Incubus "Dig"

[spongebag7890]

I think this song has ridiculous potiental on CHR if it doesn't get overlooked. Very Hoobastank "The Reason".

 

[marko83]

How dare you compare Incubus to Hoobastank. Hoobstank is a watered down ripoff of Inbubus. Dig is a great song and far better than The Reason.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

How dare you compare Incubus to Hoobastank. Hoobstank is a watered down ripoff of Inbubus. Dig is a great song and far better than The Reason.

I agree

 

[SoulCrusher]

How dare you compare Incubus to Hoobastank. Hoobstank is a watered down ripoff of Inbubus. Dig is a great song and far better than The Reason.

I agree

You're both wrong. Incubus is a blatant, watered-down rip-off of Faith No More's commercial side. There was a lot more to FNM than Incubus' two-dimensional sound - sentimental radio fluff like "Dig" and "Drive" and cheesy rockers like "Anna Molly".

As far as Hoobastank is concerned, they have been around just as long as Incubus - they just broke later. While Incubus doesn't deviate from its comfortable commercial rock formula, Hoobastank at least made an attempt at evolution with their last album Every Man For Himself. No obvious attempt to duplicate the success of the "The Reason" (Thank God), and lots of different instrumentation such as horns, strings and an Asian-influenced song at the end. As an added bonus, while Brandon Boyd (who really needs to put a shirt on) moans about girls all the time, Hoobastank's Doug Robb covers more diverse subject matter in his songs.

I'm not a huge fan of Hoobastank, but they have earned my respect. Incubus, on the other hand, is just safe corporate cookie-cutter radio rock.

 

[marko83]

Wow...where to begin. Remembering this is the CHR board, I should have expected this kind of argument - being that it's all about the hits and not about actual quality music. I will just say this, since it is all about the hits - why did Hoobastank's last album BOMB?

 

[Beejus]

How dare you compare Incubus to Hoobastank. Hoobstank is a watered down ripoff of Inbubus. Dig is a great song and far better than The Reason.

I agree

You're both wrong. Incubus is a blatant, watered-down rip-off of Faith No More's commercial side. There was a lot more to FNM than Incubus' two-dimensional sound - sentimental radio fluff like "Dig" and "Drive" and cheesy rockers like "Anna Molly".

As far as Hoobastank is concerned, they have been around just as long as Incubus - they just broke later. While Incubus doesn't deviate from its comfortable commercial rock formula, Hoobastank at least made an attempt at evolution with their last album Every Man For Himself. No obvious attempt to duplicate the success of the "The Reason" (Thank God), and lots of different instrumentation such as horns, strings and an Asian-influenced song at the end. As an added bonus, while Brandon Boyd (who really needs to put a shirt on) moans about girls all the time, Hoobastank's Doug Robb covers more diverse subject matter in his songs.

I'm not a huge fan of Hoobastank, but they have earned my respect. Incubus, on the other hand, is just safe corporate cookie-cutter radio rock.

Please ignore SoulCrusher. He either has
A.) An extremely elitist view of music or
B.) Is a troll trying to start an argument just for argument's sake

Just look at his posts in this forum (See Avril Lavigne) or the Alternative board... or the New Jersey board etc...


Either way, I think Dig has a legitimate shot at being a huge hit, if it's promoted right. I'm not sure if it CAN be as big as Drive was, but I think it has a chance. It's catchy as hell, but it's been a while since Drive hit at CHR, so it may be too late.

 

[spongebag7890]

How dare you compare Incubus to Hoobastank. Hoobstank is a watered down ripoff of Inbubus. Dig is a great song and far better than The Reason.

I agree

You're both wrong. Incubus is a blatant, watered-down rip-off of Faith No More's commercial side. There was a lot more to FNM than Incubus' two-dimensional sound - sentimental radio fluff like "Dig" and "Drive" and cheesy rockers like "Anna Molly".

