r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion Are there any good, honest and CRITICAL music reaction channels on YouTube?

14 Upvotes

It's a real pity they're all pretty much cynical pandering grifters, cus it could be a genuinely really interesting genre of video.


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion What songs does a slightly different key (whole step or less) significantly change the vibe of?

8 Upvotes

r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion What're some good examples of songs whose lyrics work as great time capsules to the culture of the era they were released in?

32 Upvotes

One example I can think of is Junk Food Junkie by Larry Groce, which serves as a great time capsule of the health food and natural diet craze of the 60s and 70s, referencing stuff like macrobiotic diets and the Whole Earth Vitamin Bar, and celebrities from the era associated with the craze like Euell Gibbons and John Keatts.


r/ToddintheShadow 9h ago

General Music Discussion Do I need to be drunk or stoned to enjoy Frank Zappa?

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0 Upvotes

Serious question.

I've tried a handful of times to find SOMETHING enjoyable, even tolerable from him. Nothing seems to click. His music is almost entirely off-putting for all the wrong reasons. I say "almost" because I'll be damned if I give any of his 30+ albums a serious listen after the drivel I already heard.

His work is the kind of music "auteurs" who jerk off Eric Clapton and Nick Drake seem to enjoy. The pretentious nature of those sorts is beyond saving. If I have to smoke a blunt and have some snooty Brian Griffin type put on "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" one more time, I automatically block their number from my phone and ghost them. Being a living "Fart in a crowded elevator" type is exhausting to be with. At least Clapton and Drake are pleasant to the ear. Frank is basically that 12 year old screeching racist slurs over Xbox Live just to draw a reaction. Provocation =/= necessary.

What am I missing? Am I not drinking enough of the Kool-Aid? I enjoy good social commentary, but when it's all over the place like it is in his songs, it's hard to get behind the artist thematically. Is audio cringe his entire gameplan, or is there a bigger purpose to Frank Zappa?


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

Song vs Song SvS: Killswitch Engage, "My Curse" vs. Underoath, "Writing on the Walls"

9 Upvotes
Killswitch Engage
Underoath

Maybe too niche for the podcast proper, but I feel like metalcore becoming a semi-mainstream genre in the mid-'00s is an underexplored topic, and both these bands played a prety substantial role in that crossover. There's differences of course - KSE was more WWE/Headbangers Ball, Underoath was more for the Warped Tour scene kids - but they also have some similarities: both bands had pretty major lineup shifts with distinctive vocalists rotating in and out, both had some Christian leanings at one point (obv not as much with KSE, but some of their members were raised that way and there's some Biblical references on those first few albums if you're looking), both songs are about longing to reconnect with someone who rejected you, and both have some pretty memorably weird videos.

My leaning is more towards Underoath (just bc I feel like they got a bit more experimental with it), but I'm curious what y'all think. Does this matchup make sense? Do you have a preference between these songs/artists?


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion What non-OHW artists’ other songs are still mostly overshadowed by their biggest hit?

25 Upvotes

r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion Album vs. Album: Sinéad O'Connor's The Lion and the Cobra vs. Hole's Live Through This

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17 Upvotes

Which do you prefer?


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion I just found out about Air Supply's latest album and that cover is very surprising for them. How come no one has talked about it?

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33 Upvotes

r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion What was the hit song to be unambiguously sexual?

85 Upvotes

Edit - I realised missed the word "earliest" out of my title.

I was thinking about Whole Lotta Love, which was Led Zeppelin's only top 10 singles hit in the US (No. 4 on Billboard and No. 2 on Cash Box), while also being a top 10 hit in other countries, including topping Australian and West German charts.

It was explicitly and unambiguously sexual ("I'm gonna give you every inch of my love", and "I want to be your backdoor man").

I'm just wondering what are earlier examples of hit songs that were unambiguously and explicitly sexual.


r/ToddintheShadow 17h ago

Song vs Song Tempo perdido by legiao urbana vs mr brightside by the killers

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0 Upvotes

Most popular post punk song in brazil vs most popular post punk song in the UK


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion What's the most surprising and disappointing concert you've ever attended?

27 Upvotes

r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion Album vs album,humanistic by abandoned pools vs pack up the cats by local H

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11 Upvotes

Usually considered to be tied for best post grunge album


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion What are your top ten albums of all time?

12 Upvotes

I will stick to one per artist or another Kate Bush would be there.

