Åkerfeldt vs. Wilson

Bluesaga wrote: I feel like bashing my head against the wall multiple times for starting this sh*t.

OpethGuitarist wrote: As unprofessional as it may be, what do you say if you are asked a direct question like, what is your opinion on rap music? It's really tough to get around that kind of a question without stating how you really feel, unless of course you lie about it. Personally, I will try to be as nice as possible, but I'm not going to lie about something in order to be "professional". Being professional is more than just not saying bad things about others, and I'll be damned if the definition of professional is to "lie about everything in public so as not to offend anyone" Just some food for thought.

AtLossForWords wrote: OpethGuitarist wrote: As unprofessional as it may be, what do you say if you are asked a direct question like, what is your opinion on rap music? It's really tough to get around that kind of a question without stating how you really feel, unless of course you lie about it. Personally, I will try to be as nice as possible, but I'm not going to lie about something in order to be "professional". Being professional is more than just not saying bad things about others, and I'll be damned if the definition of professional is to "lie about everything in public so as not to offend anyone" Just some food for thought.   He could have responded in a much better way than he did.  He could have said "I don't enjoy that genre of music" rather than what he did which was along the lines of how they were ripping off of '70s bands and they will never plays that music as well as the older bands did and etc.  That was just a terribly unprofessional response.   I'll say it again loud and clear.   I HAVE RESPECT FOR OPINIONS, I HAVE RESPECT FOR TASTE, BUT I DON'T HAVE RESPECT FOR A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN GOING INTO DETAIL INSULTING THE EFFORTS OF ANOTHER BAND!!!!   sacred wrote: I'm sure all the Dream Theater Fan boys here just love that.......................   Given my current mood swing of anti-Dream-Theater- loving on this forum lately, that didn't make me feel any better.  I'd like to eat some humble pie with DT though.

AtLossForWords wrote: stonebeard wrote: With all this professional and unprofessional talk, Vince, it seems like you hold SW to a higer standard than ordinary people. Is this true? If so, why does is matter? People are people, and I'd not necessarily respect, but admire a musician willing to speak his mind rather than just smile and say, "Well this band is just fine." or "I have no opinion on this matter."   Am I holding him to a higher standard than ordinary people?  Yes I am.  Am I holding him to a higher standard than any other musician, no I'm not.  I think it's terrible when a musician puts down the work of another?   I don't think you understand just how much work it takes for any musician to make any kind of album Stony.  There's just so much that has to go into it.  For someone who hasn't sat in a recording studio and a rehearsel space day in and day out to get a perfect result, it's impossible to understand how frustrating of a battle it is.   Other people and fans of music have all the right to criticize it.  A musician on the other hand, one who's been through such a struggle should understand just how insulting it is to say to another musician "you can't do this as good as they did".  That's pretty much saying, you put your heart and soul into recording a masterpice, but I think it's anything but that.  You'll never be what you want to be and that's just fine with me.

I think both musicians are excellent, though i voted for steve w as i've not been into opeth that long, they're a different animal really.

Edited by mystic fred - August 09 2006 at 09:01

swilson wrote: You guys are nuts!  But there's certainly no doubt that Mikael is an infinitely more gifted musician than myself. As for being an asshole, well maybe - what's the evidence, I'm curious? SW

Edited by Bob Greece - August 09 2006 at 10:12

swilson wrote: But there's certainly no doubt that Mikael is an infinitely more gifted musician than myself.

AtLossForWords wrote: the right to criticize it.  A musician on the other hand, one who's been through such a struggle should understand just how insulting it is to say to another musician "you can't do this as good as they did".  That's pretty much saying, you put your heart and soul into recording a masterpice, but I think it's anything but that.  You'll never be what you want to be and that's just fine with me.

Wilson wrote: Why?  Because you are fan you can't accept that someone else may not find his work so wonderful?  It's admirable that you feel your righteousness so strongly, but are we not all free to express an opinion about music that we don't care for?

No doubt I've contradicted myself and changed my mind about many things on many occassions, as we all do, but actually I don't really see how these two statements are in opposition.  Progressive music cerrtainly *is* a big part of the band, but I would hesitate to describe us as a "progressive rock" band.  The idea of genre is a sticky one for any musician, and probably works against being truly "progressive", ironic though that may seem.  My answer will also very much depend on the agenda of the person I'm talking to, and what their understanding of the word might be.  For example you and I may understand "progressive" to mean a music which creates new hybrids of other forms of music (combining classical with rock, or trip hop with metal, whatever..), innovation, and artistry and ambition in both musicianship and production.  It's the first two of these that I personally find Transatlantic fail to fulfill, being too indebted to a blueprint laid down 30 years ago for my taste - but then again I don't believe that they ever claimed the music was supposed to be anything especially innovative, so again I was totally wrong to criticise them on that basis.  However, some journalists have another agenda that basically equates "progressive" with music that is unfashionable, vaguely ridiculous, and indulgent.  It's important to know what this agenda is when discussing your music with them.  To not know or care what their agenda might be may be righteous, but it's also career suicide.
In a way I'm flattered that you place my opinion so much higher than that of a reviewer, but your distinction is arbitrary.  A musician is a music lover (or hater) just like anyone else.  Why you believe a musician's printed opinion should be more significant than a reviewer's says a lot about the respect with which you hold other musicians, and I applaud you for that.  But I should say that the most hurtful things I have ever read about myself have been not from other musicians, but from reviewers such as yourself.  A reviewer's words are more painful precisely BECAUSE you know that they don't understand what it is like to struggle for self expression.  At least another musician has some kind of right to criticise, knowing as they do what it takes to get even a slight foothold in this most heartbreaking of industries.

Here's one for you....I F***ING HATE THE RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS!!!!  And you can quote me on that....

SW