As far as Hoobastank is concerned, they have been around just as long as Incubus - they just broke later. While Incubus doesn't deviate from its comfortable commercial rock formula, Hoobastank at least made an attempt at evolution with their last album Every Man For Himself. No obvious attempt to duplicate the success of the "The Reason" (Thank God), and lots of different instrumentation such as horns, strings and an Asian-influenced song at the end. As an added bonus, while Brandon Boyd (who really needs to put a shirt on) moans about girls all the time, Hoobastank's Doug Robb covers more diverse subject matter in his songs.

I'm not a huge fan of Hoobastank, but they have earned my respect. Incubus, on the other hand, is just safe corporate cookie-cutter radio rock.

You must know nothing about Every Man For Himself. Owning both EMFH and their self titled, my complaint with the albums is that they sound exactly the same. Copy of "The Reason"? Look up "If I Were You".

As far as Incubus, they've sold out a little on their Morning View disc, but the reason I made the comparison is that people who listen to "Dig" will think what they thought when they heard "The Reason".

 

[spongebag7890]

Wow...where to begin. Remembering this is the CHR board, I should have expected this kind of argument - being that it's all about the hits and not about actual quality music. I will just say this, since it is all about the hits - why did Hoobastank's last album BOMB?

Because straight up -- they didn't advertise it. If you'd go through an average CHR listener's album collection, a good 90 and some change chance they bought it because they heard a song on the radio, saw a music video and their ads play again and again on MTV or VH1, or have the band added to their MySpace.

 

[SoulCrusher]

You must know nothing about Every Man For Himself. Owning both EMFH and their self titled, my complaint with the albums is that they sound exactly the same. Copy of "The Reason"? Look up "If I Were You".

As far as Incubus, they've sold out a little on their Morning View disc, but the reason I made the comparison is that people who listen to "Dig" will think what they thought when they heard "The Reason".

I'll admit that I haven't listened to Hoobastank's s/t much - just heard both that and The Reason a couple of times. From what I can remember, s/t could be accused of trying to follow in the footsteps of Incubus (circa Make Yourself) as far as its sound was concerned - slickly produced rockers and power ballads, though there was nothing quite like the hushed campfire balladry of "Drive". On EMFH, I'm hearing different instrumental touches, solos and other touches never before heard on a Hoobastank album (the track with the drill sergeant commanding his troops leading into "Born To Lead"). The album also doesn't have quite as many full on rockers as s/t.

"If I Were You" is definitely musically similar to "The Reason", but what sets it apart besides the nice guitar solo is the subject matter. While the latter's lyrics consisted of groveling to a lover, the former (which was supposedly written about Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver, who they once toured with) is directed toward a person who has everything who still finds something to complain about.

Incubus did have their moments early in their career - a lot of their material may have been directly influenced by Faith No More, but at least it was fun and energetic. Since the album SCIENCE, they have definitely gone toward a generic, "let's get on the radio" sound with the exception of A Crow Left Of The Murder, which had its share of obvious attempts at hit singles but also had songs that were edgier, darker and lengthier than anything on their previous two albums. But since that album didn't reach the sales plateau they had hoped for, it's back to generic radio fodder and shirtless Brandon Boyd on Light Grenades. "Anna Molly" is just a cheesy title for a song (why not just call it "Anomaly" instead?), and "Dig" is the kind of song that begs for use during a romantic scene in some cornball Sandra Bullock tearjerker - I suppose the same could apply to Hoobastank's "The Reason" as well. Let's not forget "Love Hurts" and its brilliant observation, "Love hurts but sometimes it's a good hurt". Music like this epitomizes the triumph of commerce over art to me. There's nothing wrong with being commercially accessible, but going at it full bore and sacrificing any trace of individuality is disappointing. But hey, I guess simply going Platinum just isn't enough for some people.

 

[CHRles]

I can always rely on Soulcrusher to bring it! The man knows how to write, and he definitely knows how to listen.
Keep educating the kiddies SoulCrusher

 

[marko83]

I really need to get out of the CHR board and back to a format where music is actually judged by substance.

 

[p_herring]

You must know nothing about Every Man For Himself. Owning both EMFH and their self titled, my complaint with the albums is that they sound exactly the same. Copy of "The Reason"? Look up "If I Were You".

