The Killers - Pressure Machine (8.13.21) Album • Page 60

I really like BB

 

But not WW

 

Flowers has questionable-to-bad opinions about his own music, and has more than once shown himself to be insecure, to the point where the critical reception and commercial performance of their albums absolutely impacts how he feels about them. Happened with Sam's Town, happened with Battle Born, and is clearly happening in the wake of Mirage and Pressure Machine underperforming relative to the band's expectations.

This is honestly the band's biggest problem, and the problem I think a lot of "legacy" rock bands face. They're never going to be as popular as they were when rock music was a bigger part of the culture, so they have to either decide that they're fine with that fact and carry on regardless, or they drive themselves insane trying to come up with the thing that's going to get it all back for them. I like a lot of artists that are in the latter mode (U2, as previously mentioned, are the poster child; Counting Crows are another big one; Green Day, I think, were there until last year) and it's always a huge bummer to me to think about how much we've missed out on because they started overthinking everything.

 

I’m the other way around. There’s so many great artists releasing music every month. I’d very much rather my favorites wait until they feel they have something that represents them in the most ambitious and significant way possible. The key is to not link how you feel about it to commercial/critical success.

 

Yeah, this part just sounds exhausting to me. I don't want every album to be that artist's "most ambitious" shot at the belt. Ambition does not always equal quality. "Bright Lights" is not an "ambitious" Killers song, in that it sounds like a lot of other Killers songs. But I happen to love Killers songs, so I love that one. Give me an album of that sound and I'd be happy. Certainly happier than sitting through another half-decade dry spell from one of my favorite bands.

 

*shrug* we’re different! ambitious doesn’t have to mean overthought. it can just mean trying something new (“Rut”!) or finding a new vein (ITM/PM). I’m talking about personal ambition and growth as an artist.

I don’t really like “Bright Lights” so that’s probably also indicative of how we are different.

 

I don't really have an opinion on this apart from Pressure Machine being their best album, and I'll be very bummed if they've second guessed themselves out of finishing a trilogy that started with Mirage

 

Surprised you don't dig "Bright Lights." Feels like a side A Imploding the Mirage song to me.

That said, I'd think you could understand my not wanting artists I love to while away years and years of their careers teasing new music and not following through, as a fellow Damien Rice fan!

 

I think all indications, both with regards to Brandon's solo work and general work within the band, are that they're more interested in continuing on in the vein of things like Pressure Machine. Hence why they scrapped the more pop-driven album.

 

I’m personally cool with letting the band do whatever they want to do.

 

I’d love that too. But don’t just talk about it, do it!

 

Guess we’re different. I want the bands I like to release high quality stuff even it takes a frustratingly long time for them to do so. I don’t want a band to churn out immemorable slush just because they feel the need to or becuase they’re afraid to set high standards.

and for the record, Some Kind of Love is my fav track off of WW too. Just happened to put it on earlier this morning.

 

"Immemorable slush" is so clearly in the eye of the beholder. I really don't think this band has any albums that fall into that category. And spending a long time on something is not a guarantee of quality, either. You can be prolific and still have high standards.

 

Every band should be like weezer and shit out a terrible album every 3 months.

 

Yeah it just feels like an excuse to do a Vegas residency. Felt the same about that U2 song.

When Rice comes back it will break us. I’m okay with him taking the time he needs, as hungry as I am for it.

 

Lol, I guess I'm the crazy one for wanting bands I like to actually make music?

Maybe I'm just feeling things because my favorite artist of all time decided last year to stop making records, and that bummed me out more than I probably realized. I just feel like we're reaching a point where a lot of the artists I love from the '90s/2000s are arriving at the "just tour the hits and don't bother with new stuff" moment, and that makes me sad. I get it, I guess; most listeners are exclusively interested in reliving the songs they liked in their teens and twenties, and the narrative has absolutely been set and reinforced that late career work is not worthwhile. But as someone who so often loves that late-career work, I'll always bang the drum for continued activity.

 

huge

 

fuck you, sir

 

Weezer hasn’t put out new music in over two years! I’m not saying this to try and refute this, I’m saying this out of concern for the wellbeing of the band!

 

there is some unseemly stuff that has been rumored but not really fully publicized about a member of the band that, i would imagine, is part of the reason

 

Except no one can agree on which albums those are.

 

No one has said bands shouldn’t make new music just to make it at a pace they want to make it at and release what they want to release.

 

hey - some of those albums are merely bad, not terrible. have some respect

 

I feel like artists making music they don't actually want to make, but do anyway because of fan/label/personal pressure, is generally gonna suck anyway, or at least be uninspired. Ideally, yes, artists are always confident about the art they create and have the freedom and wherewithal to do so at a regular clip. It's great that someone like Boldy James can put out like 2 albums a month, and almost all of them be worthwhile. But I'm also fine with instances like Third, Slowdive, Inlet, etc. that release a literal decade or two after their predecessors. Those (incredible) albums probably wouldn't exist, or be as good as they are, if in the interim their creators had put out a couple half-assed albums out of inertia and pressure, then burned out.

 

Hey, the last of Weezer’s actual albums were pretty fun. It’s the EPs that are bad.