Yellowcard Band • Page 350

I post less than I used to, so I’m less dialed in on the conversations. I did not know people were bothered by the vocal production on the Blink album, for instance.

 

People are bothered by everything. Someone complained about the font being used when Yellowcard teased their return a few years ago, which I will never forget

 

Kinda jealous. Theres like this whole using AI to pull out the “stems” and “remixing” stuff to “fix” it stuff now that happens? Kids need to grow up with some 128kbs MP3s. Feel what it was like to love an album that sounded like ass

 

I do this now with The Menzinger’s Hello Exile lol

 

Listen to 128 MP3s?

 

How do I tell these kids that I listened to a glitched out version of “Several Ways to Die Trying” for literal years, with a gigantic skip in the bridge that it’s still weird to hear the song without? Or that my mp3 of the Third Eye Blind song “Blinded” had some guy in the background saying “AOL Music: first listen” over and over again? THEY ARE WEAK.

 

YOU'RE LISTENING TO A VAGRANT RECORDS ADVANCED PROMOTIONAL STREAM

 

I still can’t listen to When You Were Young by the Killers without hearing “Kroq”

 

There's definitely more than a few songs that I still mentally pause at when a skip isn't where it was on my CD

 

Being a forum about music, I still don't see the issue with people debating how something sounds. Whether vocals or not.

There is never a reaction against when people are praising Travis' production, but as soon as there is anything negative about the sound of One More Time it is dismissed.

 

You're not wrong. I have no issues with the production but others absolutely should be able to debate and discuss it.

 

People are allowed to debate whatever they want! I've just personally come to view nitpicking about production choices as a self-defeating enterprise. I did the same thing for years, and it tainted my enjoyment of a lot of records I otherwise love the hell out of. Like, I used to complain a lot about the vocal production on The Hold Steady's Boys & Girls in America, because I thought the vocals should just be a little brighter and higher in the mix. But that was a totally personal aesthetic preference on my part that I had absolutely no power over, and that probably (if I'm admitting it now) would have made that record worse. I feel like we all struggle sometimes to take in music on its own terms and appreciate it for what it is rather than what it's not, and I've personally been happier about my listening since I pulled back from some of those conversations.

There are limits to this philosophy, I'll admit. I definitely still bitch about overly bloated track lists, for instance, or really bad sequencing. But those are easier issues to resolve on your own than not liking how someone mixed a vocal.

 

This lives rent free in my head.

 

And as I’ve said before, I just find that kinda “debate” or commentary boring. People can talk about it all they want, but my opinion of it after all these years is that it’s surface level criticism and usually misplaced blame, and I just never find that kinda discussion fun or worth having after 25 years of seeing it. And of seeing those same albums once “over produced” now venerated as all time classics and what the new albums are held up against.

 

Random other morning walk thought: after being around the block a couple times on albums where I thought “production” was the worst part of them, years later, I realized how wrong I was. I still have some nitpicks of the bleep boop additions to The Starting Line’s SILYMI, but I wish I didn’t complain about that so loudly when it came out. I love that album. It’s one of my most played of all time at this point. And decades later none of that stuff really matters to me when I listen to those songs. I think having had that happen multiple times over the years has conditioned me to try and enjoy everything first, try and like it, believe I’m gonna love it, and then let that take me where it will. Tom DeLonge not hitting a note at 50 or a compressed drum just doesn’t move the needle into the negative for me tbh. That and trusting the artist to know what they wanna make? Like no part of me thinks Yellowcard are putting out anything at this stage of their career they don’t fully sign off on how it sounds, so I walk in with positivity and wanting to fall in love with what I hear. I’m 42, I’ve been pessimistic too many times and I’ve almost always regretted it years later. Never regretted the opposite.

 

This made me lol

 

Your opinion on this is valid. to me, I dont quite feel the same. I think production choices on certain albums can be really distracting at times and lead me to not enjoy listening to it as much. It doesnt mean the music isnt great or that they made the "wrong" choice. Just means for me personally, there are certain albums I wish sounded different because I dont think it showcases the music and talent of the musicians/songwriters in the best way possible.

Bringing it back to YC, all of Yellowcard's albums after Underdog EP has sounded fantastic. But if they put out a new album in 2025 that had the production value of OFTK (this is an admittedly extreme example I know), I think a lot of people would have a lot of hot opinions and discussions on the production choices made on that album. and i think that would be totally valid.

Anyways, I get that this matters to some people more than others. I get that so Ill just leave with: I love Yellowcard and am very stoked to hear newer stuff from them.

 

But part of my point is that every single one of those albums has had someone complain about the production on them. All of them! Ocean Avenue was called over produced. People said all kinds of mean shit about Lift a Sail at the time. And then, years later, they're looked at as the "example" of what "great sounding" for the band sounds like. And after watching it happen, on repeat, every album cycle, I've just kinda grown completely numb to it.

 

I put up an album recommendation for the Album of the Week thread a month or two back, and was surprised to get multiple "it's super overproduced" responses. I thought that criticism had died! Some of the "overproduced" albums from back in the day are my favorite-sounding rock records. I know some people like more grit and dirt in their production, but I love an album where you can hear everything clearly (unpopular take, I know) and where the money is actually audible in the way it sounds. It's so wild to me looking back that people had a problem with albums like Chase This Light and Even If It Kills Me because they sounded too "clean." Those records sound fucking amazing.

 

The older i’ve gotten the more i’ve grown to appreciate pop music as a whole, so for me over production is never a problem. I want things to sound as clean as possible. I think a lot of the over produced comments come from folks who lean more towards the rock side of things who want that fuzz and imperfection as part of the experience. That being said, under producing is where I will occasionally have a gripe (I mentioned Hello Exile yesterday, the first version of History Books also comes to mind) but strong songwriting will always win out in the long run. Both of those albums I absolutely adore and have grown to care less over time about any stylist choices made in their creation.

 

No dog in the Yellowcard fight but Steely Dan is perhaps the most "produced" rock band of all time and they're also one of the best rock bands of all time. @williamryankey check them out

but seriously because I do find this convo interesting, I do think that you have to consider the way the recordings sound as much the artist's choice as anything else. not liking a recording is fine but you can't separate that aspect of it from any other part of the song - at least in the context of a record. I do think there is a difference between reviewing/considering an album/recording than just a song though. it's perfectly valid to say you like the song(writing) but not the recording. but unless it's straight up a mistake, to me it's basically the same as criticizing an arrangement. it's like listening to NIN Hurt and being like damn, this is a well written song but I wish a dying outlaw country legend was singing it. Like okay, but that's not what you're listening to

 

it's called a b-side jason smh

 

So where does JEW Damage stand then? If there’s one beloved band that I’ve seen little disagreement of the sound of an album - this easily takes the cake.

 

Random but I just remembered what a fricken great song Keeper is…