As far as Incubus, they've sold out a little on their Morning View disc, but the reason I made the comparison is that people who listen to "Dig" will think what they thought when they heard "The Reason".

I'll admit that I haven't listened to Hoobastank's s/t much - just heard both that and The Reason a couple of times. From what I can remember, s/t could be accused of trying to follow in the footsteps of Incubus (circa Make Yourself) as far as its sound was concerned - slickly produced rockers and power ballads, though there was nothing quite like the hushed campfire balladry of "Drive". On EMFH, I'm hearing different instrumental touches, solos and other touches never before heard on a Hoobastank album (the track with the drill sergeant commanding his troops leading into "Born To Lead"). The album also doesn't have quite as many full on rockers as s/t.

"If I Were You" is definitely musically similar to "The Reason", but what sets it apart besides the nice guitar solo is the subject matter. While the latter's lyrics consisted of groveling to a lover, the former (which was supposedly written about Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver, who they once toured with) is directed toward a person who has everything who still finds something to complain about.

Incubus did have their moments early in their career - a lot of their material may have been directly influenced by Faith No More, but at least it was fun and energetic. Since the album SCIENCE, they have definitely gone toward a generic, "let's get on the radio" sound with the exception of A Crow Left Of The Murder, which had its share of obvious attempts at hit singles but also had songs that were edgier, darker and lengthier than anything on their previous two albums. But since that album didn't reach the sales plateau they had hoped for, it's back to generic radio fodder and shirtless Brandon Boyd on Light Grenades. "Anna Molly" is just a cheesy title for a song (why not just call it "Anomaly" instead?), and "Dig" is the kind of song that begs for use during a romantic scene in some cornball Sandra Bullock tearjerker - I suppose the same could apply to Hoobastank's "The Reason" as well. Let's not forget "Love Hurts" and its brilliant observation, "Love hurts but sometimes it's a good hurt". Music like this epitomizes the triumph of commerce over art to me. There's nothing wrong with being commercially accessible, but going at it full bore and sacrificing any trace of individuality is disappointing. But hey, I guess simply going Platinum just isn't enough for some people.

Soulcrusher...

Judging by all your past posts I'm really surprised to see you giving the nod of the hat to Hoobastank while sticking your nose up at Incubus. While there's no denying that both bands are commercially accessible, Incubus has continued to push the boundaries of their music through each release. There has always been a melodic hooky side to them that I don't think sounds contrived or fake. The new record is a bit more straight-forward than Crow, but still solid musically interesting, very good songwriting and artistic growth. I've enjoyed all their releases, starting with Enjoy Incubus, and I'm very happy that are still on the charts and would much rather see passionate and genuine bands like them than the hipster band-of-the-moment-on-the-blogs taking up space (though I do admit the Arcade Fire is pretty excellent).

As for Hoobastank, I also enjoyed Every Man For Himself and was happy that they took some chances. Was strange that there was little to no promotion for it. However, I think another problem was that "The Reason" was both a blessing and a curse for them. It was a huge hit yet turned off the Alternative audience who grew sick of the song after it was beaten to death on every "lite favorite" station across the country. From a commercial standpoint, they have one more chance and if the next record flops as well they can pretty much kiss their radioplay goodbye.

 

[spongebag7890]

You must know nothing about Every Man For Himself. Owning both EMFH and their self titled, my complaint with the albums is that they sound exactly the same. Copy of "The Reason"? Look up "If I Were You".

As far as Incubus, they've sold out a little on their Morning View disc, but the reason I made the comparison is that people who listen to "Dig" will think what they thought when they heard "The Reason".

I'll admit that I haven't listened to Hoobastank's s/t much - just heard both that and The Reason a couple of times. From what I can remember, s/t could be accused of trying to follow in the footsteps of Incubus (circa Make Yourself) as far as its sound was concerned - slickly produced rockers and power ballads, though there was nothing quite like the hushed campfire balladry of "Drive". On EMFH, I'm hearing different instrumental touches, solos and other touches never before heard on a Hoobastank album (the track with the drill sergeant commanding his troops leading into "Born To Lead"). The album also doesn't have quite as many full on rockers as s/t.