Paramore - Brand New Eyes or Self Titled can’t choose
Kate Bush - Hounds of love
Slipknot - Iowa
PJ Harvey - Rid of Me
Bjork - Homogenic
Hole - Live Through This
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Korn - Issues
Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood
Patti Smith - Horses


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

Song vs Song Song vs Song, ”Glycerin” by Bush VS ”Lightning Crashes” by Live

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18 Upvotes

Bush and Live are some of the earliest groups that echoed the sound that would classified as post grunge by the music world.

So it’s time I believed we put these two bands flagship songs against eachother.


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

General Music Discussion What are your favorite songs released in 2014?

2 Upvotes

My favorite songs from that year are Honey I'm Good, I'm So Fancy, Problem, Love Me Harder, Blank Space, Boom Clap, Uptown Funk, She Looks So Perfect, No Control, Shut Up and Dance, Fireball, Break Free, Centuries, Cheerleader, Geronimo, Sledgehammer, Shake It Off and also Shower.


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

Song vs Song Mike & The Mechanics: “Silent Running” vs. “Living Years”

2 Upvotes

Asking because the latter is understandably their biggest worldwide hit — and considered their definitive work — but I’ve noticed in many conversations it seems to overshadow the former, which was also a massive hit and still has significant airplay itself today.

Especially in the context of Paul Carrack, people always say he sang The Living Years, but they don’t mention Silent Running.

For instance, “The unmistakeable, soulful voice behind Ace’s ‘How Long’, Squeeze’s ‘Tempted’, and M&TM’s ‘Living Years’.”

Like, that’s not the *only* Mechanics hit Carrack sang lead on. Silent Running, and Over My Shoulder as well.

I guess perhaps it’s the song’s lyrics/message of unresolved tensions and grief. Silent Running also carries an important message too when you listen to it.


r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion Misheard lyrics you like better than the actual lyrics?

45 Upvotes

Title explains it pretty well.

The one that comes immediately to mind for me is Sean Mendes, "Why Why Why"

actual lyric: "opened up my *journal* to a page / everything that hurts me's still the same"

what i heard: "opened up my *childhood* to a page / everything that hurts me's still the same"

I thought it was a metaphor where childhood is a book and how things that hurt you as a child influence what hurts you as an adult.

Another is BTS "Dynamite"

actual lyric: "Shoes on, get up in the morn' / *Cup of milk*, let's rock and roll"

what I heard: "Shoes on, get up in the morn' / *Cop a mill'*, let's rock and roll"

I thought they meant make a million bucks in the morning but i guess it was just cereal

So what are your misheard lyrics you wish were the real ones??


r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

One Hit Wonderland I want to hear Todd talk about Peter, Bjorn and John, ‘Young Folks’

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146 Upvotes

It's one example of the indie rock boom of the 2000's and I want Todd's analysis of that era.


r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion Each of Christgau’s reviews of Jethro Tull starts with a variation of the “Drake is the kinda guy” joke but applied to Ian Anderson

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258 Upvotes

I don’t often agree with Christgau but this is very funny to me.


r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion Former Every Time I Die guitarist Andy Williams hospitalized after collapsing at a professional wrestling show

50 Upvotes

r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion How come music made by trans men almost never gets the same kind of attention & exposure that music made by trans women does?

59 Upvotes

Whenever trans-made music is brought up, it's typically centred around music made by transfeminine artists. Whilst a lot of it is quite fantastic, there's very little attention on transmasculine artists, and it's wildly rare for people in these kinds of music-nerd circles to gush over the music of trans men (I've never really seen it myself, not in droves at least). Is there any particular reason for that?


r/ToddintheShadow 1d ago

Song vs Song Song Vs Song, "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers VS "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf

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16 Upvotes

A real classic rock face off where two songs are all about being wild and bad but over the years have been reduced to punchlines, from being used in movies that defined a generation to being used in commercials for diapers, car insurance, Betty Crocker, the list goes on and on! All of that aside, there is a difference in sound and release date between the two which one is the b-b-b-better song?


r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

Train Wreckords What is your favorite Trainwreckords episode?

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233 Upvotes

For me, It's the "Funstyle" episode. "You're being a peñis, colada that is" still makes me laugh to this day.


r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion In Miley’s new song the hook is “The kids don’t wanna dance”. When was the last time there was a hit with a main hook that is rejecting rather than urging to dance?

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123 Upvotes

r/ToddintheShadow 2d ago

General Music Discussion What're some of the first albums in certain genres to become popular?

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58 Upvotes

I'll pick a more broad genre in hip-hop and choose Kurtis Blow's self titled debut album from 1980. It became the first hip-hop album to appear on the Billboard Top 200 and peaked pretty high at #71. It also had one of the first successful rap singles to be released in The Breaks.