats off to the Bull sounded bland and lost me. La Gloria brought me back in but then lost me again with their latest lol.
Haha so Murray Krugman is a professor for the Music Industry program at University of New Haven. He was a producer back in the day, with his biggest claim to fame was producing the first 5 or 6 Blue Oyster Cult albums and a Johnny Winter album (if I'm not mistaken). He's one of those guys where you love him or hate him as a professor. He does a "critical listening" class where you play him a song and back 10 years ago when I had him, he bashed 95% of them. He's a smart guy, just outdated in his music tastes. I'm glad to hear he's more open according to tshreve.
I'll have to give it more listens. I gave it a few and I appreciated it seeming heavier than pervious, it just didn't stick with me like the their albums usually do.
I’m surprised how big BB still is. Loved them in high school, but they never ended up coming to Denver on Dear Agony at all, and then waited years and years. Now with the new album, this Saturday will be the 5th time they’ve played nearby on this cycle. And all their shows have been packed and with pretty good crowds. I was surprised.
I always forget I saw BB live once like 10 years ago on a co-headling tour with 3 Days Grace and Flyleaf as opener. I don't regret it.
When they came to Cleveland, it was Candlebox opening and the singer kept getting in fights with people in the audience. That was my first rock concert and I was so confused.