"If I Were You" is definitely musically similar to "The Reason", but what sets it apart besides the nice guitar solo is the subject matter. While the latter's lyrics consisted of groveling to a lover, the former (which was supposedly written about Scott Weiland of Velvet Revolver, who they once toured with) is directed toward a person who has everything who still finds something to complain about.

Incubus did have their moments early in their career - a lot of their material may have been directly influenced by Faith No More, but at least it was fun and energetic. Since the album SCIENCE, they have definitely gone toward a generic, "let's get on the radio" sound with the exception of A Crow Left Of The Murder, which had its share of obvious attempts at hit singles but also had songs that were edgier, darker and lengthier than anything on their previous two albums. But since that album didn't reach the sales plateau they had hoped for, it's back to generic radio fodder and shirtless Brandon Boyd on Light Grenades. "Anna Molly" is just a cheesy title for a song (why not just call it "Anomaly" instead?), and "Dig" is the kind of song that begs for use during a romantic scene in some cornball Sandra Bullock tearjerker - I suppose the same could apply to Hoobastank's "The Reason" as well. Let's not forget "Love Hurts" and its brilliant observation, "Love hurts but sometimes it's a good hurt". Music like this epitomizes the triumph of commerce over art to me. There's nothing wrong with being commercially accessible, but going at it full bore and sacrificing any trace of individuality is disappointing. But hey, I guess simply going Platinum just isn't enough for some people.

You still must not know the CHR audience well. They ARE the masses. And the masses like the following:

1. Catchy hip-hop.
2. Boy bands with guitars. (i.e. AAR, The Fray, Blink 182, Hinder, Nickelback)
3. Pop icons at the moment. (Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado)
4. Some R&B.
5. Anything marketed well regardless of the song's quality.

 

[CHRles]

CHR to me is something I can't help but enjoy listening to, even though there's a lot of guilty pleasure or bubblegum records that air on it. It's just expected with a station that is supposed to air the big hits of the day. Many of those songs rise through the ranks through media hype, and not substance. We can all admit that, but I guess we all like the presentation, and realize that if you have a catchy song that fits the current trends it'll do well.
Regardless of all that when I listen to a song with both ears and try to listen on a deeper level, it is then when us music fans (and almost everyone on this board certainly is one) notice how recycled and unoriginal a lot of the music is. That's when we're ashamed to like some of these records, and when we get the urge to seek something fresh and a little less mainstream, or we harken back to a time when CHR radio was filled with more "original" titles.

Agree? Disagree?

 

[SoulCrusher]

Soulcrusher...

Judging by all your past posts I'm really surprised to see you giving the nod of the hat to Hoobastank while sticking your nose up at Incubus. While there's no denying that both bands are commercially accessible, Incubus has continued to push the boundaries of their music through each release. There has always been a melodic hooky side to them that I don't think sounds contrived or fake. The new record is a bit more straight-forward than Crow, but still solid musically interesting, very good songwriting and artistic growth. I've enjoyed all their releases, starting with Enjoy Incubus, and I'm very happy that are still on the charts and would much rather see passionate and genuine bands like them than the hipster band-of-the-moment-on-the-blogs taking up space (though I do admit the Arcade Fire is pretty excellent).

As for Hoobastank, I also enjoyed Every Man For Himself and was happy that they took some chances. Was strange that there was little to no promotion for it. However, I think another problem was that "The Reason" was both a blessing and a curse for them. It was a huge hit yet turned off the Alternative audience who grew sick of the song after it was beaten to death on every "lite favorite" station across the country. From a commercial standpoint, they have one more chance and if the next record flops as well they can pretty much kiss their radioplay goodbye.

I honestly never thought I would be defending Hoobastank either. This is the first album I actually bought of theirs, and it was a good while after its release. I can respect them for not having any obvious re-writes of their big hit single ("If I Were You" is as close as it gets) and to paraphrase them, at least they're moving forward. Maybe the album was a little too different, perhaps poor promotion had something to do with it, and I think choosing "If I Were You" as the first single was a mistake as it didn't represent the album well and led people to expect a whole bunch of attempts to duplicate their previous success. The Alternative audience let Green Day off the hook despite the fact that they have had a few songs go to the Lite-FMs of the world (in particular "Good Riddance", which G Rock in NJ still plays the bloody hell out of).

Incubus seems to be stuck in the mindset of "our last album didn't post the numbers we were looking for, so let's write a bunch of big hits!". From what I've heard of Light Grenades and the reviews I've seen, they seem to confirm this. While the last Hoobastank album was surprisingly good, I'm being hard on Incubus because albums like SCIENCE and ACLOTM prove that they can do better than this. There's a couple of decent songs, but a lot of filler and too much of an emphasis on love ballads - even a few of the rockers are romantic to the point of being off-putting to the male listener. You can tell by listening to them now that they're putting commercial viability over creativity with Light Grenades. But I can't say I'm too surprised - Incubus has released its share of sappy fluff in the past.

 

[Beejus]

The Alternative audience let Green Day off the hook despite the fact that they have had a few songs go to the Lite-FMs of the world (in particular "Good Riddance", which G Rock in NJ still plays the bloody hell out of).

Yes.. because playing a song THREE times per week is absolutely cramming it down our throats.

Why are you dragging your absolute hatred for GRock onto the POP board? You're beyond beating a dead horse... you've moved onto running it over with a car.

 

[spongebag7890]

CHR to me is something I can't help but enjoy listening to, even though there's a lot of guilty pleasure or bubblegum records that air on it. It's just expected with a station that is supposed to air the big hits of the day. Many of those songs rise through the ranks through media hype, and not substance. We can all admit that, but I guess we all like the presentation, and realize that if you have a catchy song that fits the current trends it'll do well.
Regardless of all that when I listen to a song with both ears and try to listen on a deeper level, it is then when us music fans (and almost everyone on this board certainly is one) notice how recycled and unoriginal a lot of the music is. That's when we're ashamed to like some of these records, and when we get the urge to seek something fresh and a little less mainstream, or we harken back to a time when CHR radio was filled with more "original" titles.

Agree? Disagree?

Well written.

My outlook is even though talented artists and bands make some damn good music, I can't help but jam some songs that people consider "torture", like Britney Spears or some of that summer flirt like "Promiscuous", "Me & U", "Buttons", "Gimme That", "Ain't No Other Man", etc. It's all good to me.

 

[SoulCrusher]

The Alternative audience let Green Day off the hook despite the fact that they have had a few songs go to the Lite-FMs of the world (in particular "Good Riddance", which G Rock in NJ still plays the bloody hell out of).

Yes.. because playing a song THREE times per week is absolutely cramming it down our throats.

Why are you dragging your absolute hatred for GRock onto the POP board? You're beyond beating a dead horse... you've moved onto running it over with a car.

Beej ... you know full well it's not hatred. And I'm just stating an opinion since we were on the subject of two bands that first broke on Alternative. In reference to both "The Reason" and "Good Riddance": When a song gets played in nursing homes, it's time for Alternative to let it go.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

I liked Crawling In The Dark, Running Away, Out Of Control and for a time The Reason.

The Reason was for sure Hoobastank's sell out song. Everything they have released to radio after that was pretty lame to me.

 

[Adam Rivers]

CHR to me is something I can't help but enjoy listening to, even though there's a lot of guilty pleasure or bubblegum records that air on it. It's just expected with a station that is supposed to air the big hits of the day. Many of those songs rise through the ranks through media hype, and not substance. We can all admit that, but I guess we all like the presentation, and realize that if you have a catchy song that fits the current trends it'll do well.
Regardless of all that when I listen to a song with both ears and try to listen on a deeper level, it is then when us music fans (and almost everyone on this board certainly is one) notice how recycled and unoriginal a lot of the music is. That's when we're ashamed to like some of these records, and when we get the urge to seek something fresh and a little less mainstream, or we harken back to a time when CHR radio was filled with more "original" titles.

Agree? Disagree?

Excellent post. Completely agree...